Language Learning Autobiography: Analysis of
Psychological and Sociocultural Factors
Ahad Althumayri
May 7, 2013
First and Second Language Acquisition and
Educational Linguistic
ED 684
Once upon a time, there was a girl whose first language is Arabic. When she was a
kid, she admired anyone could speak English. She was dreaming to be able to speak
English in one day. As a result, she had a strong desire to learn English and become
bilingual. This girl is me “Ahad”. I loved to start my language learning autobiography as
a story, because stories always have a value and it worth a lot to someone. Actually, my
English learning autobiography has gone through several stages: middle and high school,
college, my job as English teacher, and my scholarship to America.
Since a long time ago, the English language has become one of the most important
languages in the world. Some of us call it the international language that allowed us to
communicate in other countries even if English is not the first language of those
countries. Consequently, when I was in the middle school, I was excited to have English
class for the first time in my life. At that time, English classes started in the middle
school. Even though teaching English was not strong, I tried my best to learn anything
the teacher taught us. I was ambitious to be the best at my class. Fortunately, I was lucky
to have teachers who cared about us and tried their best to teach us the basic of English
which were vocabularies, grammar and reading. The curriculum of English in the middle
and high school was not strong enough to prepare us to speak English. Besides all my
education was in traditional style of learning, the materials were: the book, notebook,
pen, and the board. The strategies of teaching were not effective. However, at this stage
the teachers helped me to build my vocabularies a little bit and taught me the basics of
English grammar. Actually, I do not know about my classmates if they had the desire to
learn in the English class or not, because some of them considered this class as break
time and unnecessary to have it, but I had the strong desire to learn, so I tried to look for
another sources to build my language, such as American movies and T.V shows. The last
year at high school, there was a teacher who decided to not only depend on the
curriculum of English, but she used variety of methods and strategies in her class. She
was lovely, ambitious and respectful. She taught us to write by ourselves. Besides, she
encouraged us to read another books in English. At that time, I realized that I want to be
like her as an English teacher. Therefore, I decided to choose English Literature to be my
major at college.
As all the parents, my parents tried to effect on my choices a little bit, because they
want the best for me, so they told me to choose Computer science, but I insisted to apply
for English Literature to be my major. I believed that dreams could be true and finally I
will learn English deeply. The basic classes for the four years of collage were novel,
drama, poetry, translation, essay, grammar, phonics, and linguistic. Most of my
professors were Egyptians, and two or three from Saudi Arabia. In the first year I failed
in drama three times, it was so difficult because the professor ask as to memorize and
copy from the book. Nobody gave me a chance to be creative except one lecturer who
gave us translation class. She offered me the chance to be myself and use my own words
in the assignments and tests. Translation class was once a week, so each week she gave
us theme to translate and each theme must relate to different fields of our lives. For
example, first week we would translate break news from newspaper from Arabic to
English and vice versa, second week from the cook book, third week from novel…etc.
Thanks for her to build my vocabularies in most of lives’ fields. Second and third years at
collage, I had all the classes too but that time I was lucky to have an excellent professor
of writing essay. For the first time in my life, I realized that I love to write, especially if
the essay relate to emotional topics of my own. My first essay was about compare and
contrast between my two lovely cats; she loved it and encouraged me to write more and
more. At that time my writing was the strongest skill. Honestly, I made a huge mistake
that I still pay back a huge price to correct that mistake. At my Drama and Novel classes,
I never read the book in English; I looked for the Arabic version to read and then
analyzed the characters in English. I was not proud of this mistake, but I had to do it to
understand everything. At my forth year, my professor of Drama was amazing. She
believed in our ability and tried her best to prepare us for the next level which is Master
degree. She thought that it is not enough for all of us as her students to stop our education
after the bachelor degree. One of her basic assignments was that each week we must
analyze character or theme of the play and discussed that at the lecture. She divided us to
groups and each group had a chance to speak. At this stage of my English learning
autobiography, my writing skill was the best among other skills.
After I had my bachelor degree in English Literature, 50% of my dream has
become true. I learned a lot of English but I did not improve all my skills to be 100%
ready to speak, write, listen, or reading in English. Besides, my reading skill was the
worst skill of my own. So, I heard about the scholarships that the government offered for
all the students to complete their education abroad. I told my father but he refused
because one of the basic conditions for a girl to have a scholarship to study abroad is to
have one male relative to take care of her whether he is a father, grandfather, brother,
uncle or husband. My father could not come with me, so I had to hold this dream for
later. As a result, the summer after I graduated from college, I was looking for a job as a
teacher. Finally, I found a private school that had English Department, and the supervisor
was from America. This time I had to speak English for the first time to be able to pass
the interview and had the job. I was so nervous, but I did not know where all that
speaking skill came from. It was funny that the supervisor thought that I studied abroad
because she said my accent was good, and I told her that I watch a lot of movies in
English. I worked there for three years and this job changed my life. I keep telling her
that I still need to work on my speaking skill and I need her help, but she took advantage
of me in order to help me. She forced me to do her job besides my job, I do not know
why I agreed to do that, but my personality was not strong enough to face her. I endured
this problem in the first two years until the owner of the school hired another supervisor
to take care of us. The new supervisor was from America too, I loved her so much
because she helped me a lot to discover and explore my ability to teach and to speak
English. For the first time somebody decided to observe my classes and tell me the
weaknesses and strengths of my classes without take any advantage of me or other
English teachers. She advised me from her heart not just as a job, but as a sister, friend or
mother. She hired me as the assistant of high grades of the elementary school that we
worked in. This stage of my life affected on me as English language learner and English
language teacher. As a result, my second supervisor of English Department at school was
the first impact that effect on my personality. The second impact at the school was my
students. This school is one of the most popular private schools in my city in Saudi
Arabia. Most of my students studied in the US, the UK, or Canada, and the spoke English
better than me, while my language still not as good as them. Consequently, I wrote in the
board, “As Much As You Give, As Much As You Gain”, we exchanged knowledge
together. Even though that they were kids, I was not shy to tell them that we will learn
from each other that I will teach them and I will learn from them too. One of the
wonderful activities was that a Word Bank competition, each student has her Piggy Bank
Money in order to put a word each day, but they must knew the meaning and how to use
it. At the end of the semester, we would count how many words for each one and the
winner would have award. At this stage of my English learning autobiography, I
improved my speaking skill.
I worked for three years at that school, but after I get married I had to resign
because I had to move to another city where my husband used to live. At the second year
of my marriage I offered the scholarship again, but this time to my husband. He agreed
and he thought this scholarship will benefit all of us including my daughter. At this time I
think 75% of my dream has become true. In fact, the scholarship would benefit both of us
because the government pay for hem too to complete his education if he like, and he
considered that a chance for him to get his bachelor degree too, because he was not lucky
enough to have it a long time ago. To summarize this experience, I applied, and then get
the approval, after that prepared everything, and finally we are here in America. For the
first time in my life I realized that nothing is impossible. A long time ago, I was dreaming
to study English in its actual culture, and here I am. Finally, I found a place that focused
in my four skills. Before I applied for western Oregon University, I must study English at
the International school of English for eighteen months until I pass the IELTS or TOEFL
tests. I tried IELTS three times, TOEFL IBT one time, and TOEFL PBT four times, but
finally I passed the IELTS test. Also, I could apply for the university before the eighteen
months over. My first class in the university was scary because the first time I am in the
class which most of the students were American. I depressed at the beginning because I
was afraid to make mistakes. I embarrassed myself many times, but after two more
weeks, my self-esteem increased and I found that my teacher and my peers are wonderful
and encouraged me to talk. It is amazing that for the first time I improved my four skills
at once. Also, mu autobiography with English learning did not stop yet. Plus my dream
will become 100% true at the day I will graduate with my Master degree’s certificate in
my hand.