LING 350

My Language Learning Autobiography

Hello. Hola. Shalom. These three greetings bring me back to the origin of my language learning experience. What began as a school system requirement slowly molded into a desire to communicate freely and effectively while enjoying ones cultures through travel.

Beginning in third grade, Señora Bergman, the infamous elementary school Spanish teacher, would wheel her cart into our classroom for one hour three times a week and teach us the Spanish alphabet, the number system, and the colors. According to certain linguists, a language learner is more likely to successfully learn and retain the language input if taught at a later date. However, I always felt that I was at an advantage. Although I was not yet learning grammar, sentence structure or specific pronunciation, I was still receiving Spanish input for one hour three times a week. While they are the building blocks of any language, I will absolutely never forget the Spanish alphabet, the numbers 0 – 1000, or the Spanish words for all the colors of the rainbow.

In my school district, Spanish was the only option for a foreign language course until middle school. This would not be as much of a problem if not for the fact that they started teaching us Spanish in third grade. After three years of receiving Spanish input, it is rare and difficult for a young language learner to make the decision to switch languages. If, in fact, a student did decide to make the switch upon entering sixth grade, the only other option was French. At the time, the decision to continue on the Spanish path was the only thing that made sense. Looking back on my decision, I wonder what I would have decided had my options been more diverse. If, say, Italian or Japanese were offered to me, I may have been interested in a completely individualized language learning experience. Four years later, upon entering high school, many more options were introduced into the foreign language department. At that point, I had reached a confident intermediate level with my Spanish. I had traveled to Mexico with my family and was able to communicate and converse with locals. To switch at that point would have been, in my opinion, confusing and extremely overwhelming. At age fourteen, the critical period of successful language learning has likely passed. As we have discussed extensively, it is thought that language learning past the critical period is not based on the innate biological structure, making it difficult or even impossible for the language learner to completely master the language. So, assumingly, I continued learning Spanish. Nonetheless, I have never once regretted sticking with Spanish. The language has influenced my life in many ways and has, in many ways, shaped the student and the learner I have become.

Throughout my journey as a language learner, Spanish was learned mostly through instruction. Early on in my academic career, my language instruction was absolutely structure-based. All of the students in my classes were native English speakers learning Spanish as a foreign language requirement. The instruction was focused on the language itself – vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar techniques – rather than successful communication with the language. As I entered into high school and enrolled in the upper level Spanish courses, there was a shift over to the communicative, content-based and task-based instruction. The class was focused less on memorizing vocabulary words and more on using the language.  We had many group projects and presentations, helping us to practice natural Spanish interactions. At this point, something about me as a learner had changed as well. Rather than taking a Spanish class because it was required, I was actually interested in improving my Spanish. Overall, my instructional experience was definitely positive. The structure-based instruction helped me to learn the building blocks of the language. Without those core principles, I would not have gotten to the point of successful communication that was achieved after the shift to communicative instruction.

As a learner, I used a number of strategies to help me master the Spanish language. Many times, I would focus on formulas, patterns, or chunks of language to memorize. For example, a phrase like ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?) will remain in my memory forever. Avoidance is another strategy that I use, to this day, while speaking Spanish. To me, avoidance is not cheating at all. Instead, it proves that you actually know and understand the language well enough to figure out another way to say what you are trying to say. Lastly, especially while traveling in Spain or Mexico, I used frequent comprehension checks while speaking Spanish. I would add into conversation “¿Sí?” to make sure I was speaking correctly and to make sure I was understood.

Aside from the instructional aspect of my language learning experience, my most significant language learning was done through exposure and immersion. I feel that immersion is the best possible way to test comprehension and oral skills all in one. After my sophomore year of high school, I spent one month in a greyhound bus traveling around the entire country of Spain and taking Spanish language classes. From market places to hostels, I was sure to use my best Spanish at every opportunity presented to me. I learned new phrases, perfected much of my grammar, and told family members about my time in the native Barthelona, instead of the Americanized Barcelona. My opportunity to study in Spain inspired my decision to spend all of next semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I hope to improve my Spanish skills even more.

Of course, Spanish is not the only language I have ever learned. Throughout my language-learning journey, I have learned bits and pieces of other languages, but nothing significant enough to converse or communicate effectively. To me, the true test of proficiency is whether or not you can have a successful conversation in which you understand what is being said and are able to fully articulate what you wish to say. Similar to my experience with Spanish taught in the school system, I was taught Hebrew two days a week from about age seven to thirteen. Once I no longer needed to attend Hebrew school, my relationship with Hebrew was completely done. Six years later, I reflected on my Hebrew skills while traveling throughout Israel. I realized what I was able to say – Hello, I am here, excuse me, and thank you. Because I did not care to continue with my Hebrew learning, I lost every skill that I once had. This stresses the importance of motivation in learning a foreign language. Because I was not motivated to learn the language, I did not learn the language at all.

Aside from my laziness with Hebrew, I would consider myself a good language learner. While I may not be great at memorization or pronunciation, I definitely put myself out there to be an active and involved language learner, especially with my various immersion experiences. My original motivation to learn a second language was that I did not have a choice. However, as the years went on and the language options increased, I made the conscious decision to continue learning Spanish. Currently, my motivation to learn Spanish continues, as I anxiously wait until February to study abroad in South America and immerse myself in their intriguing and exciting culture. I am expecting my language proficiency to increase dramatically while I live and study surrounded by natural and native Spanish speakers for four months of my life. Hopefully, my experience studying abroad will not be the end of my journey as a language learner. I look forward to learning more about language as a whole and potentially learning some new languages as well. I am definitely looking forward to testing out the Critical Theory Hypothesis.