Week 1 reading reflection

If I could summarize chapter 1 of Freeman and Freeman, I would have to use the word "complex." Although researchers have studied this for decades, much is still unknown about how young children acquire their first language. The brain is a complex organ, and various disciplines (developmental psych, sociology, anthropology and education) bring a little bit different view and aspect to the ideas behind first language acquisition. Most experts would lean toward the idea that first language acquisition is to a large extent innate and built in.



Chapter 2's summary word would be "tension." A definite tension exists between the two camps as to how people acquire written language and languages other than their own. The behaviorists think these languages are learned while the constructivists believe they are acquired. Having trained as an el ed educator, I learned in my undergrad work about how children learn to read and how to teach reading and writing. I definitely was trained in the behaviorist part to whole model. While I taught, however, my learning and teaching evolved to the constructivist model.



As a second language learner myself, I learned but did not acquire German in my high school years. I knew the rules, the vocab, and conjugations and declensions; but I really could not speak or listen. Then I spent a year in Germany and it all came together. I feel very comfortable in all four skills of the language--reading, listening, speaking and writing. I do feel my structural knowledge helped me once I was immersed, but the immersion helped me truly acquire the language.

I recently took Elementary Spanish I at the college level and experienced major frustration. It was taught for acquisition and not learning. There were no vocab quizzes, no exercises to emphasize structures. It was basically learn through reading, writing and listening. I learned things, but I think I would have learned more if I could have asked questions in English and done some memorization and repeated practice of certain aspects of the language. To me as a teacher and learner, it's not either/or, it's both/and. I think that in teaching and learning a second language or writing, there needs to be a balanced approach to instruction. I think that I would let the constructivist view predominate, but at times the behaviorist practice can be helpful. I think to a certain extent, different students learn in different ways and the balanced approach will hit different students' learning modes.

(I'm not commenting specifically on the Finegan reading because many of the ideas were similar to those conveyed in American Tongues and the Freeman reading.)