SUMMARY OF DATA ANALYSIS JOURNAL AND LANGUAGE COMPARISON

By Jacob Shuey

Description of ELL

From Puerto Rico 2nd grade – 8 years old Parents only speak Spanish – all

correspondence needed translated Linguistic abilities were sufficient enough

to be able to talk with peers in social situations

With the help of ESL instructor, great strides were made in the classroom

Description of ELL cont’d

Biggest weakness – reading (approximately a year behind)

Received Title 1 services for 30 minutes each day

Truancy was an issue – out of school almost 30 days

Type of Errors that were made Reading

Trouble with digraphs Reading fluency (specifically phrasing)

Writing Spelling (vowel confusion) Grammar (word order / progressive verbs)

Math Content-specific vocabulary

Examples of Errors

Error ExplanationsError Explanation

Digraph pronunciation

Fluency (awkward phrasing)

Spelling (vowel confusion)

Word order

Verb tense

Content vocabulary

There are not any spelling exceptions in Spanish, therefore naturally he would separate consonant sounds rather than form a new sound

Lack of knowing meaning of words

The vowel sounds in Spanish are similar to English, but different vowels are used to make the same sound

Spanish places adjectives after the nouns they describe

Conjugations in Spanish include knowledge of tense, person, etc.

Realm of vocabulary that is not used in typical social conversations

Spanish vs. EnglishSpanish English

27-letter alphabet, including ñ

5 vowels without spelling exceptions

Verb conjugation implies tense, person, etc.

Word order is flexible

Auxiliaries are many times not present

Double negatives are used extensively

Stress-timed language

Exclamation/question marks at end and beginning of sentence

26-letter alphabet

5 vowels with spelling exceptions (long/short)

Verb conjugation does not have many implications without surrounding words

Word order is not flexible in sentences

Auxiliaries are present

Double negatives are forbidden

Syllable-timed language

Exclamation/question marks at end of sentence

Educational Implications

Phrasing Work on stress timing of individual words,

then move to phrases, sentences, etc. Vocabulary

Reliance on cognates (both English and Spanish have a Latin origin)

Word order Make sure parts of speech knowledge is

established

Educational Implications

Vowel confusion Student creates own spelling rules through

meaningful spelling activities / sorts Sociocultural factors

Much more acceptable to deviate from main idea in writing in many Spanish-speaking countries

Progressive phrasing / auxiliaries Verb conjugation practice (do not conjugate

Spanish sentences – what would this mean?)

Final thoughts…

Good news! Many of the errors were due to a direct transfer of rules and characteristics from Spanish to English and it was clear that this student had a great knowledge of their L1

In conclusion… Encourage connections from L1 to L2, but

teach new rules of L2 that are relevant Develop vocabulary across curriculum

References

Dalby, J. (2006). Vowel errors and sentence intelligibility in spanish-accented english speech. Acoustical Society of America, 119(5), Retrieved from http://asadl.org/jasa/resource/1/jasman/v119/i5/p3423_s5?bypassSSO=1

Flaitz, J. (2003). Understanding your international students: an education, cultural, and linguistic guide, (Ed.). Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Freeman, D, & Freeman, Y. (2004). Essential linguistics. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Hinkel, E. (1999). Culture in second language teaching and learning, (Ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

O'Grady, W, Archibald, J, Aronoff, M, & Rees-Miller, J. (2010). Contemporary linguistics. Boston, MA: Bedford St. Martins.

Shoebottom, P. (1996). A guide to learning english. Retrieved from http://esl.fis.edu/index.htm