SLA REFLECTION
... I didn’t fit there. The school program consisted of a total immersion in the second language (English). All subjects were taught in English except for Colombian Sociales and Spanish of course. I am pretty sure I learned to speak English, but I didn’t really acquire it. Kreshen, cited buy Schulz says that “acquisition is subconscious and takes place through natural language interactions, similar to those available to children when they acquire their mother tongue. Learning requires conscious thought and analysis and takes place predominantly in formal instruction” (p. 21). I remember that my Language Arts classes focus on learning verb tenses, syntax composition, spelling, etc. I don’t blame the institution because as Terrell states “in most academic situation, efforts are directed toward exercises and drills to teach morphology and syntax” (p.326) I guess that since I wasn’t able to neither contextualize this nor practice it in a natural setting, I have fossilized many things. As Atkinson mentions “one acquires a language in order to act, and by acting, in a world where language is performative” (p.534). I remember this period in my life as a hard experience to start with in second language acquisition. Nobody in my family spoke English so I had a tutor that helped me with homework and something called “conversation”. My parents aim was that I became fluent in English so I could study abroad. I had two hours of English everyday as an extracurricular activity. I was there, every afternoon, with a tutor speaking English because my parents knew I wouldn’t be able to practice it anywhere else. It didn’t click in. Maybe it was because of what Schulz says “when social and psychological distance is great, learners will have difficulties progressing beyond the early stages in language development, and the language will stay pidginized” (p.18). With my friends at school I never spoke English not even in the classrooms if I had to do class work I would switch to the Spanish, it happened the same at recess and in any other environment different than talking to the teacher in a classroom setting. I remember once that the board of directors promote a campaign that would reward students caught speaking English during recess. I imagine it didn’t work because at the end of the bimester nobody talked about it anymore. I learned very few English in comparison to what I was expected to, I guess it had to do with what Terrell says “the primary factors which influence L2 acquisition are affective not cognitive” (p. 328). Or I sometimes think it had to do with what Atkinson mention “not even cognized linguistic knowledge can be properly understood without taking into account their fundamental integration into a socially mediated world” (p. 534). Something I believe contributed to all my precarious processes were my vacations. My parents never thought it was important to know and learn more about the American culture. We spent our summer and winter vacations in Europe with my sisters that had gone to study French and lived there. There, I spent number of hours simply listening to the language, avoiding direct participation in a conversation. Obviously I felt out of place when my family decided to practice and speak French. I could understand almost everything but I felt so uncomfortable that I now consider I blocked French for the rest of my life (I’ll talk about this later). Finally I thought that my life was going to change, I graduated from school with a very good GPA and had the opportunity to study Psychology in a college in Boston. I felt scare although I knew the language and the culture by book. From the moment I set a foot in Boston, I was determined to make the most of my years studying at the Pine Manor College. I decided to avoid Spanish speakers at all cost and to do everything I could to socialize with English speakers. Terrell says “language learning takes place when there is a real need and motivation for it” (p.328). I was decided to acquire the language because it had become a need. This meant three months of initial misery, as I resisted joining the Spanish community which rapidly formed on campus, but didn't master colloquial English well enough to form meaningful relationships with English speakers. Fortunately, this finally helped me acquire the English language. As Lybeck explains “learners who have engaged in supportive exchange networks within the target culture are provided with meaningful frameworks within which they can access and acquire both linguistically appropriate behaviors, effectively educing their cultural differences” (p. 184). However, once my English improved, which happened quicker than if I had mixed with Spanish speakers, I made friends with a few Colombians (some of whom I still write regularly). My experience in the classroom setting was hard, I spent the first three weeks just listening, I wanted to be invisible so they wouldn’t call on me. As Terrell mention in his writing “students fear of the teacher expectations of complete manipulation of the various components of the grammar plus fear of correction” (p. 331). Every time a teacher called on me, I felt very anxious. The type of anxious that debilitates; I had to reduce my thoughts because I was afraid and wasn’t able to organize the information grammatically correct. I tend to think in Spanish and tried to traduce it to English. If just my teachers knew what Terrell says “the student should be allowed to respond in his native language” (p. 331) it would have been easier for me. I had lots of Spanish immersions as much as syntax errors when speaking. I didn't tend to define myself by my country and culture of origin, and blend happily into English society. As Schumann’s states “acculturation model equates successful acculturation with successful L2 acquisition”. I believe I acculturate to the American culture while living there and it was easier for me to acquire L2. Nonetheless, I didn't see the loss of a certain "Spanishness" (whatever that is) as a threat to my identity and my sense of who I am, and I think that if I didn't love languages as much as I do, I would had probably let my Span...