WEEK 6: CHAPTER REFLECTION

This chapter gave me a lot of insight on how young children acquire a second language.  I was surprised to learn that it starts from birth.  Babies are biologically capable of learning two or more languages.  In addition, for those children who learn a second language very early on (e.g when they are 1yr old) it gives them an advantage over monolinguals because they can learn new words faster.  In this chapter, it states that early bilinguals have the ability to codeswitch as early as two years old.  I can relate to this, as it is something that I have seen in my own family.  For instance, my 3 year old nephew who is speaks both English and Spanish, is able to differentiate with whom to speak each language with.  He communicates in English with his parents who speak mainly English at home.  Yet, he uses Spanish to communicate with his grandfather, who only speaks Spanish.  Hence, this supports what the book states, that from a very early age, children are able to differentiate which social setting and with which person to use each language with.
   I interviewed a 36 year old mother who arrived to the United States 3 years old with her daughter.  She hails from Mexico and her native language is Spanish.  She states that her 8 year old daughter is learning the English language at a faster pace than her.  The mother struggles the most with her pronunciation of words in English and has become self-conscious about her accent.  She admits that she does not practice speaking English as much as she should.  Her daughter who is eight years old is less shy about those things and will often help her mother by correcting her when she mis pronounces words.
     I think the differences in mother and daughter's English acquisition is due to age and motivation.  Her daughter is learning at a faster pace because her brain has more elasticity than the brain of an adult.  So it becomes more natural for the child to learn the new language.  Children and adults use different parts of the brain to process language. Children process language in a part of the brain involved in processes  that are not consciously thought of, where for adults they process language in a part of the brain where they think more consciously. This would explain why the mother feels embarrassed and self-conscious of her accent.  I also think that the daughter is also placed in more situations where she is forced to practice her English skills, while the mother who does not work, may not be able to socialize or interact with people who speak English.  The mother may only interact with people who only speak Spanish.  The daughter is also more motivated to speak the new language as she may need it to communicate in school or to make friends or play in the playground.