Fieldwork portion attached: Language is boundlessly diverse and always changing, and to fully understand linguistics, we must move beyond theory and engage with individuals as they learn and use langu
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Lauren Oliver
Professor Mary Sorola
Language Structure and Acquisition
11 December 2018
Case Study
ESL Reading and Writing Course
Introduction:
On 11/6 and 11/27, I visited an advanced ESL class at Evergreen Valley College , taught
by professor Michelle Henninger . This reading and writing course has about twenty students,
most of whom are Asian, but some are Hispanic or Middle -Eastern. The students in this class
seem very motivated to learn English in a integrative (wanting to assimilate and fit in with our
culture [O'Grady et. al. 412]) way; one female student in particular was sad that the semester is
coming to a close, and expressed her desire to take more ESL classes in the winter session to
keep up her practice. Because they have that strong desire to learn English, the students don't
speak to one another in their own language very often, but rather use the breaks and time before
and after class to do that. The full immersion in English during the class time seemed very
helpful for their learning and forced them to problem -solve in English rather than reverting back
to their native languages for discussion.
Description, Evaluation, and Analysis:
A mistake I noticed in my observations was students using present tense verbs when they
really meant to use past tense verbs. In my first visit, one student said “I write one page ” when
she meant “I wrote one page, ” and in my second visit, a student said “they cannot ” instead of Oliver 2
“they could not. ” Occasionally this happened in the o ther class I visited, as well, and I think it is
just a matter of practicing and getting used to the internal changes vs. suffixes that turn present
tense verbs into past tense (127, 142 -143).
Additionally, the students in this class would frequently misp ronounce the /ð/ or /θ/
sounds as the /t/, /d/, or /z/ sounds. Some examples I noticed were /t ɞɹzde/ instead of /θɞɹzde/,
/də/ instead of /ð ə/, /n ɑtin/ instead of /nə θiŋ/, /cloz/ instead of /cloðz/, and /noɹt/ instead of /noɹ θ/.
This is probably due to pho nological transfer, which occurs when language learners transfer
some of the features or aspects of their first language to their interlanguage grammar, and then to
their second language (391); most Asian languages (and languages in general) don't have the /ð/
or /θ/ sounds, which are considered marked and can pose a learning curve to English language
learners (396 -398).
Also, some students had issues adding appropriate suffixes to plural nouns and past or
present tense verbs, such as in the phrases “the t ax ” instead of “taxes, ” “ the economy very crowd
fast ” instead of “the economy got crowded very fast, ” “ they relies ” instead of “they rely, ” “ to
village ” instead of “to villages, ” “ the church are making part of this ” instead of “churches are
participating i n this, ” “ they build church ” instead of “they build churches, ” and “church are
helping ” instead of “churches are helping. ” After some research, I learned that the Chinese
language doesn't usually mark singular vs. plural nouns, but rather they are supposed to be
inferred from context, which may be why some students had a problem with this (Guo).
Another big linguistic feature common to these students was dropping off consonant
sounds at the end of words. Some examples I noticed were /en/ instead of /ænd/, /ʃyd ɪn/ instead
of / ʃyd ɪnt/, /n ɑ/ instead of /nɑt/, /kɑ/ instead of /kɑz/, /don/ instead of /dont/, and /wɑɪ/ instead of Oliver 3
/wɑɪt/. Most Asian words and syllables don't end in consonant sounds, except sometimes in /n/ or
/ŋ/, which is why I suspect that this is another example of phonological transfer (O'Grady et. al.
400).
Furthermore, I noticed some issues with stressed vs. unstressed syllables. One examples I
found was:
u / u instead of / u u
prɛdətɹ prɛdətɹ
After some research, I discovered that Chinese and most other Asian languages do not
have particular rules on stressing or unstressing syllables, which is why it can be difficult for
second language learners to conform to the English rules (“Comparison of English and Chinese
(S uprasegmentals ”).
Finally, these students occasionally pronounced the / ɪ/ sound as the /i/ sound, like in /bizi/
instead of /b ɪzi/, /int ɹod əkʃɪn/ instead of / ɪntɹod əkʃɪn/, /in/ instead of / ɪn/, and /ðis/ instead of
/ðɪs/.
ESL Listening and Speaking Course
Introduction:
On 11/13 and 12/4, I visited a novice -high ESL class at Evergreen Valley College , taught
by professor Erika Lawson . This listening and speaking course has about fifteen students, most
of whom are Asian (particularly Vietnamese), but a coupl e are Filipino or Hispanic. Surprisingly,
the students often speak in their native languages to each other, rather than attempting to
complete activities or exercises in English, and frequently speak over the instructor. I suspect that
most of the students possess instrumental motivation to learn English, perhaps to complete a Oliver 4
college degree or get a job they need (O'Grady et. al. 412); but because they already have a
strong community of people speaking their native language, they aren't very motivated to l earn
English for personal or conforming reasons. Unfortunately, because of this, I noticed that the
students would make the same mistakes over and over again, even after being corrected by the
instructor.
Description, Evaluation, and Analysis:
As with the other class, these students tend to drop off the last consonants of a word,
some examples being h ɑɪki/ instead of /hɑɪkiŋ/, /kɑɹ/ instead of /kɑɹd/, /wek/ instead of /weks/,
/spo/ instead of /spoɹts/, and /fɑɪ/ instead of /fɑɪv/. Due to the high percentag e of Asian students
in this class, I would suspect the same underlying reason for this common problem.
Additionally, one young, female Philipino student had a good American accent but tended
to slur her words. Some examples I noticed were / ɪs/ instead of /ɪts/, and /s əd3 ɛkt/ instead of
/səbd3 ɛkt/. Some examples of slurred words from the other students were /w ɪ/ instead of /w ɪθ/,
/bɛkf ɪst/ instead of /b ɹɛkfɪst/, /kw ɛʃɜ ns/ instead of /kw ɛstʃɪns/, /g ɹændf ɑɹ/ instead of /gɹændfɑðɛɹ/,
and /dɑdə/ instead of /dɑ dəɹ/. I think that if the students slowed down and made the effort to
enunciate each individual sound, as opposed to rushing through words and sentences, their
speech would be much less slurred and more clear.
A syntactical issue I noticed was constructing a sentence like “Subject – verb –
preposition – gerund ” instead of “Subject – verb – gerund ” or “Subject – verb – preposition –
present tense verb. ” Some examples I noticed include “go to shopping ” instead of “going
shopping, ” “ we like to socc er and going fishing ” instead of “we like to play soccer and go
fishing, ” and “we like to drinking coffee ” instead of “we like drinking coffee. ” There were also Oliver 5
some difficulties with remembering to put prepositions in the right sentences and using the
app ropriate prepositions in context, such as “listening song ” instead of “listening to a song, ” “ on
a desk ” instead of “at a desk, ” “ go to home ” instead of “go home, ” and “what do you watch
TV? ” instead of “what do you watch on TV? ”.
Next Steps
Based on the information I've gathered and processed from visiting these two separate
classes, I would suggest the following next steps for the students' English language learning:
1. Consider their personal motivation for learning English and, if possible, increase
intri nsic and integrative motivation by visualizing how they will be able to fit into the
American culture better once they become more proficient in English.
2. Practice the internal changes and added suffixes that turn present tense verbs into past
tense and singular nouns into plural nouns, by reading, writing, and speaking in English.
3. Learn how to physically produce the /ð/ and /θ/ sounds by watching tutorial videos,
working personally with the instructor, and listeni ng to others speaking English.
4. Practice ending words with consonant sounds and, when possible, thinking about the
syllables in ways that make more sense to their native language (e.g. “God is ” can be
thought of as /G ɑ dɪz/ by Chinese speakers).
5. Learn the p urpose and significance of stressed vs. unstressed syllables and how they
differ from, for examples, tones used in the Chinese language; additionally, practice
putting the correct stress on each syllable by speaking English, and practice marking
which syll ables were stressed after listening to someone else speak English.
6. Review proper grammar and syntax of sentences, especially those which contain Oliver 6
gerunds, present participle verbs, or prepositions.
7. Practice speaking more clearly without slurring or omitting sounds entirely. Oliver 7
Work Cited
“Comparison of English and Chinese (Suprasegmentals). ” The Education University of Hong
Kong , A Corpus -Based English Pronunciation Learning Website, ec -
concord.ied.edu.hk/phonetics_and_phonology/wordpress/?page_id=443.
Guo, P hilip J. “Common English Mistakes Made by Native Chinese Speakers. ” Philip J. Guo ,
Dec. 2008, www.pgbovine.net/chinese -english -mistakes.htm.
O'Grady, William, et al., editors. Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction . 7th ed., Bedford/St.
Martin's, 2017 .
