assessment

I. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Rubric
A. Language as an Integrative System
1. Phonology

Growing up as a bilingual child I never realized that there was more to a language than the obvious difference. Of course I could tell the difference between English and Spanish, but what I did not realize was that the two languages had a set of sounds that were specific to that language. This of course applies to all languages and not just the two that I speak. According to Dr. Elena Izquierdo, phonology is the sounds of a language, the rules that govern those sounds. Phonology directly dictates how a person learns a language. All babies are born with the ability hear all the different sounds of any language. Their brains are receptive to learn which ever language he/she is to grow up with. At about the age of 10 to 12 month babies begin to tune out other language sounds, sounds that will not be part of the language he/she will speak (Franco). These sounds are called phonemes and they are the smallest unit of sound that exists within a language. As a child learns their native language, many of the sounds they can produce become developmental; however, the child can hear that specific sound even without being able to produce the sound themselves. Learning a second language, however, differs from this because a child past the age of 12 months has already discriminated against the sounds of their native language. Take English for example, when a kindergarten aged child first learns to read or write, they will use more consonant sounds because to them consonants are more consistent, but a Spanish speaking child will use vowels to guide their learning (Izquierdo). Spanish has only five definite vowel sounds whereas standard English has 11...

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...a 65). Teachers’ language, for example, will be different than the language used by attorneys. Because terminology varies significantly between careers, a second language learner could struggle with learning content specific vocabulary if he/she lacks that vocabulary in their native language. For example, an ELL who has a medical background in his/her country would probably transfer some of that prior knowledge, make connections, and apply it to the new language being learned more than a person who lacks that prior content knowledge altogether. Discourse varieties do not apply college careers only. For example, a mechanic’s vocabulary will differ greatly from that of a factory worker. Both the mechanic at an auto shop as well as a factory worker form a community with his/her peers. The terminology used will differ significantly, because the community s it to do so.