My language learning process has been going pretty well. I have worked on all four goals that were mentioned in my learning plan: improve listening skills in the northern dialect, be able to fully comprehend tonal marks, increase comfort level in speaking, and expand my vocabulary. As stated in my learning plan, I starting off with learning the tonal marks and have increased my vocabulary through learning a new set of vocabulary each class. I also am doing the free-talk which has helped with improving my speech flow and vocal competency. I haven't worked on improving listening skills in the northern dialect as much as the other goals however. Additionally, in my lesson plan I mentioned that my language partner and I would meet 2-3 times a week, but it's been mostly just 2 times as we are both very busy. Furthermore, we aren't sticking so closely to the timeline I provided in my lesson plan for every class period. For example, sometimes our lesson practice would take longer than expected so our free-talk would be cut short. Other than that I think I've learnt a lot and have made immense progress.
In terms of incorporating SDLC 105 material into my language learning efforts, I've used materials on what type of learner I am to make my learning plan. I also personally found the research of language families informative. For example, that certain sounds in Vietnamese is only used in borrowed words from French. Besides that I haven't really incorporated much of the materials into my language learning as most of it is more theoretical.
I think that language and culture is closely interrelated. Language is used to convey and maintain various elements of culture including ideas and thinking and culture helps shape and mold language. For example, how one refers to themselves differs depending on their age in comparison to who they're speaking with, demonstrate the age hierarchy prevalent in Vietnamese culture.
To improve my communicative competence, I need to expand my communication pool; I need to simulate various situations where I would use the language. Since I only speak to my language partner, I am very used to a more relaxed speaking style. To improve I would need to practice speaking to someone who is a stranger, in a professional setting, to the elderly, to young children, etc. Based on the reading, my learning plan emphasizes discourse and sociolinguistic competence (from most to least in the order listed). It doesn't include though, grammatical or strategic competence. For grammatical, it is because I am at the advanced level in speaking so I didn't feel it necessary to go through the grammar structure of Vietnamese. For strategic competence, it isn't explicitly included, but can be practiced through the free-talk sessions in my lesson plan.
Comments
It's so interesting how well you are doing following your learning plan. It's also intriguing that personal pronouns in Vietnamese change depending on who you are speaking with.