As I reflect on past experiences of language learning in a classroom setting, my attitude towards language learning has been influenced, I believe, to be very negative. This was first enforced by the social and academic environment of the class. The Spanish classes that I took in high school and even in University of Richmond were full of students who were only taking it because they had to. Due to this mentality, none of the students were motivated to become fluent in Spanish and thus would never practice speaking outside of class and engaging with someone of a different culture.
This reluctance to learn a language was also influenced by the fact that these students also had never been exposed to different languages as they grew up unlike me. As missionaries from South Korea, my parents had always talked to me in Korean as I grew up. I think because I was exposed to Korean I was genuinely more interested in learning another language like Spanish. I believe this was because I enjoyed the moments of recognition of something said in a different language. It intrigued me how I was able to translate a message so quickly. As I tried to learn a little Korean from my parents, I also learned a lot about Korean culture such as subtle social hierarchies and different dialects as well as differences between grammar structure and tone compared to English. The ability to speak in a different language doesn’t only allow you to speak different words but to also connect with a different world. However, my excitement was dampened by the attitude of fellow students as well as the way the language was taught.
Unlike in the way that I learned Korean which was through conversations with my parents and guessing through context clues, I learned Spanish in a very rigid structure. Although I like structured learning such as learning vocab and understanding grammar structure before speaking, it felt very purposeless as many of the phrases we were learning weren’t practical in social situations. This very detailed attention to grammar and vocab also made me afraid to speak and make mistakes as I would feverishly focus on putting together the perfect grammatically correct sentence. I also disliked speaking as I made a lot of mistakes and was out of my comfort zone. However, I hope through self-learning Korean with methods that work best for me and my own motivation I will be able to change this negative perspective and gain fluency in the end.
Academically, I’ve dominantly been a factual learner. I learn best when there is a clear structure and progression in learning concepts. I’ve seen this in the way that I like math and how most equations will lead to one definitive answer. I will often memorize key definitions and concepts and use repetitive worksheets or activities to build my understanding. These kinds of activities lend well to my visual side of learning as I learn best when I write stuff down, draw graphs, use flashcards, and visualize concepts in my head. I also am, by nature, very introspective so when I learn I often mull the concepts in my head to reflect on what I understand and to try and figure out that of which I didn’t understand.
In addition to memorization and worksheets, I could expand my learning activities by organizing my understanding of concepts out loud. This would greatly benefit me as it would be repetitive and allow me to reflect in a more organized and concrete way. I also should speak with native speakers like my parents and friends to put into practice the concepts and words I’ve been memorizing to build my understanding and fluency.
Comments
Excellent post, Mary. Language learning tends to be a difficult process, especially in the largely monolingual cultural context of the US. Initially, I also had negative experiences in the language classroom, but I managed to regain a love of languages by working with motivated teachers, colleagues, and classmates, and also by realizing that there was nothing stopping me from investigating my own global interests and curiosities using the wealth of resources provided by university libraries and the internet as a whole. We'll talk more about how a lingua franca can often work to the detriment of intercultural competence and diversified linguistic proficiencies. It's a tremendous problem for students to think that Spanish only assumes relevance within the confines of an academic course. There are seemingly unlimited opportunities for students to activate their Spanish skills, and to find exposure to new communities, artistic resources, and learning opportunities that they otherwise would not have as a direct consequence of their studies.
It's fantastic that your parents served as missionaries, and raised you with Korean at home. Do you consider yourself bilingual? How did you glean the social hierarchies and dialectal differences from the vantage point of the US? Have you traveled to Korea? How will these conceptions influence your acquisition efforts?
Learning a language always comes with risk, and performativity takes on an important role in your progress. Students often succeed by assuming a new identity relative to their target language and culture of study. Also, you can't be so hard on yourself for mistakes. The new identity is one constructed step by step, and mistakes help elucidate areas for improvement. Based on my own experience, studying linguistics has made public speaking a bit harder for me, because it has stimulated a kind of hyper-consciousness that causes me to reflect almost constantly on the structural components of my speech and internal narratives as primary reflexive mechanisms, more so than the instinctive act of communicating. With any luck, your introduction to linguistics will not supersede or increase the difficulty of your willingness and ability to communicate meaningfully, but you should try your best not to let mistakes get in the way of your interpersonal listening, speaking, and writing.