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My previous experiences as a language learner have always revolved around necessity. I learned different languages because I needed these for communicating with family or to reach a certain requirement academically. I won’t shy away from the fact that I struggled to learn basic Mandarin for years and I still want to learn more about my native language and have much to learn. At this moment, I would like to try to learn a language out of pure interest and see how far that can take me. I do not expect to become a fluent speaker but I think that it will be fun. Although they are not natural languages, programming languages were also fun to pick up and share many similarities as Dr. Marsh-Soloway mentioned. 

Some aspects of language learning I found enjoyable were listening to and watching entertainment in that language. I found most textbook conversations extremely limiting and not at all representative of how most people interacted. The subject of these conversations were often trivial though somewhat necessary to apply the vocabulary of a section. On that note, I did enjoy learning new words and phrases that I could use or see frequently. It gave me a sense of accomplishment that reinforced my memory of that content. 

According to the surveys that I took, I am a visual learner that tends towards the following intelligences: math/logic, self, and language. Using these results, it seems that my approach to learning languages should be like a personal game where I challenge myself with puzzles, use visual aids, and keep track of my progress using a journal. Having that sense of progress and structure will keep me motivated. Since I am a visual learner I can indulge in comics as a medium of learning to a certain extent. In the case of Korean, I can use Naver Webtoons as a source of Korean media to delve into. However, I will still need a direction for formally learning the syntax of Korean and the fundamentals of the language. I plan to explore this more in depth with my language partner.   

The Fire Model seems pretty thorough in exploring interactive thinking so I will go through each number.

1. Rational
2. Rational
3. Rational
4. Rational
5. Insightful
6. Insightful
7. Insightful

According to my results, it seems that my thinking tends towards rational and insightful styles of learning. I am not entirely sure how to interpret this in a way that can be beneficial to my language journey so you are welcome to contribute your insights! 

I believe that I can expand my learning activities by applying what I learned in that language specifically. What I mean by this is that if I learn how to speak in a language, I should speak often in that language to not lose that skill. This sounds trivial but from childhood till now, I have lost almost all my ability to read Mandarin Chinese since I never needed to read it. Everything I looked at was in English so my brain naturally released that accumulated information. But by immersing myself in Korean culture and entertainment, I can always find a way to use it and reinforce what I learned. My main challenge here would be applying speech since I do not have any people that I speak to in Korean yet. I hope that having a language partner to communicate with will encourage me to learn more effectively.

I was first exposed to different languages during preschool, where I would hear english from my school but hear korean at home. Later I was exposed to another language of spanish in highschool. As a language learner I think I mostly enjoyed learning about a new culture that the language brings. I also enjoy experiencing how in the beginning a new language sounds so foreign and you cannot recognize any word. However, as time passes you start recognizing the sound of the language and understand. When I think back I cannot imagine how I felt back when I thought spanish was foreign now that I can pick up phrases that are spoken. It became another part of my identity. 

I think one aspect I disliked about learning a new language was how hard the vocabulary was and how I needed to know a certain level in order to proceed to the next level. When I was learning Spanish in highschool, I did not like how my teacher would just move on to the next topic when I was taking time to digest and make the knowledge my own. Oftentimes, I found myself giving up in mastering the language but to learn enough to be able to complete school work. 

According to one of the surveys, I found out that I am mostly a visual learner. Which means I understand and remember terms by visually seeing through pictures. When I read the list of advice given for visual learners, I was surprised to find how much I was already performing in real life. For example, I usually sit near the front of the classroom to see the board better. I also have thoughts that trail off to an image when I hear specific terms and I avoid distractions during study times. I think in the future I will try some of the other advice given such as using flashcards, drawing pictures to explain new concepts, or color coding my notes. 

On the other survey, I found out that I have strength in music, body movement and social. I think when I am memorizing new words for a language, I should create a song or rhythm so I could keep it permanently in my brain. I think in the future I might use more body language to help me memorize vocabulary in unique gestures. My other strength was social and I tend to love talking to others. I think I should tell a friend what I learned or the words I find interesting to help me practice the language consistently.  

After acknowledging how I learn best, I wanted to use those skills to improve and learn a language. Also, I decided to switch my perspective on how I view learning a language. When I read the articles, I noticed how a lot of people have misconceptions that adults cannot learn a new language. In one of the articles, the phrase “Do not aim for perfection” caught my attention because I did not realize how much I wanted to succeed and have a task perfectly accomplished. I think the most important task is to set a clear goal and find reasons to learn a language. This should be reminded because often it is easily forgotten. Furthermore, I learned that it was easier to learn a language by speaking to someone everyday. I realized that in the past, I always tried to learn spanish and never spoke it out loud with others. Since I have strengths in social, I think I will expand my learning activities by finding someone to talk to in the language I am learning. I will interact with a friend daily to make an environment where I could embrace my mistakes with pronunciations. I might try using mnemonics to memorize words and plan on having short term goals to make sure I feel proud of achieving a step in accomplishing a language. After these readings I really love how my perspective changed for tackling a language with a more positive motive.

When I first moved to America at the age of 10, I had a difficult time learning English. As a native Korean speaker, it was challenging to translate and understand the syntax and grammar. However, I still enjoyed going to school and making small baby steps. I liked talking to my friends even though I could not understand anything, doing group projects, listening to my teachers talk, and just learning how to communicate. I was especially interested in learning more about grammar, different clauses, and structures. When I became fluent in English, I started learning Spanish in high school.  

In high school, we were required to take a language course for two years, so I chose to take Spanish. It did not go as well as I thought, and I did not like it. The structure of the class did not fit my learning style. The teacher had a strong technical background (he was a computer science teacher), so he made the class very technical as well. For example, instead of incorporating visual learning activities and other discussion-based exercises, we would just have to memorize all the vocabularies, different phrases, and conjugations. After, we would get tested on the materials. His teaching style caused me to dislike the class and the language as well. I am still somewhat conversational today. 

Based on my previous experiences, it seems like I was a "Language" learner, meaning I enjoyed talking, reading out loud, and most importantly, writing and journaling. I am motivated by books, records, and anything that creates opportunities for writing. Additionally, I loved writing reflections and summaries, as well as analyses. Furthermore, I seem to be a visual learner as well. I learn by reading or seeing pictures. I like to see what I am learning. I did not really like group discussions because I was not very confident in myself, so I did not encourage myself to speak out and participate. I knew that talking and practicing my English would enhance my skills, but I was afraid to make mistakes. So I disliked the fact that many of my classes forced me to talk in front of others. Like I have already mentioned, I am more of a "Language" learner, so activities that require reading, writing, and speaking would suit my learning style. For example, keeping a journal, reading then explaining or talking it out, and exploring the meaning of words would be some great exercises.

Based on the FIRE model, I seem to be more rational, insightful, and evaluative. I resonate with a lot of the points mentioned in those three columns, especially row 5. I enjoy being following theoretical frameworks and problem-solving. I do not necessarily think I am the best at it, but I have also been practicing case studies, which I enjoy. However, I also appreciate open-ended questions that create opportunities for intellectual discussions in small group settings. I should expand my learning activities by trying to be more factual like being open to having structured, technical, and detailed activities.

In my previous language-learning experiences, I have found that I remember vocabulary very well, but only when written down. I am very much a visual learner, which was confirmed by the Learning Styles quiz I completed today. When I hear something without it being written, it goes in one ear and right out the other. When put in a situation where I am trying to learn something by listening, I attempt to picture the word written in my brain or write it in the air. However, I am really poor at that, which is a challenge for me while conducting online language classes and conversations with Farida. If I didn’t write a word down during the lesson, it will be completely unfamiliar to me the next day. While I was in Italy I was able to practice my learning by listening because I was fully immersed in the language, but I still found myself regularly frustrated by the words that would slip out of my brain day after day.

            Although writing and reading comes much easier to me, the most important aspects of my language use will be listening and speaking. This means that even if I learn the language visually, I have to more-regularly practice my listening and speaking skills. I practiced this with French by reading texts out loud. I also listened to YouTube recordings of Le Petit Prince with the French words displayed on the screen as they were read out loud by a native French speaker. I practiced saying each sentence myself, then listened to the recording and corrected myself, and translated any words I wasn’t familiar with. I found this to be a very effective study technique that I plan to continue with Indonesian. I also plan to use Anki flashcards to increase my Bahasa Indonesia vocabulary and practice saying the words to myself. To translate my visual learning to a listening and speaking vocabulary, I think the best method for me is to combine all three at the same time. I can also do this by using Duolingo, which has an Indonesian language course! I’ve found that Duolingo works best as a supplementary learning device, because it isn’t very good at explaining the grammar rules but offers a lot of opportunity to practice and learn new words. It also practices both reading, writing, and listening for Indonesian, and I’ve already found it useful to supplement Farida’s lessons.

I also discovered from these tests that I am a self-learner, meaning that I prefer to spend time by myself to think things over. This confirms my typical experiences with learning because I usually prefer to review the material by myself between each lessons. Already with learning Bahasa Indonesia, I find that if I do not review the lessons afterwards and rewrite the words I have learned they do not stick in my brain at all. It will be very important for me this semester to practice and review the material on my own, outside of my hours with Farida. I am going to have to practice self-discipline, an aspect of self-directed learning not mentioned in the articles but very important to Learner Autonomy, in my opinion. If I truly want to learn Bahasa Indonesia to an A2 proficiency by the end of this semester, I will have to make myself practice and review the lessons even when I am tired or don’t feel like it. I am unsure of my capacity of self-discipline, but I hope that it will be sufficient and that this course will expand it.

I have been in language classes for seven out of eight semesters of college, so one might assume that language learning is my passion. The truth is that I did not go into college planning to study three different languages. On the contrary, language classes push me out of my comfort zone. I find trying to form new sounds with my mouth in front of other people very intimidating, not to mention the discomfort of not understanding what my peers and instructor were saying. While the languages seem to seek me out rather than the other way around, I have found my language learning experiences meaningful because they help me develop relationships across cultures. I am studying Bahasa Indonesian this semester because I would like to be an English Teaching Assistant there. I think the Self-directed language study will be valuable because I will learn effective pedagogy for my classroom and personal learning. I will probably try to learn more languages in the future: Spanish, because it is widely spoken in the United States, and potentially Latin and Greek if I decide to pursue a Master’s of Divinity after graduation. Given these future language adventures, I will appreciate having the background knowledge of linguistics. 

           My background in art informs my learning style, and the surveys fittingly affirm that I am a visual learner. I know this to be true because I have to write vocabulary down to remember it and enjoy creative projects that allow me to synthesize the knowledge I have learned. In the studio, I am always painting and thinking about different ways to visually represent what I encounter in the world. Because creating supportive learning environments is especially important to me, the integrative thinking method I resonate most with is "Evaluative." This approach is central to my art practice because I look for parallels between the languages I speak and the visual language that I paint with. 

The language classes I have taken in college have created a space that supports the needs of different learners. For example, my German class encouraged students to take the initiative for their own learning by choosing vocabulary words that were relevant to them. During class, we would talk both in pairs, large groups, and online discussion boards. We would also move around the classroom and often write on the whiteboard, which I found helpful since I do not like to sit for long periods. My favorite unit assignment was making a video about what Heimat, or the cozy feeling of home, meant to me. These diverse activities within a single class period helped to make language learning engaging, even though it was difficult at times, and we had to be okay with making mistakes. German Literature was my favorite language class because I got to analyze texts in their original language and learn about the country’s culture through these selections. Even though I still have not been to Germany, these language studies helped inform my interests in other disciplines. 

Studying Italian was a unique experience for me because I was able to learn it in Italy and use my skills to navigate daily life. I was impressed by how quickly I was able to hold a conversation with the natives. The found of forming cross-cultural relationships pushed me to immerse myself in my Italian studies. I found that an effective way for me to practice language learning was to attend church services. I knew what was being said during the service because it was the same format as the ones I attended at home. 

The "12 Secrets to Learning Language" article and my own experience show that continuous speaking practice is the key to learning a language. However, I must acknowledge the reality that I am more of a listener. One-on-one conversations are the most comfortable for me, and fortunately, this is the format I will mainly be using to converse with language partners. Learning Indonesian with Farida six times a week will be the best format for me to develop speaking competency while having the opportunity to learn about her culture in a supportive learning environment. Plus, as someone hoping to teach English in Indonesia, it will be beneficial to have the experience of being taught by someone who was trained in an Indonesian teaching program. I will have the opportunity to apply the learning insights from the surveys to our weekly one-on-one tutoring sessions, where I can propose specific topics for us to talk about and methods for practicing the language. 

In preparation for studying abroad in Italy and applying to be an ETA in Indonesia, I have tried to do informal independent language studies in Italian and Indonesia. However, I had difficulty starting with programs like Duolingo and Mango languages because they do not provide context on the language’s grammar and also do not provide opportunities to apply the language to real conversations. German, which is notorious for its systematic grammar structure, is the first language I learned, so I needed some kind of context for these new languages to make sense. Reflecting on what worked and what did not work in my previous language studies will help me to have a rewarding semester of studying Bahasa Indonesian. Ultimately, I am excited to embark on this new chapter of language learning!