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My background knowledge on the relationship between our brain and language learning was very basic to none- I simply assumed the right hemisphere of the brain was responsible for listening and the left hemisphere was responsible for everything else. I knew there were parts of the brain that were responsible for certain roles, but I did not know which was used for what. But after reading the chapters on how the brain handles language learning, I learned that there were specifics parts of the brain which were responsible for specific aspects, such as Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area. Wernicke’s area, for example, was the most important part for comprehending speech, and Broca’s area was important for encoding. The chapter also mentioned that the area in front of the fissure of Rolando was responsible for motor functioning, which was related to the study of speaking and writing. Although we are not able to sense the process happening in our brains, the brain uses these certain parts of the brain to process the aspects of language learning, showing us how complex our brain and language learning really is.

Since my first language was Korean, I had to translate english words to Korean in order to fully conceptualize and process the meaning and eventually to write and read english. What I did was I used my knowledge of Korean as a basis and translated the english words to fully understand in order to use english in my everyday life. Even while I was learning Japanese, I used Korean as the basis for conceptualizing and processing Japanese. However, as I became more comfortable with english, I used english to process Japanese. I surprised myself as I was doing this unconsciously, and is still amazed that the brain had the ability to do so.

The readings taught me that while some words in some languages could be similar to other words in other languages, all languages are slightly different and their words have different meanings. This motivated me to actually learn new languages in the future, and while I could use Korean or english to process other languages and use them for my understanding, each language would still be different.

If you take apart the brain, it is hard to distinguish one part from the other. Looking at the cerebrum, cerebellum, or brain stem separately, almost everything in each structure looks completely uniform and the same. Yet every part of each of these structures is responsible for the very way we function in our daily lives. This, of course, includes something as complex and important as language.

The concept of cerebral localization is a very important one and the most fascinating to me. Despite everything looking the same in the cerebrum to the naked human eye, if just a certain specific part of the it is damaged, the entirety of a certain system of functioning in your brain runs the risk of falling apart. In the case of language ability, this includes Broca’s area (responsible for the ability to speak) and Wernicke’s area (responsible for ability to comprehend speech), and other locations as stated in the reading. The articles also go into hemisphere dominance for language. I am right-handed so, according to the article, my left hemisphere is most likely dominant for language. It is interesting reading that left-handed individuals also have a high occurrence of left hemisphere dominance for language when that challenges the general way the body is connected to the brain, or that they even have mixed dominance. Reading the articles and being reminded of these areas inspires me to read about which of Brodmann’s 52 areas of the brain contribute to the various aspects of our language comprehension and production. Perhaps it will help me in my language journey!

The articles also spoke in length about what meaning is and how we gather it. They emphasized the importance of reading or listening to sentences in a language rather than just opening up a vocabulary book or dictionary and reading words without any context. Sentences give context to words and allow their meanings to be understood. An example of this, as the articles bring up, is collocations, certain terms or phrases each language uses to describe something that does not mean the literal word. These are very important to truly becoming a native of a language, rather than using awkward robotic words that have incorrect context in a language. I found the example of smoking using the same verb for drinking in Japanese really helpful! I experienced this myself when I was taking Japanese.

What the readings showed me, mostly the second and third ones, is how important immersion is in gathering meaning. Me simply writing out vocabulary over and over again will not get me to memorize the word well enough or using the language smoothly. I may very easily not use the word correctly because I won’t understand the collocations of a language if I do not simply just hear what native speakers use. This really inspires me to try and listen to music in Turkish in my free time, as well as try and watch some Turkish shows if I ever get the chance to. The foreign translated TV service our University has seems really cool and useful and definitely a means for me to do this as well!

I was surprised to discover how hardworking and incredible our brains are when it comes to everything we do even language learning. Damage to certain areas of the cortex like Broca's area and Wernicke's area can hurt one's ability to speak or understand speech. The main role of the area in front of the fissure of Rolando concerns with motor functioning, which relates to the study of speaking and writing. Wernicke's area, the upper back area of the temporal lobe, is known for handling the comprehension of speech, while Broca's area plays an important role in the encoding of speech. How one learns a language is much more complex than we think. We tend to take the brain for granted.

Because different languages have different ways to talk about the world, it is important to expand our view by learning another language. This allows us to realize that others view the world differently. By learning more than one language, we are then able to conceptualize or process meaning from more perspectives and possibilities. Learning about this motivates me more to continue learning Japanese and Korean. Sometimes, I used to think about whether if it is meaningless to study a language that is not very practical to use in your everyday life. Now, I want to be fluent one day. To reach that level, I wonder how one can retain what one has learned and be able to fluently speak a language that hasn't been used in a while. I sometimes worry about forgetting everything I've learned.

Growing up, I’ve always learned that the brain is composed of two parts, left and right, each handling their particular functions. The left brain is responsible for the logic, mathematics, research-oriented and analytical thinking, whereas the right brain is more visual and intuitive, specializing in creative thinking and the like. However, in reality, the brain is much more intricate and divided into further breakdowns that stores memory, determine personality, individual preferences, and learning style. The production of speech requires an extensive neurological planning and execution. For speech production, the “thought” generation is done in Wernicke’s area and sent to Broca’s area for encoding. For speech comprehension, the process is also done to Wernicke’s area. Reflecting on my own process of learning English, I started off with processing meaning by translating it to Mandarin in my head and translate my response to English when I reply. But as I get more accustomed to English, my brain start processing primarily in English but sometimes also Chinese. I believe this will be more beneficial while learning Korean because of the extra ability to interpret meaning of polysemic words in both languages. These readings recalled the Ted talk by Benny Lewis, both that article and the talk suggested that there is great advantage in breaking down a big word into meaningful, understandable words that convey the same meaning. This reading also brings to mind the theory that your brain is more susceptible to language learning when you're younger because of the flexibility and relative thinness of the neurons. However, as Benny Lewis has suggested in his TED talk, it is a common excuse for adults to refrain from learning a language and should be avoided, it is merely a matter of dedication and utilizing effective methods, such as daily interactions with the target language.

            I have been a learner of the French language on-and-off since 7^th grade. In the 8^th grade, our French II class went on a week-long field trip to Quebec City to learn about French-Canadian culture and history. This was my first exposure to native French speakers, and our teacher encouraged us to utilize our fledgling French skills in our interactions with native speakers in restaurants and shops. Due to my self-consciousness about the novice level of my French skills and my noticeably foreign accent, I was often responded to and often continued conversations in English. Nonetheless, this experience made me all the more interested in continuing learning French, in order to return to a Francophone country at some point in the future and be able to engage in more culturally immersive – and more personally enriching - activities. I continued my French study throughout most of high school, but the higher-level French teacher at my high school, due to his lack of respect for students and overall nasty attitude, dissuaded me from continuing my studies there. Thus I took a break from French instruction from senior year until sophomore year of college, when I tested into French 221 (by the skin of my teeth) to complete the COMM2 requirement.

            I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in 221, and while it took some time to dust off my once-dormant French language skills, I was delighted at how quickly the results of my prior French language coursework returned. Reacting well to the immersive aspect of daily instruction and exposure to written and spoken French, I found this course to be the most productive as far as grasping of difficult grammatical and structural concepts. The almost exclusive use of French by Dr. Raymond and my peers in the classroom provided me with many examples for pronunciation and listening comprehension. As I am predominantly an audio-visual learner, I feel that my accent while speaking French is one of my strong suits related to the language. My primary complaint, which is common throughout all the French study I have undertaken, is the relative time spent listening to French spoken by non-native speakers – often at a much slower pace and with individually enunciated words – in comparison to French spoken by native speakers, with its rapid sentence delivery, slurring together of sounds, and use of conventional slang. I have attempted to ameliorate this perceived lack of exposure to native-spoken French by listening to French-language music and watching French films; naturally it will require immersing myself in a Francophone country for some time to feel comfortable conducting conversations exclusively in French.

            I have found my study of French to have had a positive effect on my (admittedly novice) comprehension of other romance languages as well. My grandmother emigrated to the United States from Brazil in the 1960s, and throughout my young life I spent large amounts of time around family and friends who are native speakers of Portuguese. Before I began to learn French, the Portuguese language (beyond simple greetings, expressions, and names) was baffling to me. Because my mother spoke the language in a strictly conversational manner and was illiterate in Portuguese, she decided that it’d be best not to learn it from her. However, after learning French for an extended period and reaching a point somewhere between conversational and fluent, I have found myself able to understand a lot more of what is being said by my Portuguese-speaking family. This is likely the result of simply being immersed in it my whole life in addition to studying a romance language; nonetheless, it gives credence to the idea that languages are connected and that once one gains proficiency in a second language, continuing towards the goal of being a polyglot becomes much more realistic

            Although Bahasa Indonesia is a language family largely devoid of shared influences to English and French, the fact that the languages all share the same alphabet is an advantage for me, as the hurdle of learning a new alphabet seems like a huge challenge to gaining comfortability in a new language.

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            The only language I ever really learned was Latin.  I took Latin for four years in high school, and I did very well, and could almost speak it.  A dead language does not provide many other speakers to talk to, of course, but after learning as much as I could, I realized that I could understand the Romance languages more easily.  I was by no means fluent in any of these, but could struggle my way through Spanish for a few simple interactions.  The vocabularies’ similarities made me appreciate the connections between languages, but more importantly appreciate the form and structure of inflected languages.  The rules of conjugation and declension strike me as very conducive to learning, and the thrill of discovering and “getting” the rules to a language, and being able to gracefully identify and adapt words to flow in their pattern, became one of the greatest academic and personal joys I have ever experienced.

            On the other hand, I did not enjoy memorizing vocabulary.  Naturally, without a strong vocabulary base, I could not say anything meaningful, but acquiring a useful set was somewhat tedious.  The most frustrating part to memorization was knowing all the exceptions to rules, but I took relief in knowing that I had learned the exceptions to English language rules, so I should be able to do the same with Latin and now Greek.

            I am very much a visual learner, and cannot memorize a word easily unless I hear it repeated many times in context or see it written down once or twice.  AS cliché as it might sound, I learn bet using flashcards, although I almost never use them (I’ve gone through maybe 100 cards since grade school).  Quizzing with cards is very useful when I do do it, but I like to try to “reverse-engineer” a word’s meaning by scouring it for a meaningful shared root in English.  I like to figure things out myself, although I have come to wrong etymological conclusions more than once.  Seeing the word helps it stick more in my head, because although I am far from having a photographic memory, I memorize the shapes of letters and the shape of a written word as a whole, and associate the word and its meaning with the picture in my head.       Secondarily, I like to learn with my hands, kinesthetically, but I really don’t know specifically form that kind of learning will take, but I know that if I am introduced to a specific object, and can hold it in my hands, then its name can stick in my head more firmly.

            We might work on Greek by stepping through books and movies with subtitles.  I think I might even benefit from reading children’s books with pictures, so that I can associate a visual and grammatical experience with each other.  While it might seem childlike, I think it could be the most useful way to learn.  I learned English as a child this way, and I wound up fluent, so why change what we know works?  Since I know no Greek, I think this would be most effective, since I cannot build higher knowledge from any previous base of simpler concepts.

            I really am looking forward to learning Greek this semester, and while I know I will not become fluent at the end of that time, and probably not even proficient, I enjoy the adventure of throwing myself into an almost completely unexplored (for me) topic, and fighting my way to join others in understanding.  After reading a bit about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, I’m also excited to discover what unseen colors, overlooked nuances, and unfelt emotions I will become privy to during my pursuit of a new language.

My first contact with a foreign language was towards the end of 1^st grade, when my parents found out we would be moving to California for two years and signed me up for English classes. For those two years, I learned English through interactions with classmates and teachers, and with some help from an Australian – Greek tutor. I’ve been speaking English ever since. I started learning French in 4^th grade at a language school in Greece. I continued my French studies until the end of 9^th grade when I got my last French certificate. In 11^th and 12^th grade I took IB Spanish at school, which put me at the same level in Spanish that I was in French. Although Spanish is significantly easier as a language than French, I partly attribute my success in the former to my previous experience with Greek, English, and French.

Throughout my years as a language learner, I drew several conclusions about my learning habits and preferences. One of the first things I noticed was that I am, as the Learning Styles quiz also suggested, a mix of a visual and a tactile learner. I understand information better by writing it out, color coding, visualizing, sitting in the front of the room, but I remember it better if I act it out, walk while reading, or arrange it in thematic groups. A few keys habits/needs I’ve noticed in terms of my learning processes are the following: 1) I cannot memorize information that is typed out or written by someone else – it needs to be my own writing. I am not sure if that is because of my hand writing or the way in which I organize information. In the same vein, I tend to understand and retain information better if it is written in blue ben (if color-coded, the basis color would be blue). 2) No matter how good someone is at explaining concepts, I may understand them I the moment they are being explained to me, but if I don’t go back and rework them o my own, I will rarely remember them. I have the same issue when I don’t understand the reasoning/logical continuation leading to an idea or a result. I have a hard time remembering a fact if the why behind it has not been explained to me in a logical manner. 3) I love trees and charts! If there is a way in which I can depict information in a tree, showing the relations between key ideas, then I will do it, because that is the easiest way for me to understand and remember all the information associated with it. Same for charts; pros and cons are a prime example; I would much rather write them as bullet points in two columns than in a paragraph or sentence(s).

For language learning specifically, I have noticed both with Spanish and English that I learn much faster by being forced to speak (i.e. being thrown into a country that only speaks that language) or by interacting with native speakers; asking them questions, having to paraphrase what I want to say in very simple terms, even including pantomime, because I have no other way of communicating my thought to them. Then what usually happen s is they figure out what I’m trying to say and say it in that language. When this happens, whatever it is I was trying to covey, I will not easily forget later on because much time and attention were spent on it, and I tried to figure it out myself (going back to the learning styles).

Another strategy that I find works really well for me when learning a language (in addition to the ones mentioned before) is listening to songs in that language, looking up the word-for-word translation of the lyrics, and reading along while the song is playing. That way I have the general sense of what the song is about, and more or less what each word means, so when I have to recall said words I will remember them in the context of the song and will hence be much more likely to remember what they meant.

Overall, I enjoy a variety of learning and retaining strategies, general ones but also ones specific to language learning, which I believe I have identified and am hopefully utilizing the correct way.

From my perspective, learning languages is not only just about learning their grammars and vocabularies but also about their unique cultures such as music, traditions, food, etc. According to my own experience, if the lecture is the only way to study a language, the study life would be boring and pale soon.

I have been a language learner for more than twelve years and I have never stopped. When I was in my primary school, I had my first foreign language class, which is English. Learning a language sounds like no fun for a little child. Thus, our teachers used music and cartoons to help us accept English easily. I can still remember that the first English song I learnt was the ABC alphabet song (not sure if the name is right). This song helped me memorize the 26 English characters faster and created a lot of fun time for all the students because at every beginning of the English course, our teacher would ask the whole class to sing it together and she also complimented the one who sang the best. This inspired my enthusiasm to learn English because I really want to be praised! Later, when we had learnt all the characters and some vocabs, our teacher started to prepare new songs for us to sing. The most memorable one for me must be Edelweiss. Our teacher let the whole class saw the film, Sound of Music first and then let us listen to the original soundtrack recording. We learnt Do-Re-Mi and Edelweiss at the class. I, as the representative of the whole class, sang Edelweiss at School’s New Year Party. I felt so honored and pride for myself. I guess that was one of the reasons that English became my favorite subject later. I really appreciate the teacher although she only taught me at my fourth grade. Her wise and amusing teaching method helped me have a really good start at my language learning life.

Because English was one of the main subjects in China, just like math and Chinese literature, all the schools attached a lot of importance to it. This led to students were given a bunch of assignments every single day and were asked to go to cram schools. They did help me master the grammar system easier but I felt I could not just did this type of boring and repetitive practice. In order to maintain my enthusiasm toward English learning, I started to find something entertaining by my own. Therefore, I began to watch various American TV series, such as horrors, romantics, detectives etc. I still remember The Vampire Diaries used to be favorite. I tried to mimic their tones and pronunciations and I discovered my speaking English was improved in a short time.

Knowing what kind of leaning method is the best for me, when I study other languages, they work the same. As for Japanese, I started to learn it last year in U of R from zero. While learning the grammar and vocabs systematically with Prof. Suzuki, I watched Japanese films and cartoons that I thought interesting and tried to listen to some Japanese music as well. Moreover, I caught the chance to take part in the summer study abroad program in order to experience the culture and learn Japanese easily. I’ve been there for about two months, living in a local family’s home. Every day I ate with them, watched the World Cup with them and shared our own experiences. I thought this is a valuable experience for me. Knowing the Japanese well and how the local people live seems like have nothing to do with my own Japanese learning, but I know it matters a lot. Thus, I decided to continue my Japanese learning this year, trying to challenge a higher level of courses.

According to the Fire Model, from my first language learning experience at primary school I am a typical Evaluative learner. I prefer to learn in a personally pleasing environment and I enjoy recognition is given by teachers. I am also a visual learner which is surprised to me because I thought I am an auditory learner, but it is true that I like write something down during the lecturing time and always be distracted easily. And my strength in studying language is musical and social. It is true. I enjoy working on my tones and intonation compared to study grammar. I like singing along with music and I think I will try to incorporate sounds into my lesson. For example, I think I will listen to some K-pop music and maybe also watch some Korean TV series to help study easier.

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            I have studied several languages, so I will comment on various aspects of each.

            My first exposure to a foreign language was Latin in middle school. Seeing as I was homeschooled, and Latin is not exactly a popular course to offer outside of private schools, I simply had a textbook, a notebook, and my brain to help me. Needless to say, languages, even dead ones, need some social interaction for learning to take place! I did not make it very far in Latin simply because I did not have purpose or motivation.

            Off and on from middle school through college I studied Spanish. I always learned through classes, and really loved the camaraderie of the classroom experience. I also frequently practiced my Spanish with native speakers. What I disliked most about this method of studying Spanish is the same thing which pushed me to the greatest level of proficiency I have in any foreign language: the rigidity of the syllabus. Although annoying, I have to admit that having external motivation and requirements is helpful.

            Starting in high school I became a total language nerd, and chose Arabic as my linguistic passion of choice. Once I learned the script, I used to frequently read the Arabic-English dictionary for fun. I loved being able to write in what felt like "code language" that only certain people could understand. Sometimes I would even write in Spanish in the Arabic script, to make myself feel like a top-secret spy! I spent hours each week with Arabic immigrants, teaching them basic English while I grasped at basic Arabic. I would probe them over and over, "Ana ekol... Heya tekol... Howa...??...." ["I eat, she eats, he ??"] trying to understand the underlying grammar rules before I found them in my textbooks. I can only describe what I was doing as play – practicing the language simply because I loved it and without ulterior motive.    

            I spent a few weeks each attempting Japanese, Korean, French, and, for a brief few moments, Zulu, but without proper support and motivation I gave up quickly. Motivation is important!

            To reflect on my language learning style, I learn best in a supportive environment with a very patient language partner. It is important to me that I can immerse myself, even becoming as a child, in the language and culture. I like learning "street language," possibly because I've gotten laughed at plenty by native speakers for speaking "properly" in their language! I dislike being forced to learn concepts which I do not find useful, and I dislike producing work, such as papers or speeches, which do not have practical purpose for existing.

            I tend to approach grammar by simultaneously memorizing overall ideas and specific words, especially verb tenses, before I learn the rules that govern them. I enjoy exploring "what if" and "why" questions, or what I call playing with the language. I do enjoy open-ended questions in language exams. After all, language as an academic discipline is uniquely real, practical, and messy. According to the FIRE model, my preferences would indicate I am closest to the Rational thinker.

            According to the surveys I completed, I am an auditory learner and my top three intelligences are Music, Self, and Nature. I do enjoy learning texts through music – I will dedicate hours to imitating the lyrics to a song if I like the music. I also enjoy spending time by myself to study grammar and practice talking to myself in the language. One specific resource which I have found helpful for picking up the functional basics of a language is Pimsleur audio courses. Furthermore, although the surveys didn't demonstrate this, I am also a very visual learner and find it helpful to write down and then read what I am learning.

            I think to expand my learning activities for Hindi, I should push myself past my fear and shyness to practice with more Hindi speakers. Thankfully, I know plenty of them! I also plan to use online platforms, such as Mango and Duolingo, which I have not yet used seriously. I plan to meet with Atul, my language partner, twice a week and learn as much as possible from interacting with him. I also plan to continue to read my Hindi textbooks and practice what I learn from them. Most importantly, to learn Hindi I plan to have scheduled study and practice sessions, with clear and precise goals.

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Rote memorization and reading textbooks are helpful when I learn about accounting or economics, but for languages, it was best for me to learn with my ears and eyes. I always have thought that people were either a visual, auditory, and tactical learner, but instead of one or the other, people can be a mix of all three. My results from the Learning Styles quiz demonstrated that I was 45% visual, 30% auditory, and 25% tactical, and from the FIRE model it seems like I am more of a mix of factual and evaluative. From my experiences, knowing one’s learning style and implementing effective activities that suit it speeds up the language learning process and prevents burnout.

I have had the experience of learning Spanish, Japanese, and Korean, and I have realized that the most important factor of how successful one would be when learning a language, especially independently, is how interested and passionate one is in that language. I was forced to learn Spanish from fourth grade until ninth grade. I did not want to learn it, and I had no interest in it. Until my freshman year in high school, I dreaded attending my Spanish class. I did not understand it. It was a mess. After I was done with Spanish, I realized that I wanted to learn Japanese, but it was unfortunately unavailable at my school. So, during tenth grade, I decided that I was going to learn it on my own.

It was challenging. The 3 writing systems in the language were already overwhelming. I couldn’t move ahead to learning more grammar and vocab since I wasn’t even able to read or write. For about a year and a half, I learned by listening. I watched Japanese YouTubers and Japan travel videos almost every day. The summer after senior year, I planned to travel there with a few friends after visiting Korea. To prepare, I downloaded an app called Memrise, which extremely helped me recognize and ultimately memorize Hiragana and Katakana. I was actually able to read some words. Then for my freshman year at the University of Richmond, I registered for Japanese 101 and 102. Here, I discovered that not only was I a visual learner, but also an auditory learner. I learned the language much faster and more easily when I didn’t take notes in class and instead focused on what the professor was saying. Immersing myself into the language by listening to it as much as possible helped me improve my Japanese.

Even for Korean, I aim to call and text my parents as much as possible in order to practice my speaking and writing skills. I also watch Korean dramas and variety shows so I constantly listen to Korean, learning new vocabulary while also being entertained. On YouTube, I watch Korean YouTubers and read the comment section, helping me practice my reading ability. Attending school on the other side of the country far from home makes it very difficult to practice Korean especially since I have no reason to speak it here. However, I am constantly attempting to at least maintain my Korean speaking, reading, and writing ability. Although it is challenging to juggle learning two languages at once, seeing my progress and realizing how much I improved gives me satisfaction and pride.

My family is from Bangladesh but I grew up in the United States. As a child, my parents always spoke to me only in Bengali because they wanted me to be fluent in Bengali. My parents believed that I would be able to learn English on my own through conversations with my friends, television, and especially in school. Therefore I simultaneously learned English and Bengali when I was growing up. Before I started kindergarten, my mom started teaching me how to read and write in both English and Bengali; and at this point because I was already conversational in Bengali and was comfortable speaking the language, we would also started using English at home. Once I started elementary school, I primary learned English through my schoolwork and I learned Bengali at home.

In middle school, my family moved back to Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, I took Bengali and English classes at school, and that’s how I learned most of the grammar in Bengali. Even though I was learning two languages, and obviously had my own learning style, because I have always been fluent in both Bengali and English, I never really thought of either as having to learn a new language. In high school, I had to take Spanish classes to fulfill my second language requirement (we had moved back to the States at this point). I have very basic Spanish language knowledge from two years of high school Spanish classes. And I think learning Spanish at a later stage in my life helped me to better understand how I learn languages and what kind of language learning activities I like and are effective for me.

I really enjoy reading in my target language. I like reading out loud — this helps me picture what I am reading and contextualize the scene from the book. Even when I am simply learning new words and trying to expand my vocabulary, I like putting the words in sentences and try to come up with a storyline that I can say aloud and remember the proper use of the word.

According to the surveys I took, I am an auditory learner. This makes sense because I always have to say things out loud, or repeat new information over and over again in my head, to remember things better. When learning languages, I also like conversations with a native speaker. I prefer to talk through any obstacles I might be facing. Instead of reading about the right use of words or grammar, I prefer someone explaining why certain grammar rules apply. By the end of this semester I want to be able to have basic conversational knowledge of Korean (even if I don’t know the proper grammar). In order to expand my learning activities, I should start having more conversations with my language partner, or a native speaker, and stop focusing on perfecting my grammar. I also believe I will also benefit from just watching videos in Korean since hearing conversations has always helped me to more easily understand and learn a language.

            As an immigrant at a young age, I came to the United States with no experience in any other language than Korean. In addition, my Korean skill wasn’t much developed as I immigrated at a young age. My verbal skills grew as I continuously communicated with my family. However, as I became more integrated with my new friends, I slowly gained my English skill. The results of both skills were exponential and having someone as a speaking partner always helped the most. Speaking Korean at home truly helped to retain my previous-learned knowledge. But without proper study of the language, my writing skill and vocabulary did not improve as much. As a result, I became more comfortable with English than Korean.

            Continuing on with my education life, I had to learn Spanish in middle school and high school as a language requirement. I took Spanish for six years and stopped once I enrolled in University of Richmond. Spanish was the second and most recent formal teaching of a language and I enjoyed it so much. I was most excited to put the skill in practice. At my summer part time job, I communicated with my Hispanic coworkers and was able to grow a stronger friendship with them. In addition, I would talk to my friend’s parents in Spanish and was pleased to see that I was able to hold a normal conversation with them. For me, putting the acquired language skill in to practice is the most enjoyable thing about learning a language. One thing that I disliked as a language learner is that without these outside-of-class interactions, it is very hard to improve beyond a certain point. I learned that putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation is hard, but it is necessary to reach out and try to practice your learned-language.

            After analyzing my learning skills, I have learned that I am a visual and a tactile learner. I learn by reading and seeing pictures and remember things by sight. I picture things that I learn and primarily use visual methods to learn. On top of that, I am also a tactile learner which means I learn the best by touching and doing things. I remember things by physical movements and physical activities. Some language learning activities that suit my learning style include making flashcards to learn new vocabulary, visualizing new words, and repetition of spelling practice. Furthermore, I am a logical and a mathematical thinker which means I enjoy exploring how things are related, how things work, and critically thinking. Looking for patterns in words and sorting, categorizing, and characterizing word lists will improve my language learning.

            In order to expand my learning activities, I should focus on involving visual and hands-on activities. Integrating pictures and games in to the learning exercises would exponentially help with the learning. In addition, auditory learning is something I lack the most and getting comfortable with auditory learning would help expand the range of activities that I can utilize. Finally, I find self-reflection as a great tool for any type of learning. Setting aside time to reflect on new ideas and information would further improve my language learning process.

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I have been a language learner since I was 10. I was in my third year of primary school when I start to take an English course. The English book is designed to be engaging and interactive. There are four characters in the book and every chapter they have conversations in different scenarios to help students learn. At that time, English is my favorite subject. The learning process is fun, and the teacher encourages us to watch cartoons and listen to children's folk. However, when I was in middle school, the teacher begins to treat English course as an important component of the senior high school entrance examination. The course was not interactive anymore, the teacher emphasized grammar and sentence composition, and students were asked to finish a certain amount of sample tests every day. Since then, my interest in learning English has slacked, and English is no longer my favorite course.

My second language learning experience would be French. I registered in a French course in my last year of high school. At first, I am excited to learn French because of a saying that “French is the most beautiful language of all.” However, the class put too much emphasize on the grammar and the techniques to tackle the French a1exam. I found myself distracted in class often and lost track of the complicated grammar usage.

After taking the learning styles and multiple intelligence survey, I would categorize myself as a factual learner. I would appreciate the study process to be precise, which allows me to understand the process of learning and progress step by step. I expect detailed and precise course descriptions and grading policies, and I would benefit from the exam-oriented reviews. The learning style survey tells that I am a visual learner who learns by reading and seeing pictures. It says that I may have difficulty with spoken directions and may be easily distracted by sounds. Therefore, in my future learning activities, I would achieve efficiency by studying in a quiet environment and use a detailed schedule to track my study process. The multiple intelligence survey shows that I am an interpersonal person since I got 4.29 out of 5 in the social component. The result shows that I am able to develop ideas and learn from other people. Therefore, effective learning techniques would be using my social intelligence to participate in group discussions and one-to-one consulting. The result indicates that the self-directed language course would be a good fit for me since I would have a chance to learn from my language partner, and also observe valuable language learning skills from the weekly group meeting.

My future learning expectation for this course is that I should make detailed plans for each progress and communicate with my language partner to understand my weakness in the learning process. The learning process would be most efficient if I could develop an interest in the language, so I would consult my language partner to find out entertaining methods to get familiar with the language.

            Learning a new language comes in multitude of perspectives other than just characters or symbols making words and sentences. Language involves the cultural, historical, and religious influences and aspects as well.

My native language is Korean, and I started learning English as a secondary language in 6^th grade. Because Korean and English differ both fundamentally and structurally, learning English was extremely challenging. I can almost remember putting words together without any grammatical knowledge and trying to make sentences that only made sense in my head. Constantly talking with my classmates significantly increased the rate I was learning English. After just two short years, I was able to catch up with the rest of my grade and graduate out of ESL.

In high school, I took Spanish as a second language requirement; however, learning Spanish after learning English was much easier as they had similar letters and structures. I exceled in Spanish all throughout high school which made learning Spanish a rather enjoyable experience than a challenge.

To my experience, I learned the most during real world experience. When I traveled to Mexico, my Spanish skills were put to the test; however, I could barely understand the native pronunciation which led to a complete blank mind. As I talked with more and more native speakers, I was able to learn at a much more significant rate than in classroom environment.

With the experience of learning two languages by the time I graduates high school, I can definitely conclude that I enjoy learning a language with a native speaker. Native speakers keep the pace going by pushing me more than what books can teach me. Also, language was only enjoyable when I kept making progress and putting it to real life application.

To my experience, I disliked learning language in just a classroom setting with just books and packets that explain grammar, vocabulary, and rules. Language can get extremely slow when it is taught just like any other classes: lectures, homework, and handouts. Unlike any other classes, language requires you to go out and apply it to real life in order to enjoy it and learn faster. Especially speaking with native speakers as they have completely different pronunciations and the location of accents.

According to the Learning Styles analysis, it concluded that I was a visual learner. Because I’m a visual learner, seeing pictures or color-coding things would significantly assist me in learning as fast as possible. This is a significant analysis as it will influence the way I study new language. Now that I know the best learning style for me, using pictorial or visual aids will boost the rate of which I learn things.

According to the Multiple Intelligences Survey, it concluded that my top three intelligences were musical, body movement, and social. Knowing that musical is the strongest intelligences, I can use music to remember rules, words, or grammars by implementing them into the lyrics and singing along to get it in my head. As for body movement, I can write things over and over again to use muscle memory to remember how to spell words. With social intelligences, it will best for me to study with other people or native speakers to have social interaction.

With various perspectives to tackle learning experiences, I can implement new techniques and skills to ensure that I learn a new language at the most efficient pace.Reflection%20Paper%201.docx

SDLC Reflection paper #1

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.

intro%20to%20self-directed%20language.docx

When I learned my first language, Korean, I felt as if it came naturally to me. I spoke Korean with my family and friends in daily conversations, and then learned to write and understand new vocabularies through flash cards, worksheets and television shows. When we moved to the United States and had to learn english, it was a different and difficult experience. Although it took longer and took more effort due to the differences in those two languages, I used the same methods to learn and study english as I did Korean- through daily conversations, flashcards, and worksheets to improve my skills. Then in high school, I learned Japanese with the same methods which worked really well for me due to the fact that Korean and Japanese had the same roots, and that I used methods that worked on me.

The parts I enjoyed as I was learning a new language was learning through flashcards and worksheets. By learning with flashcards, I truly felt that I could memorize the vocab the most effectively through going over flashcards with somebody. Having the flashcard in front of me truly helped me expand my vocabulary by letting me understand and fix my mistakes right on the spot. The other part of learning I also enjoyed was working through worksheets, and I believe that it helped me with everything across the board- from vocabulary through grammar. While working through the worksheets, I had the time to actually process my thoughts before writing them down, and I believe this helped me improve in that certain language overall. I was comfortable with these methods because it required me to think internally, which was what I was familiar to.

The part I disliked was holding a conversation with a fluent speaker. I knew that this would be the most effective method to improve in speaking, but I just hated making mistakes in front of a fluent speaker. I did not embrace that fact until in high school, but by embracing it and constantly speaking with another person, I was able to improve in speaking, as well as my grammar and accents. Although I was not comfortable with this method, this was one of the most effective methods to improve my learning skills.  

According to the surveys I completed, it stated that I was a visual learner, which explained why I felt using flashcards  was effective for me. It also explained why worksheets worked for me, since I was able to visualize things I was reading, and was effective for me to write things down. According to the FIRE model, I seem to be a factual learner, which means that I like detailed methods such as worksheets, and this seems to describe myself well.

In order to expand my learning activities, I believe that I should go out of my comfort zone to receive the full experience of learning a new language, which would be holding a conversation with a native speaker. Since my preferred methods of learning involves thinking internally, speaking out loud, whether it be by myself or with someone else, would really help me take my learning experience to its full capacity. Also, maybe by helping out somebody else who is less experienced than I am, I would be able to review the concept and understand why that person is having a difficult time learning that certain concept. By learning through methods that I am not completely comfortable with, it could really benefit myself to become more experienced and eventually more comfortable with the new language.

                             Although I have been studying languages since my first Spanish class in junior high school, I did not become inspired by my studies until entering college. I spent five years studying Spanish, received perfect grades, and completed AP Spanish my senior year of high school, but I did not feel as if I could practically use the language or understand native speakers. Primarily, I remember practicing the language through reading comprehension and auditory recall multiple choice tests. I tend to understand topics in a broader sense and can demonstrate my knowledge better through practical application, rather than through detail-focused test taking. Although I was able to excellently read and write the language, I could not speak or understand Spanish in a verbal sense, which was disappointing.

                             After this experience with my first non-native language, I decided to try out something new in college. I enrolled in my first Italian class sophomore year and had a completely different experience with the language. Rather than seeking to memorize large sets of vocabulary or grammar rules, we practiced speaking the language and mainly focused on the key vocabulary that we needed to communicate. The language courses at the University of Richmond are unique in that multiple learning approaches and resources are used. I enjoy textbook memorization, but also appreciate listening to Italian music, studying classical European texts, and watching Italian films. In addition, I enjoy that we heavily practice our written skills and have flexibility in the topics we write about. The integrative approach to learning has made my experience in the Italian Studies department extremely successful, compared to my Spanish studies. In only two years, I feel extremely confident in my abilities.

                             The Learning Survey seemed to confirm all of my beliefs about my preferred learning style and explained the disparity between my two language experiences. My scores came out as follows: 50% tactile, 35% visual, and 15% auditory. The survey identified that my weaknesses may be difficulty remembering things I have seen/heard, learning by listening, and short attention span. I would agree with all of these traits. In regard to successfully learning a new language, the survey made a few key suggestions I would like to adopt: participating in hands-on activities, arranging flashcards to show relationships, and drawing/building to learn. For example, interactive online exercises for vocabulary may be something I take advantage of.

                             I found the Multiple Intelligences Survey to be extremely accurate too in measuring my learning strengths. My top two intelligence categories, Musical and Self, tied at 4.71. I would agree that I am extremely self-reflective and do my best work through personal trial and error, brainstorming alone, and completing independent projects. Also, I do enjoy studying alone, which this intelligence suggests. The Music score seems accurate, as well, considering I play six instruments, choreograph for my dance team, love classical music, and write my own poetry. In relation to my study of Maltese, I hope to incorporate the survey suggestions of journal keeping, small self-guided projects, poetry, and listening to contemporary music in the language.

                             The FIRE Model was interesting because I did not strongly identify with a specific category- I was somewhat tied between Factual and Evaluative which seem to contradict each other. On the other hand, I strongly disagreed with the Insightful and Rational categories. My study methods include completing worksheets, drills, and task-oriented activities. In addition, I need clear instructions and expectations to be able to succeed in a class. From the Evaluative category, I really enjoy problem-solving and sharing personal thoughts and opinions.

                             My key takeaway from this reflection is that although my larger learning plan should be structured and goal-oriented, my individual activity plans should be creative and take advantage of various media outlets. Being able to read the language is one of my primary goals for this semester, but I hope to find effective ways to enhance my auditory comprehension, ability to communicate basic phrases, and written skills.