Some thoughts about language and its problems

Hello everyone,

If you didn't grow up in East LA, or if you're new to the area, by now you're noticing the peculiar struggles with English that the students of East LA have.

The kids are designated with a variety of labels that are supposed to give an accurate assessment of their level of English ability, but the truth is that, with few exceptions, they all struggle with standard English. Students designated as native English speakers have many of the same difficulties that ESL students will have. "Bilingualism" (the unconscious mingling of two languages) is common; a large variety of shibboleths (pronunciations and expressions peculiar to a certain region) are used by the entire population; many lack variety in their vocabulary, and most have problems with multiple meanings of words; homonyms (different spelling, same pronunciation), homographs (same spelling, different meaning), and homophones (same sound, different meaning) are particularly difficult.

We need to understand where our students are linguistically (not only where they're designated or even where they should be), and we need to teach them from that place.

Part of this is not making any assumptions about their intelligence or ability to learn.

When I first learned a foreign language well enough to communicate with someone in that language, I remember having a variety of feelings associated with the process. My first feeling was associated with the realization that I spoke like an idiot, even though I knew I wasn't an idiot. When I first began to speak with other people, I was completely aware that they thought I was a bit of an idiot--maybe a child. They weren't in the least impressed by my facility in English, and they were only mildly impressed by my efforts to speak another language. It didn't help that I had excellent pronunciation but poor vocabulary, which meant that I sounded like a native idiot, not a bright foreigner.

I also remember the shock of speaking to people in both languages--English and my foreign language--and finding that I had a sudden understanding of their intelligence communicated in their native language, opposed to my previously incorrect assessment of their intelligence in English. It's a normal phenomenon, but it needs to be consciously avoided.

When I got my doctorate, I was required to read a lot in the target language. I can speed read in English with a decent level of comprehension. In any other language, I am slow, and I still have to sound out many of the words to help my comprehension. In fact, I often read in foreign languages by pronouncing aloud in my head.

Most of our students either approach English as a second language, or come from homes in which English is the second language. I believe that they feel many of the same feelings I felt, especially in their sense of knowing the complexity of their thoughts, but being unable to communicate that complexity. I think they are often frustrated and bored by language that is too fast or too difficult for them, but that they would be able to comprehend completely with only a little help.

It's true that to help them with the language takes time out of other things, but it's also true that to press on with other things when they aren't getting our language is not productive.

I want to spend the next few days talking about some specific language issues.

I would say the same thing in French, but I can't spell it.

Jeff Combe