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Reflection: Standard 4.b. Language Proficiency Assessment.

This artifact is taken from the course ESC 760- Second Language Learning and Teaching.
The paper I wrote was an interview of two 8th grade young ladies (one from the Dominican
Republic, and one from Nepal). Both are second language speakers of English. Whats
interesting about both of them is that both have felt some loss of their first language (L1), as
theyve transitioned here to the US and to English.
Marta, the Dominican young lady claims having some English instruction while in the
Dominican Republic. However, once she arrived in the US, the language spoken was rapid and
difficult to grasp. Also academically she struggled quite a bit.
Suni, from Nepal spoke no English when she arrived here but quickly learned by
listening to others, watching movies and mimicking speech patterns. And she most definitely
was challenged academically. She had no reading background and to make matters worse, she
was placed in 4th grade.
What I found with both young ladies was their differences in personality when acquiring
English. Marta is more extroverted and risk-taking. Therefore, she is more apt to inserting
herself in conversations and feels less embarrassed when making mistakes. Furthermore, if shes
unfamiliar with a word shell use lots of hand gestures and synonyms. Somehow she figures out
what is appropriate to say.
Suni on the other hand, is very introverted and takes a lot less risks. Even in her L1, she
doesnt like talk much or initiate conversations. Therefore in English, she exhibits the same
behavior. Her talking with people is limited and generally speaks when spoken to. She has,
however, learned English through a guardian she lived with for approximately 3 years. I think

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this helped her language skills tremendously because of her guardians intentionality in teaching
her English.
This artifact meets the Standard because of its focus on the integration of social and
academic and social language in a range of contexts. And the use of formal and informal tests to
inform instruction. I noticed that while both girls were very proficient in spoken English, their
writing and reading skills needed a lot of polishing. Oftentimes, I sat with them to help with
word choice and basic phonics to assist with writing. Based on what I taught them is what I
assessed. I didnt expect them to perform like their classmates.
Also, I had a lot of informal conversations with them where I provided a lot of corrective
feedback. At times they were reluctant to receive my criticism, but as the year progressed they
grew to trust me more. Consequently, making them open to feedback without embarrassment.
I need to grow in this Standard by familiarizing myself with Asian cultures, such as
Nepal. When working with Suni, there were some cultural idiosyncrasies that I missed. For
instance, Suni barely looked me in the eye when I corrected her behavior or language errors. Im
not sure if this was a cultural piece or just her personality. I lean toward the cultural one. I hope
in the future to have some trainings on other cultures that arent Hispanic (Im familiar with
many of those). I think this will be great value to me as a future ESL teacher.