Running head: Language Acquisition Autobiography 1

Majda Mardini

Los Angeles Pacific University

Language Acquisition Autobiography

ENGL 420 Princ of Lang

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Language Acquisition Autobiography

​I was the first child in the big family, which contained mom, dad, grandmother,

grandfather, uncle, and aunt. We were all living in one big home. So when I opened my eyes to

this life, I was surrounded by substantial caring hands and hearts. They were all happy to have a

baby in the house. So can you imagine how many words of language this little brain can get

every day? I was a fast speaker, as my mom said. And all of my first words were clear and

correct. And she said that I had a significant amount of vocabulary in my bank at the age of two.

I remember my mom reading to me while lying down to sleep. My dad was the

person of the Literacy in our house; I always remember my dad sitting down with his book in his

hands. The picture of my dad always comes to my mind with his book. He had a big library in

the house, and he still has it. He encouraged us to read, and even he used to discuss various

topics with us to increase our information on different subjects. However, my preschool teacher

that I can't forget was the best story reader. She had many kids' books on her classroom shelves,

and we were able to get any of them to read and share with our friends. However, the strong oral

language skills that I have right now are the basis for literacy development. Because when

children learn to read at an early age, they have more excellent common knowledge, increase

their vocabulary, and become more fluent. They also have improved awareness spans and better

attention. Early age is the most successful way to help them develop their

language and recognize printed words.

That's why I always like to say, from the moment my Children are conceived

until they will no longer allow me to read with and to them. I will give them the gift of Literacy,
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which will serve them their entire life. When children are learning new words, they expand their

vocabulary, which means they will use it to improve their communication skills. Then, to build

our child's language and help them learn new words, we need to teach them how to read; the

more words they understand, the more they will use. We have to encourage them to look it up

then they know more about the world around them; we see that child's language escalation is the

way to show the child achievement in the school. And the amount of a child's vocabulary at an

early age expects his ability to learn languages.

Therefore, I was 30 years old when I came to the USA with my husband and my

four-year-old son. I was an Arabic language teacher in my country Syria. I taught high school

students for eight years. Then, it was tough for me at the age of thirty to start from the beginning.

I could not put words together to speak English; I needed a lot of practicing and studying. So, I

went back to college to learn my second language. English was my second language. I did study

vocabulary, grammar, writing, reading, and speech too. I did not take a long time to get it, but I

am still not fluent after 13 years. I still need a lot to be professional.

At the beginning of the learning period, I remember reading in the book without

understanding every word, or even sometimes I know the words, but I don't know what the

sentence needs to tell us about. That is what we call the difference between reading and Literacy,

"Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak, and listen in a way that lets us communicate

effectively and make sense of the world by understanding everything we read. "(​Rizwan​, 2020​)

Now, as a teacher, I need to be ready to teach this language. Teachers are an

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essential part of the community, and they can lead and be involved in the community. the

children have good language skills, if schools and families work together to develop plans to

support the children. Many years of research have shown that partnerships between schools,

families, and communities contribute to improved student achievement and higher performance

(Henderson & Mapp, 2002). These days are a good example; studying online puts a lot of work

on the parent's shoulders to help the child in his education path. The school this year will make

teachers and families work together even more than before. So, family and community play in

the achievement of academic success. "Working together, we can achieve far more than any one

of us can achieve alone" (Worrell, 2012). However, children like sponges can absorb as many

words as every day; the more they have adequate words to use, the more they have more chances

to use in their life. Children fall far behind academically if they do not develop these language

skills and access, understand, and analyze information. As a teacher, and after I chose my career,

I found out my big responsibility. "Teaching is recognized as one of the most challenging and

respected career choices, absolutely vital to the social, cultural, and economic health of our

nation." (Lanier, 1997) For all students, language is a vehicle for learning. And through

language, the students access the satisfaction of the lesson and speak about their ideas. As a

teacher, it is my responsibility to make sure that language isn't tricky to learn. By collecting the

power of languages from all of my experiences that I have in my life, I will do my work correctly

as a teacher.

So, when I decided to learn English to use it in my new lifestyle, I knew it

would not be easy. Because of the new language, I have to study the new grammar rules that will

come with much exclusion; then, I need to hear new sounds that will sometimes be hard to make.

I have to know a big list of vocabulary. I will need my whole life to finish reading it, memorize
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it, and see its meaning; then, the critical thing knows when I have to use it. It is really different

from learning the first language that I did not manage learning its basics. I got it without rules or

textbooks. Let me now tell you how I felt at the beginning of my USA life without language. I

did not want to go shopping, take my son to the park, or even eat in the restaurants. I did not

want to because I could not communicate with the people around me. When we have difficulty

understanding others and expressing ourselves, it is normal for people who have problems with a

language with psychosocial and emotional change issues.

From my experience with two languages, I can tell about the language theories; the

Nativist theor​y proposes that we are born with something in our genes that lets us learn a

language quickly. So, babies can learn the first language very quickly because of a physical

reason. But the learning theory of language acquisition proposes that children learn a language

much like they learn to read, count, or even how to tie their shoes; by repeating and

corroboration with others. And the others are parents, guardians, then teachers. The ​sociocultural

theory collects ways to correctly explain the language development process from the sociology

and biology environment. According to this theory, people learn the language out of an

aspiration to communicate with the world around them. And this theory helps to live in the world

peacefully by sharing with others.

In conclusion, by understanding these theories and their concepts, we can know

how essential that language's theories are to explain our observations from the moment we are

born until we are fluent in languages. After studying these theories, I can tell how perfect these

theories are to use in our world to know if the right or wrong language acquisition process is. As

a mom first and teacher second, I will observe the child's learning way. If it goes the same way

that we study these theories, it will be a good sign that the process is on the right track.
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"Language acquisition is a complicated process influenced by the genetics of an individual as

well as the environment they live in." (Khan Academy, nd). Finally, my experience with two

languages makes me teach my kids the two languages too. Because the more you can interact

with people through languages, the more your life gets easier.
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References:

Collier, E. (2019, November 05). ​Why is Reading Important for Children?: Developmental

Effects.​ Retrieved from,

https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/why-is-reading-important-for-children/

Henderson, A. & Mapp, K. (2002). ​A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and

Community Connections on Student Achievement.​ Austin, TX: Southwest Educational

Development Laboratory.Retrieved from:

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED474521

Khan Academy, (nd).​Theories of the early stages of language acquisition. Retrieved from,

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/processing-the-environment/language/a/theories-of

-the-early-stages-of-language-acquisition

Lanier, J, (1997).​Redefining the Role of the Teacher: It's a Multifaceted Profession A closer look

at what being an educator really means.​ Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/redefining-role-teacher

National Literacy Trust, (2017).​What is literacy?​ Retrieved from

​https://literacytrust.org.uk/information/what-is-literacy/

Rizwan​,​ S. (2020). ​Lasting Effects of Covid-19 on World Literacy Rate.It is affecting our future

generations.​ Retrieved from

https://medium.com/illumination-curated/lasting-effects-of-covid-19-on-world-literacy
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