`Helen Snelgrove

Deborah Oler

Language and Language Development

December 6, 2020

Final Project

In taking this course it has challenged me to truly reflect on my “truth”, or what I have learned -

or just knew - my entire life. It has made me truly examine things I thought I knew, and to fully

emphasize that there are still so many things for me to learn not only as an educator, but as a

human being. In this paper I will reflect on my experiences in this course and the timeline of my

thinking showing the evolution and development that I have inevitably gone through by

acquisition of new information.

What is Language?

At first this seems like a simple question that one may answer by communicating it is how we

speak with each other, but it goes far beyond that. There is not just one universal language that

all people use to communicate with each other, but there are over 6,000 languages that have

developed, verbal and non verbal included. Within each of these languages, they individually are

constantly evolving and shifting due to cultural norms that influence them, but they also

inherently have their own grammatical systems to follow in the execution of each language. In

my initial understanding of language, I knew that there were multiple forms of language and

communication, however I did not realize just how many there were. In communicating with my

classmates and continuing my exploration and acquisition of knowledge about what “language”

is, I found the idea of language or vocabulary specifically being dependent “on your own (or the
lexicographer's) understanding of the construct," (p.6) to be a driving theme. Before this class, I

had never really questioned how words developed, or why, or who chose the words to mean what

they do. It was through continued reading and conversation that I realized we do, the people

using the language, and the communities the languages are spoken in are influential in creating

meaning behind words and those words are constantly evolving and changing to reflect the

community they are used in.

The Critical Period Hypothesis and Metacognitive Strategies

Building off the idea of what language is, it is important to examine how one can learn or acquire

language or multiple languages. In the realm of learning in general, I believe that there is a

critical period for students to acquire information, however, I personally believe that this has to

do with the stimulation that is provided. As I mentioned in my discussion post, although I believe

a critical period does occur, I believe that depending on the child's environment, whether it is full

of stimulus or not, can largely impact this period of when children can just absorb information

Brown states that, “Young children are generally not ‘aware’ that they are acquiring a language,

nor are they aware of societal values and attitudes placed on one language or another,” (p. 61).

The way in which children are acquiring a language, societal values, and attitudes placed on one

language or another are by being immersed in those environments. If a student is not immersed

in an environment where all of these factors are directly emphasized, a child may not acquire as

much information as they could be in a more stimulating environment. This has only become

evident to me quite recently in the reflection of my life through what we have been asked to

question or reflect on in this class. By being immersed in more cultures, I have opened myself up

to what I would hope to call my critical learning period, as I have been able to question what I
have always thought and see that what I believed was my “truth” might not actually be it. I have

seen the same transformational thinking through my classmates recollections and responses of

their stories. Bramaramba Pandi mentioned that, although she wanted to learn Spanish and

enrolled in community college courses, she found herself struggling compared to the younger

students that were in her class. Although Bramaramba wanted to learn this information, I wonder

if she was fully immersed in the culture if she would have had an easier time, or gone through a

critical learning period due to the increased stimulation where more acquisition of this language

would have occurred.

What does it mean to know a word?

In discussing what it means to “know a word” I found myself dumbfounded in the fact that I had

never really questioned before what it means to know a word. I always had just considered

knowing a word, knowing how it is spelt, how to say it and it’s definition, but this week's

discussion and readings showed me that it goes way beyond that. Knowing a word is knowing

every aspect of that word, from its smallest unit of sound, to the smallest unit of meaning, to

where it originates from and what it means when combined with other words or spoken in a

specific tone. Not only are these aspects important to know a word, but understanding that your

perception of a word may not always remain the same. Words and language are constantly

evolving and we need to be open to understanding that how we know a word today is in almost

every instance going to change.

How does this relate to the Power of Babel?

The Power of Babel has taught me to understand language at its basic form; to portray

information in a concise manner. It has taught me that there is no correct use of any one

language. Opening my mind, it has allowed me to focus on how any use of language portraying

meaning can be the “correct” use of language. Therefore as long as my students are able to

convey their understanding or meaning they are “correct.”

In Conclusion

These past four weeks have truly excited my need and want to continue learning and exploring

language and all that there is in language development. My understanding of subjective realities

has only increased through the reflection of my classmates and what language means or has

influenced them. This has opened me up to continue to question my teaching and continue to let

that evolve in how I perceive student work as well as convey information. I understand that my

knowledge of language and what I know through only understanding one language greatly

influences how I teach and how I understand what my students are trying to convey through their

learning. I believe that what I learned was in my Zone of Proximal Development, as through

guidance and reflecting on my classmates' answers I was able to formulate opinions and question

my knowledge and learning that I might not have otherwise done.