Teaching and Learning 333: Student Interview

Dr. Nalee Moua

Annie Gbaford
 For this ELL project, I chose to interview my friend Rodrigo Ascencio, a junior at WSU

who's majoring in agricultural education. I met with Rod on September 17, 2019, at 6 pm in flix

cafe and we began our interview. Rodrigo and I met last year at a church event and have been

friends ever since. Rodrigo immigrated from El Salvador when he was seven years old with his

mother and three older brothers. Honestly, before doing this interview Rod was not my first

choice and I have never really been close because we have very different views and opinions on

topics that are very important to me. Doing this assignment was really cool because it gave me

an insight into why Rod says and does the things he does.

We started off the interview with me asking Rod to define what a language is, It was

really vague which surprised me. He defined language as, “A way that people communicate with

each other, that's a stupid question”. I thought Rod being the intellectual man he is and an

education major would mean that he would know the true definition of language. According to

Wayne E. Wright, “Language is the systematic, conventional use of sounds, signs or written

symbols in human society for communication self-exploration” (Pg. 28). Rod has the

misconception that language is solely based on verbal communication so he mainly focuses his

answers about the verbal aspects of language.

From what I've learned in this class language is more than just verbal communication its

is hand gestures, social norms and so much more. After defining what a language was, I asked

him what are components of a language, he responded saying, “Speech and dialect”. The four

components of language are phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics according to Wright

(pg. 31). Most of Rod’s answers about language were the same he defined teaching a language as

being able to teach the speech and dialect, and his answer for the question “what Does it mean to

know and use a language?” he said that “knowing a language meant that you are able to properly
use a speech and dialect.” I thought it was funny that he only mentioned the verbal use of

language is that during our whole conversation he used a lot of motions and hand gestures while

he talked. I would say that he's an expressive talker I've noticed that with a lot of non-native

English speakers they tend to be more expressive when they talk. My mother, for example, does

this when she talks to make sure that whoever she’s talking to understands her. I was wondering

if Rod was using hand gestures for the same reasons my mom uses them.

Once we got Rod and I got into talking about how talking about the stigma on ELL

students I got to understand why it was so important for him to correct people's grammar in text

or in person. When I questioned him about how he felt being an ELL student he then answered

me saying that “it made me feel embarrassed that I had to take those extra classes like I wasn’t as

smart as the other kids. I didn’t feel dumb I felt like other people thought I was dumb.” Rod

thought that getting pulled out of classrooms to receive extra help meant that other people

thought that they weren’t competent enough to understand the material. He then elaborated on

how he used this feeling of being dumber than his motivation to become a better English

speaker. Once Rod got adjusted into school in the U.S. it was easier for being so young and

being able to adjust to the American culture and the culture of the classroom.

When I asked if it was hard for him asking help from his parents on his homework, to

which he answered: “No because I knew what I was doing it was just the language barrier.” Rod

had already developed an academic language and was able to recognize that at a young age that

he already had the educational foundation he needed to be successful in school; he just had to

transfer the knowledge he already had to a different language. In the book Wright talks about

labeling English Language Learners. I think that they would label Rod as emergent bilingual; he

also took some English courses. Developing an academic language in your native language is
beneficial when learning a new language. Wright says, “students who have literacy skills in their

language will likely make rapid progress in learning to read and write in English (pg. 55).

Because he had that it was easier in his ELL classes getting the content area instructions and

incorporating Spanish into his journey of learning English.

Rod has been in the United States for thirteen years now and has developed

communicative competence and he prefers to use standard American English rather than his

native language. He said that his reasoning for that is because he’s surrounded by more English

speakers than those who speak his native language. Rod stated that he uses around 15% of his

native language daily and it's mainly when he's on the phone with his mother he doesn’t need to

go out of his way to speak Spanish because he doesn’t need to. Rod feels that it's important to

have an American accent when speaking English because it makes him sound more American,

I've noticed that about him always putting an emphasis on what being an American looks and

sounds like from being. I think he may have gotten these ideas from the community and school

he grew up in. After talking to him I realized that Rod grew up with the mentality that in order to

learn English better he would have to abandon his native language to seem more Americanized.

Something that I thought was weird was Rod saying he felt more comfortable speaking in

English rather than Spanish being that when he was 7 years old he had already had a solid

foundation in Spanish. I thought his native language would be easier for him to speak. That idea

probably came from him feeling judged by other Spanish speakers for not being as fast or as

fluent. Rod also talked about being a fan of the sink or swim method not giving kids the support

they need as English Language Learners he feels that they are too coddled and have to be able to

learn the language without the lesson plans being catered to that student rather than the student

catching up. Hearing his thoughts on what needed to change in ELL education angered me a bit
because being a person of color and a nonnative English speaker I thought that he would have

more respect for programs that are typically focused on minorities and students of color.

When I was in 8th grade I got to TA for a read 180 class. It was a reading

comprehension class typically for ELL students. Before getting TA for the class I always thought

that the kids there were stupid and didn’t know how to read that's why they were in that class.

When I worked in that class the teacher and the student showed me that they weren’t in there

because they couldn't read but they had to get extra help in being able to get better at reading

comprehension so they would be able to meet the state requirements when state testing came

around. Most of ROds answers angered and saddened me that he felt that he had to get rid of

what seemed to me as his cultural identity in order to fit in and be a true American. Working in

an ELL classroom and Being a student who was in ESL in elementary knowing that someone

had a similar yet different experience of the program makes me upset that there is no formal

federal plan in order to protect the students and take off that stigma of being an ELL student and

it doesn’t make them different. I wish that I were able to do something about Rod’s education

experience so he could understand what those programs are supposed to do for students and how

they help many children. Something that I will implement in my future classroom will make sure

that my students understand that not everyone learns the same way and not everyone is good at

the same thing that we all have very different backgrounds, cultures, and ways of life and we

should all respect and be kind to each other

Appendix

1. What is a language? “A way that people communicate with each other, that's a stupid

question”

2. What components form a language? Speech and dialect

3. What is teaching a language and how would you teach it? Teaching the speech and

dialect

4. What does it mean to know and use a language? You can correctly use a speech and

dialect with those of the same speech and dialect.

5. How much or your native language do you still use? 15% on a daily basis

6. Do you find it beneficial knowing more than one language? Yes, it makes me a well-

rounded individual.

7. Were you in ELL growing up? Yes

8. How did that make you feel? It made me feel embarrassed that I had to take those extra

classes like I wasn’t as smart as the other kids. I didn’t feel dumb I felt like other people

thought I was dumb.

9. When you were younger did you ask your parents for help with your homework? No,

because I knew what I was doing was just the language barrier.

10. Which language do you feel more comfortable talking in and why? English because I'm

surrounded by more English speakers.

11. Do you feel like it's more beneficial to have an “American” accent when speaking

English? Why or why not? Yes because it makes me feel as if I am more American by

sound more American

12. Under what circumstances did you learn English? I did them as electives before coming

to the US and when I moved to the US it was out of necessity.

13. What language do you watch tv in? English

 14. Do you feel comfortable enough with your English skills to teach others English why or

why not? Yes because I'm super good at speaking English and I have taught English 2

years in Las Vegas

15. Do you feel judged when you speak your native language in a public place?no, I don't. I

don't go out of my way to speak it.

16. Do you feel judged by other native language speakers? Yes, they say that my Spanish

isn't fast enough.

17. Do you code-switch? Yes only around Hispanics

18. Were there any subjects that came easier compared to others despite the language barrier?

If yes, what were they? Math because it was just numbers. Theater

19. What was the most effective way you learned English? Watching movies and tv shows

20. What was the first word or phrase you remember learning? Because

21. What would you change in the curriculum used to teach English to non-native English

speakers? Why? I wouldn’t change anything because you learn most when you have to

learn most when things are accommodated for you, you don't learn hard work.

Citations

Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory,

and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Caslon.

Hoy, A. W. (2001). Educational Psychology (Fourteenth edition.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.