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Language Acquisition Autobiography

Ashley Grajales

Los Angeles Pacific University

ENGL 420

Professor Crystal Gentry

March 20, 2023

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Speaking and writing didn't always come easy to me. I was born and raised by Mexican

immigrant parents who only spoke spanish. Growing up my first language that I remember ever

hearing and speaking in my household was Spanish. My dad would always take videos of us as

babies and we would watch those videos once we grew up and from what I can remember

watching those old videos Spanish was the only language that we would speak in our home. I

am the youngest of six children and so I remember very early on I started speaking. I don't

remember what my first word was but my earliest memory of speaking would have to be when I

was around 3 or 4 years old. I remember that my parents enrolled me in the new preschool

across the street from our new house we had just built and I remember telling my mom in

spanish that I did not want to go to school. I did not know any English and on my first day of

school I remember that I was sitting in a chair and my teacher Miss Pat was singing a song that

I did not understand. I remember that Ms Pat would always talk to me and ask me questions to

make me feel like I was part of the class and I remember just staring at her because I did not

understand what she was saying. After a few months I started to learn the language and I was

able to understand a little bit about what my teachers would say. I was a fast learner and I also

remember a year after that at my preschool graduation I had already learned so much and I was

able to talk to my friends. Although my english wasn't perfect I was able to have conversations

with my friends and at my preschool graduation I was able to stand on the stage and in english

tell everyone in attendance that when I grew up I wanted to be a teacher.

As I have grown up I learned that my parents prioritized the Spanish language in our

household. The reason that my siblings, although they knew english would speak only spanish

at home, was to preserve our language. My mom always said that at home we speak spanish

because we will learn english at school. All we ever watched was spanish shows on TV and we

would only listen to Spanish music which today I am very thankful for. I believe the choice my

parents made to only speak Spanish at home helped us acquire a second language and

Preserve our culture and our way of communication.

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These memories connect to my current experience with language and literacy because

in the surrounding communities there are a lot of spanish speaking families that are coming

from a different country. I connect very much to the Immigrant families who have come to the

United States for a better life. When I see and meet children who only speak Spanish it reminds

me of my own childhood when I was that child who only spoke Spanish. My career path of being

a teacher is directly inspired by my experience of being a first generation American and coming

from a Spanish speaking home and family. I chose a career in which I can help make a

difference in these children. Children are our future and if we are able to identify and see a little

bit of ourselves in them and be able to nurture them and help them acquire a second language

that can help them create a successful future here I am all for it.

My own language and literacy experiences definitely affect the way I learned language

and literacy later on in life. I was lucky enough to go to preschool and learn the English

language sooner as opposed to my own siblings. I was the only one in my family who passed

the ELA test in first grade. This is due to the fact that I had been in school for a few years

already when I took the ELA test for the first time and passed. Early language definitely also

affected the way that I learned, because I was exposed to the English language at an early age

I was able to continue to develop and grow my English at school and my spanish at home.

Since I was able to have a balance of Spanish and English, I was able to nourish both

languages and balance out which language I was speaking. English I would speak for about 8

hours at school and spanish at home for about 10 to 12 hours. Today I have noticed that my

English is more dominant than my Spanish because I do not have that same balance I had

when I was younger. I now speak English for the majority of the day and I only speak spanish if I

am talking with someone who is only spanish speaking.

The language acquisition theories help me understand my own experiences with

language and the experiences of others by giving me more information on different experiences

that I have had. For example, the Affective Filter Hypothesis Theory which is where emotional
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reactions such as self-consciousness or negative feelings that can influence learning. This

theory is basically saying that if you have negative thoughts while trying to learn a new language

it is going to be harder for you. This is because you don't have the confidence in your self to try

and speak a language due to the fact that there can be people watching or listening, you may

experience anxiety or pressure and other negative feelings that affect the way that you are

learning. I can relate to this because I sometimes feel like that when speaking spanish. It is

pretty sad because Spanish was my first language but after having many years of speaking

English and not using Spanish as much it can sometimes be overwhelming when I am having a

conversation and I mess up a word that I am trying to say. I definitely understand that for older

children who go through this it is harder for them to learn a new language and be successfully

fluent when they are having negative thoughts. I hope that someday I can help nourish the

language development in children who need extra support.

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Reference:

Lyle, K. (2022, October 5). The Affective Filter & Language Learning | FabuLingua.

FabuLingua. https://www.fabulingua.com/blog/the-affective-filter-amp-language-

learning#:~:text=The%20Affective%20Filter%20Hypothesis%20states,ability%20to

%20absorb%20comprehensible%20input.

Yule, G. (2016). The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press.