Tonya Barfield

March 20, 2023

Los Angeles Pacific University
ENGLISH 420
Professor Crystal Gentry
Language Acquisition Autobiography
 Language Acquisition Autobiography Outline

Outline your earliest memories of spoken and written language.

 Growing up I can’t really remember to much about the early years as a child what I

can remember is when it came to language and writing it began at age 3-5. I can

remember that when it came to tone, and the way words were expressed to me was

different then when I got old enough to process it myself. I can remember growing up

in the south and speaking with an distinct accent different from my peers I can

remember pronouncing words differently than my peers as well.

 Growing in the south language was somewhat important back then not to much

because of the level of poverty that was going on and racial issues I really don’t think

language was my parents concern at the time doing my early years especially since

there level of education wasn’t the highest either because they had us so young. What

I can remember is that we wouldn’t often read books that much because we didn’t

really have access to any so what we learn about language was self-taught by our

parent’s, and we learn from each other. Some examples of language that I can

remember were words were different like today we say soda, but we say pop but they

mean the say think, when people say grocery shopping we say make grocery but it

means the same thing. Language in the south also showed our respect for each other

by saying yes sir and yes mama no matter how old or young they were.
 Describe your connection to your current feelings about English Language
Acquisition (ELA).

 The way I feel about language now is very different then how I felt about it growing
up, language is so unique an diverse in so many ways today as an adult and someone
who now have kids of my own I value language for my kids I’m not saying my parents
didn’t when we growing up I think we have more resources now that can teach and
allow children to learn and understand language and why it is so important for them
to master language.
 I do believe because of the lack of experience I had growing up as a child and being
able to learn language and understand words and how to express them in dialogue is
extremely important to me now because I have children of my own and I didn’t want
them to grow up like me not knowing proper pronunciation of words and dialogue not
know how to form proper sentences or even not know how to write proper sentences.
This is why I worked hard to ensure my children had the best schooling and why I
continued my education with him so we all could learn language and understand
language together, once I decide I want to become a teacher because as an educator
it is your duty to ensure you learn first before you can ensure your students are
learning, reading, and writing correctly. It is our job to make sure our students are
equipped with the proper lessons, books, and modeling as we guide them through the
process of language.

Describe how impactful early language exposure is to us as humans and

students.

 According to research it is impactful to expose language to students and humans

because. “The early environment influences every aspect of child development; in
addition to effects on cognitive and language outcomes, recent work has also shown
that parent-child verbal interactions also have effects on social-emotional
development.13 This speaks to the importance of early language exposure in every
domain of early learning and also to the agency with which children elicit stimulation
from their caregivers and their environment; children learn through interactions but
also use language to elicit and extend the interactions which help them learn. Like
language skills, social-emotional skills and self-regulation play vital roles in early
learning and school success.14,15” ( Pediatrics Volume 14 Issue 4)
 Language in my experience was hard back then than some of my peers, when I was
able to experience language on my own I learn to appreciate others and understand
others more throughout my life experiences. So many different diverse ways to express
language through speech, writing, reading amazing books and self-teaching as well.
 According to the Penn State Article I was reading it says, “reading and literacy
challenges often co-occur with behavioral challenges. Possessing the language skills to
describe how you are feeling is a key aspect of social-emotional adjustment. As such,
encouraging literacy skills early can also promote positive social-emotional
development and minimize behavioral challenges. (Penn State Article) Roald Dahl’s
book Matilda beautifully sums up the potential benefits that accompany building
literacy skills and fostering a love of reading in this excerpt: “So Matilda’s strong
young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had
sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea: These books gave Matilda a
hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.”
 Theory and language work hand and hand that somewhere in our mind it is
responsible for the learning of language, it is why there is 4 stages of language if any
part of the brain gets hurt or damage it will affect how you process language. I wasn’t
aware of that until I read the article by Khan academy which says,” that young
children with damage in similar regions of the brain can grow up with only slightly
impaired language ability - implying that the brain can develop new language
pathways that are good, but not quite as good as the original (Reilly, 1998).
 When it comes to the development and language acquisition these are processes that
contribute to many aspects such as education, special education, communication and
the effort to be effective in it, psychology, and fundamental.
 Overall my experiences with language growing up wasn’t that great but as I grew
older I took ownership of my learning into my own hands it was important for me to
gain understanding of language and its importance so I could teach it to myself and
my kids as well as my students. Not being able to have the proper resources growing
up and having parents who didn’t have the resources to teach me proper language
has defiantly impacted who I am today.
Reference Page

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

https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/news/2020/promoting-early-
literacy#:~:text=Additionally%2C%20reading%20and%20literacy%20challenges%20often
%20co-occur%20with,promote%20positive%20social-emotional%20development%20and
%20minimize%20behavioral%20challenges.

https://www.continentalpress.com/blog/language-acquisition-stages-ells/