Lesson #9

YAY!!!! I have had a Yaqui-English dictionary for the past week now and couldn't be happier to use it! This week's learning has taken a new direction from previous weeks, since I have access to verbs! Not only does this dictionary provide an extensive list of verbs, it also gives detailed descriptions (including examples) of how to use them. I was unaware of the reduplication process in Yaqui in which the beginning of a verb (first syllable) is duplicated to indicate something that "usually" happens. For example, vitchu (see) and vivitchu (usually see).

Some other interesting aspects of Yaqui that I discovered through using the dictionary were the phonological patterns that occur within the language, especially with loan words. For instance, the dictionary sections on "b," "d," and "g" are quite minimal (and, "x" and "z" are not present at all). These letter were not originally part of the Yaqui alphabet, but due to English and Spanish influence, few words do include these sounds (keep in mind that "bw" is a letter in Yaqui, and a common one at that). However, even for many loan words, these three sounds underwent some changes. For example, the "d" is often lateralized into an "l" (e.g. Spanish: dios; Yaqui: lios (god)). Another phenomenon is the velarized "g" (that is, it is a "k"). The Spanish loan guitarra (guitar) is kitara in Yaqui. Personally, I found these processes to be quite fascinating.

Back to verbs, this week's learning involved testing hypotheses related to sentence structure, verb forms, and even noun forms (i.e. cases). One challenge that I faced, and should have expected given my Spanish L2, was that many intransitive verb phrases (like "I am happy" in English) have their own verb in Yaqui. So, to say "I am happy," you do not use the verb aane "to be," rather allete'ae "to get happy."

To give an example of my hypothesis testing, here are my notes on learning to say "My name is Ashley."

*In teakame aane.
my name is
(this is not correct, because the verb is not "to be" it is "to be named")

Inepo Ashley teak.
I named
"My name is Ashley."
(I am still a bit unsure as to where "Ashley" should go, but I know that it is not sentence final)

Apo haisa teak?
He/she what named
"What is his/her name?"
(this was word for word from the dictionary; this phrase, however, did help my see the correct verb to use in the above statement)


I also tested some simple sentences using the verb "to want" waata- both in present and past tense. I found the verb tenses to be simple- the most difficult aspect of forming sentences are the rules for adding cases to nouns and adjectives. Fortunately, the first verb I chose is always plural ("water" vaa'am) and does not require a case marker to indicate that it is the direct object. I have not mastered the cases yet, as they vary depending on the noun ending (I had to constantly check these as I created sentences).

Lesson: Be aware of transfer! I had started forming sentences based on how I would say them in English. For one reason or another, I did not draw from my Spanish knowledge to even consider that some verbs will be different (e.g. an actual verb for "to be sick" and not simply "to be" + "sick"). Again, this shows the importance of hypothesis testing. My first attempts were not correct, but I now know better than to just take a form from one language and transfer it to the target language. I think the incorporation of a dictionary, and one as detailed as mine, has added a new dimension to my resources, learning, and strategies. Hopefully I will be able to expand my practices to learning sentences that I have created and not just vocabulary words!

Lesson #8

Once again, this week I have felt "stuck" in my language learning. I have tried to find resources to learn Yaqui verbs, yet I have come up with nothing more than how to use the past and future tenses. The most unfortunate part is that I do not know any verbs to make up sentences. Again, limited resources have stalled my learning.

I have continued to learn new vocabulary words- in themed groups. So far I have numbers, colors, emotions, subject pronouns, a few time expressions, kinship terms, and some weather terms. Flashcards were an interesting option for me, and frankly a strategy that I have never used before in any language learning endeavor. I think that my lack of resources- especially a textbook- has made me resort to new strategies for learning. Being that flashcards are the only way to test myself, I have been limited to learning only new vocabulary. I hope to soon have a dictionary that will aid my acquisition of verbs so that I can start testing out sentences!

Lesson: Adapt learning to your resources. As I said before, my resources are quite scarce, yet I am still able to continue learning my adapting my learning strategies to best suit my situation. That is, I adopted new (to me, at least) ways to learn and quiz myself. Without changing my approach to learning Yaqui, I would have been left with few opportunities to practice, and possibly a lowered motivation to learn/practice. Understanding your own learning situation is necessary to assess the strategies you are (or are not) using and how they are contributing to or hindering your acquisition. For the first time, I believe flashcards are actually helping my acquisition of Yaqui.

Error Correction

Here I would like to address Truscott's (1996) article on the ineffectiveness of grammar correction in L2 writing. While I had heard of this article before, and even read the responses to it, I had never actually read it until now. I see that it has caused quite a controversy in SLA research, and the subfield of corrective feedback. I will outline my issues with Truscott's argument and hopefully provide some counter-arguments.

Truscott argues that grammar correction on L2 writing is ineffective ("proved" by evidence and non-evidence in the field) and harmful to students; therefore, he concludes, that it should not be carried out in the L2 writing course.

My first concern is that it seems Truscott himself did not conduct any research as to the effectiveness of grammar correction in this context. Rather, he summed up researchers' work that also summed up others' findings (these studies were quite dated as well). While reviewing the works of others, Truscott seems to leap to the conclusion that grammar correction was more than unhelpful, it was harmful (using Robb et al's (1986) study, which did not have a control "no correction" group to compare!).

Though Truscott does admit to the possible limitations to the reviewed studies, he dismisses all of them as inconsequential. I would disagree with most of these dismissals, the different types of instruction used and learner variables (or the combination of any of the variables he "dismissed"). For example, grammar correction would be ineffective in a writing course in which grades are based on content, then students would not care about grammar correction. However, if accuracy was a goal, then I assume grammar correction (the "correct" type) would be useful. Additionally, if the learner in question is a "good language learner," as in Griffith's (2006) study with Kay and Meg, then s/he is likely to notice corrections, learn from them, and use the correct form later.

Another concern was Truscott's emphasis on the acquisition order and how instructors' corrections do not fall in line with the developmental sequence that their students go through. However, in my experience, an L2 writing class comes later in the language course sequence as well (possibly third year). By this time, students should have reached (dependent on the language) a high proficiency and therefore have likely gone through much of the developmental sequence. Therefore, L2 writing students should be able to understand most corrections.

I do agree with Truscott's argument that some instructors are inconsistent in their correction (and unfortunately, some do not recognize errors and/or cannot explain why an error is incorrect). However, I do not think an L2 writing instructor must be required to catch every single error a student makes- that is their job in revising and editing- though, errors that seriously impede comprehension could be addressed by the instructor. Additionally, as later studies have shown, direct grammar correction (i.e. providing the correction) is not helpful to students as they likely do not internalize the correction. Rather, instructors should indicate errors (i.e. coding, circling, tally marks) and subsequently corrected by the student.

Though Truscott admitted to the literature indicating students expect and want grammar correction (see Shultz's 1999 study), he still claims it is unpleasant. I believe a good language learner will still find correction beneficial. Not to mention, if students need feedback to become accuracy and fluent L2 learners. "Experience," as Truscott believes, is not sufficient in my view; some form of feedback is necessary to hopefully avoid fossilization of incorrect forms. Truscott also states that going over corrections is basically a waste of students' time; personally, I believe developing accuracy is a perfectly productive use of student time.

Truscott's article sparked much debate, and I can see why now. It appears to me that his argument is based on old research, leaps to conclusions, and has many gaps in logic. However, this is just my opinion, and I am sure there are those who would disagree with me.

Lesson #7

Unfortunately this past week my language learning has fallen by the wayside. I have been able to keep up with my vocabulary practices (I did make some additional flashcards), but I have not been able to learn much new information. I tried to look up some verb lists online, but no luck.

Lesson #7: Persistence and Making Time.

It is essential to "keep up" with the language learning process and not let it slide down your list of priorities. This can be difficult for anyone, considering the amount of tasks we take on. Regardless, setting aside some time everyday (even as little as 30 minutes) is vital to successful learning, in my opinion.

Metacognitive Knowledge and Tasks

Taking a metacognitive look back at a previous entry (http://learningyaqui.blogspot.com/2010/05/lesson-5.html ), I will analyze and evaluate the strategies I used, the tasks I engaged in, and my own learning. As researchers note, good language learners are reflective about their learning and are able to think about, analyze, and evaluate the learning processes as well as the actual language learning.

Evaluate Strategies

In Lesson #5, I took the "hypothesis testing" approach to learning, or rather, figuring out, a language. I believe this strategy worked has advantages and disadvantages; the former being a positive way to learn about and test my knowledge of Yaqui, and being able to look at entire sentences, albeit complex ones, in the target language. However, the main disadvantage is that my low proficiency limits my hypothesis testing to simply "identifying" new words and parts of speech- in contrast to creating my own sentences and testing their grammaticality.


Task Analysis

The task was to determine new words using (i.e. reading) a Yaqui text and its Spanish or English equivalent. Wenden's three parts to task analysis are as follows:

Purpose
The purpose of the task was to expand my vocabulary, learn words that were not offered in vocabulary lists, and to possibly learn more about parts of speech/word order.

Classification
Reading skills: understanding word order, looking for reoccurring words/phrases

Genre: Suggestions for leaving feedback- lists

Language: informal (website commentary), language in general is complex (case system, morphological inflection)

Vocabulary: words and phrases related to websites, feedback, topics

Background knowledge: I know about the process of leaving comments on websites, I know about which topics the website covers. Other language knowledge (Spanish).

Feelings about task: In the Yaqui language, the task isn't really relevant, but nonetheless interesting for the purposes of the website and seeing if native speakers respond in Yaqui.

Demand

Which strategies and/or actions do I use:

Hypothesis testing for reoccurring word meaning

Guessing at unknown words/word order

Use of Spanish/English knowledge to determine transferred words- esp. related to technology ("website" "webblog")

Consider word order (verb final) to recognize verbs


Assess Learning

Though some of my hypotheses about the language were wrong, I believe that still contributes to my learning. While I did not learn a long list of vocabulary words in this task, I did learn more about the language (subject pronouns, informal greetings, more influences form Spanish/English) than I had previously. I goal was not to make all correct hypotheses but rather to make hypotheses that seemed logical and then test them for accuracy. Fortunately, I was able to test mine and pinpointed the ones that were inconsistent with the target language. So, though I did not learn a lot, what I did learn was valuable (especially the lesson of hypothesis TESTING and not just assuming my interpretations are correct)!

Lesson #6

Just catching up on vocabulary lists I have written out. I actually made flash cards for my vocabulary, which I do not usually do as study or learning technique. However, I felt I needed more varied practice and a way to "quiz" myself on the new words I am acquiring. No verbs yet. No dictionary.

Reading this language is quite difficult, even considering my beginning/novice proficiency. Thinking back to the early stages of my Spanish and French learning, I still could look at a simple sentence a determine/identify which words were what (e.g. which was the subject, verb, object, adverb, adjective, etc). Of course, my Spanish background probably influenced my French learning. But Yaqui, it seems nearly impossible.

This is likely due to the lack of simple sentences available to me, and I have VERY limited verb knowledge (I just found out the past tense marker "k" has more form than just "k" and is very irregular- no wonder I couldn't find the verb in these sentences I've been looking at!). Regardless, I continue to look at sentences in both Yaqui and English/Spanish to determine which parts of speech each Yaqui word might be, that is, I continue my hypothesis testing!

Lesson #6: Motivation and Encouragement- from YOURSELF!
Having little knowledge of a new language can be frustrating, but it is essential to realize that this is the starting point. In a way, learning Yaqui has become a personal challenge to me, due precisely to its difficulty. It seems from my Myers Brigg survey, I am ill-equipped for successful/proficient language learning (ESTJ). Still, I believe I can encourage myself to become a better learner, even if I am not preconditioned to be one. Rather than relying on an instructor to foster other "personality types" that might be more conducive to language learning, I will have to find ways to either use my personality type to my benefit or hone new types to improve my language learning.

Strategy Inventory for Language Learning

As a starting point, I decided to take the SILL with my French language learning experience in mind (most recent before this course). I was honestly a bit afraid to start with Yaqui because I fear my lack of resources and a structured classroom might have limited my strategies.

French:


High Strategies: Using mental processes; compensating for missing knowledge; learning with others; overall

I was surprised to see that "learning with others" was a high strategy for me, given my learning style questionnaire revealed that I was an individualistic learner (I was even considering the same context!). This could imply that my preferred learning style does not reflect my learning strategy (or visa versa?).

Medium Strategies: Remembering more effectively; organizing and evaluating learning

I thought these two strategies would have been "high" for me since I do a lot to remember new knowledge (i.e. writing down (repeatedly) new words, creating groups, using them in sentence, making connections, etc). I figure the "evaluation" part of the latter strategy is what brought me down to medium here because I do tend to be quite organized in my language learning.

Low Strategies: Managing emotions

Again, this does not surprise me, given I am a Thinker, not a Feeler. The way I have seen it, emotions do not play a large affective role in my language learning experience. That is, I have not had an extremely traumatizing experience related to language that would cause me to be anxious or nervous when practicing it.

On the other hand, when I consider my Yaqui learning experience, the results are as follows:


Yaqui:

High Strategies: Organizing and Evaluating learning

Due to the context in which I am learning Yaqui, I have had to organize my lessons myself in addition to constant evaluation of my abilities in the language to guide future learning. This strategy was in Medium with French because it was in a standard classroom environment where I did not have to organize lessons and evaluation was done primarily by an instructor.

Medium Strategies: Remembering more effectively; using mental processes; managing emotions; overall

Remembering more effectively was pretty much the same score for both Yaqui and French- I think this speaks to my consistency in learning strategies/styles no matter the language (this of course could be problematic if a particular language does not lend itself well to my personal preferences). Unlike with French, Managing Emotions was higher up in my Yaqui strategies. Again, this is likely caused by the learning environment I am in where I keep this blog and discuss the language learning experience with my peers.

Low Strategies: Compensating for missing knowledge; learning with others

I believe these two strategies are on the Low side simply due to lack of resources, native speaker input, and opportunities to use the language in general. I had to put "1" down for many of these because they involve interactions with a native, or even "other," speaker.


Interestingly, my "Overall score" was High in French, yet Medium in Yaqui. Either I do not have the resources to promote/encourage the use of more strategies (to get to the High level), or I am not comfortable changing what I normally do to incorporate new strategies into my language learning experience. Griffiths conducted a study to see which strategies were frequently (and infrequently) used by high and low level proficiency language learners. She found that high level learners used strategies to manage their own learning, expand their vocabulary, improve grammar knowledge, involve the use of resources, and to use all language skills. These learners did not frequently use games, write diaries, or use a self-study center. Low level proficiency learners, on the other hand, rely on the dictionary as their resource (not other native speakers, tv, newspapers, etc).

Reflecting on my language learning experiences, I believe I (at least) attempt to use the same strategies that high level proficiency students use, particularly when I was learning Spanish and French. For Yaqui, however, I am at quite a low proficiency, and therefore my strategies are rather limited, similar to what Griffiths had found (i.e. high level proficiency learners use more varied strategies than lower level learners).

So, the question is, how do we as instructors promote a varied, and wider, use of these strategies across the spectrum of language learner proficiencies. As Griffiths mentions, some strategies may need to be reserved for high level learners due to their difficult nature (i.e. speaking with a native speaker, reading a newspaper). I do think that instructors at low levels can at least start to build up these strategies. For example, instead of having their students read a newspaper, have them read a classified ad or children's story. As their proficiency increases, instructors can expand upon these strategies and encourage students to use them without instruction from the teacher.