1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?
Language comprehension utilizes almost all cognitive processes I have learned so far. It starts with perception in chapter 2 in visual and auditory as well as attention and consciousness: when we start with perception in visual and auditory, we start with first reading or listening to a word or a letter to be able to comprehend. When we come to attention, we either have to use selective or divided attention when we hear a word. Consciousness is how we perceive the world around us this has major contribution on how we comprehend a word or a sentence. Language comprehension also utilizes working and long-term memory to understand what we read with working memory aiding current reading and long-term memory aiding what we know from the past to attach the new information. When we come to mental imagery, we try to picture or draw a diagram in our minds what we read to help us comprehend; and with general knowledge, our organized knowledge about the world assist us in comprehending what we are reading or listening. So language comprehension utilizes almost all of cognitive processes we’ve covered so far. Chapter 10 extends from 9 that dealt with comprehension. Chapter 10 emphasizes language production: speaking, writing, bilingualism that relays on comprehension because we cannot produce language if we cannot comprehend in that language, it also require several cognitive steps to speak, write and learn another language as well.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?
The text indicates that bilinguals have advantage compared to monolinguals in so many ways, I think there proficiency plays a role, if you learn a second language for about3yrs or so there is no way you can write like the natives unless we are trained to speak, read, write parallel with the first language starting 1st grade. My question: if you cannot write like the natives I don’t see the advantage.
3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work?
No wonder writhing is difficult; it requires all the cognitive skills we have covered so far. When creating a writing assignment, I will try to follow and implement the steps indicated in our text starting pre-writing, revising and understanding my audiences.
This is difficult because I don’t teach. But if I have children in near future I might think about sending them for second language lessons at a very young age.
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This chapter did a great job of describing the steps involved in the writing process. I have used a similar approach over the past few years and it does help break down a complicated and overwhelming process. The one area I need to work on is understanding the audience. This is hard with young students.
ReplyDeleteYour comment on bilingual students is interesting. I have never really thought about it like that. I am wondering if the advantage comes from the development of the spoken language. I wonder how much effort is put into foreign language classes that revolves around writing. Maybe students could benefit just as much from learning how to write the language as learning how to speak it?