I’ll begin by discussing my development as an L1 writer before discussing my limited experience as an L2 writer. Writing did not play a prominent role in my K-12 education. My earliest writing experiences involved short, formulaic exercises that focused more on penmanship and grammar than communication or expression. In middle school and high school, I completed the standard assignments such as five paragraph essays and research papers with ease but with little attention to my personal writing style or my growth as a writer. I responded more positively to creative writing assignments, and I experimented with short fiction and poetry on my own. Through creative writing, I began to see myself as a writer and to be metacognative about my writing processes.
In undergraduate school, most of my core classes required essay writing. I rarely received specific feedback, so I continued to write without much thought to my processes. I rarely revised or consulted references. I simply wrote down my thoughts and turned them in. The courses that I took as an elementary education major rarely included writing exercises except for lesson plans or the occasional essay about educational philosophy, so I did not consider writing to be a primary part of my professionalism. When I entered the Masters in Reading program at ISU, I was unpleasantly surprised by the amount of writing required. As an undergraduate, the papers I wrote were almost always short, and I struggled to write papers that met the page requirements required for masters classes. I still received little feedback about my writing, so I continued to write without much revision. When I submitted my first article for publication, I was asked to revise it. This was the first experience in which I received useful criticism about my writing in a way which would allow me to improve as a writer, and it was the first time that I saw writing as a crucial part of my career.
As a doctoral student, I have become more aware of my writing, and it has become more of a source of anxiety. I feel more affected at this level of study by my working class background. I am the first person in my family to attend college, and I sometimes worry that I do not have sufficient vocabulary. In order to improve my academic vocabulary and writing, I pay careful attention to the word choices, sentence structure, and organization in scholarly writing.
I also have some experience as an L2 writer. I began studying Spanish in high school in order to fulfill the foreign language requirement for admission to college. I had no interest at the time in foreign language, but I quickly fell in love with the idea of understanding the world in a new way. After I graduated from high school, I spent the summer volunteering in a predominantly Latino community in Houston, Texas. I worked with preschoolers who spoke Spanish. I loved the experience and continued similar work when I returned home to Oklahoma City. I wanted to be able to communicate better with the children, so I completed a minor in Spanish.
My minor included classes in Spanish Literature which required me to read, write, and speak only in Spanish. It was much easier for me to read and write than to speak and listen. I enjoyed reading in Spanish, but I found L2 writing difficult. I could write reasonably well and communicate basic ideas, but the final product always felt stilted and incomplete to me because I did not have sufficient vocabulary and grammar skills to fully express my thoughts. I felt emotionally disconnected from the writing. I did most of my writing by thinking in English and then translating to Spanish. I used English/Spanish dictionaries when necessary, but I preferred to just find another way to say something if I didn’t know the exact translation. Overall, I felt like my Spanish classes were useful but disconnected from the sorts of authentic experiences that might have allowed me to become more fully bilingual. I never became comfortable speaking in Spanish, and eventually abandoned my study of the language. My experience with Spanish taught me that second language acquisition can be a challenging endeavor. Consequently, I have a great respect for those who have achieved multilingualism and a compassion for students who may be struggling with the acquisition of English.
No comments:
Post a Comment