Interview

INTERVIEW. 

By Monica Burbano and Juanita Pardo.

INTRODUCTION.

Cross-linguistic is the study of processes involved when a person learns and acquires a language different from its mother tongue.
In this regard, the cross-linguistic transfer is how a learner applies to learn from a first language (L1) to the process of learning a second language (L2).
However, in this process the learner tends to mix both languages, generating confusion and misunderstanding in the acquisition of the second language (L2).

For that, the purpose of this interview is to analyze how the cross-linguistic transfer affects the second language learning process to a learner of B.A. in Modern Languages Program at La Gran Colombia University.

METHODOLOGY. 

To develop the interview we asked 2 students (man and woman) of the third semester of B.A in Modern Languages Program some questions about their second language learning process.
Then, we assessed each of their English skills through a short exercise for intermediate learners to analyze their English level and see if they have
the required level for the semester they are studying.

We create and use the survey below to develop the interview. The first part is recorded in a voice memo. The second part is developed on a computer, and we will take
a screenshot of each student's results. In this part, it will be kept in mind the time and times the students take to develop each exercise.

PART 1 (voice memo).  

1. Introduce yourself.

2. Do you feel comfortable learning English inside your classroom?

3. What strategies do you use to improve your English skills?

4. Did you decide to study B.A. in Modern Languages?

5. Do you practice out of the classroom your English skills? How?

6. How long have you been learning English?

7. Do you know what is Cross-linguistic?

Andrea's Voice Memo






Andres' Voice Memo

PART 2 (English skills assessment). 

° READING:

 

Romulus and Remus.

The early history of the city of Rome involves Romulus and Remus, two orphan boys who, legend says, were raised by a she-wolf.
The boys' mother had been murdered by an evil king and the two babies tossed into the river Tiber. When the wolf found them they had washed up on the shore.
She perhaps took pity on the crying of the babies and, gently picking them up in her teeth, she carried them back to her cave and fed them on her milk.
The boys grew bigger and stronger and, eventually, were found by a herdsman who took them home. He and his wife raised the boys like their own children.
When they reached manhood they sought revenge on the king who had killed their mother and driven them from their home.

They decided to build a city. Unfortunately, they argued over the appropriate site and Romulus killed his brother Remus. Romulus ruled this city -- called Roma -- for thirty-seven years.
The city of Rome is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. If you travel there you can see a statue of the two baby boys feeding from their mother - the wolf.

According to the reading, answer the following questions: 

1. What is the gist (the main idea) that this piece of writing conveys?

1.   Wolves like to take care of human children.
2.   The city of Rome had many wolves in the old days.
3.   The city of Rome was founded by a wolf.
4.   Romulus established the city of Rome.

2. What is a herdsman?

5.   Someone who builds cities
6.   Someone who cares for children
7.   Someone who cares for domestic animals
8.   Someone who can hear very well

3. The phrase "they sought revenge on the king who had killed their mother" means what?

9. They attacked the king who had harmed their mother and made them orphans.
10. They went to court to sue the king for his crime against their mother.
11. They hired some gangsters to take care of their problems with the king.
12.  They went to talk to the king about his crime against their mother.

Exercise taken from https://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/490/wchild/wchild1.htm 

° SPEAKING:

Read aloud the following tongue twisters: 

1. Thirty-three thieves: The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.

2. I thought of thinking: I thought, I thought of thinking of thanking you.

Exercise taken from https://www.download-esl.com/tonguetwisters/easy/easytongue.html

° LISTENING: 

Click the next link to listen to the recording about a radio station and answer the questions: 

1. What kinds of music does this radio station plays?

a) Heavy metal 

b) Rhythm and blues 

c) Latin

2. What is the disk jockey’s name?

a) Harry

b) Harvey

c) Harold

3. Listeners can win ____________ by saying the name of the song.  

a) Concert tickets

b) Money

c) Digital music downloads

4. The man’s phone number is ______________.

a) 693-1390

b) 693-3019

c) 693-1319

5. To win, listeners must know the name of the song and __________ it was recorded. 

a) When

b) How many times

c) Where

LINK: https://www.esl-lab.com/intermediate/radio-stations/ 

° WRITING: 

An email: A good restaurant

You have received the following email from your friend, Oskar, who lives near you.

From: Oskar@alo.com

Subject: a good restaurant

Some members of my family are coming for a visit soon, and I want to take them out for a nice meal.
Do you know a good restaurant somewhere near us?

Write an email (100 words maximum) to Oskar. In your email:

• tell him about a local restaurant you have been to
• describe your last visit there
• say what you particularly like about the restaurant.

Exercise taken from https://writeandimprove.com/workbooks#/wi-workbooks/e203fdd9-cb2e-459d-a36e-0b6a026cbfe6/tasks/58736cc3-10c9-4ea0-ab96-0419dc5ed03a 

RESULTS ANALYSIS

For this interview, we selected two students (Man and woman) of the Pre-Intermediate course.

After asking some questions about their English learning process (first part),
the students took the second part of our interview which involves a short exercise for each English skills.

The following screenshots were each students’ results.

Andrea’s results :

Reading

Writing

Listening

Andres’ results:

Reading

Writing

Listening

Taking into account the students’ results we could evidence that their English level is between A1 and A 2 which is a good level for the course they are taking.

At this level they are able to express their ideas and thoughts in a concrete way without complexity, they understand and answer questions related to their context.
Also, they use an adequate vocabulary to write short paragraphs taking into account the situation they are given.

CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion, we can state that cross-linguistic transfer is involved in all language acquisition processes.
As language learners, we tend to apply the knowledge that we have of our first language to
the learning of a second language due to we compare both languages in order to get familiar with the foreign language.