Running head: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Language Acquisition Autobiography

Rayanna Brooks

Los Angeles Pacific University

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Language Acquisition Autobiography

Language acquisition and development, while complicated, can have detrimental effects

on a person’s relationship with language in general. Reflection on the history and feelings that

students have previously had with their Ensligh teachers can help future English teachers reverse

those impressions and imprint new ones. Language acquisition, although a natural developmental

milestone all of us begin as infants without any instruction, does need to be developed, nurtured,

and expressed between students and teachers so that students hopefully foster healthy

relationships with language.

The Brooks household was not one known to be particularly strict in its attitude towards

language, speaking, books, and literacy. Was homework seen as important? Yes. Was it expected

to be completed? Definitely. Did homework need to be completed on time? It depended on my

mother's mood. Outside of the homework that was required out of the Brooks children, my

parents never thought to encourage us to read for the sake of enjoyment or self-betterment.

However, my penchant for wanting to escape reality- my childhood was not the greatest- proved

too great, and I found myself to be the only avid reader in a home of seven people. To this day,

reading is an escape and adventure that I cannot resist, and I hope to pass this passion onto my

own children as they begin to be molded into competent members of society.

While my parents did not prioritize language, speaking, books, or literacy my earliest

memory involving those aspects of language acquisition are with my Nana- my father’s mom.

She would sit me down in her small kitchen table and have me write my vocabulary terms five

times, say each word five times once I finished writing it, and repeat the meaning of the word

five times. I could remember the pride I would feel when I received perfect scores on my
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vocabulary homework and the excitement I created within myself in anticipation of her reaction

to my grades. Semantics, “...the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences” (Yule,

2014, p.109) became my window into becoming the avid reader that I still am today.

My memories of language acquisition are severely connected to my Nana and the overall

positive feedback I received from my teachers, and consequently her. “Vocabulary knowledge is

important to reading because the oral and written use of words promotes comprehension and

communication” (National Institute for Literacy, 2007). While I was not a very communicative

person orally, I was great on paper. As my vocabulary expanded, so did my comprehension skills

and I began to gradually read at a higher grade level. I excelled in my English classes and

enjoyed the assigned reading material the various classes I took required of me.

To this day, I still am an avid reader. The dictionary app is installed on my phone and

used frequently, and is also one of my top web pages open on my laptop. I love learning new

words and applying them to my vocabulary. When I come across a word in a book I am reading

that I am not familiar with, my brain cannot properly function and fully comprehend what I am

reading until I discover how to pronounce the new word and what its meaning is. My love for

language, books and literacy has become such an important passion of mine that I hope to instill

this passion unto others.

Similar to the personal impact my English and math teachers have had in my own life-

and also similar to the impact of some English teachers in movies like “Dangerous Minds” or

“Dead Poets Society” in their students lives- I hope to infuse a love for literacy and reading

within my own students. My love for far away places described on paper has called me to want

to become an English teacher. I want to connect to my students through the stories that helped
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me escape reality as an adolescent and raise their confidence in their literary abilities and their

overall self-esteem.

Yule (2014) states, “In addition to the speed of acquisition, the fact that it generally

occurs, without overt instruction, for all children, regardless of great differences in their

circumstances, provides strong support for the idea that there is an innate predisposition in the

human infant to acquire language” (p.169). As human infants we are all hardwired to adopt

language acquisition naturally and seemingly effortlessly. We all begin spoken language through

coos and babbles and then progress, in individually unique paces, to more complex and concise

language. However, in my experience, not everyone found the acquisition of the english

language as easily as I did. My younger brother, although a native English speaker, had trouble

with reading comprehension. He had to take some ESL classes during elementary school and

eventually caught up to his reading grade level through an incredible amount of hard work.

Similarly, others have trouble with acquiring English comprehension and literacy due to

English not being their native language. Typically, bilingual individuals will only ever be

superiorly developed in one language, their first language, while the second language is less

formidable. Furthermore, every individual’s first language is an acquired skill- one that comes

without professional instruction in earlier years. Second language skills are adapted through a

conscious decision to receive professional instruction to learn the new language (Yule, 2014,

p.187).

Teachers can have a life-long impact on their students self-esteem which directly affects

their motivation and willingness to learn (Brooks, n.d.). Through my willingness to learn new

words, read whenever possible, and listen to what my English teacher’s were saying, my literacy
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skills improved immensely and my vocabulary expanded. More importantly, my self-esteem

about my capabilities within English classrooms (and honestly, all other classrooms too), and my

worth as a person significantly improved within the four walls of every one of my English

classes. My teacher’s were always encouraging and helpful and they challenged me to think

outside of the box. While language acquisition is innate within us all, literacy and comprehension

skills do require an actual effort, and I intend to be to vessel for encouragement, love,

acceptance, and warmth towards my students so that they leave my classroom with a desire to

further improve their love of language, books and literacy.

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References

Brooks, R. (n.d.). ​The Impact of Teachers: A Story of Indelible Memories and Self-Esteem.

Retrieved from http://www.ldonline.org/article/6155/

National Institute for Literacy. (2007). ​Key Literacy Component: Vocabulary​. Retrieved from

http://www.adlit.org/article/27879/

Yule, G. (2014). ​The Study of Language​ (5th ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .