Madonna MunleyLanguage Comparison/Data Collection

English Spanish

12 + vowels, 3 diphthongs

5 vowels, 5 diphthongs

•Vowel length is not a distinctive feature so learners may have problems distinguishing between the English vowels ĭ (as in sit) and ē (as in seat) or between ĕ (as in bet) and ā (as in bait) Flaitz (2003)

•Not much difference between v and b and the meaning of the word does not change, which it would in English (vow/bow)

• Spanish speakers may substitute a j for the hard to pronounce y in yesterday “some learners may not be able to tell the difference between ä(as in pot), ă (as in hat) and ŭ (as in put)” (Flaitz, 2003, p. 196).

•Diphthongs and most English consonants do not pose problems for Spanish ELLs.

I observed Javier, a twelve-year old student from El Salvador who has been in the United States for four years. He is in 5th grade and is at an Intermediate language learning level.

Javier made few errors in speaking. He said that some words are the same as Spanish, but “you take off a letter.” And some words, like his favorite video game Portal are spelled the same but “you say them different.”

English Spanish

Inflection and Agreement

•Number in nouns, tense/aspect in verbs, and comparison in adjectives

•English has a number of irregular verbs with inflections occurring internally (sit/sat) that could frustrate Spanish ELLs.

•Agreement in subject and verb

Inflection and Agreement

•Nouns for number and gender, but not for possession (which is signaled by placing the article 'de' between the possessed item and the possessor, as in 'la casa de mi madre', 'the house of my mother' ”

•far more inflectional categories — and affixes to mark them — for verbs than does English

•Agreement in subject and verb and in gender with nouns and adjectives

•Spanish ELLs can carry the rule of agreement in gender over to English morphology and commit speaking or writing errors until they internalize the English rules.

What Javier wrote Correct form Error

learn geographic learn geographyUsed an adjective form

instead of the noun

My moms eyes My mom’s eyesUsed the plural instead of the

possessive adjective

Adjective Usage Errors

What Javier wrote Correct form Error

Alligators they use Alligators useIncorrectly inserted the

subject pronoun “they” when

there is already a subject in

the sentence

Animals use tools to protect

themself

Animals use tools to protect

themselves

Incorrectly made the object

pronoun singular instead of

plural

Pronoun Errors

What Javier wrote Correct form Error

orangutan trade food orangutan traded foodDid not apply rule of adding “ed” to regular verb

to form the past tense

He open the door He opened the doorSame as above

Achy play a trick Achy played a trick Same as above

My dad command me My dad commanded meSame as above

He learn He learnedSame as above

Someone suggest Someone suggestedSame as above

I learn I learned Same as above

I also learn I also learned Same as above

She hide She hidIncorrectly used the present tense instead of the

irregular past tense of the verb

She ripe rippedDid not use the correct past tense of rip which

doubles the final consonant before adding “ed”

Frog carrie Frog carriesOmitted the final “s” for 3rd person singular form

of the verb in present tense

Verb Tense Errors

English Spanish

•Moving word order changes the meaning of the sentence or creates a grammatically incorrect sentence. Example: “The girls are tall.” cannot be changed to “Are tall the girls” because it is not a grammatically correct sentence .

•Forbids the use of double negatives.Example: “He doesn’t want no candies.”incorrect

•Word order can be moved without changing the meaning of the sentence.Example: ”Las chicas son altas.” has the same meaning as “Son altas las chicas.” (The girls are tall)

•Requires the use of double negativesExample: “Él no desea ningunos dulces.” (Spanish translation with double negatives, no and ningunos ) correct

Spanish ELLs would have a definite disadvantage with these two aspects of English grammar.

What Javier wrote Correct form Error

Clothing is to people to wear Clothing is for people to wearused the preposition “to” instead of

the correct preposition “for”

Preposition Usage Errors

What Javier wrote Correct form Error

A octopus An octopusused the indefinite article “a” instead

of the correct indefinite article “an”

(because the following word begins

with a vowel)

A ability An ability Same as above

An dolphin A dolphinused the indefinite article “an” instead

of the correct indefinite article “a”

(because the following word begins

with a consonant)

Has good memory Has a good memoryMissing the indefinite article “a”

Article Usage Errors

English Spanish

•I forgot the homework. Sentence structure indicates the subject is doing the action and the direct object of that action is the homework. It reflects the English/American cultural attitude of individual responsibility for one’s actions. I am responsible for forgetting the homework. It is my fault.

•synonyms•antonyms•polysemy•homophonesELLs will need the help of their teacher to identify and integrate these additional semantic concepts into their learning.

•Se me olvidó la tarea. Literal translation: The homework forgot itself (was forgotten) on me. Accidental reflexive construction reflects the laid back attitude of the Spanish culture in the sentence structure. The way it is formed indicates that the action is unintentional and relieves the object of blame or fault. Spanish ELLs might be confused by this construction and this attitude

I transport to school I was transported to schoolUsed the active instead of the passive voice

which is needed in this context

Active v. Passive Voice

English Spanish

•alphabetic foundations

•Flaitz (2003) points out that because Spanish spelling is so close to pronunciation, English spelling can be difficult for ELLs.

•alphabetic foundations

•more shallow or transparent

•more notable phoneme-grapheme correspondence(Pérez Cañado, 2005)

What Javier wrote Correct form Error

Stitches an sews Stitches and sews Left off final letter in and

Arrange some rock and shells Arrange some rocks and shells Left off final letter in rocks

Can go trougt Can go through Misspelled through

Speak two language Speak two languagesLeft off final letter in languages

I als I also Left off final letter in also

Poison fr Poison frogLeft off the final two letters in frog

Th keeper The keeperLeft off final letter in the

The when the keeper Then when the keeperLeft off final letter in then

The she Then sheLeft off final letter in then

The he Then heLeft off final letter in then

For a trecit For a receiptMisspelled receipt

Spelling Errors

Work on the many English vowel sounds and minimal pairs (b,v) in phonology.

Present the lack of inflection for gender, and fewer inflections for verb formations as positive aspects of English morphology

Point out the patterns of English syntax in context in both spoken and written English

The teacher should point out the semantics at the word or sentence level and then discuss with the class the implications of semantics in all languages.

Spelling should be integrated with writing, worked on individually, in pairs, and in small groups, and taught with rules and strategies that are repeated and revised (Pérez-Cañado, 2005) .

I concluded that Javier’s errors are due more to the developmental stage of his language learning than to interference of the L1 on the development of his interlanguage. Based on his writing samples, he is doing what is expected of him in these assignments.

Flaitz, J. (2003). Understanding Your International Students. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Pérez-Cañado, M. L. (2005). English and Spanish spelling: Are they really different?.

International Reading Association, 522-530.