Monique Isaak

9/28/15
T/L 333

Student Interview
On September 24, 2015, I had to the opportunity to interview one ELL
student who attends WSU. I went in to the interview not knowing what to expect.
Before I arrived, I made the effort to prepare questions to ask during the time spent
with the ELL students. When the time came to begin the interview, I quickly realized
that plans were going to be altered. Both myself, and the man I was interviewing had
questions planned to ask. The interview process was informal, but highly
informative for both of us.
To begin the interview I started with the basic questions. What is your name?
Where are you from? And how did you choose WSU? I learned that Abbelsalan was
from Libya. Although he had already completed his undergraduate degree and
received his masters, Abbelesalan was working to become proficient in
English in order to be accepted into the PhD program at WSU. His main interest was
in Environmental Science. Through conversation I was able to listen to his goals and
achievements. I found it fascinating to hear about how he has gotten to this point
and the goals he has set for his future. Abbelsalan desires to study global warming
and the materials in soil. While discussing his education, he also mentioned that he
chose WSU because of the positive remarks he had heard from his friends.
Most of all, I enjoyed the interview because I was able to learn about the
similarities and differences between cultures. Abbelsalan discussed how in Libya,
the focus in education is centered on the individual. He noticed that here at WSU, the
focus is mainly on the group as a whole. Due to time, we were not able to go into
more detail on this subject, but I found this statement interesting and something to
research. Another difference he displayed was his form of writing. In Libya, they are
taught to write from right to left, where as in America we write left to right. I noticed
while watching him write on paper, he was slow to write down the words and
always asked me to check his spelling. Once he explained the difference in how we
print, I understood to his struggle.
According to Abbelsalan, learning a second language is a demanding task. He
believes you cannot teach a second language to an individual by only using one
strategy. He believes that the way he has been taught is successful. Teachers have
incorporated writing, reading, speaking, and listening. Personally, he prefers
conversing with people. During the interview he admitted that he has a hard time
writing and memorizing the grammar and spelling, but he has been able to catch on
to the language by listening and repeating. Simply, taking part in the interview was
beneficial for both Abbelsalan and myself.
Personally, I believe that a second language teaching is teaching English to a
student whose first language is not English. The text identifies four major
perspectives for Second Language Acquisition Theories. They consist of
behaviorism, the innatist perspective, the cognitive/developmental perspective and
the sociocultural perspective. I believe that all of these perspectives are essential to
learning a new language. However, during my interview, Abbelsalan discussed how
speaking a language and having conversation has been the most useful tool for
learning a new language. This refers to the Interaction Hypothesis and
Comprehensible Output Hypothesis. Overall, in order to learn a new language, it is
evident that you have to complete many different learning strategies and
techniques. Everyone learns in different ways. Writing, reading, and speaking a
language are all important factors to successfully comprehend a new language.

Sources:
Wright, Wayne E. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research,
Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Pub., 2010. Print.