Mario’s parents were fluent in both English and Spanish. The family lived in rural Vermont
but spoke Spanish almost exclusively at home, in part because Mario’s mother found English
harsh and unpleasant to the ear. Most of Mario’s early exposure to English was in the Englishspeaking
child care centers and preschools he attended off and on from the time he was 2.
When Mario was 5, his dominant language was Spanish, but he was proficient in English
as well. After his first 2 months in kindergarten, his teacher wrote the following in a
report to Mario’s parents:
[Mario is] extremely sociable. He gets along fine with all the children, and enjoys school.
He is quite vocal. He does not seem at all conscious of his speech. His slight accent has had
no effect on his relations with the others. Whenever I ask the class a question, he is always
one of the ones with his hand up.
His greatest problem seems to be in the give and take of conversation. Since he always has
something to say, he often finds it difficult to wait his turn when others are talking. When he
talks, there are moments when you can see his little mind thinking through language—for
he sometimes has to stop to recall a certain word in English which he might not have at his
finger tips. (Fantini, 1985, p. 28)
The following school year, a speech therapist misperceived Mario’s accent to be an articulation
problem and so recommended him for speech therapy (Mario’s parents refused
to give their consent). By the time Mario was 8, any trace of an accent had disappeared from
his speech, and his third-grade teacher was quite surprised to learn that he spoke a language
other than English at home.
Standardized tests administered over the years attested to Mario’s proficiency in English.
Before he began kindergarten, his score on a standardized vocabulary test was at the 29th
percentile, reflecting performance that, though a little on the low side, was well within an
average range. Later, when he took the California Achievement Test in the fourth, sixth,
and eighth grades, he obtained scores at the 80th percentile or higher (and mostly above
the 90th percentile) on the reading, writing, and spelling subtests. When Mario spent a semester
of fifth grade at a Spanish-speaking school in Bolivia, he earned high marks in Spanish
as well, with grades of 5 on a 7-point scale in reading, writing, and language usage.
As Mario grew older, however, his vocabulary and written language skills developed
more rapidly in English than in Spanish, in large part because his school instruction took
place almost exclusively in English. His father described the situation this way:
[B]y about fifth grade (age ten), he had entered into realms of experience for which he had
no counterpart in Spanish. A clear example was an attempt to prepare for a fifth grade test on
the topic of “The Industrial Revolution in England and France.” It soon became clear that it
was an impossibility to try to constrain the child to review materials read and discussed at
school—in English—through Spanish. With this incident, [use of English at home] became a
fairly well established procedure when discussing other school topics, including science,mathematics, and the like. (Fantini, 1985, p. 73)
Learning a language is a remarkable accomplishment. At a minimum, it includes acquiring
(a) an understanding of what various words mean (and most adults understand
many tens of thousands of them), (b) oral-motor skills that enable precise
pronunciation, (c) knowledge of innumerable rules for putting words together into meaningful
sequences, and (d) awareness of how to speak with others in ways that are considered
polite and socially acceptable. Mario’s language development was all the more
remarkable because he mastered two languages instead of one.
In this chapter, we often revisit Mario as we explore the multifaceted nature of human
language and its development. We begin our discussion by looking at several theoretical
perspectives on how children acquire their first language—that is, their native language.
the question is = *Identify the components of language development in terms of Mario’s progress through school in 200 to 300 words.
this is what i said.
Well we first noticed Mario develops a stronger understanding of English as he tries to "match" words with Spanish as a child. Mario starts out being totally fluent in Spanish but as he goes along in school and at home he slowly begins to learn and understand English. Mario’s slight accent does not prevent him from making friends. There are some kids sometimes that can be cruel because they are “different” from them. Mario retained his Spanish on that trip to Bolivia. He spent a semester of fifth grade at a Spanish-speaking school in Bolivia,
anything else i am still shy of words
dang i thought i was on wright track. r they talking grammar,Pragmatics, Semantics, 1.Phonology
What have you learned about the components of language development?
Take these components one-by-one and apply them to Mario.
This site may help you.
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2153/Language-Acquisition.html
Remember -- this is the question you must answer:
Identify the components of language development in terms of Mario’s progress through school.
ok sorry i am so lost on this. does what i have so far sound right or no?
You haven't answered the question. You have not identified the components of language development.
Check your text and the web site.
Are those the components taught in your text? If so, then you must include them in your answer.
i do not understand my reading tonite i read it several times
Does your reading say anything about grammar,pragmatics, semantics, and phonology?
What does it say about them? What are they?
i copied everything to u the case stduy. so i dunno where to go from there
In terms of Mario's language development, several components can be identified. First, there is the acquisition of vocabulary and meanings of words in both English and Spanish. Mario's exposure to English-speaking child care centers and preschools from a young age allowed him to begin learning English alongside his dominant language, Spanish. Over time, his proficiency in English increased, as evident from his standardized test scores, which showed improvement and high performance in reading, writing, and spelling in English.
Second, there is the development of oral-motor skills for precise pronunciation. Mario initially had a slight accent when speaking English, as he had to recall certain words that were not readily available to him. However, by the age of 8, any trace of the accent had disappeared, indicating the development of his oral-motor skills and ability to pronounce words accurately.
Third, there is the understanding and application of the rules for constructing meaningful sequences of words. Mario's progress in language development allowed him to participate in classroom discussions and express his thoughts, as mentioned by his kindergarten teacher. However, he did face some challenges in the give and take of conversation, often finding it difficult to wait his turn when others were speaking.
Lastly, there is the awareness of social and polite language use. Mario's teacher noted that his slight accent had no effect on his relations with others, suggesting that he was able to communicate effectively and socially interact with his peers. The fact that his parents spoke Spanish at home but later switched to primarily using English when discussing school topics demonstrates his awareness of appropriate language use in different contexts.
Overall, Mario's language development progressed from being fluent in Spanish to becoming proficient in English, with a strong emphasis on English due to the school instruction he received. This development encompassed the acquisition of vocabulary, oral-motor skills for pronunciation, understanding of language rules, and awareness of social language use.