Data Analysis &

Language Comparison

Spanish English

-Jorge Diaz-Mexican

immigrant-23 years old-Works in the natural gas industry in

Towanda, Pa.-He has lived in the U.S. for 3.5

years. -He has moved to

PA from Texas. -Jorge has never taken an official English course.

Jorge thinks that everyone talks

really fast! He learns from being around

people and he has bilingual friends and

co-workers that help him to converse at

work and with others.

O The phonological system of Spanish is significantly different from English in the aspect of vowel sounds and sentence stress.

O There are also similarities.O They utilize the same alphabet with

some variationO The Spanish sound system is concise.

Spanish spelling is phonetic since every letter represents one sound. The pronunciation is logical as words are pronounced as they are spelled and vice-verse.

O Spanish lacks the glottal /'/, (Quillis, the voiced affricate /ʤ/ (judge), the voiced /ð/ and unvoiced /Ɵ/ (thigh,thy), the voiced /ž/ and the unvoiced /ʃ/ (azure,shy), the /z/, the /ŋ/ (sing) and the flap /ɾ/ (butter) (Bilinguistics. Inc., 2007)

O Dipthongs are prevalent in Spanish, usually a combination of a hard vowel and weak vowel. These examples include, viaje, puedo, cambio, etc.

O Spanish has one-to-one verb correspondence in the use of tenses and in particular sentences, auxiliary verbs may be absent.

O Spanish word order is generally Subject-Verb-Object and the adjective follows the noun in sentence structure.

O Spanish uses gender which means nouns are masculine or feminine and the article or adjective must agree (Shoebottom, 2011).

L1 ImpactO Distinct languages but share patterns of speech

acquisition.O Similar phonology but difficulty for Spanish speakers

when pronouncing sounds lacking in Spanish.O Distinct vowel sounds in Spanish become an array

of sounds in English.O Intonation patterns are carried over from Spanish to

English.O False cognates impact interlanguage as well as

words with multiple meanings.O Absence of auxiliary verbs when Spanish speakers

speak or write (Shoebottom, 2011).P

hon

ol

og

y

Examples of Jorge’s errors

DESCRIPTION OF ERROR JORGE'S ERROR EXAMPLE

1. Omitted s on a plural noun I am 23 year old.2. Omission of a preposition I from Texas.3. No [k] pronunciation. Texas (ˈtɛksəs)4. Improper preposition Now I live in Main Street.5. Improper tense: needs past tense -ed

In Mexico I graduate.

6. Improper tense: needs irregular past tense.

I never have English.

7. Improper [ɪ] pronunciation English8. Preposition not needed/ or *ing to be added to verb to make a gerund.

I am work in the area.

9. Omission of a preposition I work the afternoon.10. Omission of a preposition I not so well11. Added unnecessary -s to a verb

I comes here.

12. Double subject My amigos, they help.

Errors continued13. Substitution of English word

My amigos, they help.

14. Improper [ð] pronunciation They help15. Added unnecessary -s to a verb

I likes work.

16. Contraction is not completed

I don like cold.

17. Contraction not completed. I don know snow.18. Wrong word choice I don't know snow.19. Improper [ð] pronunciation They fun.20. Missing verb They fun.21. Improper verb. You is nice.22. Contraction not completed You welcome

As a beginning language learner, Jorge had difficulty with pronunciation. He could not distinguish phonology between the two languages. He did not hear a difference between the pronunciation of dare-there. They are phonetically similar. He also stated several words without the contractions. Spanish speakers are not accustomed to pronouncing the final “t”.

Instructional ImplicationsO Jorge will continue to learn through collaboration

with English speakers (Garcia, 1991).O Discussion & conversation with friends & co-

workers will help Jorge with pronunciation.O An adult ELL course would be helpful in Jorge’s

language acquisition. O The most beneficial instruction will come

through reading (Freeman and Freeman, 2004). O He will learn vocabulary and consciously

recognize words.O Reading the newspaper

ReferencesOBilinguistics Inc. (2007) Typical Development of Speech in Spanish in Comparison to English. www.Bilinguistics.com. OFreeman, D. and Freeman Y. (2004). Essential Linguistics: What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, and Grammar. Heinneman.OGarcia, Eugene E.(1991). The Education of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students: Effective Instructional Practices. UC Berkeley: Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2793n11s OShoebottom, Paul. (2011) The Differences between Spanish and English. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: http://www.esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/spanish.htm