Oral Language Analysis

It appears that Efraín is a simultaneous bilingual. He was born in the US of immigrant Mexican parents. He speaks Spanish at home with them (confirmed by his older brother aged 9) but in English with his brother and his friends. I believe that English is his preferred language of communication since when given the chance to speak in Spanish he quickly reverts back into English. After analyzing his speech in both languages it appears he has a bit more control over his oral language in English, most likely due to receiving his formal education in a English-language medium.

In class he has little opportunity to speak Spanish. There are two other Spanish-speaking students—one with limited English skills like himself—and the other with a much higher level of English fluency. With all his classmates and the teacher he converses in English. He has known since the beginning of the school year that I speak Spanish but he has never once initiated any conversation in Spanish. When I ask questions about his reading and it appears he is thinking about the appropriate vocabulary to use I tell him to explain it to me in Spanish which he will do on an occasional basis.

In Efraín's English sample, he occasionally will engage in code-switching. I would classify him as a 2 (beginning) on the Speaking Rubric of the WIDA Consortium. There are a few single-word or set phrases but more short oral sentences in the are of linguistic complexity. His vocabulary usage is also a 2 because outside the highly familiar general content area (high frequency words) he gets stuck quite quickly and struggles to find the appropriate vocabulary. When discussing new ideas or unfamiliar concepts he shuts down pretty quickly and resorts to simple one-word refrains. I would classify his language control also as a 2. With simple discourse he is generally understandable and fluent; more complex discourse and unfamiliar content results in Efraín visibly struggling with sentence structure and vocabulary and makes many syntactic and semantic errors.

Language blending is much more prevalent when Efraín speaks Spanish. The three types of code-switching (tag-switching, inter-sentential, and intra-sentential code-switching were evident in Efraín's Spanish discourse. We began a discussion about a book that talked about various types of jobs in Spanish. I asked Efraín “¿Que hizo la mujer con los perros. Explícame lo que hace ella.” (The woman worked at a veterinarian’s office). He responded “She's got those thingies here (indicating a stethoscope) and she want to check to see if los perros respiran” (tag-switching). When I asked about what types of jobs are there at school he answered “Hay trabajos como maestros, la principal, and the man who works in the library y la mujer en la oficina (inter-sentential). And when discussing his father's employment “El trabaja en el centro y hace wings de pollo and nachos. He works en un restaurante during the nighttime.(intra-sentential).

I would classify Efraín's Spanish-language development as a level 2 beginning. He generally used phrases and short oral sentences in Spanish but also relied upon code-switching and his English language skills to express himself. His vocabulary usage ranks between a 1 and 2 since he struggles with moving beyond high frequency vocabulary for general conversation. His language control is between and 2 and 3. He is generally comprehensible and fluent in his Spanish discourse but struggles when attempting more complex oral communication.

Efraín is generally a very shy boy. It is only recently that I have seen him engage in conversation with his classmates and participate in the large-group discussions. The extended silence gaps have lessened considerably between us since the beginning of the school year. It is not easy to get him to talk. Even in a more comfortable setting such as the after-school homework club targeting Latino students he is visibly more at ease, but still limits his conversation. I have even observed his brother answering questions for him and at times translating. It would be interesting to observe his oral discourse skills when speaking to his mother in his home environment. I would assume he is more comfortable with her and speaks more freely and openly.