Malka Dagan An introduction to her life and our linguistic observations

1. Malka DaganAn introduction to her life and our linguistic observations

2. Background Information • Born in Russia in 1944 • Russian was Malka’s first and fluent language until age 3; she moved to Israel at the age of 3 and Russian was completely erased; Hebrew replaced Russian as L1 • Mother spoke to her in Yiddish, and she communicated to her mother in Hebrew • Moved to the United States in 1985 • Never had formal training in English; took a few ESL classes at Santa Fe Community College to help her learn English • She uses both Hebrew and English to communicate at home, but Hebrew is predominant language used to converse with her husband

3. The Fluency Question • Malka’s English is still considerably broken, but VERY understandable to a native English speaker. • Is she fluent or not? --Smooth flow of speech and coherent words groups but at a loss sometimes for a specific vocabulary word --Considerable pronunciation, syntactic, and morphological problems

4. Affective Factors • Malka is very self-conscious of her speech. Before we could start to teach her correct pronunciations and syntax, she had to feel very comfortable with us. • Ways we lowered affective filters: Not treating her as a subject, but as a person Having normal conversation with her, and never bringing up problems outside of our sessions Meetings were held in her office where we were not in front of a large group of people Making her aware of her the issues she was struggling with, but not pushing her too far as to induce hypercorrection

5. Linguistic Issues • Phonetics • Problem sounds include: [ɹ] [ɵ] [ɕ] • Hebrew language uses voiced uvular fricative • voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives • Malka replaces these fricatives with either [t] [d] or [z] There is NO NOTICEABLE PATTERN as to what she will replace the sound with

6. Example Words

7. Lesson Plans • With practice, Malka can pronounce almost any word in slow speech. Her problem comes when she must produce them in normal speech. How we practiced with her: • Word Lists with difficult sound combinations • Making her more aware of the words and sounds she was having trouble with • Showing her where to place her tongue in her mouth • Having her a repeat a word slowly at first, and then faster and faster until she could properly produce it

8. Learning Issues and Styles • Both negative and positive transfer of her L1 have occurred: Hebrew and English do have many sounds in common. Because of this, Malka was able to pronounce English words that might be hard for learners of English coming from a different culture. However, English and Hebrew do have quite a few different sounds, and Hebrew continues to influence the way that Malka pronounces these sounds. • Malka’s Learning Styles: • Malka seems to have tendencies toward the following styles: Field Dependent, Auditory, Reflectivity (not a risk taker)

9. Summary of Phonetic Issues • Dominant problem lies with three sounds: [ɹ] [ɵ] [ɕ] • Has problems using these sounds in fast speech…but she can produce all of them in slow speech • Also has problems with certain sound combinations in English (ex. [g e] becomes [g ɹ e]) • Uses Hebrew and English equally on a daily basis; therefore, neither one receives more practice than the other • She is interested in correcting her phonetic problems, but has indicated that she would rather work on her syntactic problems right now. In her opinion, competence in syntax is more important that proper pronunciation.

10. Analysis Syntax and Grammar

11. Word Order • Adverbs and adverbials Some of Malka’s sentences:  You meet here people. (adverb) Tomorrow you are getting in the classroom questions. (adverbial PP)Some people are putting in the stew eggs. (adverbial PP) He was attending last year faculty meetings. (adverbial PP) מחר אתם מקבלים בכיטה שאלותץ questions in-the-classroom receive you (pl) Tomorrow

12. Word Order • Source of Error: L1 to L2 Interlingual Transfer • Suggested Correction: • Recognition that English adverbs and adverbial PP’s are normally post-nominal as in: • “You meet people here” and • “Some people are putting eggs in the stew,” etc.

13. Verbs • Aspect, Modals, Auxiliaries, and Linking Verb “to be” Malka’s translation: English version:

14. Tense/Aspect English Hebrew Hebrew translation Hebrew Tense Infinitive To learn ללמוד To learn Infinitive Present Tense Learns לומד Learns, is learning Present Past Tense Learned למד Learned Past Present Participle Is learning לומד Learns, is learning Present Past Participle Has learned למד Learned Past Present Perfect Has learned למד Learned Past Past Perfect Had learned למד Learned Past Future Perfect Will have learned למד Learned Past Present Progressive Is learning לומד Learns, is learning Present Past Progressive Were learning למד Learned Past Future Progressive Will be learning ילמד Will learn Future Present Perfect Progressive Has been learning לומד Learns, is learning (already) Present Past Perfect Progressive Had been learning למד Learned Past Future Perfect Progressive Will have been learning ילמד Will learn Future Tense/Aspect Comparison

15. Verbs • Source of Error: L1 – L2 Interlingual Transfer • Hebrew lacks modals and auxiliaries as used in English: (can, may, shall, will, has, am, do);* therefore, it can not express Aspect in the same manner as English. • A one-to-one transfer is not always possible—some phrasal capabilities are embedded in the verb; such as, “about to”, “go out”, go down”, plus use of “support words”; such as “already” • Suggested Correction: • Additional formal grammar instruction: http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/Courses at UF, ESL, SLA, etc. • Self-monitoring * Hebrew expresses “can” and “shall” as a separate verb always followed by an infinitive form. “Will” is expressed as a future tense affix to a verb. “Am” is embedded in the present tense form of a verb.

16. Other Issues • Articles & Plural Marker • Example: “Some day(s) I sit and think for a bit in (the) shade.” • Hebrew has gendered plural markers: “ot” or “im” • Hebrew defines what is “definite” differently than English • Prepositions • Examples: Help to (indirect object), request from, talk with (not to), say to, marry with, observe on, answer to, fear from, etc. • Similar to English, but, unlike English, use not optional: • English could say: The teacher helped Mary with her homework.Hebrew must say: The teacher helped to Mary with her homework.

17. Summary of Syntax Issues • Relevant Factors: • Little formal training in English (-) • Spoke only English until mid-Adult years (-) • Learned English through immersion more out of necessity (extrinsic motivation/instrumental orientation) (-) • Strong affinity to native language and culture (-) • Fossilization evident (-) • Stated desire to improve (+) • Observations: • Has admitted to paying more attention to syntax/grammar of her speech (+) • Has not taken advantage of training/education available, nor indicated any intentions to do so. (-) • Has given indications that she thought our sessions very helpful. (+)