Week 1 Reflections

Although I have already taken two linguistics classes as part of the TESOL sequence, I was excited to begin a class in which I would learn about specific practices and theories in TESOL. The first two chapters in Saville-Troike's book were an excellent introduction to the study of TESOL. Although I was familiar with or at least had heard of many of the terms before, I felt very happy with the amount of detail, yet ease that they were explained in.

There were quite a few things that I came across while reading that I felt very strongly about. In tonight's presentation, the boys thoroughly explained and reinforced the ideas that were presented in the text. One thing that I found interesting was the Monitor Theory, more specifically, the final stage- the Affective Filter Hypothesis. Upon first examining this theory, it seemed very convoluted and complicated to me and I really didn't understand it. However, with their excellent presentation, I realized that the Affective Filter Hypothesis, which says that in a low-stress learning environment, the filter (how much you limit your speech, etc) is lower. I was quickly able to make sense of this concept by thinking about my experiences with this concept. For example, in our very own ENG 344 class. Because I am surrounded by a great group of peers and educators who share the same passion for languages, learning, and teaching as I do, I feel very comfortable in this setting and am not at all shy when speaking up. This concept can also be obviously related to the environment of a foreign language class. If there is a high level of intimidation, then the speaker's filter will be higher.

I believe that I am very lucky to have ended up in this section of 344. I look forward to sharing my ideas with my classmates through these posts as well as reading about their ideas and thoughts.