Reflection 1

Standard 1.a Reflection: ESC 757

Standard 1.a. Language as a System. Candidates demonstrate understanding of
language as a system, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics,
discourse varieties, aspects of social and academic language, rhetorical registers, and
writing conventions. Teachers use their knowledge of these inter-related aspects of
language to help ELLs acquire English language and literacy to achieve in content areas.

During my course in Linguistics (ESC 757) at Lehman College we looked at
language as a system and how the influence of the first language can play a large
role in second language acquisition. For one homework assignment we took an in-
depth look at morphology, the study of the structure and form of words in a
language.
During this assignment I read a research article that discussed the four main
principles that should be present when teaching morphology to students. These
principles were extremely beneficial to learn about because some were designed for
ELL students specifically. One principle taught me how to teach morphology to my
ELLs by using the Spanish language with my proficient native Spanish speakers; this
principle was comparing similar words in Spanish to English. All of these principles
were helpful approaches when attacking morphemes with students because they
are all based largely on allowing the student to make their own connections.
Along with this article I also demonstrated an understanding of morphology
by locating inflectional errors in sample ELL writings. The standard requires that
teachers educate students on how to tackle unknown words and use strategies to
determine their meaning, and this artifact along with the articles provided strategies
on how to do so.
This assignment taught me the importance of teaching and incorporating
morphology strategies in my lessons, as that was something I never really went out
of my way to consider when designing lesson plans. The article also provided me
with a lot of strategies and ways to implement learning morphology in every day
lessons. Since I am not in a full time classroom yet I do not have much time to teach
my own lessons or design my own lesson plans so incorporating morphology into
my lessons and seeing it through is something I need to work on and grow as an
instructor.