The artifacts that I chose for the Language Competence section

of the portfolio are the certificates and can-do self-evaluations from

the ACTFL. Each of these artifacts categorized into speaking, writing,
listening, and reading speak to a different part of my language growth
since I first learned Portuguese on my mission.
Some of my biggest growth areas has been my vocabulary in
my speaking and writing abilities. While on my mission, my language
was largely limited to religious/Mormon centric words and phrases. I
learned a ton of everyday vocabulary, to be sure, but I only ever
reached a high level of proficiency in the realm of religious talk. I could
discuss the lessons just fine, do a lot of biblical-based commentary, but
I struggled to discuss much of anything outside of that. Since my time
here at BYU, Ive greatly expanded by usable vocabulary into literary,
historical, and political subjects while maintaining most of the religious
vocabulary I obtained on my mission.
This isnt to say that Im completely fluent: my Oral Exam score
was Advanced Low, meaning that I have the ability to narrative and
describe events in all major time frames and native speakers not used
to dealing with foreign speakers can understand me just fine. While
this is good news, it also means that I often rely on false cognates
literal translations, and English grammar structure when I speak. In
addition to those general weaknesses, I often still struggle with gender
agreement in phrases and I sometimes speak too fast, to the point that
others have trouble understanding me.
There are a few different ideas I have to continue to develop my
language skills. One of the biggest is my current graduate school plans
at the University of California, San Diego, where Ill be pursuing a
degree in Latin American Studies. Im hoping to center a lot of my
research on Brazil, which will expose me to more academic literature
and hopefully improve my reading, writing, and oral skills as a result. I
will be reading a ton of Portuguese language sources and studies,
which will expand my vocabulary and help maintain my fluency. Lots
of reading will have a positive effect on my writing ability, and Ill have
the chance to present my research at different times during my
studies, which will help maintain my oral proficiency.
The listening portion is a little different; in order to keep up my
experience with that, Ill need to engage more with the spoken
language. Ive already taken some steps in order to remedy this. Ive
downloaded a radio app that gives me access to worldwide radio
broadcasts, and Ive found the daily radio news show Bandierantes,
from Sao Paulo, that gives a daily rundown to the news and events
most affecting Brazil. Its a start towards developing my listening
ability more, and will expose me to different types of vocabulary that
are directly related to the day-to-day life in Brazil. This, coupled with
my increased academic study, should go a long ways in helping to
maintain and improve my language ability.