This case study presents the language life history of an American woman of Mexican descent. The informant describes the ways in which her two languages, English and Spanish, developed and have been used throughout her life. She narrates how living with two languages has affected her in each period of her life. The informant's language life history provides insight into the ways in which immigrants who come to the United States live and adapt to a new country, culture, and language. The informant's narrative is a testimony of a person divided between two languages and two cultures. The methods used to elaborate the informant's language life history were ethnographic interviewing, observing, and event/network analysis. This language life history will promote understanding of issues such as bilingualism and its relationship to immigration in the United States, language maintenance or loss, language shift, and language choice and use. In the area of Teaching English as a Second Language, teachers are constantly faced with the above issues in their teaching environment. A more thorough comprehension of the experiences of second language learners could improve the skills of those teaching English as a Second Language.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-5892 |
| Date | 05 August 1994 |
| Creators | Alvarez, Alexandra Guerra |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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