Reading log template. University: El Bosque Program: Bilingual Education.

Subject matter: Principles of Bilingual Education Students name: Germn Arana. Teachers name: Jenny Lisbeth Mora. Date: March 20th, 2012.

Title: Different Perspectives on bilingualism. 1st paragraph: main argument of the reading (reflection). 2nd and 3rd paragraph: develop the main argument of the reading or other important topics (reflection). 4rd Finish the text summarizing your reflections. Do not forget to include two different references to support your ideas.

Reading log rubric.

I wrote a full page in Verdana Font and 12 size according to the template I selected the main topics to develop I stated my point of view by analyzing deeply the assigned reading I rephrased / quoted appropriately I included two authors to support my point of view.

The gist I got from the reading is that bilingualism is determined by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Within the first group of factors,

this term is explained through simultaneous bilingualism and sequential bilingualism. As for the second group of factors, language contact between communities, socio-cultural aspects, and historical and geographical issues can be listed. I support this classification for two personal reasons: first of all, in order to say that someone is bilingual, it is important to establish that most people speak one particular mother tongue. Later, when that same people either learn or acquire a second language, there is a fluctuant degree of exposure to that new language which in the end will determine their levels of language competence and proficiency. The second reason is that the fact of being bilingual is conceived in a non-isolated way because there are communication needs that can only be satisfied through a constant interaction with different people whose socio-cultural characteristics may differ too. In my own view, a simultaneous bilingual people is more advantageous than sequential bilingual people because they are gradually exposed to two languages at the same time; whereas in the second case, they learn a second language depending on how strong their mother tongue was built up in the past. In other words, there are two coexisting psychological and linguistic systems in any single bilingual person that make a difference on the ways of learning two languages: one system belongs to the first language, and the other comes from the second language. This theory is called Interlanguage and it was suggested by Selinker (1974). He claims that both systems are independent but they can connect with each other at the time of measuring the quality of utterances made by the bilingual person. I have also realized that simultaneous bilingualism is closely related to the concept of holistic bilingualism that was proposed by Grosjean (1982). In this view, there is a learning continuum of the two languages that leads the individual to manage the four basic language skills in a simultaneous or parallel way. In such situation, the person is able to gain high levels of competence in both languages. On the other hand, sequential bilingualism is subjected to the concept of fractional bilingualism in which the person can combine knowledge from the two languages in a complex of interaction with each other. To conclude, I believe that bilingualism is a very complex term that involves both, inner and outer factors which can vary a lot to define what implies to be bilingual. But despite these factors are so diverse, they are of interdependent kind, which means that one factor can sometimes affect the others at wide ranges that are difficult to deduce. However, this problem does not take away or decrease their own importance.

References: Reyes, I. Bilingualism in Holistic Perspective. University of Arizona, Tucson. To appear in the Encyclopedia of Bilingual Education in the US, Editor Josu Gonzlez SAGE Publications. (Reading on Pdf format provided by the teacher Jenny Lisbeth Mora). Grosjean, F. (1982). Life with two languages: An introduction to bilingualism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Selinker, (1974). Interlanguage. HM Patel Institute of English Training and Research. Retrieved on February 9th, 2012 from http://www.hmpenglishonline.com/interlanguage.htm