Case study of a french speaker learning english

Learning English
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Abstract
Second language acquisition has been a welcome activity in recent years. With the emergence of social media platforms and a generation of people who do not want to limit their chances in the job market, learning a foreign language is paramount. The following essay examines the challenges experienced by a French woman when learning to communicate in English. Therefore, this essay will look at how learning a second language is not easy. The person being considered is Camille since her native language French and her acquired language English belong to different language families. While the two languages have a considerable number of speakers, both posse difficulties especially because they belong to different language families, the methods used include researching the rules of grammar, and weighing the learner’s level according to the Wida Can Do Key Uses. Results show that although the student has progressed in the basic sentence formations, she still requires some improvement to make her sentences grammatically correct.

Introduction
Camille is a fourteen-year-old French girl who has been learning English for some time. She intends to create an account on YouTube where she can interact with native English speakers and exchange knowledge on language and French culture. However, she is yet to master the proficiency in communicating in English, and she hopes to learn from the people who will visit her account.
Learning a second language is not easy, especially for Camille since her native language French and her acquired language English belong to different language families.

While English is Germanic, French is a Romanic language, and, therefore, the pronunciations are different. Her speech sounds are primarily influenced by her French accent although she can construct meaningful sentences in English. The sounds of speech present in English do not exist in French and thus her difficulty in combining sentence structures. Consider her pronunciation of “comments” and “sentences” both which are pronounced with a heavy French accent.
The morphology problems experienced by Camille relate to her difficulty in distinguishing tenses. In addition, she has difficulty in using relative pronouns ‘who” and “which.” Her syntax error in arranging words to form sentences also require practice to ensure that they are grammatically correct.
The purpose of the video is to create a group for interaction and share knowledge in two different languages and countries. Thus, Camille’s current level according to the Wida Can Do Descriptors is grade 6-8, ELP level 3 developing. The reason for this classification is that she is inviting people to engage with her and correct her errors when communicating in English.
Writing Samples
Student 3 Grade 5 Paper 1
The student might have just commenced his or her learning lessons because the sentences do not follow any morphology, syntax, and phonetics. There is a lack of unison in words formation to form sensible and clear sentences. Most of the words borrowed from the writer’s native language and translation from what they hear other English speakers talk. The Wida Can Do level for this writer is Recount ELP level 2 Emerging (“Can Do Descriptors, Key Uses Edition Grades 6-8 – WIDA,” n.d.). The writer recognizes familiar words like a weekend, pizza, and Saturday but cannot comprehend other words.
Looking at all three essays, the major problem arising is sentence structure and tense use. In addition, native language influences the way the learners form sounds in the English language.
Embracing the diversity in the primary culture would assist a student to learn another language with ease. In addition, determining the sentence structure of the new language would help in enabling the learner to break down the barrier of native language influence in pronunciations.
 
References
A French girl talks English. (2013, January 1). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/bigeWSYMYaM
Can Do Descriptors, Key Uses Edition Grades 6-8 – WIDA. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/CanDo-KeyUses-Gr-6-8