Expectations and Achievements

Expectations

My initial hopes for this course were driven by a fascination with its focus on multilingualism, and I trusted it would offer perspectives not available in my primary degree program. Even though the class was designed from the point of view of future English teachers, and my degree is in Portuguese and French, knowledge is always welcome, and I can easily apply what I learnt in my classes.

A key goal was to incorporate the new perspectives gained here into my future Master's or Doctoral research, which I hope will be in the field of Diglossia. Furthermore, by being in contact with students from other countries, I hoped this experience would provide new points of view, not only to face challenges that I came to realise are shared by my neighbouring countries, but also to get to know different approaches to theories that are essential to my degree.

As for my own development, my goals were clear. As an aspiring teacher and linguist, I saw reflection as essential and hoped to develop a consistent habit of thinking critically about my teaching methods. My primary aim was to become a more effective educator, better equipped to handle classroom challenges and create meaningful learning experiences for my future students.

Achievements

This course has been a wonderfully enriching journey of revisiting familiar topics from a new perspective. My reflections have led to significant achievements in my theoretical understanding, personal identity as a language user, and emerging teaching philosophy.

In terms of my deepened theoretical understanding, I now have a much clearer grasp of the distinction between language acquisition (a natural, unconscious process) and language learning (a conscious, formal one), which has helped me frame my own experiences learning English, Spanish, and French. I've identified the main factors influencing language learning — motivation, the similarity of the L1 to the target language, the learning environment, and the emotional context — and have concluded that intrinsic motivation is one of the most important drivers. My understanding of interlanguage has become a cornerstone of my learning; I see it as a unique, personal, and necessary linguistic system that every learner develops. My internship at my university’s International Office has been an invaluable blessing, allowing me to connect Selinker's theory directly to real-world examples in my frequent conversations with international students. In line with this, I have fully embraced an Error Analysis mindset, viewing mistakes not as failures but as essential and natural steps that show learning is in progress, as Corder noted. Finally, I got to know a new concept and now understand fossilization as the phenomenon where certain errors may become permanent, which I've observed in my personal experiences and with my students and friends.

The course also gave me significant personal and identity-related growth. Drawing inspiration from mentors like Isabella Mozzillo and theorists like François Grosjean, I have come to fully accept and take pride in my multilingual identity. I have been aware of the monolingual myth for a long time, and what we have seen in this term has given me new perspectives on this matter. Having different levels of proficiency does not make me less of a bilingual, and what truly matters is the functional use of language. This has led to a sense of self-kindness and pride in my own linguistic path, reinforcing my belief that language learning is a lifelong journey. As I always say, be proud of your accent, it shows where you came from.

Ultimately, these reflections have culminated in the formation of a cohesive teaching philosophy. My perspective has shifted from a focus on Grammatical Competence (Chomsky) to a stronger belief in the importance of Communicative Competence (Hymes), recognizing that the goal is not just to produce perfect sentences, but to make genuine connections. I am committed to creating a classroom that is genuinely communicative and supportive by fostering a safe space where students are not afraid to make mistakes, which helps lower the "affective filter." I firmly believe teachers must use a student's first language and interlanguage as a bridge, not a barrier, to learning. My approach will be to provide meaningful and "comprehensible input," as Krashen suggests, while remaining flexible and acknowledging that every student's path is unique. I also recognize the value of social interaction in learning, as described in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, and see how we all learn from each other through communication.

Finally, after reviewing so many theories and theorists, I have come to the obvious conclusion that all theories have their rights and wrongs, and it is up to us to build our own personal Frankenstein of theories to use in our classroom, as if we put pieces of each one of them together, they will fit much better.