Reflection

As a researcher, I learned that not every question can be answered at the same time, also cant be answered with the same methods. So, curiosity and motivation were key elements in my project that helped me create my superb project.The best part of my project were the questions,which covered a great deal of my research project and also, the responds add a bit of spark to the overall project.The hardest part was choosing the topic. There were so many topics that cover every range of subjects relating to teen experiences, it was hard to choose just one. Something i would do differently on this research project would be have questions relating to immigrant language experience.But with a limited amount of questions per person and the limited foreign population at school, that was unavoidable problem with the project.

This research gave me a general perspective of how foreign language is viewed. I was amused at how many agreed that other languages affected their perspective of English and how many disagreed. I now feel teen experience is so hard , not even teens understand it and so i feel my research deepened the the world of teen experiences. I also learned a lot about my own teen experiences, I noticed that my perspective varies from language to language that I speak at that moment. So, I came to generalization that code switching is a big part my language experiences and it seem very natural to me now.

Recommendations

There was many questions asked but very few were answered, but yet new ones form. I explored how language is view and answered how it affects the teens view of the world. But new questions, such as, why do some languages have neutral gender differentiation while others have specific rules and regulations that only allow a certian way of speaking? Even why couldn't languages be the same in each continent? These questions cant really be answered in a survey or opinion polls, but more of in depth search in language history and people might answer them. Focusing on populations with very different language history can help with answering these questions, as well.

I hope this research can change the view of American teens about the diffculties immigrant teens face when trying to learn english . This can be used as a helpful way to comprehend their struggles when learning a "free flow" language such as English. Also, gives them an inside look of how hard learning a language can really be when it's so different than their own. To help these immigrant students, I suggest teachers and mentors should motive these students to not give up and expose these struggles to other students their age to help them cope with these dramatic changes.

Conclusion

Many view language as a barrier with very little access to the other side, creating problems that might seem hard to overcome. So when knowing two languages, you are bound to have diffcultly comprehending the world with so many views in mind. By the responds of data 2, explains when almost many people believe that there was an affect to some extent about how a foreign language can affect your English, as to people who seen no affect or have gone to another country with different language. This shows how easily language can change our perspective of the world through our words.

The data collected explains the feelings many have toward language. from survey data one, many expressed how learning a language is either frustrating or a pleasant experience, so in fact how people view language can effect their effort to learn a language. So in survey two, the experience of hearing a different language being spoken can change the the view of the world itself. When speaking a language with gender differentiation, it can be more directed and less influenced view. But, having a language with no gender differentiation can give a person more of free flow perspective of the world.

Survey Data 2

96 students have participated in this survey , ranging from 14 to 16 years of age.There are 32 male and 64 female and the racial make up is 40 white , 40 black, 2 Asian , 2 Latino, 7 mixed and 5 other.

This pie represents the question " Has the experience of visiting a country where another language is spoken affected your perspective of English?" The options were in range of yes to no , including the person hasn't gone to another country with a different language.

The results concluded in many not having gone to another country and many disagreeing that there is affects in their views of English , 55%. But with many who have, agreed that there are influences that affect their view of English to some degrees, 45%.

Survey Data

96 students who range from 14 to 16 years of age, have participated in this survey. There were 32 male students and 64 female students who voiced their opinion.The racial make up of this survey were 40 black , 40 white, 2 Asian , 2 Latino , 7 mixed, and 5 other.

My statement was that learning a new language is easy and have given the options of strongly disagree to strongly agree. The results concluded with 34% disagree with that statement. But other results were with 30% neutral, 21% strongly disagree , 13% agree and 2% strongly agree. At the end, 55% disagreed to some extent while only 15% agreed to some extent.

Having parents who don't speak English may cause many kids to feel embarrassed or confused when arriving to an English speaking country. Many kids tend to feel different than their friends and classmate because of the responsibility they have at home. Their tasks maybe to translate for their parents , shop for the family, helping siblings with schoolwork, responsible for getting places on their own and maybe even work to support the family.

With all this responsibility on the child, signs of their stress and mixed feelings begin to appear. But this doesn't mean that they don't love their family or care about them, it just means they are facing a lot of emotions at the same time. But these emotions build and some may feel like wanting to erupt, yet they know their parents will not accept that kind of behavior from them. So keeping those feelings can create even more stress , causing angry and frustrated all the time.

There are many ways to help your parents learn English to help ease the frustration and stress on their shoulders. For example, having conversions in simple English ;you can name all the products you buy in English for your parents to repeat . Also , asking your parents to listen to the radio may help.But ,of course, they wouldn't understand everything , but they will be training their ears to hear sounds commonly used in English. Even simple actions such as watching television, reading books aloud to them, or even playing games. But, first, you must make sure your parents are willing to learn English and accepting that it may not be easy. If they decide not to learn , then just look at the positive side of their decision. You are able to hold on to your culture a little longer and still be able to be proud of your parents of how hard they have work to give you a better life.

Research Questions

How are immigrants effected by the language standards of English? Does (this) change their views of their language? why do many teens change their name or the pronunciation? How different is the household when the parents don't speak English (but the rest of children do)? Are kids who were born in another country have (more) difficulty adjusting to the language than kids who are born here ,with parents from another country? Does (this) give them a new perspective on language?