Like many learners at the Lab School, prior to coming to the U.S. in May 2002, Larissa had never studied English. She promptly and successfully enrolled in her first ESL class at the end of June 2002, though she later shared with a classmate how difficult the intake process had been (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer).
Larissa truly learned English in order to live better in the U.S., certainly not because of a love of language learning. In her last interview from early 2006, she expressed that in her first two years, she "forced" herself to learn English.
| Larissa: | When I first got here, I understood that I needed to study English, but I hated it. I couldn't force myself into studying. But now I don't despise English. So, it's probably a good time to study it. At first, my husband would sit and study, but I just couldn't stand it. | |
| IR: | Why do you think you felt that way? Was it because it was very hard to understand it? | |
| Larissa: | I don't know. I didn't want to study it or to listen to anything in English. | |
| IR: | How long did that period last? | |
| Larissa: | Probably close to 2 years. | |
| IR: | So when you were studying English in school, you forced yourself to do that? | |
| Larissa: | Yes. I didn't want to study, I had to force myself. I did understand that I needed to study, but didn't have any desire. | |
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In spite of her disinclination to learn, she attended six consecutive terms of ESL classes at the Lab School and her attendance was fairly regular. She left the program in the middle of the last term because she was expecting her third child.
Some of her classroom behaviors show her reluctance or shyness toward learning English. Social practices of opening and closing face-to-face interactions in classroom pair activities show that her engagement in the classroom was limited, especially in the first three terms. While she usually waited for her partner to initiate these interactions, she was the one of the few students who used the word "finish" to mark the end of a dyadic language-learning task (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer).
Her lack of enthusiasm for and resistance toward English language learning is reflected in the fact that she did not use a Russian-English dictionary in class until her fourth term of study. Such behavior is certainly unexpected for someone with a high level of L1 literacy and formal education.
Observations of her behavior in the classroom during the lessons, before class and at break times show that, especially during her first terms, Larissa kept to herself, often interacting with print, either reading the class textbook or writing. But as her English improved, she did respond and engage with other students on topics other than those provided for by the teacher in language-learning tasks. The following two clips show how Larissa's level of comfort with English and other students changed. The first shows a typical example of her lack of interaction with other students from her first term of study (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer). The next shows an interaction of hers during a class break in her fourth term of study (Click to View) (Requires Internet Explorer).