When Spanish Speakers Learn English: The trials and tribulations of learning a second language

by: Rebecca Yares

Outline

List of the issues that Spanish speakers have with learning English

Explanation of each issue

Possible exercises and ideas for effective instruction

Summary

Common Errors Made by Spanish Speakers

Learning EnglishUse of present tense

for past tense

Underdeveloped Contractions

Article Omitted

Improper subject/Verb number

Third person subject omitted

Omitted preposition

Improper pronoun

(Baca Moore et al. 1979)

Use of present tense for Past tense

Spanish does not have consonant clusters

Spanish’s past tense (the preterit) normally ends in vowels or ‘s’

Final consonant clusters (-ed in English) may be deleted from an Spanish English learner this causes confusion and loses the past tense

meaning in English

(Baca Moore et al. 1979

Underdeveloped Contractions

There are no contractions in Spanish so there is some initial confusion when learning this function

(Baca Moore et al. 1979

Article Omitted

In Spanish, indefinite articles are sometimes omitted and so speakers will omit them in English where this normally occurs. i.e. Soy estudiante (I am a student) A Spanish speaker may say “I am student”

In correct use of the indefinite article before mass nouns such as “He has a chalk” since this is not a mass noun in Spanish

(Baca Moore et al. 1979

Improper subject/verb number

There are many irregular verb forms in the English language Difficulty in learning these may occur because

of the sheer number of them

In Spanish the first and second person pronouns are usually omitted because the number and tense is placed on the end of the verb This de-emphazises the importance of the

subject/verb relation to the Spanish speaker

(Baca Moore et al. 1979

Third person subject omitted

Spanish omits their third person subject pronoun since the information exists in the verb

English’s “he”, “she” and “it” need to be learned and used

“Es una mujer” (She is a woman”) The verb “ser” has the third person singular marker with a femine article before the noun

A Spanish speaker may say “Is a woman”

(Baca Moore et al. 1979

Preposition omitted

English has “in”, “on” and “at” which equates to Spainsh’s “en” for all three of these. This could cause the confusion on which one to

use so it prepositions are omitted for ease.

(Baca Moore et al. 1979

Improper Pronoun

In Spanish the pronoun agrees in number with their antecedents This is not the case in English

“His, her, its and their” possessive pronouns in English are all replaced by “su” in Spanish which also causes confusion for the learner on which one to use when

(Baca Moore et al. 1979

Ideas for Instruction

Third person pronouns in English are a major cause of confusion in Spanish

Since there are feminine and masculine nouns in Spanish taking a lesson to compare the third person pronouns with this grammatical gender in Spanish and running through examples on the third person neuter as well as the others would be highly beneficial.

Example for third person pronoun

instruction Create a worksheet that

has men, women, boys and girls as well as inanimate objects. Like the one here from freelanguagestuff.com Then have each student

write the correct third person pronoun under each one

Repeat the same activities for the possessive pronouns

Consonant Clusters

Bacca Moore et al. in his study found that Spanish speakers have troubles with certain grammatical or tense functions because of consonant clusters

Spending a class on pronunciation would be beneficial. However, this might only be effective if the

students have a grasp on the writing or there may be confusion when explaining the pronunciation

Consonant Cluster Pronunciation Exercise

example In regards to the past tense:

By going over the past tense of a group of commonly used words and then going over the pronunciation

Draw a line down on a chalkboard Give each student a word on a slip of paper in

the past tense and have them group the pronunciation as either ending with a ‘t’ sound or an “ed” sound

Contractions

Contractions are something we all have to learn how to spell.

The best solution for this is to place to words on the board and then cross out the unncecssary onces and form the contraction

Then have a worksheet that puts the students through theses exercises.

Contraction worksheet example

Pointing out to the students that normally the last vowel is deleted on the second word before it becomes contracted is beneficial and use the chart below to have the students create contractions

Can + not -> cannot -> cannot-> cant -> can’t

Would not -> wouldnot -> wouldnot -> wouldnt ->wouldn’t

I am -> Iam -> Iam -> Im -> I’m

Article Exercise

Articles are tricky especially when a speaker’s native language uses them differently

Going through exercises of articles is the only way to effectively learn how to approach it

using the articles “the” and “a/n” and explaining that they are usually always necessary

Article Exercise Example

Explaining the difference between definite and indefinite can be compared closely to Spanish definite and indefinite articles. The key to having the Spanish speaker master

the English articles is to stress that they are always used unlike in Spanish

Giving several sentences with articles removed will aid in this mastery between definite and indefinite

Subject-Verb Agreement

A possible way to teach this agreement is to explain that the subject always pays attention to the number of people, instead of the number of objects

As well with the Subject-Verb agreement, another good way to learn to master this is to circle the subject and circle the verb check to see if the verb is in the right

agreement with the subject

(Grammar Girl 2011)

Omitting Prepositions

Spanish also has many prepositions that need to be memorized and organized

When learning English, repetitiveness and worksheets like this image will assist in effectively learning English prepositions

http://www.prof2000.pt/users/estante/prepositions.html

English Preposition Exercise

Using a bridge is a great way to teach prepositions

Someone can be “on” the bridge and draw a person on the bridge. using the sentence “I saw Brian the other day on the bridge”

Someone could be “in” the water and draw them in the water “I saw Brian the other day in the water”

Then explain if these get mixed up their meaning is different. Someone would be “on” the water and “in” the bridge and draw them as such

Summary

When teaching a Spanish speaker English, like all L2 learners exercises and practice are key

Although there are cognates that Spanish speakers recognize, there are some problems that do arise that can be specifically zeroed in on Spanish speakers.

References

http://www.freelanguagestuff.com

http://www.prof2000.pt/users/estante/prepositions.html

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

Baca Moore, Fernie and Marzano, Robert J. “Common Errors of Spanish Speakers Learning English” Research in the Teaching of English: Vol. 13, No. 2 (May, 1979), pp. 161-167 Published by: National Council of Teachers of English