Felicia is a 9-year-old girl originally from Mexico who now lives in Aurora, Colorado with her mother and siblings. She helps her family with English while they primarily communicate in Spanish at home, reflecting a bilingual environment with opportunities for both Spanish and English literacy support. Felicia is currently a 4th grader and demonstrates emerging language skills both in speaking and writing, along with some challenges in phonetics, syntax, and vocabulary.

1. Felicia
Preliminary Analysis

2. Who is Felicia?
Felicia, a 9 year old 4th grader was born in Mexico. She moved to the US
(Chicago) at age 5. She lived there 2 years and then moved to Colorado.
Felicia (age 9) now lives in Aurora with her mother, brother (13), and 2 sisters
(5 and 3). Dad remains in Chicago.
Spanish and English are spoken in the home. Mother speaks Spanish and
understands conversational English. Felicia sees it as her responsibility to help
her mother learn English and help her 5 year old sister with English homework.
She receives much praise for this role in the family.
The family shops in nearby stores where Spanish is often spoken. Their church
is a Spanish language congregation with many newcomers to the US. There is
much Spanish language opportunity, reinforcement and support. The family
has located the local library but has not yet explored this resource. There is
the potential for Spanish and English literacy support at home. There are some
newspapers, periodicals and a few books in the home (primarily religious).

3. Oral Language Sample: Felicia (9 yrs.)
• 1 )K. I want you to tell me all about you. So, what can you tell me about
• 2) you?
• 3) F. Ummm
• 4) K. What’s your name, age? What do you like?
• 5) F. I like to play at the parks, to ride my bike, and play wid my
• 5) sisters. Dats what I like. What I don’t like is when my broder
• 6) [laughing] when my broder is [...] [No response] I go to da badroom and
• 7) den you know dere is the swishes dat you can like, da swishes from da
• 8) electricity he da [she motions] den I get scared.
• 9) K. He puts it off when you go to the bathroom?
• 10) F. Ya
• 11) K. What a mean brother! Is he an older brother?
• 12) F. Ya.
• 13) K. Tell me about your family.
• 14) F. *…+ *No response]

4. Felicia (continued 2)
• 15) K. Who do you live with?
• 16) F. My mom live here Dember… my dad live [chi-CA-go], and my broder and my
sisters live Dember.
• 17) K. Do you go back to Mexico to visit your family a lot?
• 18) F. No. My like to live wit da…wit [pause] the [pause] her
• 19) other kids dat she have.
• 20) K. Oh, so your mom’s brothers and sisters.
• 21) F. Ya
• 22) K. Where do they live?
• 23) F. Mexico.
• 24) K. So, do you go back to Mexico to visit them a lot?
• 25) F. No, my mom, my coming [pause] and she bring like a lot of
• 26) stuff.
• 27) K. She does? Like what”
• 28) F. Remember dat day I told you dat [pause] that she bring like a little
• 29) toy dat my sister said a baby and like, it was a little toy dat [pause] that
• 30) [motions like a puppet] what you call those things?

5. Felicia (continued 3)
• 31) K. Sometimes in English you call them a marionette. With
strings? Do
• 32) K. you know what you call it in Spanish? Or it could be called a
puppet.
• 33) F. Ya, a puppet.
• 34) K. Where were you born?
• 35) F. Mexico
• 36) K. How long did you live there?
• 37) F. I went to [chi-CA-go] since I have five and . We went
• 38) my [pause] no [pause] ya [pause] Marsh twenty-one. We
• 39) went to [chi-CA-go]
• 40) K. You went to Chicago or you are going to Chicago?
• 41) F. We WENT to [chi-CA-go] when we were in Mexico, we
• 42) went to [chi-CA-go] when I was five and a
• 43) K. How long did you live in Chicago?

6. Felicia (continued 4)
• 44) F. when I was eight.
• 45) K. How long have you lived in Colorado then?
• 46) F. [pause – thinking] one year
• 47) K. So, where did you go to school when you came to Colorado?
• 48) F. what was that school? It is like not far dis school. Close.
• 49) K. Is that where you went last year?
• 50) F.Dat is the second school I have. So da first school dat I went
• 51) Colorado was one. Oh ya da same.
• 52) K. So, last year and the year before that you went to the same
school?
•
• 53) F. Ya

7. Language Strengths Errors Strategies used
System (# &/or type) (# &/or type)
Phonology Word-final & After some pauses, F.
(pronunciation) Aside from noted internal /th/ [7] sometimes
errors, F. is able to (with - wid) (Brother- pronounces these
pronounce many broder( problematic
English phonemes in Word-initial /th/(that- phonemes correctly
a manner to be dat) [19]
understood Word-final & internal
(ch-sh) [2]
(switches-swishes)
Shifts /n/ alveolar
nasal to /m/ bilabial
nasal in front of /b/
bilabial voice stop [2]
(Denver-dember)

8. Syntax Aside from subject- Omits 3rd person Uses verb “root” –
(grammar) verb agreement, singular present regardless of
verb conjugations, (she lives-live) accurate ending – to
and some misuse of Confuses “have – get message across
past tense, F. was has” (3rd person
able to use a range plural for 3rd person
of simple verbs singular)
correctly, has basic
grasp of Subject-
verb sentence
structure, tends to
speak in fairly
complete sentences
Lexicon Has most of the Vocabulary limited Used approximation
(vocabulary) vocabulary needed to try to describe
– or strategies – to item & prompt
communicate about partner to guess the
daily events & word
simple life topics

9. Morphology Her use of Incorrect word
(words, clipping is not usage (puts-turns
morphemes) unlike what on) [2]
practices of native
English speakers. (Grandma-
granma)
Semantics Uses
(making meaning) She is able to circumlocution
make meaning & when she cannot
express meaning “grasp” the word
she wants to use
Pragmatics F. Responds to the F. Does not
interviewer’s initiate any
questions in a interaction in the
respectful conversation
manner,
motivated, take
risks to share her
ideas

10. Felicia’s reading (miscues in green)
wanderin cry it
Andrew found the bear cub wandering in the woods. It was crying for its mama.
don’t happen know [skipped]
The cub didn’t know what had happened to her. But Andrew knew. He had heard a shot.
wonder cried (s-c)
Who could be so mean to shoot a mother bear with a cub? he wondered. Andrew carried
the cub home. “What in heaven’s name are we to do with a bear cub? asked his mother.
“I’ll take care of him,” said Andrew. “I’ll feed him and teach him tricks.” “Tricks!” said his
don’t colded (s-c)
mother. “Whoever heard of such a thing!” But she didn’t say he couldn’t keep the cub.
And so he did.

11. Recording & analyzing Miscues
Meaning Structure Visual
(Semantics system) (Syntactic or morphological (Graphophonic, phonological,
systems) or morphological systems)
“cried” (self-corrected & “Wanderin” (wandering)
changed to carried) Some overlap here with
“Cryin” (crying) omission of suffix (past-
“colded” (self-corrected & tense morpheme – ed)
changed to could’t) “it” (its)
Skipped “heard” ? (had? “wonder” (wondered)
heard?)
“don’t” (didn’t) *2+
“happen” (happened)

12. Felicia’s writing
• Holl my nema is Felicia and I am goin to toll
you! how I felt wen I cuart to chukichses and
about spashel palses. On Februery 30 on
2010 I wen to Chukichses and I felt happy!. I
had so mahs fun in Chukichses that mak me
happy I finesh so I am goin to talk about
sposhel palses. I taking that wen goto a
sposhel pals I always feel happy so if you go
to a sposhel palses I thaking you wall feel
happy. That is all about C.K.S. and spshel
palses.

13. Patterns Strengths Needs Strategies
Phonetic spelling Starting to Spelling not yet Seems to know
Some visual acquire visual conventional letter for some
letter patterns memory of HF words, but off
letters Visual memory on sequence
games for
Uses punctuation conven’l spelling
(period), capital
letters for proper
name & month
Deletes word- Letter-sound
final letter (in match for word
pronunciation & final & past tense
spelling) verb (-ed
morpheme)
Over-emphasis Seems to hear
on “sounding syllable
out/stretching distinction
out” consonant
blends