1) The document describes the author's experience learning English as a second language in the Philippines from childhood through college. She grew up speaking Hiligaynon and was first exposed to English through reading scriptures and overhearing her siblings speak it. 2) Her older sisters began formally teaching her English around age 6 through reading assignments, spelling quizzes, and discouraging the use of dictionaries. At home and school, English was emphasized which helped develop her proficiency. 3) While challenges included mispronunciations and grammatical errors, winning writing contests and public speaking awards demonstrated her progress. Embarrassingly, her fast speech was even reported in college, showing there is always room for improvement.

1. Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary
My Language Learning Experience
A Research Paper Presented to
Professor Esperanza Culbertson
Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (APNTS)
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course Applied Linguistics
By
Christine Rosemel O. Dialing
Manila, Philippines
October 15, 2014

2. My Language Learning Experience (English Language)
Learning a language is a mixture of excitement, sadness, tiredness, embarrassment,
determination and success. It has been said that language makes human distinct, definitely it is
true. Language identifies a person. Language is a doorway in understanding the world in its
broader sense. Second language acquisition for me is a special experience in my life and it will
always be. To me, my language experience and acquisition is one of the significant events in my
life that has brought me where I am today.
I grew up speaking my “mother tongue” which is Hiligaynon. Being a Filipino,
language is largely spoken in my country. In my childhood years, I used to have an English
Bible. I read Scriptures without understanding in full what does it mean. Memorizing verses in
English is common to me though I accept that I only understand the “literal” meaning of what I
was saying. I heard English being spoken at home when I was a child. My big brothers and
sisters would always communicate to each other in English when they are having a discussion
after they disciplined me. I would always know that they are talking about me when they speak
in English. When my eldest siblings are discussing important issues that my young mind could
not comprehend, they use English as their tool for communication. To hear them speak in that
language inspired me and I once said to myself, “someday, I will be like them. I will speak that
language too”.
I was in my sixth year when my big sisters started teaching me to read and write in
English. They were doing their chores and they would always assigned me to read a particular
book or memorize a manuscript for declamation before them. I clearly remembered that as a
little girl, I have to read loudly before them and if I wrongly pronounced the word, my sisters
would correct me. They never laughed at me. Reading books is the most intensive method of

3. learning English that they imposed to me. Novels are my favorites. Reading novels has opened
my imaginations. I was told not to consult the dictionary, rather understand the words that I do
not understand by the context in the sentence.
At home, speaking in English language is accepted and is more encouraged. My family
has high hopes in me and they have so much expectations. English is also necessary for me to
learn since our home serves as the parsonage. Missionaries and pastors visited our home too. At
school, English is widely spoken because the medium of instruction most of my classes in grade
school is English. Though I am a Filipino, I learned English first before I learned our national
language.
I have “ups and downs” in my learning experience. There were times that I was not
confident of what I have to speak though I could express myself more in English. There were
times that I mispronounced the words or misspelled it. One of the most wonderful memory I
have was: when I was in my first grade up to 4th grade, our eldest would always give a spelling
quiz of ten words every night. I was always happy when I got high scores and surpass the scores
of my two elder brothers. I was even happier when I perfect the exam and because of that I was
rewarded not to wash the dishes. One bitter experience I have was when my sisters would my
cousins in their English assignments but to me they never helped me. They said that I have to
figure it out and learn to find the word meanings in the dictionary. In my early years in grade
school, I learned to use the dictionary with only the help of my teacher’s instruction in class.
Reading of more than two books a week had developed my English proficiency when I
was in high school. I adopted the author’s use of words. The sad thing was, when I speak others
do not understand my words. In writing, I always got grammatical “blood pen” from my teacher.
I never been shy about it but rather it helped me improve and correct myself. I joined writing

4. contest and I won a runner up winner during one of our regional write shop in Iloilo when I was
in my third year. It was also in my high school years that I was sent in the town’s “Battle of the
Brains” contest among the school and I used to be the participant for the English department for
four years. I was awarded as “Excellence in English”. When I reach college, my English world
was torn apart. I speak English too fast and my classmates were complaining about it and one
even reported it to our college president. It was one of the most embarrassing moment in my
English learning experience. The weirdest method I am in learning English is talking to foreign
people in English. When I speak to Korean, I got “Korean English” and when I speak to
Americans, I got “American English”. However, it is a wonderful experience.
Learning a new language is a choice and it requires an inner decision, motivation and
determination. It can be rough but the worth of it is priceless. I am still in the process of
learning it and every day I know that my English is better than yesterday.