The first victim of the corona virus, an elderly man suffering from Alzheimer's.

The Autobiography

Introduction

Hows poppin, fellas? This is Rafif. Y’all gotta hear about.. Language learning is a lifelong journey shaped by diverse experiences, environments, and motivations. For many learners, English serves not only as an academic requirement but also as a gateway to global communication, culture, and self-expression. My journey of learning English began unexpectedly and evolved through informal, authentic contexts such as console games, online media, and social platforms. These experiences have shaped my understanding of how language can be acquired naturally through curiosity, interaction, and reflection. The purpose of this autobiography is to note and reflect on my personal process of second language development—highlighting the moments, methods, and challenges that have contributed to my growth as both a learner and a future educator. By connecting these lived experiences with relevant theories from Second Language Acquisition (SLA), this work aims to illustrate how meaningful engagement and adaptive learning strategies can foster linguistic competence and personal transformation.

Early Experiences

December 10th 2008, was the day my life became exciting for the first time. Four months after the PlayStation 2 was released, my dad bought me a console not as a gift, but as a partner thing to accompany me while they were off home. When I played a narrative-text RPG game called Persona 4, I was faced with an English-ecosystem game. This is in line with Long's (1996) idea in the Interaction Hypothesis, that “interaction facilitates acquisition because it connects input, internal learner capacities, particularly selective attention, and output in productive ways.” In this context, the game became a natural means of input and output. I had to understand English in order to continue interacting with the game world. Ortega (2018) also emphasizes that “learning through meaningful interaction encourages noticing language forms and triggers deeper acquisition.”

My motivation arises not because of academics, but because of curiosity and a desire to complete the game. The challenge of language became intrinsic motivation. I feel that every word I manage to understand is a small victory. According to Vygotsky (1978), “learning awakens a variety of internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child is interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers.” This interaction occurs between myself and the digital environment of the game and dictionary, which function as mediational tools in the learning process. I used the English-Indonesian dictionary as a bridge to understand the meaning of the text in the game. Thus, language is not just an object that I learn, but a tool that mediates my thinking process, as explained by Ortega (2018): “Learning is mediated through language and other cultural artifacts, including tools and technologies.”

At that time, I had zero leads because there was no one at home. I had to rely on intuition, visual context, and dictionaries. In the process, I learned to consciously pay attention to the details of language, from sentence structure and word meanings to translation patterns. This process is in line with Schmidt's (1990) Noticing Hypothesis, which states that “learning without attention is unlikely; noticing is the necessary condition for converting input into intake.” By paying attention to each word and translating them one by one, I slowly built up my understanding and flex. The challenge actually strengthened my cognitive abilities, so that when the national exam took place, I was surprised to find that I was able to understand my senior's paper. This experience shows that a learning process that begins with difficulty can lead to real acquisition, as stated by Ortega (2018) “Attention and awareness are crucial moderators of affordances in the linguistic environment.”

Learning Strategies

When I was in junior high school in 2016, the digital world was hyping. After an internet router got placed in my lounge, I began to explore the internet and got stuck on Ganool website, the most underrated streaming media at that time, and found my first Western film, Step Up. This film, which combines music, dance, and teen genres, was not only entertaining but also an authentic source of English language learning. Through the dialogues between the characters, I began to understand various forms of slang such as “dope,” means cool, “wack,” means bad or lame, and “step up,” means to improve oneself or perform better. This process illustrates language learning through authentic digital media input, in line with Krashen's (1985) Input Hypothesis that “acquisition occurs when learners are exposed to comprehensible input slightly beyond their current level (i+1).”

This learning method, which is rooted in digital media exposure and online interaction, has proven to be effective because it involves a combination of authentic input, emotional engagement, and real-world use in social communication. Through interactions with foreign friends on social media, I began to naturally use vocabulary that I had initially only heard in movies in everyday conversation. For example, expressions such as “Sup?” (how are you) or “My bad” (my mistake). This is related to the concepts of situational and integrative motivation in Dörnyei's theory (2005). He asserts that “motivation is sustained when learners engage in personally relevant, enjoyable, and socially meaningful activities.” Watching my favorite movies and interacting with native speakers creates these conditions. The learning process becomes fun and meaningful, not just academic. Ortega (2018) adds that “dynamic motivation emerges when time, context, and behavior converge to sustain engagement in L2 learning.” In this case, the global digital context provides an immersive and social English-speaking environment, making learning feel natural and sustainable.

As a result, this method not only enriches vocabulary, but also boosts confidence in interacting with native speakers in the digital space. Continuous exposure to the living language—through films and online conversations demonstrates the effectiveness of experience-based learning and authentic media, which are hallmarks of 21st-century learners.

Critical incidents

The year 2019 was one of the most memorable turning points in my journey of learning English. At that time, I participated in a regional English competition, which turned out to be my first minus-aura experience. I was really shocked when I realized that most of the questions focused on grammar—an aspect that I had always avoided and considered to be the “last boss” in my learning journey. For years, my learning process, both at school and independently, had emphasized vocabulary translation and text comprehension rather than correct sentence structure. As a result, when faced with pure grammar questions, I felt unprepared. That failure disappointed me, not only because I lost, but because I realized that my language skills were unbalanced between comprehension and usage. This event caused frustration, but on the other hand, it also became a moment of introspection that opened my awareness that good language skills are not enough to rely solely on translation; structure and accuracy are also important.

Over time, I began to look for new ways to improve my grammar without getting stuck in a rigid learning method. After being sent to Kampung Inggris, I gained a lot of new insights, but still felt that my command of grammar was only about 70% Therefore, I tried to adapt to a more flexible learning style that suited my habits. One solution was to use digital platforms such as TikTok as a learning medium. There, many English content creators explain grammar in a light, creative, and easy-to-understand way through everyday examples.

Connection to SLA theories

My experiences in learning English reflect key principles discussed in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories. The use of Persona 4 (games), Step Up (films), and Facebook/TikTok (social media) platforms as learning tools exemplifies interactionist and sociocultural approaches to language learning. According to Ortega (2018), second language development is most effective when learners engage with “meaningful, contextualized, and socially mediated language use,” which aligns with how I interacted with digital media and online communities. These experiences allowed me to process input and produce output in authentic communication, Long’s (1996) Interaction Hypothesis that interaction connects input, attention, and output in productive ways.

Furthermore, my motivation evolved from curiosity to sustained engagement, resonating with Dörnyei’s (2005) view that motivation is maintained when learning activities are “personally relevant and socially meaningful.” The use of social media and online films also supports Krashen’s (1985) Input Hypothesis, showing that continuous exposure to comprehensible and enjoyable input can facilitate natural acquisition. Lastly, the grammar challenges I faced highlight the cognitive dimension of SLA, where noticing and awareness as emphasized by Schmidt (1990) are essential for transforming input into intake. Overall, my journey demonstrates how informal, media-based, and socially interactive environments can lead to authentic and effective second language development.

Reflection & Lessons Learned

Learning is a complex and exhausting process, as I experienced in my life journey and teaching assistant experience yesterday. I realized that being a teacher was not my first choice from the start, but rather the last option I took after much consideration. However, through that process, I discovered another side of learning—that teaching is not just about transferring knowledge, but also about understanding people and how they think. There was fatigue, nervousness, even doubt, but behind it all were many moments that taught me about sincerity and patience.

In the end, I learned that sometimes the things we don't plan for open the door to personal growth. Becoming a teacher may not have been my initial goal, but the experience gave me a new meaning of learning and sharing. I believe that over time, blessings and life experiences will cultivate interesting, sincere, and unexpected learning implications. Thank you.

References

Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Gass, S. M., & Mackey, A. (2015). Input, Interaction, and Output in Second Language Acquisition. Routledge.

Krashen, S. D. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. Longman.

Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge University Press.

Ortega, L. (2018). Understanding Second Language Acquisition (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Swain, M. (2005). The Output Hypothesis: Theory and Research. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning (pp. 471–483). Routledge.