Week 16 blog

This week's readings address pedagogical decision making within the sociolinguistics contexts of an EIL classroom.  It is important to consider how literature has historically been limited to representing only the dominant cultures.  Also, thinking about the role diglossia, or lack thereof, within that society and what impact is has on education.  It is interesting to me how nations, such as the United States approach bilingual education with an English only attitude.  I strongly believe that all students, not just students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds should be exposed to a multicultural eduction. In education systems where multiculturalism and multilingualism is not seen as valuable it is easy to develop students who are extremely ignorant and narrow minded. Many students who grow up in small towns with very little diversity often think that they will not have to deal with diversity or people from diverse backgrounds.  This type of thinking is dangerous because it is often not the case.  For example, if that individual plans on going to college, it is quite possible he or she could end up having a roommate of a diverse background.  Point being, if and when that time comes he or she will not have been exposed to different cultures or languages, which leaves them at a disadvantage.  It is unfortunate that educators part of our educational system in the United States still encourage these kinds of pedagogical practices.

Week 14: Language planning and policy

Because I accidently read this week’s readings last week I will be discussing last week’s readings in this blog.  McKay & Bokhorsts’s articles, as well as Chapter 4 in our book discuss the role of language planning policy in the learning of a second language.  It is important to consider the relationship between language status and social class when discussing the topic of bilingualism.  This belief that English serves as a national unifying language, I think, is definitely a large contributor to parents’ decisions and family language policy.  For example, in the 30 plus years my parents have lived in the United States, they have always been made to think that without learning English it will be almost impossible for them or their children to be prosper as citizens of this country.  In this case, English holds a sense of superiority over all other languages (no other languages will be of value or use here in the United States).  Although my parents felt that it was too late for them to learn English proficiently, they wanted their 4 children to have the language and use it to better their lives. Although my parents wanted us to learn English, they always encouraged us to also speak Spanish at home.  English is the language through which we function in society, and Spanish is the language through which we communicate at home with our parents.  However, this is not always the case amongst Latino immigrant families.  Every family has different language policies.  McKay & Bokhorst shed light on the growing support for bilingual education among both white middle class parents and also language minority parents.  The article also talks about how both personal networks and public discourses influence and help to establish family language policies.  These networks and influences shape parents’ beliefs of what it means to be a “good parent.”  Looking back, it is really difficult for me to pinpoint exactly what factors influenced my parents to be so supportive of us learning English, while keeping our Spanish.  Growing up, the only time we ever used Spanish was at home when speaking to our parents.  I think that just being able to continue communicating with our parents was reason or motivation enough to keep our Spanish.  On the other hand, doing well in school , being able to be an active member of society, and communicating with our friends were all motivators to learn English. 

Language variatins, language ideologies

Before reading Lippie-Green's Chapter  I had never considered to view non-accent or "standard English" as a myth or abstraction.  When you think about it, it almost makes perfect sense.  We always hear these concepts spoken of and we read about them all the time, but have we actually ever heard a non-accent or standard English spoken before?  What does it mean to have a non-accent, Standard English language lexicon?  Because the word "accent" itself cannot be easily defined, making sense of "non-accent" could be that much more complicated.  I had also not given much thought to differences among first and second language accents.  Individuals who are native English speakers have an accent that varies from region to region.  Individuals who are native speakers of a language other than English and acquire English, on the other hand, the term accent is used to refer to the breakthrough of native language phonology into the target language.  For example, my mother, who is a native speaker of Spanish has an L2 accent when speaking English.  Although she has been here in the United States for over 30 years, she will never be able to get rid of her accent when speaking English. 

                I found Mr. Kahakua’s story to be very bothersome because he was discriminated against based on his accent.  The simple fact that he had twenty years of experience and considerable educational background would make him, in my eyes, more than qualified for his promotion.  It is unfortunate that these kinds of things exist in our society today.  His story really hit close to home because something similar happened to my mother.  She has been without work for a while now, but has been applying at different places.  She has told me about one employment where she has applied numerous times and spoken to the hiring manager a couple of times.  On both occasions the manager pretended to remember my mother and has told her they were in fact hiring and that he would call her back to follow up- he never called her.  My mom expressed to me that she knew that he was just dismissing her because of her minimal English speaking abilities and accent, although the position she applied for would require little to know English proficiency.  Unfortunately, I think her suspicions are correct, and I do strongly believe that discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and language are extremely prevalent in our society today.   

Race

While interpreting the readings for this week I was able to gain a more in depth understanding of different concepts that are tied to TESOL.  For example, I had considered how complex race is and how closely tied to ethnicity, culture and religion it is.  It was interesting to read about how the concept of race has changed over time.  Kubota and Lin point out how the term “race” was a development of science in the late 18^th century which referred to biological categories of human beings.  They also discuss the more contemporary definition of race and how it has been increasingly replaced by the notion of cultural differences and how it used as a category to distinguish groups based on sociocultural characteristics.  This got me thinking about how teachers and peers may misinterpret the term race and use it to categorize or stereotype their students and classmates. This could in turn be detrimental to students’ identity formation, education, and just overall self esteem.  Kumaravadivelu writes about cultural stereotypes in TESOL, so I thought these two articles tied well together.  Kumaravadivelu’s main focus is on Asian students and the three most common stereotypes that exist among them.  I think that people are always so quick to assume that these specific types of classroom behaviors are confined solely to Asian students, however; they are greatly mistaken.  Kumaravadivelu’s research suggests that passivisity and lack of participation in class is common among all second language learners (or any student for that matter) due to low language proficiency, and it is not attributed to culture.  Second Language Learners might be afraid to participate or speak in class because he or she is not confident in his or her speaking abilities and is afraid of getting teased by other students.  Kumaravadivelu sites Atkinson’s argument that, “critical thinking is a special characteristic of the American upper and middle classes.”  Atkinson also cautions against teaching critical thinking to international and language minority students because he doubts whether they will even benefit from education.  I personally do not understand how this so called argument even makes sense.  In other words, I don’t see how this ignorant statement can be backed by statistics and research.  Ibrahim’s article really brings to light the influences behind identity formation among black youth.  Ibrahim’s research findings show that black youth can in fact have a marginalized linguistic norm (Black English as a second language) as a target language.  Ibrahim explores the reasons as to why these youth would chose the margin as a target.  The implications conclude that in choosing that marginalized language norm as a target language it gives them a sense of investment and contributes to the identity formation process.  I think it is important for teachers to identify and understand sites in which students invest their identities and desires.  Ibrahim suggests that teachers must also develop materials that engage students’ raced, classed, gendered, sexualized, and ablled identities.  Overall, each article had insightful research, arguments, and information to offer.  

Week 8

Our readings for the week explored some different and similar interpretations of EFL/ESL texts and their images and messages.  It is interesting to read about how impactful images can be, or as Giaschi writes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  When you really think about it, who should be represented in EFL/ESL texts? Should it be British culture or “American culture?”  Hinkel writes about the complexity of EFL/ESL texts and materials and how they are rarely culturally neutral.  It is the teacher’s responsibility to apply mediums of instruction by using methods that reflect those mediums/ materials.  For example, it is important for teachers to discuss with their students the meanings of the images and what they represent.  In Mendes’s study, she explores how images in EFL/ESL texts, which represent English cultures shape students’ and teachers’ impressions of the target foreign-language culture.  I think it was interesting that she recognized that students had the ability and willingness, when asked, to share their ideas of race and power in the images in their textbooks.   Her findings contrast Giaschi’s belief that, “students of ESL may find it difficult or impossible to challenge the hidden meaning in the materials provided to them.  I think I would have to agree with Mendes in that students, given the opportunity, are able to express their ideas about the images and what they mean to them.  Mendes illustrates this in her study.  First of all, I thought it was very important that she first recognized her position of power as an experienced EFL instructor who is a White woman from Canada and considered it when doing her study.  She talks about how this may influence her participant’s responses.  However, then she proceeds to tell us that several of the participants are former students of hers so they would feel comfortable sharing their perspectives.  During her interviews, she found that most of her participants were able to express critical viewpoints about the images presented in their textbooks.  The participants noticed that whites were represented as an ‘elite’ race in the images, and blacks were represented as poor or powerless.  I also thought it was interesting that the white students noticed the underrepresentation of minority people in the textbooks more so than the two participants who were black and mulatto.  Mendes suggests that ESL textbook images do not explore migration, immigration, colonization or the intermixing of race and identity.  What kind of a message does this send to ESL/EFL students around the world?  According to one of the participants, it reinforces stereotypes such as, “White American families eating hamburgers.”  Giaschi also points out stereotypes of gender that are represented in ESL/EFL textbook images.  It is interesting to think about how just the positioning of men and women in an image can send such a strong message to the reader/viewer.  Overall, I liked that each reading explored different issues related to EFL/ESL texts and their images.  

It was interesting to read that research supports the notion that immigrant Korean parents have a strong desire to pass on their mother tongue to their American-born children  in case they return to Korea for familial obligations and economic opportunities.  I found this particularly interesting because of my own culture and background.  I have also read about several cases where Mexican immigrant parents do not push for their American born children to keep their native language, but rather to learn English as soon as possible because it will benefit their futures here in the United States.  I think it is unfortunate that parents think that their children should learn English at the expense of losing their culture and native language.  Judging by my personal experiences, I would say that my parents saw learning English as a priority, however; not at the expense of losing my culture and native language (Spanish).  I will however say that because I didn't have that extensive familial conversation aspect growing up, my Spanish isn't as strong as my English.  My parents are both very reserved, quiet individuals, and allow our family is either in Texas or Mexico so I didn't have a whole lot of interaction in my native language outside of my home.  Mrs. Cho's story resonated with me because it reminded me of my mother.  She has also been in the U.S. for quite a while, but she still not confident in her English speaking abilities, therefore; my siblings and I communicate with her in Spanish. From personal experiences, I have noticed that Mexican parents want their children to learn English as soon as possible so that they can prosper.  They want it so bad that they are willing to sacrifice their Spanish speaking abilities.  According to this article, it seems that  Korean parents want their children to keep their native language, but for the same reasons.  The only difference I see is that, due to the bad economic situation in Mexico, parents don't seem to expect their children to return to Mexico to be successful.

Week 4 blog

Week 4 blogg

Just because a learner is highly motivated doesn't necessarily mean he or she will in turn be a successful language learner.  There are several factors that come into play when it comes to learning a new language- environment, classroom instruction, etc.  A person may be labeled as "unmotivated" when in fact they are really motivated and would be able to learn the language given different circumstances.  The classroom base study conducted by Duff shows that the students involved were quiet in the classroom not because they were "unmotivated," but because they were not invested in the language practices.  In other words, they did not feel comfortable  in their classroom setting. They stayed silent for fear that their native English speaking peers would criticize or laugh at them.  According to Stephen Krashen, the "silent period" is a natural stage of second language acquisition, but I strongly believe that in order for students to be able to move beyond that stage they really need to be invested in the language and overall classroom practices; it is the teachers duty to create such a classroom community. I agree with Norton's theory that despite teachers' best intentions in the classroom, their practices can potentially recreate subordinate student identities.  If second language learners are made to believe that their culture is not as important as the majority culture they will associate their own culture and their own identity with being less important. As a future language teacher of students from linguistic and culturally diverse backgrounds, I fear that it will be difficult to avoid biases and incorporate all students' cultures fairly so that they develop a strong sense of identity.  I think that one good way to battle this fear is by making a genuine effort to get to know my students well.  I think it is unfortunate when students are automatically labeled as unmotivated simply because they have a hard time opening up and relating to their teacher.  

While reading about Martina, the immigrant woman from Czechoslovakia, her story sounded all too familiar.  She reminded me of my mother's experiences in migrating to the United States and not knowing any English.  My sisters and I would always have to accompany our mother to serve as her translators. My oldest sister began translating for my mom at as young as 8 years old.   To this day, she will occasionally bring us along if she needs help translating because her English is not quite as good as she would like it to be.