This weeks readings included McKay & Bokhorts-Heng Chapter 7:
Towards a socially sensitive EIL pedagogy and Lin, A et al. (2002)
Appropriating English, expanding identities, and revisioning the
field. Decolonizing TESOL.
In Appropriating English the authors discuss "their collective
story". All four of the authors have learned and used English since
childhood in different parts of Asia and met in Canada during their doctoral
studies in English language education. The article reflectively analyzes the
authors’ experiences linking them to current discourses of language learning
and identity. One comparable storyline they found within their different
stories involves learning English in contexts where English is not a language
used in daily life. In all of the authors’ learning contexts, English was not
used for daily communication with families or communities. Instead it was encountered
as an academic subject in school. Wendy states that English was foreign to her
Chinese upbringing and in school children saw it as irrelevant and
uninteresting. Angel also found English was only relevant or appropriate in the
school setting.
An ELL student
from Japan has told me, that he was unmotivated to use English while living in
Japan because he didn’t see a need for it. He knew he needed to study English
for university purposes but it wasn’t until he came to the United States was he
really motivated to improve his English speaking skills. English
only being seen as a school subject for academic grades and not seen as having
much of a communicative purpose may lead to a lack of motivation among
students. I know from my own experiences
learning a second language how this perspective can directly affect your
motivation to learn a language. I was
very excited to learn Spanish when I took my first whole year course. Once I was in the class my perspective quickly
changed. My teacher was very strict and taught language as a strict set of
rules and memorization. For me, learning is much more of a social process and I
was not getting this from my class. I stopped doing my homework
and participating in class. I spent so much time struggling with the class
during school I had no motivation to work on it at home.
What’s interesting
is the authors stated that while English seemed like just another school
subject to them at the time, some teachers helped appropriate English and
engage students in practices explaining their horizons and identities. I really
like how they said “those moments were experienced as self-transforming,
culturally enriching and also at times psychologically liberating”. I believe this
quote really shows the relationship between language and identity. While I continued
to take Spanish courses upon the request of my parents throughout high school I
wasn’t very motivated. I enjoyed learning the language but something was
missing, I wasn’t getting the experience I wanted. I was unmotivated to learn Spanish
until I met my first Spanish professor in college. Her class provided us with
opportunities to communicate with our peers and use our Spanish in real life
situations. It wasn’t until I went to a community in Chicago and was able to
use my Spanish did bilingualism become a true goal of mine. I liked reading an excerpt
of Nobu’s story. After he failed to enter a prestigious high school he began meeting
with an English tutor which led him to become an English teacher. My Spanish
professor had changed my perception of language development as well. I began to
see Spanish not as a set of skills to memorize and but as this interesting dynamic
concept which serves a communicative and cultural purpose.
Both Wendy and
Angel’s anticlimax where suddenly their English tool became not enough for them
in an English speaking community broke my heart. As a teacher working with
second language learners I hope I can teach my students to always value their bilingualism.
Wendy’s later quoted “I no longer considered English as their language. It was
mine”. This is such a confident and enduring statement. We should be teaching students how to have
this type of attitude towards acquiring a language. While the authors’
experiences vary from their students, they still work with their students to
become confident English speakers and reach their potential.
Chapter 7 of McKay
and Bokhorst-Heng states that because many English bilingual speakers use English
on a daily basis with one or more other languages English is influenced by
these other languages. There are different lexical items, grammatical standards,
pronunciation patterns for certain sociocultural and socio linguistic contexts.
These contexts produce varieties of English “custom fit” for what they need. I like
how the book states that these variations should not be seen as interlanguages,
errors or fossilized forms of English acquisition. However these are forms of
World Englishes and are languages in their own right.
Another interesting
point I found in the book was the discussion of rejection of Westernization. In
some countries there is a lot of pressure to learn English. There is a large
debate on whether or not learning English should include the Western culture. A
Japanese best-selling book by a sociolinguistic discussed why teaching English should
not be paired with information about Western cultural values. Many do reject explicit teaching of Western
culture in teaching English while others promote it. What is Western Culture?
Should it be included in teaching EIL?
The chapter ends
with some principals for a socially sensitive EIL pedagogy. There are many factors
that contribute to English as an international language. The key principles were really interesting. The
book suggests EIL curricula to be relevant to the domains in which English is
used in the particular learning context and teachers should strive to alter
language policies that promote English only among the elite of the country. They
state EIL curricula should also include diverse examples of English varieties
used today. There is no one English and this should be represented in the classroom.
EIL curricula also needs to focus of the
interaction of two second language speakers and full recognition needs to be
given to all the other languages spoken by English speakers. Lastly, EIL should
be taught in a way that respects the local culture of learning. What did you
think of these principals? How do you plan on incorporating them in your future
classroom?
Globalization, migration
and English spreading across the world has created very diverse social and
educational contexts where individuals are learning English. English may be an international
language and pedagogical decisions and practices need to consider these many
social contexts. We should be working for the benefit of all out students.
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