Week 12

This week’s reading discussed social contexts for EIL learning and examined multilingual societies. Both chapters are by Sandra Lee McKay and Wendy D. Bokhorst-Heng.

The first chapter discussed issues found in English teaching and learning. Early on the chapter presents Kachru’s seminal model of English use contexts viewed in three concentric circles; inner circle, outer circle and expanding circle countries. While there are arguments raised to modify Krachu’s concentric circles and the authors agree with Bruthiauz, Yanu and other’s versions which present cylinders to represent English speakers, the authors use Krachru’s seminal model in the chapters.

The first is the Inner Circle where English is the primary language. Language diversity is seen as a problem leading programs to encourage the acquisition of English and quickly. This process often times ignores the student’s first language. As a pre-service bilingual educator I know the importance of using a first language in language acquisition. The book also mentions the effects being a language minority can have on a student socially. While students may be seen as outsiders by their peers, unfortunately sometimes educators view these students as having deficient cognitive abilities. I have heard of teachers doing this before. In some cases teachers will refer to an ELL student as “dumb” because they don't speak in class or participate because they are not provided with appropriate materials or instruction. When I first heard of a peer's experience of a teacher referring to a student's cognitive abilities because of their status as an ELL I was shocked. As embarrassing of a reference as this is, I thought of the movie Holes. One character never talked at the camp and the camp counselor teased the boy and called him "stupid". Many times with ELL students understand what is going on around them but focus on the input there are receiving. In learning Spanish, while I can understand what is being said around me and am proficient in reading and writing I still find it very difficult to speak especially around native speakers. In classes where I need to speak in Spanish I find myself participating much less than a classroom conducted in my first language. Being able to clearly express your ideas and thoughts is difficult at first for L2 learners and develops overtime. Putting students down during this difficult time is damaging to their progress and success in their second language. 

In outer circle countries, English serves as a second language in a multilingual country like Singapore, India and the Philippines. Sometimes it’s hard to provide equal access to English education. While the country may be promoting multilingualism the design of the programs creates problems. In expanding circle countries, English is widely studied as a foreign language like in China, Germany and Korea. In expanding countries, teachers may have difficulty motivating their students. Because they are monolingual, many learners may not see a reason in learning English.  The book defines integrative motivation as the motivation that is based on a desire to participate in social groups in which the target language is used. Instrumental motivation is the motivation that drives English language learning to achieve some gain like a job or entrance into a university. I think understanding our student’s motivation to learn English is very important in our instruction and connecting with our student for their progress.

I also thought the section discussing teacher competence was very interesting as many studies have found a lack of confidence among bilingual English teachers. It was also interesting to think about the effects requiring English may take on instruction as fewer teachers may be prepared and that their overall lack of confidence affects their teaching skills.

The second chapter looked at multilingual countries characterized by diglossia and those characterized by widespread English bilingualism. In those societies with diglossia there is an H status to English language learning which leads individuals to acquitting the language in hopes of social mobility.  English is given the status of an official language and other policies encourage learning English.  Whereas non-diglossic multilingual societies the status of English is seen clearly and other languages are seen to threaten national identity- a society of English-speakers.  There is a push towards monolingualism desire despite diversity within the group of people. This is a very important factor in the debate of bilingual education. Many times people see bilingual education as a means of learning English as quickly as possible which they may assume to mean as putting students in a monolingual classrooms in a “sink or swim” fashion. Many times parents share this idea. Supporters and proponents of bilingual education both challenge the idea of learning English. While this idea that multilingualism threatens our national identity promotes the use of bilingual classrooms, some people develop an irrational fear of bilingual education and believe that English is part of our identity as the United States. Many people have told me how unsuccessful bilingual programs are and how they damage the United States. What they are missing, as the authors point out in this chapter is that there is research that consistently support bilingual programs. Students are successful and often times outperform peers. Personally I have encountered a number of people who have told me that if someone immigrates to the United States they MUST learn English. This idea is damaging towards our view of bilingual students as outsiders threatening our identity and not the diverse and important part of our society. I believe as a pre-service bilingual educator is necessary to not only keep a learner’s first language in tact but use that first language as a resource and tool in learning.  We need to support these students and promote the quality of their education. 

Week 11: English in an era of globalization

International English in Its Sociolinguistic Contexts by McKay and Heng, Chapter one: English in an era of globalization.

The reading for this week focused on English as a global language and how it has developed this status overtime.  What does it mean to be a global language? The article defined the commonly used term globalization as the reformulation of social space in which the global and local are constantly interacting with one another and that neither one should be afforded a dominant position. 

The chapter also discussed colonialism's effect on the spread of English allowing English to become a language of power and prevalence. English spread along with the empire and became associated with power because the individuals who spoke English often had more access to better jobs. This encouraged more to learn English and  unfortunately began marginalizing non-English speakers as "others". Looking at the history of English with colonialism and exploring why this language has become a global language, I for some reason kept connecting English as a global language with teaching about Christopher Columbus in schools. I believe topics like these, which may "other" a group of people is an opportunity for students to critically think and analyze. We should avoid teaching our students; "Christopher Columbus is a hero who discovered America" or that "English is the most important language globally today and everyone desires to learn it". We should have students challenge these statements, the people these statements affect and reflect.

The book also discusses the alchemy of English. It states on page 7, “English is seen as a key to knowledge and personal success”. The paragraph continues to relate English to Aladdin’s lamp- once you have it allows you to open many doors to new opportunities. English is widely spread and spoken by people around the world. Three quarters of the world’s mail is even written in English. My sister recently came home from studying abroad and while she knows a second language, she found English everywhere she went. Other friends of mine have told me they have had trouble speaking their second language abroad. Often times the person they are communicating with will begin to speak to them in English. The chapter also discussed how vital English can be in the global economy- which made me think of a movie I saw years ago. In the movie The Terminal, Tom Hanks plays an eastern European immigrant. What stuck with me from that movie, were the scenes where he struggled to communicate with those around him. It’s interesting to see that this movie showed that not being able to speak English, or Speak English to a certain degree is a disadvantage even in an airport where thousands of people from all around the world  go in and out of every day.

The chapter continued to talk about incentives for learning English including those relevant to me as a pre-service bilingual educator; economic, education and mass media incentives. I am familiar with the economic incentive to learn English. English has become very important in the world market. Even outside of the United States English is helpful for employment as we outsource and individuals attempt to enter the competitive world market. As for education incentives, English is found in classrooms around the world and there are pressures from scholars to publish their work in English first. In some cases as the chapter points out there is an extreme pressure to learn English from the government. In Chinese language-in-education policies, China requires students to study English and methods promoted in English language classrooms. These government policies also leads to pressure from parents to introduce English to their children.  In other areas English learning is in standardized tests for entry of institutions of higher education (page 14). The book uses Japan as an example as English is many times a de facto requirement for higher education. During my interview from our assignment my conversational partner who moved here from Japan last May actually brought this up. He told me that he felt pressured to learn English and that it was required because he needed to learn English to enter a university in Japan. I thought this was really interesting and was excited to see this idea in the book. Finally, the book discussed the final incentive of learning English, mass media including advertising, music, movies and electronic communication. These are great resources to use in our classrooms as ESL teachers. Much of this media is conducted in English- for example 75% of the world film making is controlled by the United States and connected with the English language. English has a great hold on many different types of media and often times these forms connect well with students and would be great to use in the classroom.  I know a family friend who learned Japanese solely because of her interest in Japanese films. Eventually she lived in japan, taught there and is now married and speaks fluent Japanese!  While pop culture is a great resources in language acquisition, the fact that English controls much of the media today is unfortunate as it ostracizes other languages.

The rest of the reading discusses the dangers of this wide spread English phenomenon. For one, widespread English leads to growing monolinguals among English speakers and an economic divide in English learning. I think these are two very important points clearly discussed in the article.Overall, I really enjoyed the readings this week as they allowed me to reflect on how my own future classroom and how I will have students view the English language and what I can do as a teacher to address student’s connotations of the English. 

Blog Post Week 10- Race, language and identity: Critical multiculturalism in TESOL

Arab TESOL Student’s Experiences of Racialization and Othering in the United Kingdom looked at five male Muslim Saudi Arab learners in a TESOL graduate programme at a University in the United Kingdom. The study looks at racialization defined as “ways in which the idea of race might contribute to an experience of Othering” for learners. Specifically, how the image of Arabs and Muslims affect their experiences in the learning community.

The article states that TESOL classes reflect important institutional, societal and global discourses. I think this is a very important statement. TESOL practice is neither value-free nor apolitical. As TESOL teachers this is very important for us to remember and address in our own classrooms. This can affect our learners in a number of ways and can be very dangerous when students are subjected to Othering, marginalizing or inferiority based on their cultural to ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately race has a significant impact on social organization and identity formation. People see race as a REAL thing and not a social construction which excludes certain groups in our society.

The article also uses the term “Islamphobia”. This is designed as an “irrational fear of Muslims and what Islam represents” this has been around for years but since 9/11 has increased in academia, journalism and all other forms of media. Many individuals are affected by the discrimination post 9/11 on account of their religious affiliation, physical appearance and cultural norms and values. This article really made me reflect on my own conceptions and realize how many of images reinforcing Islamophobia I have seen in the media. During our last class we watched the documentary discussing the popular, racist and hurtful image of Arabs in popular media specifically in films. Aladdin is one of my favorite movies from my childhood. As many other twenty year olds Disney movies in general were a "right of passage". I remembered waiting at the door for my mom to return with the newest Disney movie on VHS tape. Before she was even able to take off her coat my sister and I would have the movie out of her hand and into the tape player sitting only a couple inches away from the flickering screen.

    We were Disney zombies.

Even today I still enjoy Disney films more than the average six year old. However, I have recognized and even written papers on the many controversial topics in these Disney films. It's surprising that I have researched, read articles on and written essays on the many things wrong in these Disney films but I have never seen anything that discusses the image of Arabs in Aladdin. As we watched the clip in class I could not believe how I hadn’t seen it before and how hurtful this image is. These ideas are unheard of in other films as well and very popular. These movies reflect an image of Arabs, a stereotype that it is rarely challenged.

"Irish Crossing"

The article also included some very personal experience of participants in their findings. One participant, Saif discussed how he is many times questioned by others especially about the treatment of women and marriage. I found his comment shocking and quite sad. For strangers to be questioning him based off of stereotypes and their preconceived notions is ridiculous. I tried to think of an example that would be applicable for my own heritage. I am Irish.  A popular image of the Irish that I have seen through media is that an Irishman is a drunk man, many times getting into arguments with other drunken Irish man. We even celebrate a holiday in the United States which while it embraces the Irish heritage, is celebrated with heavy drinking in green clothes. While I have never been to Ireland, I don't believe this one image accurately reflects the entire culture from my own experience with my family members that are recent immigrants and better judgment. If a stranger were to question me about my heritage and family members using only these stereotypes I'm sure I would be offended much like Saif as a Muslim Saudi Arab.

Becoming Black by Ibrahim was also a very interesting article to read. This article, like the others, discussed the interrelation between identity and learning. The article looked at a group of French-speaking immigrant and refugee continental African students entering a school in Canada where they were expected to fit in the social imaginary already in place. I found this article very interesting and had not considered this situation before. The research study examined the high school for over six months. I thought the student background info was presented in a really interesting way. Students experienced a lot in regards to identity formation. I think this article encourages us to understand, as teachers, student’s identities and help them. We should incorporate their own voices in our classrooms, not the prescribed ones and allow them to challenge the status quo while including their own personal identities in curriculum. 

Blog Post 6

I really enjoyed this week’s readings again, including the sections from the book which discussed refugees and the concept of social construction. I recently finished a project in which I had to find twnty-five texts related to immigration and was able to discuss and analyze a text about Hmong refugees. While I found these sections very interesting my reflection really focuses on the article, Construction of Racial Stereotypes in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Textbooks which discusses the images in EFL textbooks. As the article says, students consciously or unconsciously use, absorb and interpret the social, economic and racial realities present in the photographs, cartoons or pictures found in the images in their textbooks (page 65). I’ve never considered looking at how images are used to represent English culture(s) in EFL textbooks which is actually a really interesting topic. Learning Spanish, I know that images in these textbooks can reflect a culture weather it is true or not.

Taylor-Mendes believes that images in EFL textbooks should be questioned and discussed. Students and teachers should question race, class and gender imbalances of power as Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire suggested in the 1960’s. While there was not much of this in my high school, in many of my college courses we discuss unequal power relations found in our everyday lives and are encouraged to take action. In many of my classes including my American Diversity course I took last year I have been pushed to examine who benefits from the existing power structures, who are the disadvantaged and to explore these unequal power relationships. This process has made me more aware of this issue inside and outside of the classroom. I think it is important for teachers to address this issue whenever it is applicable. I agree that looking at images in EFL textbooks is a great opportunity to discuss this issue.

Giaschi stated on page 67 that images in EFL texts that are produced in or by one culture and in context specific conditions are often used and absorbed in sometimes radically different contexts with different sociopolitical cultural realities. He examined images used in texts and made a connection with how physical positioning, body language and clothing suggested that men were more powerful than women. While I cannot connect this with EFL texts, I did write a research paper my freshman year of college examining ads in magazines and how they reflect gender stereotypes. It was actually very disturbing to see how many times a woman is depicted as vulnerable and weak. Even in ads for purses or shoes geared towards female consumers, a woman sometimes looks like she is lifeless or even beaten. Men are often muscular, standing tall and above women.  

Giaschi claims that teachers and students “passively accept and absorb “the images presented to them in their texts and seemed to suggest students cannot challenge these images. I like Taylor-Mendes, don’t necessarily agree with this statement. Just because a person is exposed to something does not mean they are incapable of critical discourse. While I had been exposed to these images of men and women in ads throughout my life, I was readily able to discuss and explore power relations in these images. While looking at ads closely made me conscious of what was actually happening , I was able to challenge these ideas on my own and did not accept these messages as true statements about society.

The study itself was really fascinating.  I thought it was interesting how the author discussed the personal factors that went into the students feeling comfortable speaking with him. I know in one of last week’s readings, the researchers were really concerned about not being able to connect with a culture outside their own. Taylor-Mendes also recognizes this boundary between himself and his Brazilian participants. However he believed he had more of a connection with his students because he spoke fluent Portuguese, married a Brazilian, believed he had started acting more “Brazilian” , met with the participants individually etc. What concerns would you have while conducting a study involving culturally diverse participants?  

In the study, he asked students what they saw in the images in textbooks they provided.  A second interview allowed him to discuss critical analysis questions and the third interview was intended to serve as a follow up.  Taylor-Mendes stated that he found three common themes in his research-that the U.S. is a land of the white elite, blacks are consistently seen as poor or powerless while whites are seen as wealthy and powerful and lastly, that race is divided by continent.

Pictures depicted American culture as economic or social success. These images included Americans on their cell phones, on vacation, shaking hands or making business deals. Participants also found that only whites represent power and that blacks represented the powerless.  I thought it was interesting how Roberto Carlos pointed out the picture of an African American woman using a computer. The caption of the image simplified this action as just “using a mouse”. Her body language made her look defeated, slumped over and bored unlike the images of powerful white business men smiling and standing straight.

I also thought the idea that race is divided by continent very interesting. I didn’t know what Taylor-Mendes meant by this at first but when he stated that many of the images reinforced the limiting stereotype in which the images implied that whites live in “North America, Asians live in Asia, Arabs live in Middle East and blacks live in Africa”. These images ignore migration, immigration, colonization or intermixing of race and identity.  I connected this to something that happened to me the other day while watching a show from the U.K. with two of my friends. One of my friends had never seen the show before and when a black character was introduced she commented on how strange it was to hear a black man with a British accent. She told me how “strange” this was. I think this idea is what Taylor-Mendes is speaking about in his article. Often times, even as educated college students we may stereotype by race and continent. I think these images and the images my friend has seen of the U.K. before the shows are really a disadvantage and can be hurtful. I also thought the image representing South America or Latin America was really shocking as Taylor-Mendes said there was only one image found among the textbooks. Not only was there a lack of images in the EFL textbooks but the image was highly stereotypical.  The image depicted South Americans as dark-skinned, tribal men and women wearing grass skits. I think a description was needed for this image. Last year I heard about a student my professor worked with who did not know there were modern day Native Americans, she believed Native Americans were solely historical figures found in our textbooks.  More of a description would be needed to avoid misconceptions like these with individuals from South America. While it’s great to incorporate these groups of people in the text book I agree that more information would be needed.  

As Taylor-Mendes states in EFL texts Americans look like wealthy, white, powerful, isolated members within their own race, free of problems. That is a very strong statement to make and something being represented in images found in textbooks used in educational systems. The article states that while textbook publishers seem to be trying to neutralize EFL textbook images, the participants in the study found the images were not accurate representations of culture but instead reinforced “made-in-Hollywood” version of culture that does not exist. While we are aware of these stereotypes we need to consider them.

I found this article very helpful for my future as an educator. I have never considered the images used in textbooks before and now realize what kind of messages these images can send about culture, race, power etc. While we cannot choose a text book by the images used in the book, or we may not have the power to choose textbooks used in the classroom- the important thing we must do is recognize these stereotypes in the images of these English-language textbooks and address them in classroom discussions. 

Blog Post 5: ELF

The first article I read was Baker's The Cultures of English as a Lingua Franca which looked at what ELF means in understanding relationships between languages and cultures. This research study analyzed intercultural communication from studies when using English in higher education in Thailand. She looks at how cultural frames are employed and perceived in ELF communication. An interesting point the article raises that I haven’t considered before is that English, or really any language cannot be seen as the property of one culture or community. This is suggesting that language isn't a solid thing belonging to one group of people exclusively but instead is complex and multifaceted. English is not connected to one culture of traditional English-dominant countries.  I don’t think many Americans see English in this way. In my own experience, I think that some people feel that they “own” English. I have heard  people say “If you come to this country, learn English” multiple times. This statement seems to suggest that America = English and ignores the language variation within our country. The article also defined English as a lingua franca which is a way to refer to communication in English through speakers with different first languages . The two people interacting have two different first languages and communicate in English. This definition was very helpful for me.

          I think Risafer’s theory discussing English in a differential sense rather than a generic sense was very interesting. Originally I believed in the generic/universal sense where language and culture are intertwined. However, she believes language can be separated. I didn't like how this was worded or agree with the statement until I read on. From what I understood she believes language can be separated from culture and other cultures could use those languages. What was confusing for me, is that if a culture uses a language other than the one typically associated with their culture, why does that not become part of their culture?  She does go on to say she believes English languages like English language cultures take on new cultural meanings. I agree that in any new communicative event a new language and culture link can be created because the use of that language is special. English is my first language and I have been studying Spanish since I was fourteen. When I am with some of my friends we actually speak Spanish with each other. I have a friend who has been to South America several times and I don’t get to see her very often but when I do we sometimes switch to Spanish during our conversations whether it is intentional or not. My use of Spanish here, versus my use of Spanish in the classroom is different. I’m not sure if this is a perfect example to reflect this idea but I did think about this. She believes events like this create languacultures, and that no language is tied to one culture. Every interaction and use of language is unique. 

           Baker also states language is what expresses, embodies and symbolizes cultural reality (pg. 6). This quote stood out to me in the article. Language could be used for a variety of reason from representing shared experiences and knowledge, creating experiences to membership to a community. As TESOL students we all understand the importance of language. 

           I really enjoyed the study the article provided as well. I thought one of the participants, Nami’s explanation was very interesting. Nami said that English native speaker norms have influenced her but she also has adapted to suit her own needs and purposes. Another participant also commented on English speaking cultures being different than Thai, and seemed to relate to English cultures more.  This is an interesting look at how EFLs view the “English culture” and how it affects them. They are aware of differences.Ultimately I thought these participants observations and experiences were very helpful. The article examined their feedback away from House’s claim but more towards what Kenkins believes; that ELF is a vehicle for expressing and perhaps creating cultures and identifications (pg. 20.) The article overall looked at that specific relationship between culture and languages in ELF contexts. As it points out, there are a couple of ways of looking at the data from the article.One is that ELF has no culture, but individual communication does. Every person has a rich background and history that is reflected through their language, behaviors and expectations. All in all for lingua franca communication it is very difficult to identify a clear relationship between language and culture. As teachers we need to continue to examine data and different points of view to understand the many different theories, make our own conclusions and include them into our classroom.

             Next I read Marra’s Chapter  which discussed something I had not considered before, language in the workplace. This study specifically looked at New Zealand  and allowed participants the volunteers to record their own interactions for research. I thought this was a really interesting way to conduct a study but I immediately had concerns about this particular method. Workplace participants decide what is recorded, when and how so. While seeing how participants interpret interactions is very interesting I would pair this approach with a researchers unfiltered observations as well. The participants personal ideas could be included through interviews etc. but overall I think it’s better to have the control in the researchers hands too. Another change I would make to this study is to look at ineffective communication as well. While looking at effective communication is helpful,  it would be interesting and beneficial to see what doesn't work as well. I think observing ineffective communication would open the doors to many more conclusions and a better understanding of what makes communication effective.

            I also thought it was interesting how aware the researchers were and how much they separated themselves from the indigenous group, the Maori population.  They called themselves outsiders, visitors and limited. I think in this case you need to somewhat step aside to make observations and conclusions. It’s great that they acknowledged their own cultural differences as to avoid making assumptions or allowing those ideas to influence their research but It might have interfered. I think you have to remain neutral and be willing to learn and not focus on your differences.  I liked that the researchers did not take simple characteristics of this culture as true but considered that there are differences among members of this group. As they stated on page eight, they knew they had to “explore deeper” than what they were just told. I also wonder how they found these Maori organizations. Were all of the workers Maori, or did they assume that everyone in the work place related to this culture. I wish they had clarified on that more because I did wonder how they considered all of the workers as Maori when they conducted research on these “Maori Organizations”. I’m sure there was diversity in these corporations. To assume all workers belong to the same culture could have influenced some their research findings.

             I did like that they talked a lot about keeping in contact with the volunteers. They said that they had a lot of really enthusiastic volunteers who recorded a lot of information. The article mentioned that sometimes two people would record the same interaction. As a researcher I would have loved to see that and I would have encouraged it. I think an instance like that really is a great opportunity to look at data for a variety of factors. You could see how different perspectives interpret social interactions, what individual background does in interpreting language and interaction etc. I just thought that instances like that would be really great!

             Overall, the article explained the challenges that occurred in recording and analyzing interactions for New Zealand workplaces. Reading this article really made me think about what I would do if I was conducting a study and raised questions for me to find additional research. I believe that is an important characteristic among teachers. We should be interested in knowing our students and knowing what learning a language entails so we can help them. We need to continuously improve ourselves, ask questions and find information to start forming our own conclusions.

              Looking at social interactions between people from different cultural backgrounds is difficult. We don’t have clear answers and there are many things to explore in this area. As these researchers found, it is also difficult to analyze a group of culturally diverse participants if there is no prior research involving them and/or if you are unfamiliar with their culture. While the researches tried to learn about the culture they were studying from outside sources, they were aware that what they were learning could not compare to what is truly behind the culture.  I think that while the research originally set out to look at how cultural differences play a role in interaction in the work place they found something quite different. They found how really complex this topic is and how difficult it is to asses and how many factors need to be taken into consideration to appropriately collect data, analyze and come to conclusions. 

Blog Post 4: Cultural Differences

     This week’s articles focused on an ongoing debate in TESOL which looks at including culture in teaching ESL students. The first article I read was Kubota’s Unfinished Knowledge: The Story of Barbara. I really enjoyed how Kubota expressed his findings in this article through a fictional narrative. Kubota states his arguments very early on in this article. He mentions that teachers who use culture in teaching ESL students usually have good intentions by respecting their student’s cultural differences rather than denying them. I agree that some of these teachers adopt the liberal view of cultural differences and mistakenly create a barrier between their students and themselves. Kubota also states that to understand cultural differences critically we need to look at issues of power and discourse. Ultimately Kubota doesn’t have a clear answer or explanation on incorporating culture into teaching ESL students, but his article does allow us as readers and as future educators to explore the issue more in depth and lead us to creating our own explanations.

     I really enjoyed reading this article which tells the story of a college writing teacher’s first experience with ESL students and how she begins to look at multiple academic points of view and how her perceptive on cultural differences in the classroom changes over time. Barbara is the teacher who has her first students from culturally diverse backgrounds. In desperation she asks her colleague Carol who has background in TESOL to help her. Carol talks to Barbara about the importance of recognizing and respecting cultural differences which incorporate different social values, beliefs and customs. While Carol’s statements and the background information she shares about Korean, Japanese and Chinese culture are helpful- I believe Carol needed to be more careful in avoiding generalizing these students. Barbara did take their discussion as a learning experience and started doing her own research. Over time, Barbara began feeling comfortable with her culturally diverse ESL students and asked them questions about their linguistic and rhetorical conventions in their native language and how they different from those in English. While I don’t agree with Barbara’s focus on cultural differences I did like that she looked to her students for reinforcement. She asked her students for feedback but I would assume that her discussions of the lack of critical thinking or directness in Asian cultures might discourage some students from participating. Barbara needed to keep in mind that all students differ even within what she sees as their cultural identity. I did like that Barbara believed that no student should ever abandon their own culture however students may need to adopt certain cultural conventions to succeed in the academic community. This reminded me of our discussion on Ebonics. I believe that Ebonics could be very successfully incorporated in the classroom to help make learning relevant to students who use it. Unfortunately, I know that many teachers do see Ebonics as a misuse of the English language and don’t believe it has any place in the classroom. While it is understood that Standard English is important to be successful in our society, we shouldn’t ban the use of Ebonics in our classrooms. We can show students and encourage them to use Standard English in certain situations but to not allow students to use Ebonics could exclude students and discourage participation. We should never allow students to discard part of their cultural identity but we can teach our students what they need to be successful, whether we believe that is right or not.

When love interest David is added to the story he introduces the essentialist position and the constructionist view of culture. I thought how David explained these views to Barbara was very interesting and helpful for her as a teacher.  An essentialist views culture as a fixed category, as something that just “is”. A constructionist views culture as a creation of politics etc, something that we as a society creates. These two views see culture as something that just has characteristics, or as something we create by giving it these characteristics. This idea showed Barbara what she was missing in her teaching. While she believed there just “were” cultural characteristics, their discussion helped her explore the idea that we are defining cultures. She was then encouraged to look at readings that examined images of cultures and what the mean in relation to power between the West and non-West. She realized asking some of the questions she asked her students enforced polarized and fixed ways of viewing these cultures. She saw that she should not be endorsing cultural stereotypes and not promoting English and American culture as worth anything more than their native culture. While Barbara had been trying to incorporate student’s cultures into the classroom she was afraid she was doing more harm than good and after more research she was able to challenge these stereotypes and produce better discussions in her classroom. Have you ever felt that even though you were trying to be accepting of other cultures you were making assumptions about this group? How can you change your own thinking?

      The next article I read was Japanese culture constricted by discourses: implications of applied linguistics research and ELT. Like the first article this article also expands on the idea of drawing on cultural differences between ESL students and the target academic community. As Barbara did, these individuals tend to create a cultural dichotomy between the West and the non-West. Part of Kubota's article looked at Nihonjinron which are theories on the Japanese and assuming that Japanese people and culture have unique interpersonal relationships, group psychology social behaviors lifestyles, language use and business management and even biological brain functions (page 12). Kubota highlights recent studies of schooling in Japan which finds the opposite that instead Japanese education goes education goes beyond mechanical learning, lack of individualism and memorization.  While secondary education was said to focus more on memorization, creativity, original thinking and self-expression are still fostered. I believe these findings could be found in my own middle school here in the United States.  These studies and others challenge cultural representations in education of Japanese students. We as educators need to understand these labels and move beyond them.

     These two articles and Connor’s Changing currents in contrastive theoretic: implications for teaching and research were really helpful for me to read as I study TESOL. I know it is difficult in my own experience to avoid our own stereotypes. These three articles worked so closely together and really helped me consider the advantages and disadvantages of focusing on cultural differences. While teachers , may have good intentions they need to be careful to avoid making assumptions about their students.

Blog Post 3: Kuma

I believe the reading for this week really helped me reflect on what I want to do in my future work with TESOL. As the Kuma article states, TESOL is not free from cultural stereotypes. This statement made me think back to discussions I’ve had in some of my other classes.  As educators, our personal ideas and beliefs are incorporated into instruction whether it is intentional or not. We need to address our own preconceived notions, address them and do our best to not let any of our own misconceptions interfere with our job as teachers. Unfortunately, I believe there are many teachers in the United States who allow their own stereotypes reflect in their behavior towards their students.

The article goes on to discuss the stereotypes many students particularly from Asia face. These students are part of three billion people who belong to very different cultures includingChinese, Korean,Vietnamese and others. These cultures are all very different from one another but still all of these students are all classified as “Asian”. I have seen this in my own experience inside and outside of classrooms. Kuma continues to explore stereotypes of these students including obedience to authority, lack critical thinking skills and a lack of participation in class. Teachers need to understand that any student who fits these descriptions fit them as individuals, not because they are considered part of a group. There are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration when looking at our students and their performance. Simply categorizing them into groups and insisting their behavior is a reflection of their roles in these groups is a “cop-out” and unfair to the child.  One interesting stereotype examined in the article was the idea that “Asian” students do not participate in class. While the article stated that this characteristic is unique to an individual I thought it was interesting that it also stated shyness is a commonly found characteristic among English Language Learners.  I can understand why speaking in classrooms especially for ELLs may cause extreme levels of anxiety. I know that I am very self-conscious about speaking in my second language in front of others especially native speakers. I know that I will take this into account when working in my own classroom. Ultimately there are many other factors that contribute to a student's identity besides their culture. I believe that all too often people struggle to look past what they see as another person’s cultural identity.  As TESOL educators we need to avoid stereotyping at all costs to protect our students.

Kuma Chapter Five began with a glimpse into a school from 1917. This school focused on teaching English as a second language to the immigrants that worked for Ford and to assimilate them into American cultural beliefs and practices. The description of the graduation ceremony shocked me. I thought the details were so off the wall I read the passage to a friend and asked him what he thought. He told me he thought the ceremony was elaborate. He also asked me if the point of this school was to “erase their history so they’re not immigrants anymore?”. In his response, the phrase“erasing a culture” stuck out to me. How can someone’s culture be erased? Does lowering yourself into a giant prop and changing into a business suit make you an American? Does graduating a school that prides itself on assimilating immigrants into the American culture make you an American? The ceremony seemed like a factory producing “Americans”- inserting immigrants, melting them down and producing cold, hard Americans each the same as the one before. It’s sad to think about these individuals needing to shed what made them unique and fill this American mold that the school was forced on them.

Later the article elaborated on this idea of a melting pot. It called this concept a myth that involved “individuals of all nations” melting into a “new race”. There is much more to this process including the selectivity of cultural assimilation, durability of ethnic affiliation and the responsibility of the mainstream community. Assimilation does not come easy and there are many factors that play a role into this idea. Overall, reading this article made me think about the importance of keeping a native culture alive. In one of my bilingual classes we discussed a case where a child was separated from his home life as he rejected his culture and native language. The child struggled to fit in at school and learn English. As a result he decided to separate himself from his family and background and eventually he was unable to communicate with his own parents. Reading this account last semester broke my heart, I could not imagine what it would be like like to feel like you need to give up such an important aspect of your life and what it would feel like to no longer have that connection to your home, history or family.

Another point I found interesting came from the book readings. The book discusses how we should understand people before we can communicate with them. I agree with this statement. I believe that there is more to communication than having a lexicon of vocabulary terms in a shared language. There has to be an understanding between the speakers.  Haven’t we all had times where communicating to an English speaker was difficult? The book also discussed the influence personal relationships and interactions have on our perspectives. A2.2 provided an example in which perspectives of other cultures were altered from personal relationships. I had never heard of a “middle culture before” but found this term very interesting in this reading. The middle culture is created when people from different backgrounds meet, to help them interact. How those people see each other is influenced by this middle culture. How this single interaction plays out can influence an idea of someone or a group forever. Interesting how we see stereotypes in our every day lives and while many of us accept these to be true, if we were to look at them in depth we'd find they are only social constructions.