last pictures

pictures

pictures 3 (last meeting)

I'll post more pictures in the evening.

pictures 2 (last meeting)

pictures 1 (last meeting)

C. Nelson (1993 & 1999)

In Nelson’s short article ‘Heterosexism in ESL: Examining Our Attitudes’, we can read her painful feeling and experiences as a lesbian ESL teacher and her thoughtful opinion on ESL curricula where it is hard to find “anything gay in our materials and our curricula” (1993, p.148). She insists that we should “evaluate the content in our courses and the methodology we use in terms of their effectiveness with our gay students” (ibid.). Thus, she provides us with four examples of “challenging questions” connected with gay/lesbian student rights and their safeties in classroom (ibid.).

Before reading the last page of her article, I am eager to know how she solves her challenging questions in her own ESL classroom. Nelson confesses her lesbian identity and uncomfortable feeling to her students and adds “many people think gay people work somewhere else, live somewhere else, are just separate from them. . . I wanted you to know we’re around”(1993, p. 149). Her confession seems that the best solution to remove something uncomfortable is being honest to oneself and opening it up to other people. However, she confirms the fact that there is “the belief that being heterosexual is more ‘normal' than being gay, lesbian, or bisexual. This belief is reflected in every facet of society. As a result, lesbian and gay people continually experience discrimination”(1993, p. 144). But, Ironically, she has never been faced with any discrimination: “I haven’t heard of a teacher not being hired because of being gay; I haven’t encountered overt hatred; nobody has reprimanded me yet. . . I’m out to my colleagues and my administrators, and I haven’t lost my job”(1993, P.147-8). Nelson says discriminations on gay/lesbian (queer) people exist whether it is blatant or subtle, but she, a lesbian, hasn’t had any experience of discrimination, especially in the field of her teaching job. Why? I assume that one of the reasons is related to her social status. Nelson is a high-educated professional on sexual identity, and works for a university as an ESL teacher. Therefore, whenever “the words racism and sexism come up”, she can make counterdiscourses against racism and sexism by “teach(ing) the word heterosexism” (ibid.). That is, her established social status as a teacher is a shield to protect her lesbian identity in (university) society.

Nelson’s second article “Sexual Identities in ESL: Queer Theory and Classroom Inquiry” leaves me with a sense of futility even though I regard it as an article written 10 years ago. After reading of her first article, ‘Heterosexism in ESL: Examining Our Attitudes’, I wonder how she actually applies queer theory to ESL class. As is from the title of the article, she gives me several classroom inquiries, which are very similar to IRF and it makes me discouraged because I expected a detailed discussion on ESL gay/lesbian students’ empowerment. Specifically, it’s hard for me to understand what the differences between IRF and classroom inquiry are: IRF is composed of the teacher’s initiation, the learner’s response, and the teacher’s follow up on student’s response: classroom inquiry has a similar approach to IRF – teachers’ framing questions, facilitating students to investigate, and exploring what is not known with students (Nelson, 1999, p.377). While In IRF, the teacher and students take turns of communication in class, inquiry approach seems to focus more on teacher. Nevertheless, are there big differences between them?

And my expectation of discussion on ESL gay/lesbian students’ empowerment in Nelson’s second article is related to students’ multi-identities, especially social and sexual identities. From her observation of an ESL class, students give opinions on gay/lesbian issues interestingly but mostly lightly except some students’ comments. Though Pablo reveals some facet of his sexual identity in the class, does it give empowerment to him? He mentions a few words about culturally different attitudes to gay between U.S. and his home country (Mexico). The reason that his comment is short may be caused from his low English proficiency or from his uncomfortable feeling on a topic, but it may be the first brave step for him to reveal his sexual identity in public and have social power as a colored immigrant gay student in U.S. society. However, it seems not sufficient because inquiry approach is very similar to Kubota’s ‘the pluralist model’(Kubota, 1999), which respects cultural differences and promotes rhetorical pluralism in mainstream by allowing students to express their voices. It means, inquiry approach to ESL gay/lesbian students empowerment doesn’t critically explore issues of the construction of certain cultural representations, nor does it examine how political power comes into play in the distinction between dominant (heterosexual) and subordinate (gay/lesbian, that is, queer) forms of rhetorical conventions. In Pablo’s case, even though Pablo reveals fragments of his sexual identity in ESL classroom, it would be hard for him to make his own voice in mainstream and his community. Because he may be busy to learn English and get a job for a living. What do we ESL (future) teachers do for developing and improving his empowerment?

Auerbach & Burgess (Nov.16)

“The Hidden Curriculum of Survival ESL” by Auerbach and Burgess makes me so confused. Survival English has been considered as the most important thing in English learning and teaching in Korea. Because school English education is focused on “grammar, vocabulary and function exercises” for the examination for entrance of university, it has been criticized for long time which most students can’t speak English with native speakers in spite of their over 10 years English learning (p.492). So, in colleges and private institutions, there are a lot of courses related to survival English, usually under the title of ‘practical English’, ‘English Conversation, or ‘survival English’. The goal of these courses is to“provide the students with the practical abilities that enable them to function in the new society”(p.475). In other words, the courses are “reality-based” (p.475), which means that, if students take those courses, they would learn how and what to do for starting their new life in America. I had taught under this principle because I absolutely agreed with it..

But the article by Auerbach and Burgess insists me on rethinking it, especially about the survival textbooks. I can’t remember what and how many books I had used for survival English textbooks as a teacher or as a student, and don’t know whether those books are problematic or not. Although I agree with the authors’ reproaches on it, many survival English textbook are, in fact, very helpful for me to get English expressions and American cultures. But, like the authors’ insistences, sometimes I thought several conversations described in those books were not enough to make full conversational situations. For example, there was one description about asking the direction to go library (as I remember, the book title is Progress in English). I used those expressions when I visited UCLA in 2001 as a traveler, and was so embarrassed. Because I only expected one situation described in the book, but reality was different! After that, I keenly realized “reality should never be taken as a given, but, instead has to be questioned and analyzed”(p.493).

But how can I teach the student who don’t know what they don’t know? The authors persist in “education should start with problematic issues in people’s lives and, though dialogue, encourage students not only to develop a critical view of their reality but to act on it to improve their lives” (p.492) I think, I should start with thinking on a teacher itself. Teacher should not be a person who transmits knowledge to students, but who has the problem-posing view, bring and adapt it in classroom. “The teacher’s role is to facilitate the dialogue between students with a series of inductive questions aimed at eliciting students’ ideas, assisting them in making generalizations, relating the theme to their own lives, and helping them to take action to effect change where applicable”(p.492). I may already know this idea and the problems when I apply the problem-solving view to my students. But, knowing something is not enough.

v. cook (nov. 9)

I am a L2 language learner and also a L2 language user. According to Cook’s article, I’m a “successful multicompetent language user”(p.204). Am I? I can speak two languages and have multi-identities like mother, student, daughter, wife and so forth. But I don’t think I’m a successful multicompetent language user. And I have never thought English as mine in my life. Since I started to learn English at 12, I have thought English belongs to American people, not Britons or other English-speaking whites. I have admired their English and cultures because good English proficiency with the information on American culture is one of the most important methods to improve my status in Korean society including my grades in school. But my English proficiency has never gone beyond my expectation. It always makes me sick. I usually comfort myself with the idea, “I’m not an American, so it’s reasonable that my English is not good.”

Cook says “The meaning of native speaker here is . . . a monolingual person who still speaks the language learnt in childhood” (p.187) I remind of the film American Tongue. What are those people who I saw? People in the film are all native speakers, who learned English in childhood and I admired before. But if I am a department dean in a university in my home country, I would not hire those people even if they have TESOL degrees. Because I don’t think their English is not a good model for my students; then, what is a good English? And... is it possible that I recognize their English as dialects, if I don’t have previous knowledge about the film? Absolutely not. If I don’t have it, I would be frustrated because I can’t understand their English well.

What English do I have to learn? I may know the answer. It may be school English or media English. But if my students ask the meaning of some English dialects, what do I have to do? Can I say to them, ‘they're dialects, so you could ignore them’. Dialects are also English just like L2 users English is also English. What is the standard? Can we define?

Brutt-Griffler & Samimy (Nov.2)

While I read the "Revisiting the Colonial in the Postcolonial: Critical Praxis for Nonnative-English-speaking Teachers in a TESOL Program", one word comes across my mind: self-colonization. Actually, whenever I have a lot of readings or I can't find proper words to express my opinions, I wish I am an American (means NS). If I am, I don't need an English-Korean dictionary so that reading will be a piece of cake to me. Then, I may be a real English teacher to my students, who has perfect pronunciation, oral fluency, vocabulary, accurate cultural information and extra. But this article shows me how much I am a colonized person who has an imperative concepton of NS language proficiency. And it also makes me think about what I can teach my students, it means, I can teach my students which NS teacher can't access and understand. This is related to one of my previous teaching experiences in Korea.

I was so nervous that I got an opportunity to teach a graduate course for current English teacher under the title of 'English culture and Literature'. But, during the semester, I didn't know why some of them didn't have interests in the course in spite of my tremendous materials, visual aids, and references. As time passed by, I knew why. First, they wanted a NS teacher or at least a teacher who had studied abroad. Second, they wanted practical teaching methods which they could use in classroom; real and broad culture information; not specific, not ethinic, not literature. Thrid, most of them were so tired of school chores and teaching, and some of them just wanted a degree for their promotion.

Then, am I a better teacher now? : who can encourage those tired students and disappointed students. At least I can say to them, " I could be a good model to you. And you could be a good model to your students. Because both of us had same experiences of our students, and we, of all men, can understand them well."

Mckay, chap. 2 (Oct. 19)

In Korea, most students want Native speaker as a teacher of English conversation class. What is NS teacher? It means they must have different skin color (preference to people with white skin, blond hair) and American English accent. But there are not enough NS teachers so that many students meet bilingual (I use this term as a non- native) teachers in conversation class. Sometimes students try to test those bilingual teachers in class giving a kind of this requesting “why don’t you explain it in English?” even though they don’t have good English proficiency. Actually bilingual teacher is much more helpful to students whose English proficiency is poor.

When I worked as an assistant staff for a language Institute in a university in Seoul, Korea, one day two students came to the office and asked why Bill didn’t come to class. It was early morning around 7: 40 a.m. and Bill was one of English conversation teachers in the morning. I asked to them if there were other students to wait for him in a classroom. They said no. I thought something strange because the class consisted of 10 students but, except those students, no one in a classroom? Including teacher? How could it happen? I had known Bill was a very good and diligent teacher so I thought he couldn’t skip a lecture without any notice. So I called him what happened to him and the class. He said he already got an excuse for skipping a lecture that day from all students in the class yesterday. At that time I remembered his notice for skipping a lecture that day and also remember those two students clearly. Because, around the beginning of the semester, in spite of their level tests and low scores, the two students wanted to change into NS teacher class(NS teachers usually teach advanced classes) from bilingual teacher class. As the result of it, those two students didn’t understand what he said in class yesterday. When they were going out of the office and saying, “oh, it may mean his excuse for skipping a lecture this morning!” “Oh, whatever. I can’t always understand what he said in class. It’s too advanced. And other students speak in English so good! I don’t like it”

Actually students complain when their speaking class teacher is not NS, but as time passes by, most of them, especially low level students, become more familiar to a bilingual teacher than a NS teacher Because they don’t have big burdens when they speak to teacher and in class. But there are also double attitudes to it. They like bilingual teacher and feel more comfortable in a class but they still want NS teacher. Because having NS teacher in a class is a kind of their pride to show that they have good English proficiency, means they can communicate with NS in English. By that reason, if they meet bilingual teacher in U. S. , especially in English conversation class, most of them will be angry just like we can see the description in page 43 in chapter 2. Therefore we (English teacher) make our students think keenly what NS is and what they need to improve ‘good English proficiency’. WASP? Or people who can speak in English fluently? Or people having good pronunciation? If so, what is ‘fluently’, what is ‘good’? While solving these questions with our students, we as Bilingual teachers may be ‘good model’ for our students to study about cultural differences, de-contextualizing their stereotypes on NS, and further having world view.

Japanese Culture Constructed by Discourses by Ryuko Kubota (Oct. 5)

Kubota proposes critical multiculturalism. Representations of culture in critical multiculturalism are understood as the consequence of social struggles over meanings that manifest certain political and ideological values and metaphors attached to them. This rejects a form of liberal thinking in which cultural differences are affirmed merely as an end in themselves without an understanding of how difference is produced, legitimated, and eliminated within unequal relations of power. She also persists that ESL professionals need to not only go beyond simply affirming and respecting the culture of the Other and romanticizing its authentic voices, but also critically explore how cultural differences as a form of knowledge are produced and perpetuated and how they can work toward transforming the status quo.

In critical literacy, the teacher and students need to read, write and discuss with critical consciousness how the existing knowledge of cultural differences is formed and what kind of meanings are attached to dominant and subordinate forms of culture and language. At the same time, they need to engage critically in the acquisition of the dominant codes of the target language. Because the language is taught in order to give the students a voice so that they can fight for the transformation of an unjust and cruel society. In other words, perspectives from critical multiculturalism and critical literacy facilitate a view of culture as a site of political and ideological struggle over meaning. They also provide a pedagogical foundation for both affirming cultural heritage and teaching the dominant language by critically examining the representations of both the dominant and the subordinate cultures.

As I read Kubota’s article and Reiko’s response, they remind me of my teaching in Korea. I had usually taught several contemporary American novels. Whenever I met my students for the first time, I always insisted them to read, think, and analyze them critically. In fact, although we read and studied novels, it is written in English not Korean because this course belonged to English department. It means, one of the basic reasons for studying English novels is to learn and improve English, in terms of not just English literal proficiency but also English in standard and high class. But what is the standard (and high class) English? English of British and North American, white, middle class? But Kubota insists the importance of world English, especially in Asian area. It means there is no standard. But can I give an A to my students with Korean English and American English (if it is called) at the same time?

In the class, students also can learn and accept American culture through learning and studying novels. Sometimes I show some scripts of films made in Hollywood to students, and force to think how it is different from the textbooks and why it is made like that and what is hidden behind the film. But I was always disappointed at my students’ apolitical interests in power relationships between them. They wonder why they criticize them but not enjoy them as an entertainment. It always makes me exhausted but encouraged to recognize what I have to teach.

Kuma chap. 4 & 5

When I started to read chap. 4 of Kuma’s book, it reminded me of some bad memory, because one of my friend was died by ‘the crash of Korean air Flight in Guam in August, 1997’. And I was so shocked to know the Seattle Times’ interpretation of that accident, which was reported the co-pilot’s deference to the captain pilot’s authority, in other words, the Korean cultural factor as the crucial crash reason. It meant my friend was died by our traditional culture. I couldn’t believe it. It’s non-sense. What kind of idea (stereotype) do they have on Asian people?

In 2003, I audited one of Asian American Studies classes in UCLA. One of Asian American students said her routine happening on the bus to the class. In Los Angeles, California, there is a good transportation system. So many tourists and international students usually take the bus as their transportation for the sightseeing or going to school . One day, on her way to school, one old white man sat on her next and asked to her, “Are you a student in UCLA?” “Yes.” “What’s your major?” “(she answered for that question)” “ Oh, interesting, in that part, what do you specifically study?” “(she explained what she studied in her classes)” “Oh, by the way, your English is very good. Where are you from? “ “ I’m from here” “Of course, you are from here. You are a UCLA student. But you know what I mean. What is your original nationality?” “I’m American.” “ No, you don’t understand what my question is. My question is ‘where are you and your family from?’ ” “I think you don’t understand my answer for your question. I’m American. And I think you speak English very well, too.”

In related to above happening, a similar but different happening happened to my husband. A few years ago, he worked for the English department at one of universities in Korea. When he went to the department office to make some copy for class, he met a newly-employed native speaking professor. They shook hands and talked. A few minutes later, the new professor said to him, “ You speak English very well. Where are you from?” The question made my husband embarrassed but other people including several secretaries and other native speaking professors in the office bursted into a laughter. When my husband answered for that question with “Oh, .. I’m from here, Korea”, one of other native professors said, “Hey, Steve(my husband’s English name). Don’t be confused. It’s a kind of the best praise for your English proficiency.”

Both happenings above show a way of NS’s typical thinking on NNS English (speaking) proficiency. The new professor and the old white man have a stereotype- NNS have a deficient competence on English. By that reason, they were impressed by coming across NNS people (they think) with good English.

I think the first one must be considered as the more serious problem than the second one in terms of ‘why the old man thought the UCLA student as a NNS’. It is so obvious. She has an Asian face, skin. So the old man who even lived in LA, such a multiethnic city, misconceived her as an international student. And the basic reason for him to give her questions is that he wanted to hear some exotic stories from her. But she didn’t give them to him and even she was above his expectation. So he tried to find out his desirable answer from her by continuing his questions to her about ‘original nationality’. But she gave him a counterpart as she said, “I’m American. And I think you speak English very well, too.”

This case shows that even though she is an American who was born and has lived in American society, mainstream doesn’t think her as a member of them. It means, although there have been processes of assimilation of Asian and their descendants into American society and mainstream, with the invented image of ‘the model minority’, which was made by the mainstream aiming at controlling the minority groups like Asian and African-American, there is always ‘a glass of ceiling’ and ‘stereotype’, which the minority can’t reach and change the border line of mainstream. Where, when, and how can Other, like the UCLA student and us (if we can call it), find real two-way interaction with target languge groups?

Bonny N. Peirce - "Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning" (1995)

When I read “Why a learner can sometimes speak and other times remains silent”(p.11), this question makes me think, “why do I feel uncomfortable in TESOL class in contrast to ALI class?” It’s reasonable, because the former is more formal and official than latter. But …. Is it only reason for my discomfort and anxiety to that class?” I try to look for the answer , “ I don’t have enough knowledge for TESOL, Linguistics (including Applied Linguistics)…. and so on and on….” NO! It’s just an excuse! What is the exact reason or source of my discomfort to TESOL class?

After reading B. Peirce’s article and several responses to it, I know why. I’m another Wong. I’m afraid of my errors when I speak English to native speakers(NS). And worse than ever, I felt I’m so deficient and stupid when I met non-native speakers(NNS) who speak English fluently. Whenever it happens, mostly I keep silent and just speak a little. Why do I feel like that? My questions go on and on.

At last I reached the most basic reason of my discomfort, which is related to power relations in social environment. NNS - I have thought they have the same problems as mine, but they don’t. So I think they are above me. In other words, their social positions in this society, (for example, at IUP) are higher than mine, as a teacher or a staff in school. Even if they’re just students like me, most of them are Ph. D students. Or even if they’re MA student, they have more experiences in teaching, knowledge of TESOL and Linguistics, high techniques to operate computer and so on.

For NS, I also shrink from them whenever I heard “Excuse me? What did you say?” or watch that they make a face. Most NNS may have the same experiences of mine. Whenever I speak in public including in class, I always assume most NS students think ‘how could you teach English with so weak proficiency, especially with so terrible pronunciation’. I think NS is a kind of judge to assess my English proficiency. So they are also above me.

But there is one more question. Why do I think people who can speak fluently are above me? What makes me think like that? It must be from my educations through my whole life. ‘English is the criterion of success in life’. Now, from so many research and articles including B. Peirce’s, I come to know that my social identity may be changed so my self-contempt will be gone in some day. Hopefully.

I have a question to you, NNS colleagues.

When I visited to Korea last summer, I really wanted to talk with NS in English and look forward to come back to Indiana. It means, (if you have self-contempt in using English like me) if you go back to your home countries, do you have same level of self-contempt for your English proficiency? My answer is “no”. Why? Let’s talk about it in class. I think it is also connected with social power relation.

Presentation (Sep.14) - The Concept of Method, Interested Knowledge, and the Politics of Language Teaching (by A. Pennycook, 1989) & TQ chapter 2

The Concept of Method, Interested Knowledge, and the Politics of Language Teaching (by A. Pennycook, 1989)

1. Interested Knowledge and the politics of SLE
“all education is political”
- SLE: a complex constellation of educational and linguistic relationships that must be considered in the language teaching.
- language and language teaching are always inscribed in relations of power (political issues).

“all knowledge is interested”
* positivist (or scientist) orientation : tradition
- “the produced knowledge is neutral and objective” -> the removal of the personal and the political from the investigation of human issues -> an ahistorical and apolitical approach .

* criticism on positivist orientation
- all knowledge is produced within a particular configuration of social, cultural, economic, political , and historical circumstances -> all claims to knowledge represent the interests of certain individuals or groups” -> need to look critically at the interests, especially in relationships of power.

2. Methods in Language Teaching

What is Method?
- a product of early scientism, an attempt to delineate modes of inquiry and define problems. (p.597)
- “the term ‘method’ is a label without substance” (Clarke, 1983)
- the construction of the Method concept in language teaching has been … the attempt to validate current forms of knowledge at the expense of past forms. (p.608)
- the Method concept is ultimately prescriptive rather than descriptive. (p.609)

Criticism on Method
Feyerabend (1988) - “ the modern obsession with Method”
Stern(1985) – “…preoccupation with the new methods …. unproductive and misguided”
Clarke(1983)- Little agreement as to which methods existed when and in what order
History of language teaching

Kelly (1969) : a pattern of cyclical change
Classical, Renaissance & Modern periods: an emphasis on oral communication
Middle Ages & Enlightenment: emphasis on analysis of the written text

Adherents of the concept of Method & their offers on Method
H.D. Brown (4 methods)- Direct Method, the Grammar-Translation Method, the Audiolingual Method, the Interpersonal Approaches
Clarke (4 ), McArthur (5), Stern (7), Larsen-Freeman (8), Richards and Rodgers (8)

Chomskyan Revolution in 60s
Audiolingualism vs. Cognitive Code Method

What and how do teachers choose one method out of many?
Disparity between academic thought and textbook publication, and the knowledge produced by teachers in their daily practice.
Based on educational experiences, personalities, particular institutional, social, cultural, and political circumstances, understanding of particular students’ collective and individual needs.

3. Knowledge, Texts, Teachers, and Power

Knowledge & power
If all knowledge is interested, what interests are served by particular forms of knowledge?(p.609)
Knowledge (re)produced should be seen within its political context, and in its relationship to the political economy of textbook publishing, the hierarchical nature of knowledge production, the gendered issue of teaching practice, and educational imperialism in the teaching of English as an international language.

Texts & power
The definition and academic legitimation of methods is beneficial to the publishing industry.

Teachers & power
-Method may be seen in the context of the gradual de-skilling of the teacher’s role
-The method concept has played a major role in maintaining… a hierarchically organized division between male conceptualizers and female practitioners(p.611).
_______________________

Chapter 2 in TQ

1. Amy Cecilia Hazelrigg Reaponds:

- The demand of “those-who-do-not-nod” is a solution to the problem of teaching ESL(Method!). - Most of them are not aware that the approaches have names and specific ideologies with origins in time, place and value system.
- “the dominance of the notion of Method… has had the effect of limiting our understanding of what language teaching is all about” & “ it applies inappropriate positivist solutions to complex human issues and ignores the sociocultural context of language teaching.”
- The Method textbook : an account of the process of L2 developments, not language teaching. Ex) Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL

2. Jim Sayers Responds

- conflicts between the English and Navajo languages, and power relations between student and teacher, between home and school.
- “It’s necessary to negate the political nature of pedagogy to give the superficial appearance that education serves everyone, thus assuring that it continues to function in the interest of the dominant class.”
- Critical pedagogy is “simultaneous development of English Communicative abilities and the ability to apply them to develop a critical awareness of the world and the ability to act on it to improve matters” (Crookes & Lehner, 1998)
-Do we have to select between developing a critical awareness and ability to act (meaningful education) and taking action (the teacher as a type of educational guerrilla)?
- Compassion: one of the qualities a teacher must have

3. Alastair Pennycook Responds

- On gender issue, it’s not on literal or numerical terms but on the nature of knowledge.
- teaching and teacher education are often constructed as atheoretical domains -> need to battle this view!(Caution is needed! The argument is about the imbalance between theory and practice not about the abandonment of theoretical domains).
- no one theory is going to provide us with useful answers to the multifaceted contexts of language teaching(p. 31).
- critical work may involve as much humor, gentleness and generosity as any other pedagogy .
- How could and should we explain the normative base of Critical Theory? : It’s compassion in a sharp critique of inequality.

4. More problems of Pennycook(1989) by Pennycook

1. Filled with the voices of others
2. A bit of a theoretical hodgepodge: theoretically inconsistent
3. What does it mean to “validate other, local forms of knowledge about language & teaching”?
4. “the author gives us no principle way to choose what to teach and how to teach it” (McCall, 1990)

------------------------
Q. What is difference between Method and method, which we see Amy’s response’s title? If you choose one of them, which one do you like to pick up and why?
Q. In Amy’s review, she asks, “what will offer them a tapestry of choices for assessing their world and creating possibility through the making of meaning?” What would be your answer?
Q From which level of school or educational situation (home? kindergarten, elementary?) do we(teachers) let our students have critical view on knowledge, texts, and so on. What if they or their parents don’t want it, what do we have to do for that?
Q. Do you agree with Pennycook’s base of critical theory (compassion)? Why and why not?
Q. One of Pennycook’s questions is “how long does it take for us to start to sound different form the voices that people the texts we read? “ How long did/will it take for you to have it?

Firth and Wagner (1997) - September 7th

First of all, I’d like to get excuse on my poor English from you, colleagues.

While I had read this article, I felt lots of questions have come across my mind. I thought I knew why. Because I don’t have enough knowledge on Linguistics & TESOL. Under the cloak of that reason I had tried to console myself, whenever I faced with linguistic (academic) theories and terms like interlanguage, even though I could find the definition of them in the article. But I couldn’t understand them completely, was so frustrated and blamed my ‘incompetence’. ‘English’ in the article seemed to irritate me and say, ‘frustrate and blame yourself. You’re a FL learner & NNS! Of course you’re deficient and have many problems!’

OK, dear article, I will squeeze my energy, conquer and read you!

Oh, as I had read the article, the article seemed to say to me differently, like ‘You aren’t deficient. Your anger that you are incompetent to use English, is just from your unconscious mind resulted from your education. Why don’t you read me more comfortably? Sometimes you make misunderstanding or miss important meaning that I suggest. But it’s OK. Just read me.’ OK, I will try.

As we can see the abstract, the article suggests that traditional SLA has so many theories, which don’t have a proper critical assessment for them, and usually fail to account for interactional and social access to language. For that reason, Firth and Wagner (2006) tried to do the reconceptualization of SLA. We can see their three major changing goals in SLA in page 286.

In 1960s, there were two strands of language research in SLA (“the social-anthropological and the cognitive”), and tension between them (“an acknowledgement of the social, contextual dimensions of language… and the centrality of the individual’s language cognition and mental processes”)(p.287). But “the tension was weighted against the social and the contextual”(p.288). Authors criticized this tendency with comments on “experimental settings rather than naturalistic ones”(ibid.)

“Code-switching” (p.289) is hmmm.. Is this the same thing as matching each Korean spelling to English spelling, when I was a kid? “Meaning is negotiated” (p.290). Yes! And I think it is changed a little bit and developed by time, space and interactions of people.

For concerning with the term ‘native speakers’, I was wondering if he(or she) is 1.5 generation so he loses or forgets his ‘previous’ language, is he a native speaker? According to Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee who is a Korean- American writer and 1.5 generation, it seems that the hero(just like the author) doesn’t think he’s a native speaker. He said he’s between NS and NNS.

For Interlanguage, I don’t know what are differences among IL, pidgin, and creole. Is pidgin an IL and creole is not?

And actually I was shocked when I found typo two times in the article which may be one of the journals of authority in academic world! Did you recognize them?