Week 7

I found the article, “The cultures of English as a lingua franca,” by Baker very interesting. Throughout the article, Baker stresses the importance of having a fluid and diverse relationships between languages and cultures. This goes along with the definition or lingua-cultures that was presented in the text. Lingua-cultures highlight the language–culture connection and the importance of different languages and cultures in communication. It is mentioned continuously throughout the article that English is not the property to one culture or community. It is used by over two billion people worldwide and can no longer be thought that those in the inner circle, particularly the United States, are the only people that speak it. The term English as a lingua franca, or ELF, is, ‘‘a way of referring to communication in English between speakers with different first languages,’’ (Seidlhofer, 2005, p. 339). Jenkins, along with Seidlhofer, extend the definition by saying that it, “involves communication in English between participants who have different ‘‘lingua-cultures, whether they are categorized as native speakers, second language users, or foreign language users. ELF can include code switching.

Krashen also gives two different terms to make a distinction between culture and languages so that she can describe her theory of why users of English as a second language think that language and culture can be separated. She describes what both generic sense and differential sense mean. Generic sense is the idea that both language and culture are intertwined, whereas Differential sense means that languages and cultures can be separated. I agree with her belief that all languages can take on new cultural meanings while being used (in practice). This term is known as langaucultures.  She goes on to say that,

‘‘the link between language and culture is created in every new communicative event’’ (p. 185). Therefore, a language such as English will have as many languacultures as there are speakers of the language, and in this sense there is no identifiable culture to which a language is inseparably tied. Yet, Risager adds a further qualification to this separation of language and culture. She believes that at the individual psychological level, that is, at the level of an individual’s linguistic resources or competence, language and culture are again inseparable and develop in tandem based on the individual’s life experiences,” (Baker 571).

I believe that languages and cultures are interlocked and work together when someone is using speaking in either their first or second language. When I speak in my second language, which is Spanish, I believe that I tend to steer my communication through what I know from my culture. My culture and furthermore, my way of thinking impact language. When I become a teacher, I have to remember that students are going to belong to many different discourses. I have to be aware of students that could possible speak with code alterations and even code switch. I think that it easy to do either of these two when forgetting how to say a meaning of a word, or phrase in your L2 because you go back and rely on your L1. 

Week 6 - Constructive Rhetoric

In the article written by Connor called, “Changing currents in contrastive rhetoric: Implications for teaching and research,” he explains what contrastive rhetoric is and how it ties back to Robert Kaplan's work. Contrastive rhetoric is a how a person’s first language and culture can influence his or her writing in a second language. It has helped both researchers and teachers understand the preferred patterns that are involved in writing. In his studies Kaplan suggested that, “different cultures have different rhetorical tendencies,” and after much research he claimed that, “linguistic patterns and rhetorical conventions of a first (or native) language (L1) often transfer to writing in ESL and thus cause interference” (Connor 218). Connor then goes onto mention various ways to use contrastive rhetoric in the classroom, such as using single essays to contrast organizational patterns, using journal writing to help students explore cultural difference in L2 writing, making sure to use L2 writing conventions explicit to L2 learners.

He shows a few examples of different types of writing. First off he focuses on the difference of how a U.S. college student and Flemish college student wrote an application. The U.S. applicant’s letter had a long section contributed to his credentials even though he had a resume enclosed in the application as well. Furthermore, he also added his background experience would benefit the job. It seemed to me that the U.S applicant did a better job at selling himself and making a better impression for the employer. On the other hand, the Flemish applicant was direct and to the point. The applicant did not elaborate on his specific qualities that would set him apart from other applicants nor did he mention any specific accomplishments.

     Another example that Connor used was that of two scientists. One was Finnish and the other Swedish. The Finnish scientist was very direct. He wrote a short autobiographical statement and listed his appointments and ended by listing his appointments and the number of theses and dissertations supervised and papers published. Whereas the Swedish scientist lists, “two strong positive appraisals,” that include, “a very distinguished academic record” and states that, “the department has excellent facilities” (Conor 222).

     These examples illustrate the differences of their respective cultures through the content and style of writing they used. After much research Connor claimed that, “Anglo-European expository essays follow a linear development; Semitic languages use parallel coordinate clauses; Oriental languages prefer an indirect approach and come to the point at the end; in Romance languages and in Russian, essays employ a degree of digressiveness and extraneous material that would seem excessive to a writer of English” (Connor 223).

Like Connor, and Kaplan, I do believe that they way you speak or write in your L1 influences how you’re going to speak or write in your L2. I believe this because of experience. When I speak in Spanish at times, I refer back to English. I tend to think about it in English first in my head and then translate it into Spanish. I do the same when it comes to writing. I believe that this is why it is very important to teach students that do not know English in their L1. Until students have a basic understanding of their BICS and CALP in their L1, then teachers can start to teach them in their L2. Reason being is that students will not be able to comprehend the material in their L2 if they barely understand it in their L1. 

Week 5 - Cultural Stereotypes

I believe that this article was very interesting. Kumaravadivelu did a good job addressing the different sides to the argument. I do not agree at all with the stereotypes that it mentions. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people label others in various categories due to the differences in language, race, religion, gender, socio-economic class, nationality, etc. As stated in the article, there are many different theories out there that try to answer the question of why we all stereotype.  

In a previous class, I learned about ethnocentrism. It kind of reminded me of the theory of social identity. Ethnocentrism is the idea that ones own cultures is superior to any other culture, a sense of  “my culture is better than your culture.” In this case, stereotyping is also prevalent because people are distinguishing and categorizing people. They only consider people that look, act, and speak like them as part of their culture.  Whereas social identity can lead to stereotyping because, “the need to maintain a positive distinction between our own group and others can lead to behavior and attitudes that are biased in favor of our own group and against other groups” (Kumar 716). Furthermore, aversive racism  “holds the view that stereotypes are ingrained by a racist system and perpetuated by aspects of contemporary culture” (Kumar 716).  A good point that is made within the article is the fact that we are stereotyping people based on culture; however, the word culture is so complex that it is so hard to define and many people have different ideas as to what it actually entails.

As a future teacher I plan on having a very welcoming and respectful classroom environment. As aforementioned, it is hard to stay clear of stereotypes, however it is important that we do our best to avoid saying generalities because they become stereotypes. For example, we should not say that all Mexicans like a certain type of food, or all African Americans are good at sports, and so on. By teaching our students generalities, we give them more of an excuse to start stereotyping. It is crucial that we inform them of the negativities that could come from it. They should understand that if they were to stereotype someone, that person could feel very offended and could possibly cause them to have emotional problems later in life. My plan is to teach my students that just because they are a certain color, race, ethnicity, nationality, or that they believe in a certain religion or way of living, does not mean that they are just like everyone that is the same race as them. Everyone is there own individual and lives there own way of life. Yes, family traditions and customs are very prevalent in peoples lives, however, I believe that people possess the power to be who they want to be. Just because you’re a certain race does not mean you are smart, or dumb. If teachers notice that a child is lacking in certain subject, they should not blame it on the fact that they belong to a certain nationality, instead they should see what other factors are causing the problem. For example, “low English proficiency, lack of confidence, and fear of making mistakes and being laughed at,” are reasons for which students do not participate in class (Kumar 711). In regards to the article, I want to say that it proved a point. Just because students are Asian does not mean that they are all obedient to authority, nor do they all lack critical thinking skills, and does not mean that they all do not participate in class due to their cultural beliefs. I know of Asian students that are the complete opposite of that. Yes, some do meet those stereotypes, but that does not mean that all Asians are like that.  

Identity Narrative

I think of myself as a kind, respectful, and motivated individual that wants to help other people succeed. I am bilingual. I know how to write, speak, and read both English and Spanish, and for that I am beyond thankful to my parents for giving me that wonderful opportunity. My cultural capital was gained through my parents, grandparents, and the rest of my family and has helped me form my identity. On the first day of class, we were told to write a six-word memoire. I wrote, “Family is love, respect and support.” These words sum up the way I live life. Without my family I would not be where I am today. With the help of them and other factors I have become my own person.

In the article called, “The making of an American: Negotiation of Identities at the turn of the twentieth century,” by Plavenko, the focus was the importance of memoirs and how they, “strictly play a central role in the process of identity negotiation in writing” (Pavlenko 34). Thus, I believe that creating these self-narratives is a neat way to create a creative illustration as to who we are and how we believe that our language and culture affects and shapes our identity.

Unlike my grandparents, I chose to learn Spanish with an integrative motivation in doing so. In Norton’s article, “Social identity, investment, and language learning,” I learned that there is a specific difference on why you learn a language. The reason I said that I learned Spanish through integrative motivation is because I did not need to know the language to be able to communicate in my household, in public institutions, or at work. Rather, I wanted to learn Spanish because I was interested in learning more about the language. Granted, I did grow up speaking both languages, however my grammar needed some work. On the other side of the spectrum are my grandparents and their children; my parents. They came to the United States in search of a better living. In doing so, they had to work very hard in very demanding work fields. They learned English as quickly as possible to be able to communicate with the greater mass of the people and to gain economy capital. With that being said, they learned the basics. The older generation still speaks with a heavy accent. Their writing is not as accurate as those that learned English at a younger age. Furthermore, at times, the older generation is at times hesitant to speak due to getting publically humiliated. On the other hand, due to the fact that I did not have to learn Spanish to communicate in school and the work area, I was able to learn the background about the Spanish language. Although at times I still have troubles with accents or conjugating verbs, I believe that I still have a solid background with the Spanish language.

As aforementioned, my family, specifically my parents and grandparents, were major influences in my choice to become a Bilingual Teacher. I do not want other children suffering to learn a language just because of the fear of not being able to communicate with others. Another influential factor in my decision to become a bilingual teacher is the fact that there are so many underrepresented minorities that, I believe, at times do not get the same opportunity as their monolingual classmates that speak English. When I become a teacher, I want to be open-minded. I do not want to stereotype students based on the way they look, act, or speak. Furthermore, I do not want categorize my students based on what I believe their culture is. In Holliday, I learned about the differences between non-essentialism and essentialism. When I become a teacher, I want to be a Non-essentialist one. That is, I want to be open minded, focus on the individual rather than the culture as a whole, and furthermore, I want to be aware that geographical locations do not define culture. I cannot, for one second, be stereotypical because then it leads my students to doing the same. I want to teach them about other nationalities, however year round and not just per month.  I would like my students to have a non-essentialist view as well. They should understand that people can belong to many cultures 

Week 4 - Norton - Social Identity, investment and language learning

In the article, Social Identity, investment, learning, and language learning by Bonny Norton Pierce, Pierce talked about second language acquisition and how people are affected differently by it. In the beginning of the article, she talks about a dialogue that happened between Eva, an immigrant language learner, and Gail, an Anglophone Canadian that both worked in the same place. Throughout the whole article, Pierce talks about different viewpoints regarding SLA and its social context, while making reference back to the Eva and Gail’s dialogue in the beginning of the article. What I got from the article is that those trying to learn a new language, for whatever reason, have a certain motivation to do it and furthermore learn it and feel more associated with it depending on how they learned it. Some of the researchers that Pierce mentioned throughout the article had different viewpoints compared to others surrounding this topic. For example, Krashen hypothesizes that “comprehensible input in the presence of a low affective filter is the major casual variable in SLA.” Furthermore, “In Krashen's view, this affective filter comprises the learner's motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety state-all of which are variables that pertain to the individual rather than the social context” (Norton 10). On the other hand, Schumann talks about social distance. He says that if the, social distance between them is considered to be minimal it facilitates, “the acculturation of the second language group into the target language group and enhances language learning” (Norton 11). Whereas if there were great social distance between two groups, little acculturation is considered to take place, “and the theory predicts that members of the second language group will not become proficient speakers of the target language” (Norton 11). A few other researchers were also mentioned, however Pierce still searches for theory that is comprehensive to all theorists; one that not only includes social identity but also the language learner, the language context and relation of power in the social world. I believe that when learning a second language, one must practice it a lot to be able to fully understand it and to be able to use it. In that sense, I agree with Spolsky. It is important to be around the target language and to practice it in all sorts of contexts in order to gain second language learning and to become proficient in that language. A time investment in the target language is also an investment in a learner's own social identity.

As a future teacher, I plan to be open minded when it comes to getting to know my students. I will remember that just because they come from a certain culture does not mean I should have a pre conceived notion of who they are, what they act like, what they do, what they like and don’t like, etc. I will try to get to know my students based on their individual likes and dislikes. Basing your ideas of what your students are like off of stereotypical assumptions is wrong and will lead to difficulty in understanding your students. To get to know more about them, I will start off by making my classroom welcoming. Making my students feel comfortable in a fun, educational and welcoming environment will be the first step in getting to know them on a more personal level. By doing this, I hope that my students will feel a sense of comfort when talking about themselves and just being in the classroom in general. Like the article mentioned, I too believe that it is important to practice the target language and be around it as much as possible in order for second language acquisition to occur. However, I also believe that for a person to learn in their L2 they must have a clear knowledge of their L1 s that it is easier for them to understand and comprehend meanings in their new language. I plan on being a bilingual teacher and from previous classes I learned that when trying to teach to students that do not know a lot of English, it is important to start off teaching them in their L1. Once both their Basic interpersonal cognitive skills (BICS) and their cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) skills are up to par in their L1, then it is ok to introduce them to their L2 because they will already have this knowledge in their first language. Once I start teaching them their second language, I know that it is important invest time for them to use the L2 a lot more so that it sticks with them and so that they can eventually be proficient in their L2.

On another note, I know that when my parents came to live in the United Sates they learned English as quickly as they could. I believe that they had both an instrumental motivation and an integrative motivation. With much practice, they were able to successfully learn and be successful in their targeted language.