Week 15

YET AGAIN! The blog hates me. I have no idea why it isn't letting me separate into my paragraphs. <<1>> The concepts of “languages are learned mainly through imitation” and “parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors” are both intertwined closely in my mind. For example, I remember as a child my mother, being an exceptional English speaker, would correct mistakes that I made explicitly, both in vocabulary and grammar. I’ll never forget last semester learning that this corrective feedback is not always effective or has long-term effects: “what [this study] tells us is that children cannot depend on consistent corrective feedback in order to learn the basic structure of their language” (184). What a surprise! However, even though it might not have solidified some correct grammatical forms, I do believe that my mother’s explicit correction helped in some semantic and syntactic forms, as well as motivate to speak more properly in the short- and long-term. <<2>> “Highly intelligent people are good language learners” (#3). -What is essential is finding ways to engage the different kinds of ability that students bring to the learning environment (185) - We have been discussing all semester the linguistic and academic competence involved in the language learning process, but this particular concept left out the part of “social ability” in the equation. I was considering about the students who are geniuses, those with the highest IQ imaginable, but what if they have no social skills? The contextual factors must be taken into account of the students’ personality: do they have social anxiety? do they not like speaking up? are they irritable with certain students? are they inclusive in group projects? If Vygotsky among other theorists become part of our teaching philosophy, we must keep in mind how to engage our students both academically and socially. <<3>> Point #10 causes a bit of a controversy in my mind. Having taught high school for a semester (which is a bit more difficult in regards to state and local standards), I just wonder if this idea of “presenting grammatical rules one at a time” is an idealistic statement or realistic statement? Does this apply more to some concepts than to others? Is this more relevant for one age group or a certain level over another? These were just a few questions that entered into my thoughts. <<4>> Maybe I am an oddball, but this particular sentence in the article really started me analyzing: “In communities where policy makers have encouraged English in deference to the economic and educational opportunities it may provide in the context of economic globalization, there is a near-chauvinistic resurgence of nationalism” (14). As they would say in Spanish, ¡Uy, qué fuerte! (What a strong statement!) I am taking a Spain culture course this semester, and we have discussed nationalism at an overwhelming level (trying to justify my train-of-thought here). I think about the States of California and Arizona, the two also mentioned in the article. I think we tend to be a very ethnocentric nation, for example our media coverage, geography knowledge and monolingual abilities. However, when you think about it, we do not have an OFFICIAL language. Yes, English is our main language, but it is not our official one. So on one hand, I think this fact allows for a diversity of cultures and languages to be appreciated in the United States. On the other hand, why do we sometimes discourage the use of other languages within our classroom? Why do we take that subtractive approach? Maybe we feel intimidated. Maybe we haven’t been properly equipped with the appropriate resources. Or maybe this statement is correct: we feel as if a part of our tradition and American standards would die if we did not constantly defer to the use of the English language. Then yes, that would be nationalism at its fullest.

More than what meets the eye.

I don't know why this is not letting me separate my paragraphs! I have numbered them to help! (1) Whenever the chapter was first outlining the main points, I had conceived another definition of “interpersonal competence” in my mind. Although, yes, this concept possesses the need for knowing “strategies for achieving clarification and negotiation of meaning,” I think there is more here than what meets the eye. “Interpersonal” to me flags how students interact and engage with each other in the language learning process. For example, teaching Spanish to Americans and teaching English to Latinos have been distinct experiences. Americans tend to appreciate more individual and competitive activities, only appreciating more group-based activities in a forum for discussion and debate. On the other hand, Latinos enjoy more “collective” activities, in other words more group-based activities. Pedagogical approaches feed directly into culture, and we must keep this aspect at the forefront as we consider interpersonal competence. (2) Until I started teaching English, I did not realize how rigid our syntactic system is. The more I talk with my Latino friends and my South Korea language partner, I realize that the formulas are difficult to learn, especially with questions. As mentioned in the textbook, “double negatives” do not exist in English and the way we indicate nominalizations (when whole sentence are transformed into fillers for noun phrase positions), make it especially hard for our native Romance LLs. [I apologize that sometimes in my blog I emit language outside the Romance realm, but I know the most about this population and have plans to teach abroad to this population in the future.] (3) I absolutely LOVED the explanation of acquiring knowledge, mentioned on page 154 (Saville-Troike). I am the ideal example of a total bottom-up process 100%! I had a friend that went abroad with minimal language ability, and he learned the language a very top-down process. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine going about it this way, but is that because I only have experience with the bottom-up method? Or could it actually play into more personality characteristics? I really do agree though that no matter the approach, learning a language must a social process in all the four areas – reading, writing, speaking, listening. (4) In Lightbrown & Spada, I must say that #2 (“Just listen… and read) was definitely an ideology promoted at my high school. Although I feel like there were certain areas I lacked when leaving (speaking and pragmatics), I honestly feel like I received a very solid foundation in Spanish before graduating, but unlike the example from our book, our teaching was a Spanish-speaking native from Colombia, South America! And right now our Foreign Language program here at ISU runs parallel with #3 (“Let’s Talk”), promoting tasked-based and communicative instructions. The “Two for one” was one of the more interesting concepts mentioned, at least in my opinion. I would enjoy further discussing this in class tonight, or maybe future research on my part.

Week 13!

CANAGARAJAH

It was stated in the article again about how English is the language used mainly in multilingual contexts as a second language and for communication between non-native speakers. I will never forget when this phenomenon happened while I was abroad. I was in a meeting where Japanese, Costa Ricans, Germans, and some Africans were present. I was the only American in the room. I will never forget how it felt to hear my native language being the common language in that room; it is such an odd feeling, almost like outside-of-body vibe. I understand that we do need a business language, though, similar to what the movie clip stated last week.

“In addition to grammatical competence, we have to give equal importance to: language awareness that enables speakers to make instantaneous inferences about the norms and conventions of their multilingual interlocutors; strategic competence to negotiate interpersonal relationships effectively; and pragmatic competence to adopt communicative conventions that are appropriate for the interlocutor, purpose, and situation.” Pragmatic and grammatical competence are always a big tiff, at least in my experiences in American pedagogy. Which one should be emphasized? Which one is more important? I don’t feel as though we can separate these two realms, and yet we do. If we don’t have the grammatical competence, we are unable to get our most simple point across sometimes, especially depending on our audience. And even if our grammar is perfect yet we lack the pragmatic background, we are unable to properly implement day-to-day speech acts that allows to build (or destroy) relationships. The hardest issue is knowing when and how to implement the two realms in a coherent manner.

I found the concept of “communities of imagination” interesting, especially since I have been studying Benedict Anderson and his concept of “imagined communities” quite a bit this semester. Could we possibly discuss this further tomorrow night?

WAGNER AND FIRTH

One thing I have appreciated about the theories we have learned is that they combine both the social and cognitive dimensions of TESOL, and this article really brought that conceptualization of SLA together. In my other TESOL courses, the main focus has been with more cognitive aspects, but according to our discussions and this article, the ultimate goal to have a more theoretically and methodologically balanced enterprise that “endeavors to attend to, explicate, and explore, in more equal measures and, where possible, in integrated ways, both the social and cognitive dimensions of S/FL use and acquisition.”

I enjoyed the section regarding “communication strategies.” The following quote is one that I have personal experience with and see my students also dealing with now: “Feelings of incompetence and difficulty when learning a FL are surely commonplace, and often psychologically salient.” This is especially true when our students are struggling with oral production. No matter what level of the foreign language the LL is at, he/she will always deal with vulnerability and inferiority in that language, but that’s all part of the adventure! I think having learned a foreign language gives me more empathy for my future ELLs and their obstacles they will face, both cognitively and socially.

Ignorance is not always bliss.

It is stated in our chapter that “English is the language of the elites” (159). How true this is! It is amazing how we as Americans demand that foreigners and visitors know how to communicate in our English language when in the United States (sometimes even demanding accuracy over fluency), and yet when we travel internationally, what is the first thing we look for? An English translator. And furthermore, some of the more snobby Americans go as far to mock that same English translator’s language ability. That’s a lot of nerve right there. Uffff.

Although I am a graduate assistant here at ISU this year, this chapter brought back memories of my experiences in teaching K-12. I remember thinking all the hats that a middle school/high school teacher has to juggle within a 50 minute class period – parent, counselor, police office, cheerleader and, oh yes, an educator. The book expresses even the numerous roles found within being “just” the educator: “[we must help] our students pass writing exams, proficiency tests, reading tests, university entrance exams, and at the same time work to reform the exams” (160).

One of my high school teaching experiences was in a rural area of Missouri. On my first day, I stepped into the school, and every last student there was WHITE (maybe saw four African-Americans the whole time I was student teaching). I have always grown up with diversity, and I honestly was a little uncomfortable right at first, especially with some of the ethnocentric attitudes I encountered. Keep in mind I am teaching a Spanish course, both in language and culture. One of our cultural discussions one day lead us to the topic of racism, especially of that district in Missouri. My students told me how they could never invite their African-American or Mexican friends over to their grandparents’ (even some to their parents’) house because of the existing stereotypes. With this in mind, I truly do understand how TESOL can be a political topic, especially in a dominantly monolingual nation. In my academic choices of pursuing a masters in Spanish and a certification in TESOL, I have heard such responses as: “How are you ever going to use that?”, “But you are so smart, why Spanish?”, “Oh good, our ‘citizens’ need to know how to speak English!” It’s in these moments where I realize that the English idiom of “IGNORANCE IS BLISS” is not necessarily true in every context.

Also, I was personally intrigued by the Silver International newspaper mentioned on page 182, so I researched it. You can click on this link to see some of the past articles: http://silverinternational.mbhs.edu/ GREAT RESOURCE.

This was one of my favorite chapters yet that we have had to read in this class.
Very relevant. Very interesting. Kinda in your face. Me gusta.

Week 10

Wong (Chapter 4)

“At the same time, we should not have a ‘stage approach’ and say that we first deal with simplified and scripted materials before we introduce students to natural language and authentic texts” (114). This is a really interesting point, and it’s probably not stated enough in teaching a foreign language. We want our students to be fully equipped and prepared when we present “authentic texts,” so we aren’t in a sense setting them up for failure; however, sometimes this very introduction of authenticity can give them more motivation to further their learning, challenge the more advanced students, and give a perspective into the culture (e.g., linguistically and pragmatically). The way in which we set up the activity itself is how we equip our students in not feeling overwhelmed with their first contacts in the natural language.

“Engels called democracy the best possible shell for capitalism” (120). This statement caught my attention because I really had to think about the “why.” With other forms of government, you are always working for someone else all the time, such as the king in a theocratic society. Nonetheless, with a democratic system, we have the freedom to own our businesses and be our own bosses. We can venture out on our own. Besides, the government will even back us up in most of our professional endeavors. Any further thoughts?

“Bakhtin’s theory suggests that we have an active role to play in our use of language” (125). This is one of the reasons I think I am obsessed with language. Language is active. It expresses meaning and life on a daily basis. There is always something to learn – gosh, even in my native language! Language is relational; it demands interaction. Okay, I’ll stop now.

One of the main points that was stated at least three times was how “knowledge comes from practice.” We need to give our students multiple opportunities to practice in real settings. I was brainstorming with this statement – guest speakers, watching/listening to media from culture, conversing with colleagues (or pair with natives for a day)…etc. One of my friends recently told me that her professor brought them to an Hispanic community to show how teacher-student interactions are different (seeing how such book facts play out in real life). I appreciate that the professor made that effort to go out of his way to bring the material to life.

A la biblioteca.

--Pedagogical implications based on the factors of identity and gender within the Chicana/Latina population--

Bernal, Dolores Delgado, C. Alejandra Elenes, Francisca E. Godinez, and Sofia Villenas, eds. Chicana/Latina Education in Everyday Life: Feminista Perspectives on Pedagogy and Epistemology. Albany: State University of New York, 2006. Print.
This source interrelates and defines the concepts of a feminist approach to pedagogy as well as the exploration of the Chicana/Latina identity. These various theories explore how this complicated identity plays out into other sectors, such as family life and community perceptions. Bernal discusses how Chicanas/Latinas are surviving in contemporary times here in the States – mainly focusing on the K-16 age range. In addition to having the precise age range for my research, other topics of personal research include intriguing case studies of the assimilation and acculturation process for these Hispanic-American women trying to make the transition into a new way of life. The book ends with some more relevant pedagogical approaches for educators who have this population represent within their classrooms, which is precisely the topic I will be concluding with in my analysis.

Blanco-Vega, Christiane O., Sara M. Castro-Olivo, and Kenneth W. Merrell. "Social-Emotional Needs of Latino Immigrant Adolescents: A Sociocultural Model for Development and Implementation of Culturally Specific Interventions." Journal of Latinos and Education 7.1: 43-61. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2011.
The journal article starts off with the demographic makeup of Hispanic students in US schools, explaining how Latinos are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group here in the USA. As the article title indicates the primary focus is upon the social-emotional needs of Latino students. The authors expound upon the factors that make this community member successful or not successful academically – including acculturation stress, family factors, school belonging, immigration experience and more. Within my paper, I would like to include some of the introductory demographic statistics (unless I find more recent statistics) as well as explaining both identity and negative behaviors as a result of the aforementioned factors (e.g., immigration experience).

Gil, Rosa Maria, and Carmen Inoa Vazquez. The Maria Paradox: How Latinas Can Merge Old World Traditions with New World Self-esteem. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1996. Print.
While other sources have included how gender and identity are intertwined, this source specifically analyzes each topic from the lens of the female gender. It includes such social constructions as machismo (both positive and negative aspects) as well as to balance between the traditional ways and the contemporary ideologies. This source is an excellent one because it pertains to the very core of my research, while including such topics as “the double self and the bicultural paradox,” “the cultural collision,” “defining the woman’s place,” and many other community expectations demanded of Chicanas/Latinas. This book details both the private sacrifices and overall transitions that happen in the acculturation process between being a submissive Chicana/Latina and being the independent-minded American woman.

McKenna, Teresa, and Flora Ida Ortiz. The Broken Web: the Educational Experience of Hispanic American Women. Claremont, CA: Tomás Rivera Center, 1988. Print.
This book is chocked full of studies conducted about how Hispanic-American women are perceived in education and the opportunities (or lack thereof) offered to them. Although this book was published in 1988, it is interesting to see how some areas of education have progressed and then others have remained stagnant in the last twenty years. Since the majority of Hispanics in the USA presently are from Mexico, this book offers some interesting statistics specifically in regards to teacher-pupil interaction (49), which is the part most important for my research. Also pertinent to my research is chapter four (61) which discusses how lack of Hispanic professional women has become a cycle that preys upon the present and future generations.

Week 10

Chapter 3 (Wong)

“Teaching a foreign or second language can be as strange and exotic as introducing a foreign smell or taste” (84). I was thinking about how they were talking about cuisine, music and art all being an “acquired” taste within a cultural context. I shall not repeat some of the food I’ve eaten, but it’s interesting how much food is an ingrained part of culture – and to reject the food is to indirectly reject the culture as well. Going off of the “acquired taste” metaphor, I also believe that such a comparison must be elaborated on a bit. For example, although I am not the biggest fan of coffee (supposedly an acquired taste), I still admire and am knowledgeable about the process and work going into making it. The same goes for culture. Although, for example, I personally may not completely understand a culture or my personality traits don’t always “mesh” ideally with that particular culture, there are always aspects to be admired within each setting. It is a matter of appreciation.

Charlie’s observation between encouragement and participation stood out to me. I really do believe in this aspect of education of supporting not only academic needs but the whole person as well. This aspect is what makes teaching so rewarding and complicated all at once. When a student who is timid in your class (due to personality or present problems) raises his/her hand for the first time, the educator almost wants to keel over with joy.

Although I do believe that women are victimized, I also believe that the author’s Biblical reference was taken much out of context. I have studied Biblical texts in depth, and their reference only gives part of the holistic picture. On the other hand, I do fully agree that women are treated more as objects rather than subjects in many contemporary societies. I am working on some feminist studies this semester for one of my literature classes, and we are also studying how gender is defined by class, race, ethnicity and other constructions. Gender roles in society fascinate me, for better or for worse.