Authenticity

I’ve enjoyed this textbook so far, but after reading this quote from Chapter 5, I want to high five Shelley Wong. “Because of our school system’s democratic façade, people think that every child has equal opportunity because the tests are supposed to be “objective.” In fact, there isn’t equal opportunity. These exams are both racially and class-biased. They are a more accurate measure of family income and parent education.” I couldn’t agree more with this. Throughout my entire education I still cannot understand why our government thinks the answer to our education system’s problems is standardized and IQ testing. No child can be measured and labeled by a number, especially not by an unauthentic one. This is important for all children regardless of their background or race, but for ELL’s it can have an even more negative effect. A culturally biased test leaves no chance for a child who has just been introduced to the mainstream culture to succeed. These are the children who answer a question “incorrectly” not because they don’t have the knowledge, but because they do not understand the cultural implications behind it. By using this type of standardized IQ testing, we are perhaps unintentionally segregating our students based on things other than their knowledge.
Another point that I am glad Wong made in this chapter is that the assimilation into American culture often fosters a rejection to a child’s native culture and language. In Branch5-2 this issue is evaluated on. As a bilingual major I identify with this sentiment. It is my job as a teacher to not only value home cultures and languages of my students, but to learn as much about them as I expect my students to learn in class. Bringing bilingual and bicultural methods into the classroom is a way to fight prejudice, jump-start critical thinking, and to create an environment where every child is accepted and valued. When children are exposed to different cultures and languages, a different type of learning occurs than does in a “mainstream” classroom. The students become the teachers, instruction is student- led and students have a lowered affective filter because they feel valued and safe. One way to ensure this is happening in your classroom is to make sure your methods are authentic. Literature, art, assessment, etc. all must be authentic in order to be effective.
If all of our classrooms looked like this, I do not believe we would need standardized or IQ testing. When we are authentically assessing our students, we as well as they will learn their strengths and weaknesses, but more so we as educators will realize that there is more to intelligence than we sometimes credit. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is a theory that can debate the authenticity of IQ testing. Our students education with be richer if they are a part of a culturally diverse environment. To do this, we have to go beyond “Heroes and Holidays”. I think the most important thing to remember is authenticity.

Dialogic Approach

       After reading this chapter in the Wong text, I cannot help but to be reaffirmed a bit. Sometimes in my own personal endeavor to learn a second language, I am increasingly discouraged by the fact that I am not as fluent as I would like to be, even though I started taking Spanish classes when I was 12 years old. 10 years later, I feel I should be much more capable than I am at this point. While reading about Bakhtin's dialogic approach and Mao and Freire's learning by doing, I see so many differences between these theories and the way I was taught Spanish. Rote repetition is not the focus of these approaches, nor are grammar drills. Learning a language is not unlike learning in general. It has to be connected and practiced with a purpose. Looking back, I never really saw the connections as I was in my Spanish classes.
       One of the points in this chapter that stuck out to me the most is "Bakhtin's theory suggests that we have an active role to play in our use of language; our "doing" language is transformative not only of ourselves but also of the language itself". There is so much more to language acquisition  than I ever realized. It makes me wonder, had I been taught using a dialogic approach, would I be much more fluent now? What if what I was acquired had actually been through "doing" instead of memorization? Would I be able to speak and use my knowledge more proficiently because of it?
       I imagine the answers to these questions are yes. The other part that I connected with in this chapter was when it described the Chinese theologians  learning English through the focus of theology. They were learning for the purpose of their interest. There is so much more motivation behind that, I wish that I had been taught like that. I want this to stand true not only for the ELL's I will have in my classroom, but for all of my students. I want to use a dialogic approach in all subjects. These theories present an indisputable point; learning by "doing" is definitely the way to pave the road to acquisition. Learning by doing can teach you how to learn, which is a far more valuable tool than memorization.

March 15

            Branch 3-6 of this chapter intrigued me. It posed a question that I feel comes up recurrently in teaching. When looking at the difference between how the girl and boy answered the dilemma of morality, the girl received a much lower score for her moral development than the boy. It seems as though this girl just did not interpret the problem in the same way the boy did. Although the book was targeting this example to Kohlberg’s six-stage theory of moral development, for me it can be related to all of my future students.

            I think that all too often I forget that children in general look at and process things much different than each other and than me. As educators, children can be labeled wrongly because they are not thinking the same way the other students are or because it is different than what the teacher expects. This is especially important to remember when it comes to second language learners. Not only does every child learn differently and interpret things in their own way, their background greatly affects how they learn. If a child comes to the U.S. from a Spanish speaking country, even aside from the language barrier they are likely to interpret things differently because they grew up in a different culture. This is the problem with many standardized texts; the cultural context is often related to white, middle-class Americans.

            When the author went back and looked at what could have caused the girl to interpret the situation differently it made me reflect on how we can do the same thing as teachers. All too often we blame the students for being wrong, when in reality it might be the way we are teaching that is not cohesive to their learning strengths. Also the girl’s answer was not wrong, it was simply different. This will be one of the most important things to do and remember as a teacher, to not judge a student’s response because it is not what you expected or it is different. The way we teach our children needs to be meaningful, always looking at how we pose questions, how we assess and what we are doing to help them learn. If we can demonstrate and open mind, students will be more likely to develop the same acceptance and the learning environment of the classroom will become richer.

 Annotated Bibliography

1)

            Effective Early Literacy Skill Development for Young Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners: An Experimental Study of Two Methods studies the early literacy development of English language learners. The group of children were divided into a control group which receive regular high-scope curriculum, a group that received  high-scope along with small groups from the Literacy Express Preschool Curriculum and the third was the same as the second, but began in Spanish and transitioned to English instruction. Part of the research in this study was also based on what the children received at home, whether English or Spanish was spoken more often, or equally. This source will supplement my own research because it focuses on pre-school aged children and the efficacy of a method used in English language acquisition. The home aspect of the study will also correlate well as I am researching what works best in the home environment as well.

Farver, J, Lonigan, C, & Eppe, S. (2009). Effective early literacy skill development for young spanish-                                                   speaking english language learners: an experimental study of two methods. Child Development, 80(3), 703-719.

2)

         Learning For Life, A Structured and Motivational Process of Knowledge Construction in the Acquisition/Learning of English as a Foreign Language in Native Spanish Speakers explores the methods of a theory, Learning for Life. This theory focuses on student centered instruction with emphasis on human values as a part of instruction. Each student is seen as unique and the teacher is expected to know of and be involved in aspects of their life even outside of instruction. The article also touches on acquisition versus learning under this circumstance. This will aid in my research because it is specific to Spanish speakers learning English as a foreign language. 

Miño-Garcés, F. (2009). Learning for life, a structured and motivational process of knowledge         construction in the acquisition/learning of english as a foreign language in native spanish speakers. International Journal of English Studies, 8(1), 81-89.

3)

          Mother Brand English as an Effective Approach to Teach English for Young Children as a Foreign Language in Korea explains this method, developed by parents and used by mothers and father in Korea to help their own children acquire English in the home. This study shows the use of outside resources such as media and the internet to provide access to natural English input for the children.  The goal of this method is natural acquisition of the language by exposure to rich English surroundings and environment along with appropriate stimuli. The study iterates which steps and stages children go through as they are acquiring the language. This article will aid in my analysis of research as I am inquiring of methods to use in the home, this parallels my research question and will help to find useful strategies to use in the home.

Seung-Yoeun, Y, & SookHee, L. (2006). Mother brand english as an effective approach to teach english for young children as a foreign language in korea. Reading Improvement, 43(4), 185-193.

4)

           Language Immersion Programs for Young Children? Yes, but Proceed With Caution analyzes a dual-language immersion school in Hong Kong that equally exposes their students to English and Mandarin. They have found that there are cognitive advantages, but that young children do not “absorb second languages like a sponge”.  They have also found that these programs must be carefully created and monitored to be effective. This article will compliment my analysis of other research as it shows parts of the hardships of second language acquisition in young children. It will help me to answer my research questions knowing not only what works in teaching English as a foreign language, but also what does not work.

Soderman, A. (2010). Language immersion programs for young children? yes..but proceed with caution. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(8), 54-61.

Wrongful Assumptions

           In both the text reading and in the article, I was prompted to think about diversity beyond what I have before. In the article, in reference to Surjeet, the young Indian girl, and the troubles she had communicating with some of her peers. This researcher observed that although there were two girls she talked to most of the time, that one was a less-pressure situation, with Tiffany, where as the other girl tended to respond negatively to Surjeet’s attempts at conversation, Mary. In once instance, the researcher heard Mary say to Tiffany, “don’t go to Surjeet’s birthday, it would be Indian smell.” Tiffany agrees not to go, but Mary says to come to her own party because she is Irish. Tiffany again agrees. Sujeet heard the conversation and was obviously hurt by it. These are first graders. Did they devise these prejudices on their own? Did they learn them from their parents? I hope that they did not learn them from their class environment. It is vital that we as educators work to address and conquer these prejudices. One thing I know I want to teach in my classroom is to not make assumptions. So often, prejudices are based on learned assumptions, which are incorrect most of the time. What I had never considered before, was the content of the textbook.

            It is so interesting to me that the gay priest was a visitor to the classroom, and that the students did not deduce that the priest was gay. They assumed that since he was a priest, a good man and nicely dressed that he was not gay. Again, these are all incorrect assumptions and very generalizing. At first glance I did not understand why the textbook was using this as an example of why visitors should come to the classroom. Making me think about it though, really pushed my limits. What I mean is that at first I was a bit defensive. I thought, “why would they be talking about this when the students are from a Christian organization?” I just thought I was contradictory. As I continued reading though, I understood how the teacher used it not only as a way to address and conquer diversity and preconceived assumptions, but also as a learning opportunity. The students had to prepare for the visitors to come, introduce them, have questions for them etc. For ELL’s this is a great way to practice the language and gain confidence in their own abilities. Pairing this with the opportunity to discuss the diversity that these students had never recognized before developed, in my opinion, a fruitful discussion. As I read of their unfamiliarity of homosexuality in their culture, that was so sheltered that they did not even think to deduce the priest as being gay, I was reminded of my own assumptions I make everyday. I made assumptions as I started reading the text. I make assumptions about different cultures all the time. I do not necessarily know where they all come from, but they are probably a compilation of what I have heard, been exposed to, and come to my own conclusions on.

            So what does this mean for me as a future educator? It has been brought to my attention that I will need to work hard and monitor myself closely in order to prevent any wrongful assumptions in my classroom. Despite the fact that my own assumptions are mostly sub-conscious, I absolutely do not want to portray or pass them on to my students. I need to address and conquer my own prejudices and assumptions, so that eventually I can set an example for my students to look to.

Political And Philosophical Roots of TESOL

      This chapter was a very interesting tie-in to what we have been learning in class. The first thing that interested me in this chapter was the history of TESOL methods. It was interesting to see in more of a chronological order, how the different approaches and methods came about and what time periods they were most prevalent in.
      A quote from this section in the chapter I really like was "learning English is a one-way door: Outsiders come in but insiders less often venture out." I believe this pinpoints the attitude and reality in America today. Many natural born American citizens believe that if you live in the U.S., you should speak English. They also expect that everywhere they go, people should be able to speak English with them, because it is becoming a world language. That is why I see this quote as summing it up; Many Americans expect everyone here, and even outside of the U.S. to know English, but they themselves do not know any language other than English.
       I wonder if this phenomena was self-inflicted. Did America condition itself to believe their language to be superior? Therefore, have we undermined the non-majority cultures in America as well as the other cultures of the world? So much of learning about and experiencing a different culture comes from knowing the language. Meaning can be lost in translation, and experience and learning is not as meaningful when it occurs in a different language oftentimes. As a bilingual major, I have strong opinions on this topic and it makes me wonder how some people can be so passive or support English-Only.
       Proponents of English-Only argue that English unites our country. It gives it's people identity. What about those who come from different cultures though? I do not understand how we even define ourselves as natural born Americans when most everyone can from somewhere else somewhere down the line in their family. Another part of this chapter that really interested me was the concept of accent reduction in the ESL world. In my own endeavors to learn Spanish, becoming a speaker with "native-like fluency" has been a goal of mine as well as a push from my teachers. Since taking this class though, I have realized more and more that everyone has an accent. English speakers in the south have a different accent than those in the north. It is a part of identity. This is why I really identified with the term "accent addition." Like the difference between subtractive and additive, perhaps if the motivation behind learning and perfecting language acquisition was additive and not subtractive, there would be a change in motivation. No one wants to lose their identity, thus instead of pushing to change an accent, push to add one.
     Lastly, the dialogic approach was something that caught my attention. It closely resembles student-led instruction, which I have learned about in many of my previous classes. The features that compose this pedagogy are so helpful in regards to learning how to effectively teach your students. "Teach tothe students and not to the text" is my favorite quote from this chapter. I know that this will become increasingly hard as the pressure for standardized testing increases, but as a bilingual teacher I hope to be able to teach my students and not to the test.

Perspective on Language Learners

       This article really caught my attention and made me think. We have been talking about the different qualities that "good" language learners possess, but appearance and social status are not ones that I have ever thought of as being important. The study on Eva and Julie were both very interesting. In order to learn English they both accessed social acceptance and ties in order to gain opportunities to speak. Although Eva was an adult and Julie was in kindergarten, they both essentially followed at least part of the time the same road to language acquisition. Their atmospheres and circumstances were very different, but both needed to learn English in order to communicate with those around them.
       I think that as humans we all have an innate desire to communicate with others. Perhaps that is part of the reason why Chomsky says every human has the innate capacity to do so. This desire leads to us being social beings. Humans also adapt to their environment. Julie and Eva did not know the language in their environment, so they found ways to adapt so that they could participate in communication as well as interactions.
       What truly got me thinking was in the last part of the article where it described both Julie and Eva as ''appealing to the westerner's eye". Julie probably looked a lot like most of the other children in her class. For this reason, her appearance did not make her undesirable. As with Eva, she was described as being attractive in respect to western standards. She was fairly easily accepted into the social circle at work, after establishing herself as more than the "ESL immigrant". The article said that another girl in Julie's class, who was South Asian did not have the same fortune when it came to fitting into the class socially with her peers. This makes me wonder, had Eva been unattractive according to western standards, would she have been accepted as quickly, or at all, into the social circle at work? Or would she have continued to be seen as undesirable, not only because of her ESL immigrant status, but because of her physical appearance? Overall, this complicates the issue of SLA even more, but this article has made me think even more in depth about it than before.

Social contexts of Second Language Acquisition

One section of the readings this week that really interested me was the macrosocial factors in SLA, in particular, the global and national status of L1 and L2. Last semester I did a research paper on English-Only proponents. For many people, language is a form of patriotism. Many Americans oppose having other languages in the U.S., but I see this view as close-minded. Why do some people think of other languages as unpatriotic? America is made up of immigrants. We all came from somewhere. Our culture would be that much richer to be able to incorporate others' traditions, identities and languages into what already exists. 

Language is a part of each person’s identity. Acculturation is not just the learning of language, but also of culture. Before this summer, I had never realized how much weight culture holds in learning a language. When I studied in Guatemala and was immersed in the culture, I learned so much more about the language, the people and what made their identities than I ever could have in a classroom. Motivation plays a large part in SLA. I would not have learned as much Spanish in the classroom had I not been motivated to learn it. Like the examples in the book of dominant language speakers working or having ample contact with speakers of a non-dominant language, like in Paraguay Spanish speakers and Guarani speakers, the Spanish speakers generally do not learn to speak Guarani. This shows that there is a degree of separation between the dominance of language groups. This separation affects the social aspects in which a second language is acquired. In Guatemala one of my teachers was Mayan. She taught me a lot about the discrimination that raged between the indigenous and dominant cultures of Guatemala. She herself was Mayan, but did not know her mother’s native language because of the prejudice and violence that Mayans endured. It is so sad that because of the social factors, some languages are endangered. I think that for the benefit of monolinguals and multilinguals, societies should move towards greater appreciation of all languages despite social implications.