blog # 6

While reading Baker’s article I found the idea of languacultures to be really interesting. Languacultures refers to the different cultures that language can represent, depending on the context that it is being used. I think that this idea is true in many different ways. Many people speak the English language, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are from the U.S. or share U.S. culture. Language is an important part of a culture, but according to this idea, the way the language is being used is more related to the culture it is representing. I speak Spanish, yet I have never been to a Spanish speaking country. Just because I can speak Spanish, that doesn’t mean that I am demonstrating, for example, Mexican culture. I speak a Spanish in a different context than someone who lives in Mexico and therefore our language use is part of two different languacultures. I can definitely see how English can be part of many different languacultures. There are so many people that speak English as a second or foreign language and many different dialects of English spoken. There are even different dialects of English spoken amongst native English speakers themselves. English speakers from Southern United States may use different words and expressions that English speakers from Northern United States don’t use and wouldn’t understand the meaning of. The fact that so many people, from different countries, cultures and backgrounds, use the English language, it’s clear that the different contexts that English can be found in shows that the English language take part in different languacultures. It’s kind of weird how language and culture can be separated in this sense. I’ve always thought that language was the one of, if not the most, important aspect of culture. However, I don’t think that Barker’s article is trying to say that language is not an important aspect of culture, maybe just that a language can be overlapping in different cultures. This article maybe is showing a more non-essentialist view of languages. I like the quote on page 573 that “a wider understanding of language and culture is needed because individuals do not stay within such neatly defined boundaries as scientist or business person”. I thought this was interesting because it kind of shows the non-essentialist view of language and culture as well. This quote is expressing how people aren’t just part of one large culture which would be the only culture that they would represent. Rather, people are part of many different small cultures in which they will use language differently in each one. This reminds me of the idea of different “registers” in a language. For example, I use a different register of speech when I am in class, speaking with a professor, than I use when I am at the mall with a friend. I am speaking the same language in both instances, but I am using the language with different people in different contexts and therefore am using different words, expressions and tones while speaking in the different registers. I think the whole idea of “lingua franca” makes it obvious that languages can be found in many different cultural contexts. The whole idea of lingua franca is that the people speaking a certain language do not share the same native tongue. If the people do not share the same native tongue, then it is likely that they come from different cultural backgrounds. However, they are still speaking the same language to one another, therefore showing that languages can be found in a variety of cultural contexts. 

blog # 5

One thing that I found really interesting while reading Connor’s article was the conflict for Senegalese students when it came to writing in English for their course ESL course in the university (230-232). First of all, I actually liked the structure of the French “dissertation”. The four parts (introduction, thesis, antithesis and synthesis) seem very straight forward and to the point when compared to the five paragraph essay that we are used to writing in English. However I think it’s really odd that they don’t voice a position in their writing when they write a dissertation. I feel like most writing that we do in English is to convince our audience to agree with the stance we are taking. I feel like the whole idea of rhetoric is how someone uses language effectively to persuade readers or the audience. A lot of times in English-essay writing we focus on who the audience is. If you are writing a dissertation and aren’t taking any particular position I feel like the audience isn’t as important of a factor to distinguish. Dissertations are definitely a very different form of writing than a five paragraph essay. I do however think that if I grew up writing dissertations rather than essays I would find dissertation writing more understandable. I can see why Senegalese students would have trouble writing an essay in their ESL course since it is a form of writing that they are not used to. It took me a lot of practice in writing to become an effective persuasive writer. For a student who never had to pick a position in their native language writing, I can imagine that the Senegalese students probably struggled not only in writing in their second language, but also taking on a completely different writing style than they were used to. I know that in my bilingual education we talk a lot about BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) and CALP (Cognitive-Academic Language Proficiency) in a student’s second language. There is a big difference in being able to have a casual conversation with someone (BICS) and writing an academic essay at the university level (CALP). Developing CALP in a second language is a lot more difficult than developing BICS. In fact, I believe that for a lot of people, CALP can even be difficult to develop in a person’s native language since it is not language that people use on a daily basis and it isn’t language that comes natural. That being said, I don’t think it’s fair that the Senegalese students were assessed by the essays that they wrote in their ESL class. If they were assessed on their essay writing and then were not able to test out of ESL classes I don’t think that is fair. Not only are they having to use CALP, which I already mentioned is very difficult, but they are also writing in a style that is foreign to them and is not something that they have practiced throughout their native schooling. I do think that CALP is something that does need to be developed in an L2, however I don’t think that the style of writing should be that much of a factor. What the writing says and the research and support presented should be more important than the writing style used. 

blog # 4

While reading in Kuma’s chapter 5, Cultural Assimilations and its Delusions, on page five it was written that there were restrictions placed on immigrants through the Nationals Origin Act in 1924. This act was supposed to help in “preserving the American character of the United States as a Anglo-Saxon, protestant community”. It’s pretty obvious that in our country today, Anglo-Saxon and protestant does not accurately describe the citizens of this country. Many different races and religions are found here and in certain places in the country, Anglo-Saxon and protestant are not the majority characters found. I do however; think back to when this Act was brought about, during the 20’s. Maybe before the influx of immigrants from 1880-1960, the vast majority of the people living in America as well as the immigrants were more of the Anglo-Saxon and protestant type. This latest wave of immigrants brought over different types of Europeans and many Japanese. I understand that Americans may have felt threatened by the new races and religions arriving and that’s why the National Origins Act was enforced. But, this concept of racism and discrimination in America has really never made sense to me. I mean, I’m sure we all agree that racism doesn’t make any sense and isn’t right, but I think the fact that immigrants to a country feel they have the right to discriminate against other immigrants is something that has always bothered me. On page six, when beginning to discuss the “real” melting pot, the “original Americans” were those who were white, spoke English, and were Anglo-Saxon and protestant. I can’t help but disagree that these people are not “original Americans”. The British may have been the first immigrants to make permanent settlements in America, but the Native Americans were actually the original Americans. They were not white, did not speak English, and were not Anglo-Saxon or protestant. Native Americans lived on this land long before the British decided to come over and claim this land as their own. I find it kind of ironic how settlers in America gained dependence from England during the revolutionary war on land that really wasn’t theirs to claim in the first place. I don’t see how it was appropriate for the National Origins Act to discriminate against those were not like an “original American” when the real Native Americans were nothing like that. Anglo-Saxon’s changed what an original American should look like and what religion they should practice and then discriminated against other immigrants who didn’t share those characteristics. In a country made up of immigrants, I don’t believe that anyone ever has any right to discriminate against other immigrants who are coming to this country for probably the same reasons, hopes and beliefs as the persons who are discriminating against them. What surprises me even more is the fact that these views can still be found today, in some aspects. On page seven, the English-Only movement, which opposes bilingual education, is mentioned. As a bilingual education major I understand the importance of providing this type of education to students who do not speak English as their native language. If people think that this will help assimilate immigrants, by only allowing them to speak English, they are mistaken. By just throwing an immigrant student into a completely mainstream, English speaking classroom, this will allow the student two options: to sink or swim. Many immigrant students that are faced with these prejudices are not given the opportunity to succeed in this country and therefore are viewed negatively from the public. What the public doesn’t realize is that these students are being set up for failure and really are not given a chance when they are thrown into an English-only environment and not offered any bilingual educational help. 

blog # 3

The Norton article basically explained how the individual learning the second language, their social identity, and the experiences they encounter effect their second language acquisition. Early in the article, Norton mentions Krashen’s idea of a low affective filter (3). In my Bilingual education classes that I have taken, we have talked a lot about how having a classroom atmosphere that provides a low affective filter is really helpful and important for a student acquiring a second language. With the idea of a low affective filter, you want the students to feel comfortable enough to participate and practice reading, writing, and speaking the new language yet not feel pressured or embarrassed to do so in the classroom. A few different ways, as a teacher, that you can provide this type of atmosphere is to allow students to work in peer groups, by allowing them time to think about a response to a question rather than just put them on the spot or to allow them to use their native language in the classroom. All of these strategies help build the self-confidence of the student which is really important when they are learning a new language. The example given in the article about social interactions between Gail and Eva, in my opinion, showed how a language learner will respond when there is a high affective filter (6). The way that Gail talked down to Eva, since she didn’t know who Bart Simpson was, made Eva feel uncomfortable and inferior and in return made it really hard for her to respond to Gail and practice speaking in her new language in this social interaction. This could have been a great opportunity for Eva to practice speaking, but Gail made her feel “strange” and so she was not motivated to say anything back.  I know that when I first started to learn Spanish I would feel very nervous and uncomfortable to speak it because I wasn’t confident in my new language. Now I don’t feel uncomfortable like I used to when I speak it, however in certain situations I do feel more intimidated to speak it. For example, I feel like I am in a high affective filter when I am speaking to a native Spanish speaker because they have more experience with the language. I also found it interesting when the article talked about how your social identity is always changing (11). This reminded me of the non-essentialist idea of culture and how it is constantly changing through our lifetime. In a lot of ways, your social identity is part of your own personal culture. I also found it really interesting when the article talked about investment and motivation when it came to practicing and speaking the new language (12). Eva’s motivation for learning the English was different from Felicia’s motivation and therefore they were most comfortable speaking English in different conditions. As a future teacher, it’s important to realize that your students are all coming from different home situations and have different motivations for coming to school and learning a new language. One sort of random thought that I did have was about something that was mentioned about Felicia. She said she didn’t feel comfortable speaking English in front of native-English speakers because she didn’t want to be labeled as an immigrant. I find that saddening, but it also made me think back to social identity. Felicia didn’t want her identity from the social world to be “an immigrant” so she chose not to speaking certain situations. This just shows how important social identity can be for a language learner.