TESOL at forty, what are the issues?

Canagarajah's TESOL at forty: what are the issues? is an excellent introduction to the achievement and progress that TESOL has made over the past decades. He started to explain how we arrive at the status quo of TESOL and what the researchers have gone through throughout the history. What have changed and what have been abolished were also discussed in this article, such as researchers were brainstorming about the new and effective methods, but now we study the controversies and weakness over those methods. As he indicated in this article: We are rightly concerned about their neutrality, instrumentality, and their very constitution(PP. 12). And I completely agree with him, I believe there’s no one-quick-solution that fixes all problems and fits all students' needs and contexts.

In the focus on the learner part, I am very happy to see that we are living in a more globalized world; we are more connected to each one across the globe than ever, thus, the distinction between ESL and EFL context is becoming more blurry. We have developed a new interpretation of the leaner’s motivation. The article of Bonny Norton Peirce was indeed impressive for me. I started to define the learner’s motivation from a completely different perspective, their investment and motivation should be paid attention to as well.

Also, we have witnessed the fast progress of Critical Practice (CP), exploring empowerment from diverse orientations, doubting if we provide marginalized students access to dominant discourses or help them develop voice in order to resist them? Do we critique the machinations of power “outside” in history or “inside” in human subjectivity?(PP.16) It is true that most of the L2 learners are new immigrants or international student in ESL context, they have difficulty adapting themselves to the new environment. No one cares if their s have been heard or their concerns have been taken care of. This is not just about the ESL students in America, but more about a human right issue that should pertain to the interest of whole humanity.

Sexual Identities in ESL: Queer Theory

I have to admit that professionals in TESOL field have almost explored everything, I felt amazed at the title of this article,Sexual Identities in ESL,Queen Theory, I never anticipated that someone will write an article appealing more inclusions of gay/lesbian identity in ESL classroom. I definitely enjoyed reading article, which was very fresh to me. The novelty of the approach and perspective was of great interest to me. The writer also elaborated the difference between gay and lesbian framework and queer theory which is more relevant to everyone, not just restricted on homosexual people. The inquiry which is informed by queer theory involve two theories that I am very interested in personally: "identifying prevailing, competing, and changing cultural norms that pertain to sexual identities. exploring problematic and positive aspects of this identity domain"


I was a little bit surprised about the writer's observation in the college, because some of the students felt embarrassed to respond to the teacher's question, two 30-year-old men walking down the street,is it normal if they hold hands? Then I looked at the time of that article was written, it was 1999. I have no idea if the students opinions in this classroom have changed now.However, most people I have known do not have prejudice against queer community. This is partly contributed to the queer theory, I guess.


Also,I happen to have the same experience of introducing gay/lesbian people's images in my classroom that the writer mentioned in the article.When I was working in the English school, we were required to give at least one "apply yourself" class to students, in this AY class, we simply talk to studeng in English and keep interviewing them until they become very fluent in English. Thus, we were brainstorming about what to teach, one day we had an idea of introducint gay/lesibian/transgender identities to our classroom. To my surprise, most of my students kept an open mind of those people. Student told me they had seen some gay people who were very laid-back and almost the same as the average people. But there was a gay teacher in our school who sometimes felt uneasy when they student were joking around about sissy gay people. It is the stereotype that they get over time. I can't make them get rid of this, however, as we talked, they gradually became more understanding of these people.

Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching.

The article argues for the need to shift the attention from native speaker to L2 user for a number of reasons. The notion of native speaker is the only perfect model teacher for students has remained unshakable for several decades. Defined the native speaker and L2 user, the writer starts to explain the problems of the native speakers and then explores the status of the native speaker who has constantly been referred as the implicit teacher in the ESL teaching materials. The writer continues to discover the question of L2 Difference or Deficit. I read with great pleasure that the write refutes the idea of comparing native speaker to L2 user, which is the same as comparing apple to pear. (PP.195) “ l2 users should be treated as people in their own right, not as defecient native speakers.” To gain a native speaker linguistic competence is not a feasible goal for many L2 users. The writer did not bother to compare who is more suitable for ESL students,which I believe does not make any sense. However, she suggests how we can change people’s attitudes of their stereotypes of their model teachers, such as including L2 user situations and roles, basing teaching on Descriptions of L2 Users.

We have a saying in China, it takes more than one cold day for the river to freeze three feet deep. This is an idiom we use to describe the seriousness of an issue does not develop to the current state overnight. To change people’s attitudes about L2 user, I think besides the suggestions that writer has given to us, we, as L2 user future teacher, also need to be proud of our identities in ESL. If we don’t have faith in ourselves, we won’t succeed in our careers. Although differences do exist between native speakers and L2 users, we need to realize that it is unfair to measure ours on the native speaker norm.

I also checked out the website that Dr. Seloni e-mailed us, Dave’s ESL Café. I found that a lot of jobs posted on his website requires native speaker teachers, some of the advertisements even indicate clearly ONLY NATIVE SPEAKERS are eligible to apply for this job. These jobs that require or give preference over native speaker are mostly from the outer circle countries.

Revisiting the Colonial in the Postcolonial: Critical Praxis for Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers in a TESOL Program

As usual, I do enjoy reading Revisiting the Colonial in the Postcolonial: Critical Praxis for Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers in a TESOL Program. How do we objectively assess the postions of Native speaker teacher and non-native-speaker teachers in an EFL context has been confusing me for many years.

The writers didn’t bother to compare who is doing better.Comparing actually makes little sense, because native speakers, non-native speakers are good at doing different things. And I am so glad that the course helped the graduate students raise their awareness that they could play as professionals in TESOL.

As a non-native-speaker, I still struggle with my identity in the EFL context. I sometimes feel that I am not a qualified teacher for students, because I cannot understand very well about what native speakers are talking about, feeling inferior and blaming myself for not studying hard enough in English. Students in my home country, China, are also obsessed with the idea that only native speaker teacher is the perfect teacher in the classroom. I, somehow, agree with them in the respect of teaching spoken English. I really don’t know many ESL people who can achieve native speaker language competence. Thus, I think native speaker teacher can do better than then non-native-speaker teacher. However, when it comes to the grammar , reading, or writing, because too many skills need to be taught in these sections, I believe that non-native-speaker can help students learn faster. Also, I want to stress another point which the writer didn’t specify. It also depends on the students’ proficiency level, if the students are at low beginning level, I think he/she needs a non-native-speaker teacher who can speak his/her mother tongue to guide him/her through. When it comes to higher level, native-speaker-teacher will suit their needs better in spoken English. These are the ideas that are rooted in my mind for many years.

After reading this article, I start to rethink the issue that linguistic proficiency is indeed vital for non-native-speaker teachers. However, as mentioned in the book(pp.150) “Language is not always a matter of external behavior, but it pertains to the very intimate sense of self.” We need to be keenly aware of our identity in the EFL classroom.

Mckay CH5 TEACHING METHODS AND ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

Mckay CH5 TEACHING METHODS AND ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
After reading this chapter, I believe that methods applied in EFL and ESL setting will have entirely different influence upon the learners. The writer, Mckay, started out with the introduction of a culture of learning, explaining the role of teachers in Confucian and Western academic lecture. In western countries, teachers are referred as guide/facilitators, whereas in oriental countries, teachers are the authority of the lecture and should not be challenged. According the 2nd table, it describes the communication style of Japanese and Americans, low self-disclosure versus high self-disclosure; group consciousness versus individualism. Due to the variances of cultures between eastern countries and western countries, the problems raises.

The communicative language teaching method has won huge success in many areas and lost it popularity over the time in some countries. It is not hard for me to understand the challenges of CLT has met in China. The biggest motivation for most Chineses students to learn English is to succeed in the National University Entrance Examination. The problems is, however, that NUEE does not spare any sections to test students’ communicative competence. Most part focuses on grammar, translation, listenning comprehension, and writing. As Burnaby and Sun pointed out, CLT would be appropriate for Chinese students who intended to go to English speaking countries. Further, teachers are expected to play the leading role in the classroom while CLT, guiding students to absorb the knowledge. Fun games, group discussion, and puzzles don’t seem to fit in in such culture environment.

I have never taught in public middle school. However, based on my personal experience in the language school, CLT was quite popular, because a large number of students are high school students in my area. They feel tired after a long day/week’s study in their school. They’ve already had enough rote learning and grammar translation exercises in their school. Also, most of them want to study abroad after finishing their high school education. Therefore, CLT is exactly the method that meets their requirements and expectations.

My concern is how about the students who do not intend to study abroad and desire to improve their communicative competence. The traditonal methodology can not satisfy their requirements and some feel very frustrated about how to improve their spoken English. It seems that students do not benefit from the innovative methodology as they are all about to take the UNEE in the coming future. The writer was proposing an appropriate methodology for the students in a variety of local contexts, but that requires teacher’s sense of plausibility. In China’s case, I believe the education bureaucracy’s willingness to improve the English curriculum and UNEE is part of the solution.

Borrowing Others’ Words:Text, Ownership, Memory,and Plagiarism by ALASTAIR PENNYCOOK

Quoting a story of borrowing texts the writer has encountered while teaching in China, the writer analysizes the text ownership, momory, and palgiarism from various historical background, namely Premodern, modern, and postmodern understandings of text, and authorship. Along with the confusion, ambiguitym and hypocrisies over plagiarism existing in different culture, the writer suggests that we should show more appreciation of the relationship between different approaches to texts.(PP.201)

From the ancient time to modern era, Chinese students have been taught to memorize the articles/poems that have enlightening and educative theories behind them. The scene of a bunch of kids memorizing Confucius’s, a great Chinese philosopher that has influenced eastern Asian deeply, analects is a positive expression of diligent and up-and-coming learners. As the writer points out, the memorization is not a pointless practice. “Memorization through repetition can be used to deepen and develop understanding.”(PP.222) There’s no doubt that memorizing does play a crucial role in Chinese education through which we have fostered a great many poets, educators, and artists and developed creativity, the critical thinking ability etc.

From my point of view, it is probably this practice that misguide students to copy from other writers. As I recall, when I initially started to take writing class in elementary school, my teacher told us to memorize these articles and developed a good habit of writing down every good sentence and good vocabulary you’ve come acrossed and apply them in your writing, which is a good way to beautify/improve your essays. Unsurprisingly, teachers will find many students have the same conclusion of a journal response to a patriotic movies or a visit to a zoo. As we moved to a high school and college, then we progressed with those good sentence and vocabularies and improved our writing skills over time. I don’t think there’s something wrong with this. No one is a natural-born great writer, and millions of original ideas will not jump out at anytime and anywhere. I agree with the writer who claims that it is important to distinguish the good plagiarism and bad plagiarism.

With the conclusion of language learning is to some extent a process of borrowing others’ words and we need to be flexible, not dogmatic, about where we draw boundaries between acceptable or unacceptable textual borrowings.”(PP.227) I believe this article will change people’s attitudes towards students’ “plagiarism” in particular culture.

“Breaking Them Up, Taking Them Away" ESL student in Grade 1

Kellen Toohey’s observation on ESL student Grade 1 is genuinely impressive for me. The classroom’s practices, interactions and seats and furniture are interconnected factors which will have impact on those children’s target language competence. It is not shocking/hard to for me to imagine that even kindergarten exists a stratified community that is similar to the harsh outside world.

I was also a little surprised that it is a commonplace teachers everywhere prefer to put those “problem” students seats near them, so that teachers can take care of them.

Another point that interests me is as Hull and Rose(1989)noted that: “A fundamental social and psychological reality about discourse—oral or written—is that human beings continually appropriate each other’s languageto establish group membership, to grow and to define themselves.”I remember when I transferred from a small rural school to a large urban elementary school, I didn’t speak the local dialect. Nobody in my class wanted to make friends with me.Needless to say, I was really having some difficulty adapting myself to a brand-new environment. This situation has not been gradually improved until I acquired the dialect.

For many years, educators and researchers in China are highly concerned with the bullying and violence issues on campus. However, over the years, what have been ignored are not those students who fall victims to violent crimes.Rather,outsider students, because of their defective language competence or discrepant family/ethnic background,more often than not,build inharmonious or even hostile relationship with their peers, enduring the pain of so-called “campus cold violence.” and finding it so hard to fit in no matter how hard they tried. As this has been observed/discovered by the writers, classroom communities that encourage the sharing of all resources-intellectual, emotional, and material-would be positive step in changing attitudes and reducing many problems we face in our schools. Regardless of what subjects we are teaching, we, as prospective teachers, are expected to be compassionate toward our students, giving support to them whenever needed. Furthermore, we need have an observant mind about the classroom community as well. A supportive environment is crucially important for those students in which they spend a good amount of time learning and interacting with teachers and classmates.

week 4,Cultural Globalization and Language Education Chapter4&5(Kuma)

Chapter 4
First off, I indeed enjoy reading Kuma’s definition about the cultural stereotypes which is written from such a refreshing and original perspective, particularly in the description of Asian students,such as the unconditional obedience to the authority, lack of critical thinking ability. I am so delighted that Kuma speaks in defense of those Asian students who have suffered a long time from their stereotype images.

When talking about stereotype, what often comes to my mind is the conventional image/impression of a certain group of people who we have assumed even before getting to know them.(P.50) “ It is a simple and simplistic description of people about whom we have very little personal knowledge” Stereotype is so annoyingly pervasive that sometimes block teachers away from the students. It is true the way that teachers judge students will have a completely different impact on them. The fear and the threat of the stereotype students got from their teachers may affect students’ performance in the long run. Thus, as ESL teachers, we need to learn to overcome this oversimplified and shallow conception.

Chapter 5
The immigration waves over the past centuries contributed tremendously to America’s ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity. I didn’t understand the importance of culture in ESL classes before taking TESOL courses, probably because I come from a small town in China. After reading this chapter, what have come acrossed my mind is a well-known phrase by John Donne: No man is an island. Currently, we are living in a globalized and multicultural society, in which increasingly more people assimilate and share the same values, attitudes and beliefs. While assimilating the new culture, some make great effort to maintain theirs and some deliberately tried to get rid of their own culture.

What has attracted my attention is Schumann’s Social Distance in this chapter. As far as I am concerned, the social distance is somewhat similar with the social identity I have read last week,Schumann pointed out (P.90)”Even formal teaching, he concluded, will be of extremely limited benefit to the second language learner who lacks social and psychological proximity to the members of the TL community”I do realize the existence and influence of social distance that will affect second language learner’s English performance. But after having read so many theories,I am not sure of what other factors affect students SLA to the largest extent, besides the formal English teaching in school. However, I have a very naïve idea. After school, some students will review the knowledge they have learned,some students just throw the text books away and have fun. Undoubtedly, those hard-working students have made great progresses in English and seem to better fit in after they moved abroad. Therefore, I am simply wondering if their diligence were taken into account in the SLA.

WEEK 3,Social Identity,Investment,and Language Learning

I resonate with the writer’s conceptualization the relationship between the language learner and the social environment. A great many language learners were very excited when they first arrived in an English speaking countries, for they were exposed to an ideal English speaking environment. Some people survived and acquired the necessary skills, some people failed as the writers explained in the article: it is the social identities which block them from conversing with the native speakers.

Eva, an immigrant working in a restaurant in Canada, is a highly motivated English learner, refusing to speak English to the native speaker because of the biased viewpoints/unpleasant relation with the native speakers in the social world. As an immigrant, the shift of their social identity sometimes causes uneasiness, resulting in misunderstanding and unwillingness to practice their English, regardless of their self-confidence, personality, English proficiency level, and motivation.

Based on my personal experience, I couldn’t agree more on (P.12)” power relation plays a crucial role in social interaction between language learners and target language speakers” I have been an enthusiastic English learner for many years and cherish every opportunity I have when talking with native speakers, but after I arrive in the US, sometimes I cannot catch up with the local people and feel embarrassed to repeat over and over, or some people may not want to talk with me, I gave up my opportunity to practice English. Even though I understand”(P.14) the more exposure and practice, the more proficient learner will become” I believe most of the international students here have gone through this period of depression and anxiety.

With the data the writers have drawn, the writer pointed out(P.26)” This investment, in turn, must be understood in relation to the multiple, changing, and contradictory identities of language learners.” Then she called forth “classroom based social research” to help the language learners improve their English and claim their right to speak outside the classrooms. Of the 5 objective he/she has suggested, I think they will work very well on the students and help them gain their rights back in the informal learning environment.

Kumaravadivelu Toward a Postmethod Pedagogy

The author, identifying the limitation of concept of method and transmission models of teacher education, puts forward postmethod pedagogy which the writer envisions as a three-dimensional system consisting of the parameters of particularity, practicality, and possibility. The article starts with the brief introduction of 3 main purposes of postmethod pedagogy, then articulates the conceptualization, actualization for prospective learners, teachers and educators, and problematization of the related issues and concerns over the postmethod pedagogy.

I echo with the writer’s interpretation of the Pedagogy of Praticality. People lay too much stress on the experts/specialists’ theory, while the teachers theories are ignored. “no theory of practice can be useful and usable unless it is generated through practice.”(P541) I remember when I was teaching in China, I had many guiding writing books that all were written by the authorities. Those books did not work on students very well for many reasons, including the outdated topics, tedious lengthy explanation of grammar. I have always thought these were the theories created by the experts without realizing that my own teaching experience can be a part of theory that can enable me to better meet students needs. Teacher generated theory should be paid attention to, for the teachers converses and interacts with students everyday, thus understand what works best on students and what should be abandoned. According to Van Manen(1977), this ability that teachers acquire is called Sense Making, which the writer believes will naturally matures within the teacher as time goes by.

In orde to actualize the postmethod pedagogy, he describes the learner, teachers and teacher educator’s roles in details. As a teacher, we should be sensitive to the educational context. He continues to ask the teachers to do research based on their classroom observation. From my opinion, teacher should keep an open mind for every new possibility that can improve our teaching.

Another interesting point that grabs my attention is the questions and challenges we will encounter from this innovation. In China, people highly respect the authorities and few will criticize/cast doubts on their works. Under such environment, how to practice the postmethod pedagogy remains an enormous challenge.

After reading this article, I feel that I have benefited a great deal. Starting from the basic grammar translation of Latin in the middle ages of Europe, we have always been brainstorming about how to reach the learners with different methodology and pedagogy and witness great improvements in this field. I believe, we explore, and we go through hardship, we may fail, ultimately we will make great advances.

Firth and Wagner 1997 On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts in SLA research.

Calling for a discrepant and broadening understanding on SLA which challenges the conventional methodologies, approaches, theories and foci within SLA, the writer believes those existing methods has led to an oblique viewpoints on foreign language speakers while carrying out a conversation. He requires an enhanced awareness of the contextual and interactional dimension of language use in SLA research.

The writer starts by examining the predominant view on discourse and view within SLA, criticizing the imbalanced theoretical concern and methodologies in the SLA. To make SLA field more theoretically and methodologically richer and better explicate the process of second/foreign language acquisition, the writer analyzes the previously published date from which he gives disparate insights and conclusion.

The writer furthers his discussion from three aspects, discourse and communication, communication strategies, and input modification studies in his article.

Personally, I am very interested in the writer’s conversation analysis involving a well-educated American and a Japanese office worker at beginner level in the 3rd part, which were presented by Larsen-freeman and Long(1991)(P.293). It was a conversation with predictable, familiar and here-and-now topics. The writer disagrees with them by claiming both had not performed at their native and nonnative competencies due to a variety of reasons (setting-imposed tasks meeting for the 1st time, given roles). From my perspective, because of NS’s superior language competence, NNS will have a certain amount of pressure that they may make some mistakes and may not be able to express themselves at their best while having a conversation with NS. It is this concern and inconfidence that lead to more repetition and narrower range of topics.

Moreover, “The NS is not taking the initiative, NS is being given the initiative by NNS, and is taking it on this basis” NNS, a Japanese office worker, being at beginner level, was not proficient in speaking English. Under any circumstance, the NS is expected to take the initiative. However, if the NNS was at higher level and with an outgoing personality, who takes the initiative might be different.

By analyzing the NNS & NNS’s conversation（p.295）, the writer indicates it is acceptable to speak erroneous English, which is an integral part of progression, normal conversational discourse. I am far away from advocating either speaking correct English constantly or repeating the mistakes frequently. It is debatable if NNS should pay attention to the mistakes they have made or fluency they have improved. However, I know it depends on instructor’s teaching goal, if the instructor wants to encourage the students to improve their fluency, the teacher should not interrupt and correct their grammatical errors. If the instructor has a grammar focus lesson, the instructor is welcomed to correct their mistakes. Majority of teachers do not want to discourage their students enthusiasm in speaking English, especially obvious in some Asian countries in which people are told to avoid errors, therefore, they sometimes ignore students’ inaccurate English and compliment their progression in fluency. The issue I am facing is how should we balance them?

Please feel free to leave your suggestions and comments.