Spring 2014
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01/01/2014
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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Publication The Communicative Burden of Making Others Understand: Why Critical Language Awareness Is a Must in all ESL (and Non- ESL) Classrooms(2014-04-01) Chaparro, SofíaThis working paper examines students’ linguistic perceptions and communicative competence in the context of a super-diverse ESL classroom. Through the use of discourse, filmic, and ethnographic analyses, I show the sometimes subtle, sometimes overt sources of multilingual students’ linguistic self-perceptions. I argue for the need to explore students’ ideas and experiences of language through a pedagogy that focuses on knowledge about language and, in particular, knowledge about the ideological dimensions of language: what is known as critical language awareness, or CLA. I make the claim that it is in multilingual students’ everyday interactions in which others, often native speakers of English, react in ways that are internalized by students as evaluations of their own linguistic skills. These evaluations I refer to as metacommentary (Rymes, 2014). Thus, I argue that a pedagogy of critical language awareness is necessary not only to make explicit the ways in which such interactions function, but also to provide emergent multilinguals with powerful learning opportunities where their experiences of transnationalism/immigration and plurilingualism can truly be used as a resource for learning. Not only can this lead to productive pedagogical interventions, but harnessing students’ critical metalinguistic awareness can also be a powerful tool to scaffold language learning and beyond.Publication Language Governmentality in Philippine Education Policy(2014-04-01) Dawe, Christopher JEnglish has long been a significant force in Philippine schools. A product of colonialism, scholars often erroneously view this dominance as stemming from governmental mandate. This article argues that the drive for Anglophone classrooms comes from all facets of Philippine society. Indeed, even many minority language speakers view English as integral to producing ideal citizens. Through a language governmentality framework, the perceptions of the ideal Filipino are seen to be constantly evolving. With them, the motivations behind the push for English have shifted. Recently, English has again been repositioned, with public support for the use of home languages in the classroom. The initiative, however, is designed to produce greater English proficiency and the notion of the ideal English-speaking Filipino will likely remain.Publication Disinventing and Reconstituting Native Speaker Ideologies through the Classroom Experiences of International TESOL Students(2014-04-01) Aneja, GeetaThe current paper considers the invention, disinvention, and reconstitution of native speaker ideologies in terms of the perspectives and experiences of 22 TESOL master’s students facilitating a practical English class housed at a university. Facilitators’ reflections and experiences were collected using semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The analysis suggests that novice teachers may conflate non-native positionality with linguistic and pedagogical expertise, particularly while processing the challenges they face in the classroom. In doing so, they devalue their own teaching while simultaneously misunderstanding and underestimating the challenges faced by their peers. This paper suggests that while native speaker constructs are not empirically substantiated, their ideologies continue to affect novice teachers’ understanding of their own and others’ teaching strengths, weaknesses, and development. In the conclusion, I offer possible strategies for preparing and empowering international TESOL students as teachers in English language classrooms in the United States.Publication The Interactive Demonstration of Interactional Competence in the ITA TEACH Test(2014-04-01) Wagner, SantoiThis paper reports on a work-in-progress that examines a high-stakes teaching and oral language performance assessment known as the TEACH test, in which international teaching assistant (ITA) candidates are required to demonstrate their competency in a panel-rated teaching simulation. This study draws upon the analytic tools of Conversation Analysis to examine 29 videotaped TEACH tests recorded at a large Research 1 (R1) university in the eastern United States with the objective of providing a more in-depth understanding of the demands placed on test-takers and raters. The initial analysis shows how prospective ITAs manage questions that engender problematic responses, and how audience participation can be supportive of the demonstration of competence. In the conclusion, directions for future work are discussed.