ELF(not Santa's helper)

The topic of culture is something that we all struggle with, students, teachers, and scholars; this is due to the fact that culture does not have one stone set definition. Some scholars went as far as categorizing culture as a verb. While reading this week’s article I made connections between the difficulties encountered in the research to the definition of culture. When I begin reading Baker’s article, I had some preconceived ideas of what the article would address. Ideas that expressed the use of English all around the world, the power of English etc... Most of these ideas were somewhat of topic. Instead of looking at the cultural aspect of language of ELF I was looking at the actual language component and how widely it is spoken.
From the beginning to the end, Baker’s article continued to emphasize that little empirical data exits to determine the relationship between language and culture. At 1st, I wondered why publish an article that contains reinforcement that little data exits? Then I realized, because the idea of culture is such a controversial topic, conducting a research might reveal little conclusions. I also thought the authors keep a continuous reminder of this to discourage the readers from only considering the ideas published in this article.
Baker’s article The Culture of English as a Lingua Franca looks at the relationship between language and culture. The conducted study involved seven participants (one male) at the University of Thailand. The participants were all undergraduate students majoring in English who were considered to have a high English proficiency and also had more experienced with intercultural communication. Throughout the reading there was one question I keep asking myself; is language tied to a particular culture? Well I was not sure either so I tried to debate both sides. Many of us often believe that a language is tie to a culture; the most famous one is English with USA/ Untied Kingdom. This belief is actually not correct there are many place in the world beside USA and Britain that speak English. You have Australian English, Nigerian English and etc… I personally did not believe this but I change my mind (or became more confused) once I read page 578-579. In the 2nd extract, you have a conversation between Nami and Will. When Nami responded to Will saying “it’s up to you”. If someone from the USA was to say this, this will be seen as a sight of politeness, allowing the other person to participate or give their input. But when Nami uttered this sentence, the underline motivation was not the same. The reason behind her sentence was associated with the idea/belief of Thai attitudes towards women. On the following page, there is also a comment about how Nami’s English is the language of the “new generation”. So at the end I stilled asked myself, is language related to culture? But now I am learning towards the yes directions.
The 2nd article, I found really interesting because often/always, we look at language use in the classroom but never in the work place. The article looked at the communication in New Zealand and also talked about how working with an ethnically different group makes the research process harder. I really like the fact that the research team recorded conversation in both the natural setting and the observational setting. Overall, I found this article interesting and I was happy that for once language research was not looked at an educational point of view.

ELF

The topic of language is something that we all struggle with, students, teachers, and scholars; this is due to the fact that culture does not have one stone set definition. Some scholars went as far as categorizing culture as a verb. While reading this week’s article I made connections between the difficulties encountered in the research to the definition of culture. When I begin reading Baker’s article, I had some preconceived ideas of what the article would address. Ideas that expressed the use of English all around the world, the power of English etc... Most of these ideas were somewhat of topic. Instead of looking at the cultural aspect of language of ELF I was looking at the actual language component and how widely it is spoken.

From the beginning to the end, Baker’s article continued to emphasize that little empirical data exits to determine the relationship between language and culture. At 1^st, I wondered why publish an article that contains reinforcement that little data exits? Then I realized, because the idea of culture is such a controversial topic, conducting a research might reveal little conclusions. I also thought the authors keep a continuous reminder of this to discourage the readers from only considering the ideas published in this article.

 Baker’s article The Culture of English as a Lingua Franca looks at the relationship between language and culture. The conducted study involved seven participants (one male) at the University of Thailand. The participants were all undergraduate students majoring in English who were considered to have a high English proficiency and also had more experienced with intercultural communication. Throughout the reading there was one question I keep asking myself; is language tied to a particular culture? Well I was not sure either so I tried to debate both sides. Many of us often believe that a language is tie to a culture; the most famous one is English with USA/ Untied Kingdom.  This belief is actually not correct there are many place in the world beside USA and Britain that speak English. You have Australian English, Nigerian English and etc…  I personally did not believe this but I change my mind (or became more confused) once I read page 578-579.  In the 2^nd extract, you have a conversation between Nami and Will. When Nami responded to Will saying “it’s up to you”.  If someone from the USA was to say this, this will be seen as a sight of politeness, allowing the other person to participate or give their input. But when Nami uttered this sentence, the underline motivation was not the same. The reason behind her sentence was associated with the idea/belief of Thai attitudes towards women. On the following page, there is also a comment about how Nami’s English is the language of the “new generation”. So at the end I stilled asked myself, is language related to culture? But now I am learning towards the yes directions.

The 2^nd article, I found really interesting because often/always, we look at language use in the classroom but never in the work place. The article looked at the communication in New Zealand and also talked about how working with an ethnically different group makes the research process harder. I really like the fact that the research team recorded conversation in both the natural setting and the observational setting. Overall, I found this article interesting and I was happy that for once language research was not looked at an educational point of view.

Week 6 Readings

In her article Differences in ESL and NES writings: The research and Its Implications, Silva gives a clear and comprehensive account on the types of differences that exit between an ESL writer and an NES writer. She does so by reviewing the findings of imperial studies comparing the two writers and their inference for ESL writing theories. The ESL subjects were undergraduate college students in their late teens or early twenties. There were writers from Arabic, Chines, Japanese and Spanish backgrounds. The research examined short exposition or argumentative essay written by both ESL and NES.  The results were very surprising to me. Although I had prior knowledge that there exits difference between each participants writing style, I was very astonished to see that the gap was big. The research concluded that there exists a wide difference between ESL and NES writers depending on the L1.  Most tests written by ESL subjects were less effective (according to NES peers),  had shorter word counts and with more mistakes overall. Different patterns based on native language for example, English native speakers have a linear organizational pattern, Arabic subjects had a parallel pattern  , circular pattern for Japanese, centrifugal patterns in native speakers of Chinese, and linear patterns and  tangential break in Spanish natives. Depending on the native language, and the type of writing assignment (argument structures, narrative structures, essay exam response, etc.) the differences are broken down even further.  Page 214 talks about how NES writers used more attention getter, and putting emphasis on their themes. This just remind me of the fact that many of us “BS” especially when we don’t know what we want to say. We tend to fill our paper with decorative words at least that is what I always thought was happening, but after reading this it seems that it is just a natural process “NES” seem to perform. Another component of the article is spent looking at the differences between the comprising processes (planning, writing, and revising) of NES and ESL. The result seem strange to me once again. I thought that because writing was more laborious for ESL students, it would take them longer to plan for essay that NES.  Another thing that I found surprising was that ESL writers made fewer changes when revising. I thought because much effort was used therefore more doubts was produced which lead to more revisions. One thing I would like to see or wonder if the finding would have been different if they used another language besides English. Overall, through this research educators can have an insight on how different language impact how students write. One criticism made in this article that I agree with, is that this research gives students and educators the idea that ESL students can never achieve or perform as well as NES writers no matter their proficiency, which to me seems very discouraging for people who are trying to learn the language.

In the second article, Changing currents in the CR: Implications for Teachings and Research, Ulla Connor looks at the different component of the contrastive rhetoric. The contrastive rhetoric looks at the differences and similarities between in language across different cultures. She began her article by giving some examples to demonstrate how the CR view can illuminate the differences in the text from writers of different culture background. She ends the article with recent criticism of the CR. The research and findings described in his article were very similar to that of Silvia’s. The research looked at a text in regards to job application written by an ESL students and one by NES students. During the job application research showed that the Flemish applicant letter was shorter and more to point, while the U.S applicant was filled with larger number of words performing the same function, thus their work was longer ( this also reminds me of the idea of “BS”. Another research was done, which looked  at the cross-cultural differences in writing between a text written by a Finnish and Swedish scientist. This also revealed that there exists a difference in the content as well as the style of writing base on an individual culture. Different cultures have different rhetorical tendencies.  As I was reading page 226, a thought came to mind about the difference between the schools in the USA versus schools in other countries. I have always heard that although school is, it is easier in the USA compare to other countries. After reading this section I am divided as to whether that statement is true or whether it is a learning style.  The article suggested that Japanese students write in a more “reader responsible”, meaning that the readers need to work harder to understand the text. I found this very interesting because in school teachers always advised us to write in a clear and comprehensible manner so that the readers can easily understand our point. That is why so much emphasis is put on organization (e.g putting thesis at the beginning, including transitional or “metatext to guide the reader” so on). Is this a proof that validates my thoughts, that school in the USA is easier or is it a writing style? (Technology also plays a big role as to why school seen as easy in the USA).   I found it interesting when the author talked about the “tertium comparationis, or common platform of comparison” (226). I believe it is important to keep this in mind when looking at a text from students of different cultural background. One should compare texts that are deemed equal. For example a student can write an essay in which for the teacher is not a great argumentative essay based on the American standard but based on his culture standards his/her essay includes all the parts of an argumentative essay. Although the CR give great insight in the field of ESL, EFL, TESOL and others, we still lack a concrete/ valid method of testing/measuring the writing abilities of an L2 students.  

Cultural Assimilation and its Delusions

Cultural Assimilation and its Delusions, I found this tittle very accurate. In the media the process of assimilation has always been seen as an easy process acquire by everyone living in the USA. I wonder if the people who make these movies, who write these plays and books have ever experience the process of assimilation. As I began reading this week's article I could not help feeling angry ot how ignorant people can be. The graduation ceremony put on by Ford Company was just another example of how the world perceives the process emerging into the American culture. As I was reading the article I wished that the play put on by the students included some sort of struggles and obstacles they overcame. Another thing that stood out to me which I did not like was the fact that during the play the “men shaded their ethnic costumes and put on new blue suits”. This make me wonder, in order to successfully complete the assimilation process one has to shed their ethnic costumes, essentially meaning that the individual has to lose all aspects of his native language. It is impossible to “shed” ones identity because it is who you are.  In the article Kuma says that the “ethnics are unmeltable because, in spite of the passage of time, they kept in touch with their ethnics roots”.  The more I began reading and learning, the more I start to refute to concept of the melting pot and resent why there is so much emphasis on it

Identity

The view on social identity that I found very interesting and very true: social identity as a multiple, a site of struggle, and subject to change.

1.      There are many similarities between the article by Norton Pierce and one by Hall. What first came to mind appears at the beginning of Pierce’s article on how the women in the study at times resisted opportunities to speak English. This reminded me of the Asian kid that was discussed in Language and Identity article. How the student faked his level of competence in order to decrease his participation in the class activity. I can see this happening in everyday classroom. I found this situation very troubling but also understandable. This also reminded me of another way English learner may try to avoid communication with other English speak. The yes or no question is another way students might avoid communication.  This type of questions allows the student to respond without given any explanation.  So at the end, as an educator, how do I know when my student clearly lack the capacity to participate or is simply putting on an act?

2.      I also found the two different theory of individuality to be very interesting:

Humanist conceptions of individuality: “unique, fixed, and coherent core”

Poststructuralist: “diverse, contradictory, dynamic, multiple”

Based on personal experiences and the information received from the article, I relate/agree with the poststructuralist conception of how social identity is. Reading about Eva’s experience and how it changed her social identity reminded me of my own personal experienced. Before coming to the USA I was a dancer, I loved dancing. I was capable of arranging choreography dance for friends to be performed at parties. When I came to the US, everything changed, all the sudden dancing was something I felt uncomfortable doing, not in front of ANYONE.  My social identity was forever change now I just enjoy watching people dance.

3.      The concept of motivation and the notion of investment was something I also found interesting in the reading.

You have instrumental (learning the language for employment) and integrative (learning the language to successfully integrate with the target language) motivation in the field of SLA.  This brought to mind the article we read by Pavlenko about New and Old immigrant. I saw Old immigrant as having  the integrative motivation because they wanted to really learn the language and be accepted into society. The New immigrants represented those with instrumental motivation because of their lack of effort to learn beyond what they needed. Their goal was to speak sufficient English to get a job. Although having a motivation for wanting to learn a 2^nd language is important, it is not as important as the conception of investment. Motivation can be easily broken but when you invest in something you absolutely do anything you can to either gain or improve, in this case your fluency in the target language. In his article Pierce talked about five immigrants living in Canada. Although all five participants were highly motivated, it was their investment that allowed them to push forward when adversity presented itself. For example n the case of Martina who came to the US to better the life on her children. She ran into some difficulties with her landlord and her experience at a fast food, but she refused to back down. In those instance she knew she “couldn’t give up” and she “didn’t give” because of what she had invested (the future of her children).  I jumped with joy when Eva, another immigrant, responded this to a costumer “I wish I didn’t have this accent because then I would not have to listen to such comments” (Pierce 25). I felt  so proud of her and how she stood up for herself. A similar incident happened earlier when a comment was made about her accent, but the 1^st time she was silenced. Although I do not know this woman I was very proud of her.

In the article by hall, I found some information I would just like to briefly comment on.

When it says “individual are assumed to play no role in defining cultural norms, only reflected them”, if this is true I wonder how people are able to make a difference in the world? How people are able to break the stereotypical behavior of a man, or woman if all we do is reflects the norms?

I agree with his idea of social identity as having different layers. It is impossible to construct our social identity with one membership because from birth we are already ascribed many different ones.

Hall also talked about the incident between the student and his advisors which made me think about our own experience towards advisors (many people have had in some shape of form a negative experience with an advisor).  I found it hurtful that this advisor, although she understood what the student wanted, she refused it because he “struggled to hard” in wanting to explain what he wanted. In the back of my mind, I am thinking if a student struggles but nevertheless continues isn’t that a positive sign? Isn’t that something we should appreciate and not reject?