Learning Log Week 4

In Norton’s article “Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning” I became more aware of how language learners are viewed by SLA theorists. I found both of these views to be very black and white, with little acceptance of the other possible variables in language acquisition. That is why I really enjoyed Norton’s viewpoint in this article. She discussed how motivation of the learner is not fixed, but it may vary and must be looked at in the context of social relationships. I believe you need to be in a discourse in which you feel comfortable enough to practice the L2. If I were in the same situation as Eva in the article, who was shut down by an authoritative colleague, I would also feel fearful to engage in more English practice. Eva also was silenced when Canadians commented on her accent and this is actually one of my greatest fears in my process of learning Spanish. I believe I have a deep understanding and proficiency in the language, but due to my inability to use a native accent, I always fear the embarrassment of my flaws being pointed out. Reflecting on this, I believe creating a safe classroom environment is essential to the learning process. I hope to make my students feel confident enough to practice, even though mistakes will be made, because it will just facilitate deeper learning. As Norton concluded, we should help language learners claim the right to speak outside of the classroom and be confident, which could be done through classroom-based social research. I first found this idea of the students as ethnographers to be too difficult to achieve, but then I opened my perspective on it. It would actually be great to have students reflect on their daily conflicts and then see how we can use and learn English skills to empower ourselves and solve these problems with the language.

            While reading the other article by Norton, “Language and Identity,” I was able to make many educational connections. I am currently in a Reading Literacy course in which we are learning many concepts similar to Norton’s conclusions about pedagogy. She discussed how an effective teacher could incorporate multimodal texts into his or her lessons, such as videos, drawing, photography, or drama. I believe this would be a great way to help students build on their English comprehension and production. Through additional modes of instruction, students can work on producing their own meaning of English and use it for communicative and practical skills. I think this strategy towards teaching would also help appeal to different learning styles and diverse social identities. The ESL students also would be confronted with different types of literacy that they may face outside of the classroom setting, which could make them feel more comfortable. I was thinking of the many different ways that language learners would be faced with English, such as websites, books, magazines, the radio, and TV, and all of these require different comprehension skills. It would be helpful if we incorporated these into class, similar to how Victoria mentioned demonstrating culture through YouTube videos, so that it can help students adjust to the more practical side of the language. Since the readings focused on how all students have different identities, this could be a great way to have them express their unique qualities.

My Perspective on Culture

The task of defining culture can be difficult because it encompasses so many different things and can be seen from a variety of viewpoints. After reading the chapters from Teaching culture: Perspectives in practice by Morgan, I was able to grasp a clearer definition of the word and its importance in an ESL classroom. Originally I defined culture as the way of life that is shared within a community and it is always changing. This can include beliefs, values, traditions, art, food, and many other aspects.

The approach to culture in this article was much more complex and covered features that I had not previously thought of. According to Morgan, culture has five dimensions, which are products, practices, perspectives, communities, and persons. These five dimensions are all important parts of culture and they work together to create a way of life. This definition shows how there are components that are explicitly seen, such as products or language, but also parts of culture that cannot be seen because they are embedded into the culture, such as beliefs. This proves that culture can be difficult to understand from an outsider’s perspective because there is so much more than meets the eye. It is what makes this concept so complex. However, I resonated with Morgan’s analogy of culture as an iceberg because it was a clear visual of this idea. It showed how the perspectives in a culture are unseen, but products, practices, communities, and persons are visible reflections of that. An iceberg is so large, just as the concept of culture is, and I believe it is difficult to know what lies beneath the surface.

After reading, I came to the conclusion that culture is best understood when it is experienced. Culture is constantly evolving over time so it is never concrete and easy to thoroughly understand. For example, I have studied Spanish culture many times but it was not until I actually lived in Spain for five months that I began to understand it on a deeper level. The lifestyle there was so greatly different from America and it was difficult to adjust to their new customs. Morgan illustrates the five dimensions of culture through the example of drive-through restaurants and this led me to think of more examples from my time abroad. I thought of their cultural phenomenon of siestas and how this is a practice valued throughout the country. It is based off of their belief that you should work to live, not live to work, and it is important to go home and spend time with your family. This reflects their perspective on life and how the economy and daily routine is structured around it. If one was not familiar with this practice, they would be confused as to why all of the stores were closed mid-afternoon and it may seem like an inconvenience.

Now that I have a clearer idea of culture, I look forward to seeing how this can affect an ESL classroom. Since culture is so varied, what is the best way for teachers to relate to their diverse students?

This is my blog about my experiences in Cross Cultural Issues in TESOL. I hope to learn a lot more about teaching English and how culture plays a role in learning!