Canagarajah and ch. 7 Lightbown and Spada

The readings this week really summed up the information that we have learned throughout the weeks in Eng 344.  Lightbown and Spada went through several ideas and myths present in TESOL, and explained several different outlooks on them.  Because we've learned all of this information before, I found it extremely useful to read summaries of what we've covered and talked about in class.

I really enjoyed reading the Canagarajah article.  I found the pedagogical shifts most interesting because they still pertain to our future classrooms.  I found the argument on World Englishes to be the most interesting because I plan to write my paper on the consequences of accent reduction and the idea of intelligibility in our classrooms, which is very near to my heart.  I can't imagine telling a student that the way they pronounce something is "wrong," probably because of the information I've learned on critical period and how pronounciation will never be native-like (whatever that means now...) after adolescence. 

Another important topic that I would like to discuss in a future TESOL class was brought up in this article.  Digital technologies! I'm interested in talking about how to teach the newer and growing context of the internet.  Digital technologies have led to new genres of communication, new conventions of language use, new vocabulary and definitely new grammar rules for English.  How can I possibly teach that?  As the types of texts have changed over time, so have our practices of reading and writing them.  There are hundreds of thousands of possibilities on the internet and other digital technologies.  We simply cannot ignore them in the classroom.  I'm hoping you all can give me some of your thoughts for teaching such a prominent and growing context of language!

week 13

When reading the Lightbown and Spada chapter, I found that a few of the proposals reminded me of my learning in high school, which was not incredibly successful.  The "Get it right in the end" proposal seemed to be like the most effective way to teach, in my mind.  It's important to remember that some things are more difficult to teach than others and will just take time for the student to acquire.  This was the case for me in French when I was learning the genders of nouns.  It's memorization and practice and new because we don't have an equivalent in English.  I think when students don't have the equivalent in their own language, it takes more time for the learner to acquire it.  Interlanguage can change depending on the student's focus.  It's important to teach in a way that creates memorable experiences so that the students can alter their interlanguage and learn from errors and successes.

When I was in France, I remember that I learned that most not only when errors were pointed out, but when someone would compliment me on my accent.  Teaching in a way that encourages learning in both the students' L1 and L2 will allow them to feel a part of both cultures and languages.  This, in turn, will create an environment that fosters learning and creates memorable, meaningful exchanges that would never show up in a textbook.

week 12

These articles were somewhat confusing for me to understand.  However, I did find the article by Canadarajah, about Lingua Franca English to be extremely interesting.  The idea behind LFE is a multilingual approach, which seems to be a far reach because of its goals.  The article describes LFE as a non-geographically specific, multilingual way of life.  All users would have more than one native competencies and learners are not considered incompetent.  There are no strict rules of language and speakers monitor and shape their language choices by those around them.  Multilingual speakers do not move towards someone else's target, instead, they construct their own norms.  Meaning is produced in practice and acquisition aims for versatility in conversation and agility, not mastery and control.  However, even in an ideal world, it's hard to picture these goals ever occurring.  It would be excellent if our students would aim to reach understanding and not have to match society's view of target, but in our education system, especially with the high stakes testing, it's not feasible to teach in a way that fosters the goals and ideas presented in the article.  However, taking some of the ideas and implementing them in the classroom would be one step closer, while still preparing students for the tests at the end of the year.