Methodology in Language Learning: I GOT YOU!

 

As we may imagine English language teaching worldwide has become a multibillion dollar enterprise, one that the majority of nations in the world are embarking on to lesser or greater extents. For many countries, English is seen as a commodity through which they will become more competitive in the global marketplace. While English may have national and personal advancement potential, it is also pervasive in the global media. Youth culture in particular is influenced by English-dominant media and marketing. As a result, English is being consumed and transformed transnationally. The settings where English is taught vary from countries where English is the official and dominant language, such as the United States or Australia, to those where it is an official language, usually as a result of past colonialism, such as India or the Philippines, to those where it is taught in schools as a subject of study, such as Japan or the Czech Republic. In the first set of countries, when English is taught to immigrants or to international students, the language is often called English as a second language (ESL), and its teaching TESL. In the second set of countries, where it is taught to citizens and increasingly to international students, it is usually referred to also as ESL. In the third set of countries, the language is often referred to as English as a foreign language (EFL), and its teaching TEFL. Because both ESL and EFL carry ideological baggage, there is much discussion in the field about more appropriate terminology and use of alternate terms. Some prefer to use (T)ESOL— (teaching) English to speakers of other languages—since it acknowledges that the learners may have more than one previous language and can be used to include both ESL and EFL contexts. Others prefer (T)EAL—(teaching) English as an add itional language—for the same reason, whereas ESL implies there is only English, plus one other. Other terms in use include English as an international language (EIL) and English language teaching (ELT). Whatever the terminology used, distinctions are increasingly becoming blurred as people move around the globe and acquire their English in a variety of different settings, being taught by teachers from a variety of different linguistic backgrounds.

 

While identity of language users and learners has long been studied, earlier approaches saw the effects of the context on language and language learning as essentially static and residing in the individual. We mostly found that the patterns of language of the dominant group in a society are the model for social advancement, whereas varieties used by minority groups are considered less prestigious and result in their users being less successful. Students will work on attitudes and motivation this we do identify two dichotomous types of motivation: integrative and instrumental. The former refers to learning a language in order to become a member of that community, that is, to identify with that language and its community. Instrumental motivation, on the other hand, refers to the need to learn a language for another purpose, such as study, with no desire to identify with the community. Acculturation model of language acquisition also took this position. However, his model hypothesized that the distance in values between two cultures affected language acquisition, such that learners coming from a culture close to that of the language they were trying to learn would be more successful in acquiring that language. People either choose to assimilate to a group or nation or they choose to keep their variety or language in order to identify with their native group. However, such views ignore the multiple group memberships that individuals have, such as gender, race, language, language variety, social institutions. Furthermore, research on language and learning that focuses on the social and interactive nature of both has shown that identity is dynamic, formed, and transformed through language and learning.

What then do we mean by identity? It is generally agreed that identity is the view that individuals have of themselves and of their place(s) in the world in the past, now, and in the future. Teachers as well as learners hold views of themselves. As individuals con struct their identities, they position themselves through their language (and non-verbal behaviour), that is, they use language to let others know who they are and what their sociocultural allegiances are. At the same time, identities, both welcome and unwelcome, are imposed on individuals. Changing identities has been posited to explain why some learners may communicate effectively in some language situ ations, yet apparently fail in others. Both the power relations between the people interacting and the wider structural inequalities can lead to such differences. When learners invest in acquiring a new language, they expect some return on their investment, whether it be education, jobs, friend ship, or other advantages. So, for example, learners may stay silent or appear less proficient, not because they are not motivated, but because they are resisting the identity being imposed on them. Learner investment, therefore, affects which of the [1]“imagined communities” - learners’ past and present experiences can influence how they understand their relationship to the society and culture of the language they are learning, and therefore how they utilize, resist, or even create opportunities to use the language. In TESOL, then, it is crucial to investigate and analyse the experiences and social structures that influence learner identity, their acquisition of English, and so the enterprise of English language education. These past and present experiences include nationality, race and ethnicity; gender; family roles and bi- or multilingual ism. These experiences are inevitably intertwined, but for clarity of discussion, we shall discuss each of these facets of learners’ lives separately.

Often, nationality is the silent identifier in much of the literature, especially in ESL situations, where race and ethnicity are more often cited as sites of struggle. Race and ethnicity are both sociological constructs, with little objective, physical evidence for their assignment. Nationality, also a sociological construct, is as well a political construct with the physical evidence of assignment of citizenship by birth. All three terms are highly contested. Rarely are nationality, race, and ethnicity singular in one setting. A particular ethnic group may include people of different races and vice versa. We have therefore discussed the three concepts as separate sections within a larger whole.

 

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University of Oxford - post gradual studies 2009 'English Language Teaching'

 

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[1] One of the difficulties for language learners and those who teach them and interact with them is whether they make linguistic choices deliberately, or because they do not have the linguistic tools to express the position they wish to take. For example, a learner in class may choose not to use a modal to mitigate a request, using Open the window in preference to Could you open the window? in order to express displeasure with a classmate who has been deliberately baiting her by opening the window near her desk on very cold days. However, the cause may be an imperfect acquisition of modal questions.