Exploring Language Ideologies

1. Exploring Language Ideologies TE 407 Bale & Bhattacharya August 28, 2008

2. Laryngitis is no fun… • We’ll need to rely on this ppt a lot today to communicate. • So we’ll ask you… • To indulge us in entertaining some broad questions to get this course started • To bear with Jeff as he types his contributions to the discussion

3. Managing class today • During small group discussion, when Jeff raises his hand, that means wrap it up and come back together as a whole group • When Jeff presents an activity and the steps to follow, he’ll give a thumbs up to make sure you understand what he’d like you to do. Give a thumbs up back indicating you understand. • Interrupt Jeff when you need to with questions/comments. He’ll type out responses…

4. Essential Question What does it mean to know a language?

5. What does it mean to know a language? • The purpose of these opening discussions is to address the above question (which, btw, is an MDE standard for TE) • Because most of us are non-native speakers (NNS) of our languages, we often spend so much time dedicated to mastering it, we don’t think much about what it means to know the language

6. What does it mean to know a language? • To make the discussion more concrete, however, I’d like to begin with English. • We all speak that language fluently and with mastery, so it provides a common ground for discussion & debate. • Quick write: • Consider the question on the next slide and spend 3-4 minutes free writing a response

7. Quick write If ~85% of K-12 students in the U.S. enter school speaking English as their first language… then why does everystate require them to spend 12 years in English class?

8. Ideologies, beliefs, attitudes towards language Objective facts about language, language use, language learning What is, and what we want it to be Most often, we act on our beliefs about language, not objective facts about language. And language educators are often the worst offenders: Inventing and imposing an “ideal” form of the TL that nobody actually speaks!

9. Back to English for a moment • You’ll receive a map of the US with several regions outlined • Please identify in which regions English is different • Also, jot down some notes about how English is different there • Then group up and swap your responses

10. Results • New England? • Mid-Atlantic? • South? • Midland? • Midwest • West?

11. In groups On a scale 1 (best) to 10 (worst) rank the regions you see on the map Mapping attitudes Mapping attitudes

12. Change is the only constant • Raise your hand, please, if you were raised primarily in Michigan • So let’s talk about your talk… • Language isn’t fixed • Change is a natural feature of human language--even though most of us have deeply held beliefs about the (positive, negative, apocalyptic…) consequences of that change

13. Sources of change • Isolation • Physical / geographic • Québécois versus standard Parisian French: the French were kicked out of Canada in the 1860s, starting a century of Quebec isolation from France • Social • Segregation: African American Vernacular English is more different from standard English today and in the North than it was was 150 years ago in the South

14. Sources of change • Contact • Conquest • English is the youngest language in what is now the US Southwest--yet the socially dominant one • Native language loss / boarding schools • Globalization / English as a world language • Immigration • Spanish --> Spanglish / Chicano English / españolpocho o agringazado • Migration • from the country to towns & cities • Technology / media

15. Sources of change • Planning: through laws & schooling • Mexico now recognizes 60+ native languages and runs bilingual programs in indigenous regions of the country • At the time of the French revolution, roughly 3-4% of the population spoke what is now called French. The revolutionary gov’t used schools to bring (impose?) the Parisian variety to outlying areas of the Republic. • Many post-colonial countries use the colonial language (i.e. English, French) as a neutral option, since political boundaries bear little/no relation to cultural ones

16. Sources of change • ????? • Vowel shift in the US north • No one is really sure what accounts for this change • But the change is undeniable • Listen to this…

17. So how does this connect to schooling? • While you watch this, consider… • What was the source of the conflict the three boys experienced at MLK Elementary? • What is the most appropriate response schools should take? • Should schools privilege one, standard form of English? • Should schools recognize & incorporate multiple varieties of English?

18. So how does this relate to FLE? • The next two slides present questions we’d like you to answer for Tuesday

19. What varieties of your language exist? • What accounts for those different varieties (isolation, conquest, planning, etc.)? • What are the general attitudes about those varieties-among native speakers? In your department? Yours? Why? • Which variety of the TL have you had the most experience in? Why? • What steps can you take to gain experience in other TL varieties?

20. And… • Go back to our discussion of good and bad language: what counts as good language for your TL? • Do you think you’ve mastered your TL? How will you know when you have? When you sound native? When you use grammar with no errors? When you can “pass” as a native of that culture? • How will you know when your ss have learned the TL? IOW, what counts as “mastery”?

21. For Tuesday • Please write a 1-2 page response to the questions on the previous 2 slides. • I will post the ppt. on Angel and the Wiki so you can access it as you work. • Write what you believe: language is deeply political, but there is no right answer to any of these questions. • Then cut-n-paste your response on the Wiki • Read two NYT pieces on Wiki • Click on “8. Miscellaneous Assignments” from homepage • Two external links to NYT (one from 18 months ago)

22. Questions? Concerns? Compliments? • Thanks for your cooperation today. • I’ll be voiced by Tuesday (I hope). • ¡Que tengan un buen fin de semana!