Title: Reading
Response on a TESOL article
Article: Pavlenko, A. (2003). “I never knew I was a bilingual”: Re-imagining
teacher identities in TESOL. Journal of
Language, Identity, and Education, 2 (4), 251-268.
Summary:
The article seeks to contribute to the
critical praxis in TESOL by discussing the effects of reimagining teacher
identities. Its theoretical framework is based upon four theories related to
imagination. The theory of Vygotsky (1978) suggests that imagination helps
learners learn better. Anderson (1991) expanded the function of imagination and
brought up the concept of imagined communities, proposed imagination as a way
to create new identities and make people think they belong to a certain
community. Wenger (1998) introduces situated learning theory, it suggests that
imagined communities are formed when individuals come together and practice.
Lastly, Norton (2000, 2001) brings Wenger’s theory into the community practice
of L2 language learning, suggesting that learners will be influenced by their
imagined communities, and that teachers should be aware of this to help
students learn better. The author further uses the ideological, identitary, and
educational functions of imagination to discuss teacher identities.
A discursive research analysis was
performed to discuss the effects of reimagining teacher identities. The author
analyzed linguistic autobiographies from 44 multicultural pre-service and
in-service ESL/EFL teachers. Two linguistic means were used for this discourse
analysis. By examining the lexical choices of the autobiographies, one sees the
reflexive positioning of participants, and in turn understand the participants’
imagined identity. By analyzing the changes in tense and change-of-state verbs,
one sees how participants reposition themselves and this shows how participants
change their imagined identity.
The data analysis suggests that, traditionally, language educators and
learners will identify themselves as either a Native-Speaker (NS) or a
Non-Native Speaker (NNS). This NS or NNS dichotomy results in inequitable
hierarchies where people who are identified as NNS fell inferior in language
competence and thus hinder their confidence and performance in learning. Based
mainly upon Cook’s (1992, 1999) theory of multi-competence, Pavlenko introduces
alternative imagined communities such as multi-competent, bilingual,
multilingual speakers. Such alternative enables language learners to break free
from the overly condescending self-image of NS and the overly negative
self-image of NNS and thus reach a more equal and healthy view of self-identity
and language competence.
Response:
There are two nouns I would like to
respond to. One is the theory of situated learning and the other is multi-competence.
Situated learning theory is a new noun for me. So I read some facts about it,
if one were to put it simply, it means that learning should be situated in
authentic context. In Herrington’s (1995) article, it said that after Lave and
Wenger (1991) introduced this theory, researchers such as Brown, Collins and
Duguid (1989), used this theory and created a model to examine classroom
practice. McLellan (1991) later analyzed these models and concluded that
successful ones consisted of six elements: apprenticeship, collaboration,
reflection, coaching, multiple practice and articulation. I find these six key
words to be very interesting, embodying something rich and yet to discover, I
will keep them in mind and understand it more in the future.
On the other hand, the noun of multi-competence is not foreign to me,
for I heard of this when I was taking English teaching courses in the English
department in Taiwan. Even though the English departments know this way of
naming, we do not use it often, and the Taiwan society as a whole still
differentiates English speakers into the dichotomy of NS or NNS. I did not
really think there would be a good reason to promote a change for the
popularity of NS/NNS, because often times in the Chinese academic field, even
if a new and better noun is introduced, the scholars will still use the old
jargon for the sake of its history and of the people who are used to the old
saying.
However, after reading this article, I
found good educational reasons to change the naming. It surprised me to know
how people’s self-images can really contribute to the limitation or empowerment
of their learning. Participants imagining themselves as NNS have a low-esteem
state of mind and approach towards learning. Yet, once they are offered a more positive
identity of multi-competence, they become more at peace in their thinking and
thus learn better. The key to this significant change lies in the offer of an
alternative possibility.
In a way, Pavlenko’s article
demonstrates the critical thinking brought up by Bomer (1999). Bomer (1999) suggests
that to think critically is to change the society into a better place, and that
teachers should enable students to speak for social change in their writing.
That social change includes calling for “public attention to problems and
possibilities” (Bomer, 1999, p.2). Bomer (1999) says that by rereading writing
and being aware of issues such as identity and affiliation, one can find better
themes and possibilities for social action. Moreover, it is proposed that a
crucial way to achieve social betterment is to first notice issues like
“evidence of the low esteem” Bomer (1999, p.4). Similarly, Pavlenko’s
discursive research is based upon rereading participants’ writing, writing
which reveals their imagined identity and their imagined affiliation with the
community of practice. Pavlenko mainly focuses on the low esteem of
participants, and eventually draws out an alternative possibility to solve this
problem. Although it is different in that Bomer (1999) was referring to the
writer rereading one’s own work and Pavlenko was a second person rereading
other’s works, an alternative possibility for the better is still drawn out in
the end.
References:
Bomer, R. (1999).
Writing to think critically: The seeds of social action. Voices from the Middle
6 (4), 2-8.
Herrington, J. and
Oliver, R. (1995) Critical characteristics of situated learning: Implications
for the instructional design of multimedia. In: ASCILITE 1995 Conference, 3-7
December 1995, University of Melbourne, Melbourne.
