week 11. English in an era of globalization.

     I agree with Freidman that today we enjoy the possibility to stay in our own locale while engaging in a 'globally linked economic and information system' (McKay 1). However, globalization exposed the poor counries' inability to equally engage in various inter cultural interactions due to the lack of technology and poor economy. In addition, a loss of cultural and linguistic diversity took place and is still taking place today. For example, when I studied in High School, we did not focus on the Buryat language as much, but rather the English language was imposed upon us, students. Moreover, the Buryat language was offered only in a few number of schools and was generally regarded as something unnecessary and not useful.However, I regret today that I do not speak my native language because I take pride in my native language as part of who I am. Scholte's interpretation of 'globalization as westernization, or modernization, suggesting the spread of capitalism, industrialism, and bureaucratism' reflects the situation in Russia in the early 90s. After the former USSR collapsed in 1991, the Iron Curtain fell, and Russia was suddenly exposed to Europe and the USA. The English language was and is in great demand in Russia today. Heads were looking in the direction of the West and westernization took minds of the young generations as economic, educational and mass media incentives provided motivation for English learning. Westernization was and is still equalled to being modern and being part of a global order. Thus, I agree with Cabagarajah that 'the local shouln't be of secondary relation to the dominant discourses and institutions from powerful communities' (McKay 2).  I believe that TESOL educators should be aware of the power the English language imposes upon us and how it promotes the desire to join the imagined communities. I think it is important to implement discussions and workshops where ESL/EFL students' can share stories on their culture, language, and literacy. Moreover, I think it is important to make students aware why English is the dominant language today and how it reflects social relations. I wish I read this article when I was in High School as it would have educated me about the political and economical powers of the English language. This would help me realize how dominant the discourse is and that it makes the local be percieved as a subfield while it is not.

Racial discrimination still takes place. I believe this topic should be introduced into school education as well as in higher education.Professional racism is the most dangerous form of racism as it is a new form of cultural racism in disguise. Moreover, racism in academic settings is the one that is expected least of all. I believe such cases should be reported as it is the only way to develop democratic learning communities. As TESOL educators, we should be particularly aware of the racialized discources of Islamophobia and Otherization. Other cultural and ethnic groups such as  African-Americans, Asians, and Latinos also may experience Otherization.
I myself experienced otherization when I was in middle school. I lived in Anadyr, the very North of Russia, and chukchi and eskimos were Ohterized and percieved as inferior, less intelligent, and not neat in appearance.

Week 8. Cultural representations: Culture and teaching materials.

After reading the material for this class I realized that our teachers of English never really examined the politics of unequal relations of power hidden behind taken-for-granted knowledge. Consequently, we, students, and even teachers, were perceiving the Western culture and the English language as the dominant discourse. Thus, unknowingly, teachers still reproduce and legitimize unequal power relationships both in and outside the classroom.Western foreign-language culture in Russia is still regarded as the dominant one. Of course, it does not apply to every citizen of Russia, and I have noticed that people actually take pride in their language and culture, especially indigenous people like Buryat for example (from personal experience). However, knowing Western languages such as English, German, French, and such Eastern language as Chinese is viewed as a strong plus when applying for a job, even if there will be no need in the language as such. As a result, I had always thought that by choosing a profession connected with the English language, I would have a better life in terms of earning good money and would achieve a higher social status. Moreover, the way I viewed my society was strongly influenced by the images and text brought by media and textbooks. In terms of race, I hardly remember African-American people in our textbooks. This picture is still in my mind: some Mr. Smith, white, sitting comfortably in his living room and reading a newspaper with a pipe in his hand. Or some Ms. Lucy, also white, a student or a teacher, wearing business clothes and with some papers in her hands. As for media, Russian television is strongly influenced by Western movies to the extent that some of my freinds would say critisize Russian movies as lacking the same effects that make a movie seem real. So, I remember my university groupmates and I discussing Beverly Hills which was a popular series among the youth back in 1997.  Thus, I can confirm that media and text bring a strong message to societies who rules the world. As a result, I strongly believe that constant text and media should and must be used as instruments for social development, not social prejudice. TESOL must be aware of the implicit messages of the texts and media about the power relations and promote social justice and equality through discussions and appropriate textbook choices.

Week 6. Culture and written discourse.

 There are distinctions in the features of texts in relation to both patterns and styles that writers of different languages and cultures produce.
I believe it is crucial for a TESOL educator to be aware of L1 influence in L2 students' English writing. Model essays that would show the contrast in organizational patterns as well as introduction to  journal writing are among successful approaches to teach  L2 students to explore cultural differences in L2 writing. I agree with Yoshimura that teaching the form of an English argumentative essay including such moments as the organizational pattern, coherence structure, and argumentative patterns are just as helpful and important as focus on the process and content of the essay.
Thus, exposing L2 writing conventions to L2 learners and making these conventions explicit is important for understanding the cross-cultural differences in writing.
Whorfian interpretaion of rhetorical patterns reflecting patterns of thinking in L1 and Kaplan's five types of paragraph development can be named as the beggining in contrastive rhetorics research. The research in contrastive rhetorics in the late 30-odd years proved that all groups engage in a variety types of writing depending on the genre. However, Kaplan's earlier model is useful as it reflected college students' essays. For a TESOL educator, it can give some basic insight while keeping in mind that there is more to it.
Would you agree that linearity, clarity and coherence are the basic features of Western writing while  dynamic and fluidness are Japanese's?
I liked the idea that contrastive rhetorics research is similar to intercultural pragmatics analysis as this comparison makes it clear that contrastive research is not only about the first language or the national culture.
 
Japanese culture by Kubota
Explicit teaching through a discourse convention  and creation of rhetorical pluralism in the mainstream English discourse community were two pedagogical implications of the recent studies on L2 writing and critical thinking for academic purposes. However, the perspectives of poststructuralist and postcolonial critique as well as pedagogical perspectives from critical multiculturialism and literacy have revisited the taken-for-granted cultural differences.  Instead, these differences should be viewed in the discourse in which this particular knowledge is constructed and contested. It is obvious that this critique of cultural differences confirms the belief that ESL/EFL teachers should critically examine them. I have always tried not to approach my students as representatives of monolithic, unidimentional culture. Moreover, it is important to remember that culture also has political and ideological implications to it as in the case of the Other which is constructed by colonial discourse.
Thus, by critical examination of the target culture and the culture of (a) particular student(s), TESOL educators will not stereotype the individual students based on their culture of origin.

Week 5. Otherization.

Oriental is a subjugated element as opposed to European identity. While 'Orient' is perceived as uncivilised and irrational, 'Occident' is reserved, logical, and rational. Orientalism by Said indeed remains one of the most influential and controversial works when speaking of 'otherization'. It is well-known that Said's work is about the discources of the Western colonisers by which the colonised nations and its people of the East are framed. In this respect, the question of power is the central matter here, and the assertion of self-identity is involved.
I have heard that it is difficult for a Japanese to say "I", and that he or she would avoid direct projection on himself/herself. Moreover, one person in class has told me and other students that it is hard to get 'yes' or 'no' answer from a Japanese. Having not read or encountered with Japanese people a whole lot in my life, I have not thought really anything like that about them. A friend of mine told me that Japanese are very closed and isolated , and that they do not let outsiders in their discourse no matter how long one has lived in their country. My friend admitted it was hard for her to live in Japan for 10 years. However, as it is explained by Sugimoto, who foriengers mainly interact with are core sub-cultural groups which are ideologically dominant and possess that ideological capital. Disinterest in seeking outside information and confirmation to Japan's multiculturalism by writers and editors of publications add to the slanted views on Japan in a unidimentional way. In addition, intercultural training propagate stereotypes and promote otherization.
I loved images of the other by Benetton. I do not find them perilous in terms of invoking crude racist images and associations as there is nothing subservient in the image. Rather I see it as a type of imagery that represents human diversity and trunscultural unity. I believe I've seen similar images on ets.org-- there was an image of an African American man, a white lady, and an Asian man speaking with each other, all dressed professionally, and representing by their independent and mutually respectful behavior a transnational ethos that fits in the global market.
However, I think that the notion of Other unfortunately is still persistent and conditioned by the power of the West in economy, military, and technology.  As a TESOL educator, I think it is important to remember that foreign students may feel like 'others' and not really be able to understand this feeling of otherness as they are not being mentally or physicallly opressed but still they feel they do not fit in/ they do not fully belong to the new community.  They realize that they need to relearn new skills and  new values in order to fit in. It is very important to introduce students to these values while letting them express their own for mutual exchange.

Cultural Assimilation and its illusions.
I understand and concur with Zangwill about that nature will return and cultural assimilation is delusional. It is impossible to shed your past identity as this is who I am. This is what happened to me. When I came here I tried to assimilate the new culture I was living in but soon I realized that I am not comfortable with myself. I found that it makes me feel in my skin when I keep in touch with my ethnic roots and when I continue to harbor my ethnic consciousness.

Identity and Language Learning: Discourse, Culture, and Identity

The one on one relationship between language and cultural variability is definitely an oversimplification. I have experienced what is means to be separated by a deep cultural gap between speakers of the same language that Gumberz is talking about (Holliday, 75). When I moved from the northern part of my country, Chukotka, Russia, to Siberia, I immediately felt that I do not fit in as I came across a whole new culture with its values, traditions, beliefs, attitudes, and historical "baggage". Siberia is the centre of Buddhism in Russia, and growing up in a non-religious environment in the North, I found it hard to adjust to a new place where religion carries such a profound influence on people. Different ways of life based on the traditional economic centers ( for example, reindeer herding, fishing, sealing, extraction of a sea animal, and fur trapping in Chucotka and agricultural and commercial products such as wheat, potatoes, vegetables, sheep and cattle farming, timber, leather, graphite, and textiles in Buryatia)  and beliefs existing in these two different regions of Russia comprise
different types of discourses which enact and recognize defferent identities and activities. Even though the main language that is spoken in these two regions is Russian, Chukot, Eskimo, and Buryat langauages create unique local cultures and certainly serve as social languages in their areas.
So who am I? I tried to identify myself as a member of a socially meaningful group or social network . So far, I came up with such discourses: a half Buryat, a quarter Belorussian, a quarter Evenk, and a quarter Kamchadal, a Russian citizen, a middle-class emigrant of America, a graduate student, a Buddhist, a mother. Furthermore, my various social practices of the sociocultural groups to which I belong represent different cultural models that 'shape and organize large and important aspects of experience for particular groups of people as well as the sorts of conversations'.

I have experienced the so called culture shock even though I studied at the foreign language's department in my country and absorbing American and British cultures was what we, students, strived to do. However, when I started living here I realized that people that surrounded me did not understand me. I felt strange to myself because my 'historical' baggage, my cultural traditions and beliefs were just something cute but not applicable to any part of my life here. I felt like I lost my 'self', that nobody knows me the way I really am, and that I am playing some kind of a role I am forced to play. I missed speaking my language, celebrating holidays of my country, hearing the noise of the Russian songs from the streets, laughing with my friends, and most importanly, that same wavelength each country live  on. I still dearly miss my country but I have adjusted to my new life. I am enjoying the new experiences because learning always benefits our identities. Mutiplicity of identities inevitable and Westernization has captivated me for many years. It was something I strived to understand and expereince so badly that I am who I am now--an immigrant. I am in line  with the new set of conventions and social relationships sanctioned by the new community in which I find myself.

Self and other: Language and identity. Week 3.

  Any society is multi-faceted, many-layered, and complex. Parisa, the Iranian lady, is defending her identity as creative, assertive, articulate, and wordly in order to counter the implied deep-seated essentialism of the 'passing comments' of her European colleagues, and the way they construct her 'national culture'. This example proves that it is important to understand that cultural attributes can flow between societies. Here the notion 'thick description' is appropriate which Holliday defines as 'seeing the complexity of a social event by looking at it from different aspects'.He futher asserts that knowledge gained from 'understanding the juxtaposition of unexpectedness, compexity, and encounters with people, artefacts and instances' will help us create  the thick description of this person. Rather than relying on the information about one's presumed national culture, it is important 'to approach and learn about a person as a human being', as you find him/her. TESOL professionals should be especially aware of it as they teach English to students from different  countries. I see it as my mission to incorporate the non-essentialist views on culture in the ESL/EFL classroom.
  Moreover, it is important to take it seriously how an individual represents himself/herself as what he/she says and what he/she does becomes an artefact of his of his/her cultural identity. However, an individual's behavior should not be generalized to other people coming from the same background as it is just something what he/she is wishing to ascertain about his/her culture. In addition, according to the non-essentialist approach to culture, what people say about their culture is true but ephemeral, changing.
  As for the cultural identity, a persuasive example is given that proves that cultural difference is not connected with the national difference.  The gilrs on the bus assert their particular cultural identity--that is of the girls belonging to a culture of swearing girls on the bus. However, in addition to this culture, these girls belong to other cultural groups such as 'an age group, a nationality, an ethnic group, a school class goup, etc.' The point is that we are all members of different cultural groups, and we have multiplicity of identities. Moreover, individuals do not just belong to a cultural group, they can decide how to do a particular culture. Thus, the girls on the bus are playing a particular identity card. Hollidays explians that identity card is "not in essence a stable concept, but one that is achieved through the skilled manipulation of discourses in society." Furthermore, by employing certain resourses, individuals can create new indentities as in the case with the swearing girls, and promote culture change.
After reading Identity as a personal project, I immidiately thought of Lady Gaga because her choices in clothes, make-up, musical projects make me think that she is pushing the limits of the cultural supermarket. Or not? Is she promoting a culture change and bringing her credit into cultural capital?

 "The making of an American"
  Immigrants definitely assimilate when they come to live in America, for they adopt new values and behaviors. Similarly, the new immigrants in America had to 'renegotiate and reimagine national, ethnic, cultural, gender, and sometimes even religious identities.'These transformations of identity took place in political, socioeconomic, and cultural realms. However, immigrants were not subservient in their transformations, but instead, brought in their own cultures and, thus, created the opposition of the Old and New World. The approach to Americanness had to be revisited as immigrants proved to be no less Americans by contributing tremendously to the prosperity of the country.
  Another trope that identiified the American national identity was the Self-Made Man. It referred to an immigrant who achieved the status of an American by luck and pluck. Interestingly enough, the linguistic identity was not challenged as I would think it should have. However, this is not just a coincidence of events but a proof that "the notion of negotiation of identities needs to be approached from a sociohistorical perspective."From my personal experience, I, as an immigrant, have found myself in such situations where I had to defend my linguistic rights and ownership of English. For example, it occured in a situation where I had to defend my point of view on the work done by one of my doctors. It is when I have to defend my position I feel challenged by the language.