Dissonance Paper 3/1/08

Upon entering this class, I didn't really know what exactly to expect. Even though this isn't a history of rhetoric class, I figured much of our studies would center around both the history and theories of rhetoric. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that along with learning about what I expected much of what we read and talk about is centered around education. This is wonderful for me, as two of my passions are education and writing as well as the complexities of of how the two fit together. Reading about the history of writing as given me a new context with which to view the modern day educational practices of teaching writing and how and where I as an English teacher fit in. I have gained a whole new perspective. So naturally, I want to focus on education and writing, particularly how we have gotten to where we are today and how we can make writing real for all students. 

To begin I would like to focus on the idea of code meshing which frankly frightens many teachers of writing, first because of a fear of the unknown, teachers don't want students expressing something that they, themselves may not understand. Personally, I think that all teachers should be required to study a language to better understand where our students are coming from as we watch them travel the long and arduous road of language acquisition. Secondly, they are scared because from the time they were young, they were taught to speak and write in Standard English and then when studying to become a teacher they learned to teach Standard English, continuing the cycle of not accepting reality. The reality is that we are a multilingual society and have been since the dawn of our nation. Though we have evolved from the days of only English and if you  use anything else you will be punished (sometimes physically) has changed to punishing students for not acquiring the language fast enough. 

The majority of my students are second language learners whether they came from Eastern Europe, Asia, Central or South America they all learned English when they came to the United States. These students are distributed throughout all levels of my classes. What is interesting is that the Eastern European and Asian students seem to acquire the language at a significantly higher rate than my Spanish-speaking students. Why is this? Is it cultural practices, values, types of instruction received first in their native country and then here in the United States? Is it because in Las Vegas we have communities  where everything is in Spanish which doesn't force students to assimilate? Is it because this particular group of people are the current focus of a lot of discrimination? If we had huge neighborhoods of Serbians for example would they not acquire English as quickly? I unfortunately don't know the answers to these questions but to gain a better grasp on this issue I need to go back in history and look at other highly concentrated immigrant communities to see how they learned English. What I find even more interesting is that in what I have read, I have seen very little on this topic. 

 

My interests in code meshing and language acquisition lie in my fascination with languages. having learned another language, I appreciate the incredible challenges it puts a students  through.  I  know too that not everything translates from one language to another. Each language has its own nuances that can only be expressed through its origins. To say "There are many fish in the sea" in another language would translate to exactly that, to say "Como agua para chocolate" seems silly if not understood in Spanish, and to have that "Je ne sais qua" would lose its romance if not said in French.  Also having such a high population of nonnative speakers makes me want to get to the bottom of this issue. Where are we going wrong and right? And why to I continue to see these patterns in my teaching experiences?

 

This leads down my next path of interest, the use of technology and writing particularly in putting student writing on the web. Now as an advocate for student privacy, I originally thought that their writing should be confined to the eyes of only their classmates. That was however, before I thought about combining the ideas of public student writing with language aquistions and the use of code meshing. So here is my thought why not first put students as class into the world of blogging. The mere act of letting them type to see the patterns in their writing will aid them in improving their skills. This will also strengthen their autonomy and self-confidence by being able to help and be helped by their peers. So often in class, a whole group of students will rely on the one who has been here the longest. Through the mode of blogging they can work on all types of writing and express themselves in both of their languages with people who will understand them. Then I thought of adding another element, having them converse online with English speakers and speakers of their native language  from around the world. There are a host of sites that allow students to do this online. This was actually one of the ways I  practiced my Spanish when I was not taking a class. However, reality came crashing down on me, to allow these students to talk online without knowing who they are talking to is a liability nightmare. The answer, create a network on the school server for students to chat with each other. Does this still allow for the possibility of shenanigans, yes however the risks are greatly reduced and with mere thought and research a solution is possible.

 

This combination of making writing public mixed with validating and expressing a student's thoughts in multiple languages is where my focus turns. First, is there any research on this? My conclusion is yes, there probably is but what were the results? Bringing writing into today is to incorporate two very big issues in education, technology and ELL students both of these are not going away despite those few who still think that the Internet is a fad and that English should be the official national language. In short, I would like to focus on the combination of these two huge issues and see if any headway has been made in this area.