If you have read and liked the Wegner and Firth vs. Gass "academic back and forth" on the issue of cognitivist and sociocultural views of SLA (Second Langauge Acquisition) from the mid 1990s, here is something intresting for you.
Cognitive and Sociocultural Perspectives: Two Parallel SLA Worlds? by Jane Zuengler and Elizabeth R. Miller, TESOL Quarterly Vol. 40, No. 1, March 2006.
It's a great summery on the cognitive-socio divide that has been influencing the SLA research in the past 15 years or so.
The authors identify two major breaking points in what the cognitive and sociocultural perspectives differ.
1. The understanding of learning in SLA (langauge learning vs. langauge acquisition)
2. The tension between Positivism and Relativism.
What is fascinating about this article is that it gives you the big picture on the issue + all the big names in SLA research that you have come across in your ESL research readings.
I really enjoyed this article. It's a must have for comps!!!
Don't miss Kent Hill's response: Comments on J. Zuengler and E.R. Miller's "Cognitive and Sociocultural Perspectives: Two Parallel SLA World?" TESOL Quarterly Vol 40 No. 4, December 2006.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Course Reflection - ESL 6973
This course has been one of the most interesting and most useful of all the classes I have taken at UTSA. I truly enjoyed learning about the new ways of teaching ESL through various technological tools. I feel I have a much better understanding of what is out there in terms of techonology when it comes to teaching, learning, and keeping in touch with others. The readings and presentations were interesting and yes, the reading reflections turned out to be very useful when preapring for comps.
I am very excited about my blog. I can't wait to use blogs in my classroom together with other technology that I have learned about in this course.
Thank you Dr. Wright!
I am very excited about my blog. I can't wait to use blogs in my classroom together with other technology that I have learned about in this course.
Thank you Dr. Wright!
Quick Share - Learn ESL with BBC
Though ESL is not BBC's main profile, nonetheless it provides some really cool ESL exercises on its website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
News in English - reading and listening activities
Watching and Listening - a nice variety of music, pictures, stories
The Flatemates (my favorite) - an interactive dialogue with new episods every week
Grammar and Vocabulary - with explanations and examples
Business English
Lesson Plans + Support
ELLs from all around the world leave comments on BBC's website about their language learning experiences and opinions. Check it out!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
News in English - reading and listening activities
Watching and Listening - a nice variety of music, pictures, stories
The Flatemates (my favorite) - an interactive dialogue with new episods every week
Grammar and Vocabulary - with explanations and examples
Business English
Lesson Plans + Support
ELLs from all around the world leave comments on BBC's website about their language learning experiences and opinions. Check it out!
Podcast Project
This project was an international cooperation between Carol, Koyin, and myself. We had this idea of talking about our langauge learning experiences to motivate other English as a second language learners - in podcast format. We had a great time. We got to try out different aspects of "film making". Next stop is Hollywood.
The URL’s:
http://streamer.utsa.edu/ramgen/2007/Spring/FS/ESL6973.901.Wright/Trial.Interviews.mp3
http://streamer.utsa.edu/asxgen/2007/Spring/FS/ESL6973.901.Wright/recording.studio_output.wmv
The URL’s:
http://streamer.utsa.edu/ramgen/2007/Spring/FS/ESL6973.901.Wright/Trial.Interviews.mp3
http://streamer.utsa.edu/asxgen/2007/Spring/FS/ESL6973.901.Wright/recording.studio_output.wmv
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Wiley on Kloss
Heinz Kloss revisited: National Socialist ideologue or champion of language-minority rights? - by T.G. Wiley in International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2002, 154, 83-97
I came across this interesting article from T.G. Wiley. It’s about the work of Heinz Kloss – a prominent figure on the history of bilingualism and language policy in the U.S. You may have heard about Kloss’s major work, The American Bilingual Tradition (1977, 1998).
Heinz Kloss is one of the major scholars on American minority language policy, language rights, and language maintenance. His contribution includes a detailed account of language laws, territorial language policies, and other language-related primary data. Kloss’s scholarly work spans from the early 1930’s to 1987 (ended posthumously).
He was an interesting figure. He was born and raised in Germany then in the early 1930s he traveled to the U.S. and studied the language practices of German American immigrants. Later he expanded his scope of interest to other immigrant groups and language communities in the U.S.
Though the importance of his scholarly work is unquestionable due to the wealth of primary data he collected, his theoretical perspective and ideological standing has been extensively critiqued. This critique is typically based on two grounds: Kloss’s typology of multilingualism and his ideological perspective. In his article Wiley comments on the critique of Schiffman and Hutton. Schiffman analyzed Kloss’s typology and found that though Kloss did identify a number of linguistic variables relevant for language-policy, his perspective lacked predicative value. That is, Kloss failed to explain whether multilingualism is the outcome of the language policy, or if it develops contrary or independently of the policy (Schiffman, 1998).
Hutton’s analyzed the work of Kloss under National Socialism (the Nazi era). Hutton argues that it is important to consider a scholar’s ideological orientation since it greatly affects his/her alleged neutrality of scholarship (Wiley 2002). Hutton found that Kloss was affiliated with the German Foreign Institute during the Nazi era. In fact, Kloss provided information to the Third Reich on the number and language practices of German Americans in 1936-37. These were the years when the German Reich was interested in reuniting its people so they needed such information about Germans living outside the Reich.
Though later in his life Kloss distanced himself from the National Socialist period, Hutton argues that his early ideological perspectives can be traced in his later works.
What is striking in Kloss’s work is his distinction between racial minority and language minority status. Kloss argued that discrimination against language minorities was typically racial, not linguistic – while today it is widely understood that linguistic discrimination is connected to race, class, and other social discrimination (Wiley, 2002). That is, linguistic discrimination is never just about the language.
In the same line of thought, Kloss argued that language minority groups in the U.S. generally enjoyed tolerance-oriented policies toward language use and maintenance, and restrictive policies were only “isolated instances”. Clearly, Kloss focused on German immigrants, therefore he did not consider other people who had to face language and racial discrimination. Also, Kloss held the individual – not the state - accountable for heritage language maintenance: “… the non-English ethnic groups in the United States were Anglicized not because of nationality laws which were unfavorable toward their languages but in spite of nationality laws which were relatively favorable to them” (as cited in Wiley, 2002). He did not blame the state.
Maybe Kloss was right when he said that he was a “complicated young man with a complicated fate, in a complicated time”. I tend to believe that he remained the same in his later years. Regardless his past and his ideological orientation, as Wiley puts it, Kloss’s was an outstanding scholar because of the wealth of information he provided on the U.S. bilingual tradition. I highly recommend Wiley’s article. It is a very interesting reading and it gives a better understanding of how the current view of the U.S. bilingual tradition evolved throughout the past decades.
I came across this interesting article from T.G. Wiley. It’s about the work of Heinz Kloss – a prominent figure on the history of bilingualism and language policy in the U.S. You may have heard about Kloss’s major work, The American Bilingual Tradition (1977, 1998).
Heinz Kloss is one of the major scholars on American minority language policy, language rights, and language maintenance. His contribution includes a detailed account of language laws, territorial language policies, and other language-related primary data. Kloss’s scholarly work spans from the early 1930’s to 1987 (ended posthumously).
He was an interesting figure. He was born and raised in Germany then in the early 1930s he traveled to the U.S. and studied the language practices of German American immigrants. Later he expanded his scope of interest to other immigrant groups and language communities in the U.S.
Though the importance of his scholarly work is unquestionable due to the wealth of primary data he collected, his theoretical perspective and ideological standing has been extensively critiqued. This critique is typically based on two grounds: Kloss’s typology of multilingualism and his ideological perspective. In his article Wiley comments on the critique of Schiffman and Hutton. Schiffman analyzed Kloss’s typology and found that though Kloss did identify a number of linguistic variables relevant for language-policy, his perspective lacked predicative value. That is, Kloss failed to explain whether multilingualism is the outcome of the language policy, or if it develops contrary or independently of the policy (Schiffman, 1998).
Hutton’s analyzed the work of Kloss under National Socialism (the Nazi era). Hutton argues that it is important to consider a scholar’s ideological orientation since it greatly affects his/her alleged neutrality of scholarship (Wiley 2002). Hutton found that Kloss was affiliated with the German Foreign Institute during the Nazi era. In fact, Kloss provided information to the Third Reich on the number and language practices of German Americans in 1936-37. These were the years when the German Reich was interested in reuniting its people so they needed such information about Germans living outside the Reich.
Though later in his life Kloss distanced himself from the National Socialist period, Hutton argues that his early ideological perspectives can be traced in his later works.
What is striking in Kloss’s work is his distinction between racial minority and language minority status. Kloss argued that discrimination against language minorities was typically racial, not linguistic – while today it is widely understood that linguistic discrimination is connected to race, class, and other social discrimination (Wiley, 2002). That is, linguistic discrimination is never just about the language.
In the same line of thought, Kloss argued that language minority groups in the U.S. generally enjoyed tolerance-oriented policies toward language use and maintenance, and restrictive policies were only “isolated instances”. Clearly, Kloss focused on German immigrants, therefore he did not consider other people who had to face language and racial discrimination. Also, Kloss held the individual – not the state - accountable for heritage language maintenance: “… the non-English ethnic groups in the United States were Anglicized not because of nationality laws which were unfavorable toward their languages but in spite of nationality laws which were relatively favorable to them” (as cited in Wiley, 2002). He did not blame the state.
Maybe Kloss was right when he said that he was a “complicated young man with a complicated fate, in a complicated time”. I tend to believe that he remained the same in his later years. Regardless his past and his ideological orientation, as Wiley puts it, Kloss’s was an outstanding scholar because of the wealth of information he provided on the U.S. bilingual tradition. I highly recommend Wiley’s article. It is a very interesting reading and it gives a better understanding of how the current view of the U.S. bilingual tradition evolved throughout the past decades.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Kidpix Project
Students write the names of the items in the right-hand corner. Then they grap and drop those items that match well with the jungle theme. Next students look for some more images to add to the picture. Finally, they color the picture.
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