Month: November 2020

Why is the name “Non-native English-speaking” teachers problematic?

By Lun Cai

It is hard for teachers who do not speak English natively to teach in the world where native speaking teachers are more valued. Non-native English speaking teachers are viewed as deficient in their language and teaching ability. For example, their pronunciation and intonation, and use of expressions are sometimes thought to be not native-like, and therefore, they are regarded as less competent compared to their native speaking colleagues.  

The unfair treatment they received can be demonstrated when they are teaching in the same language institution. For example, in China, Native English speakers are more welcomed in  the market, therefore they are given more opportunity to teach without necessarily even having enough knowledge and experience. In addition, the salaries for native speaking English teachers is generally 3 to 4 times higher than those of  non-native English speaking teachers. Also, when it comes to public school, no native English speaking teachers have the lower positions.

Having been long situated in this disadvantageous position, non-native English speaking teachers feel powerless, doubt their talents and fail to recognize the contribution that they could make to the classroom. 

However, the stereotype of non-native ESL teachers should be problematized. The misconception on us is a result of dominant monolingualism that has shaped our education system. Even the name “Non-native English-speaking” teachers” is problematic. 

By making the distinction between native and nonnative, we are implying that nativeness is a superior form of language competence and the most legitimate relationship between a language and the users. This ideology casts a deficient light on L2 learners and speakers, and makes it extremely hard for Non-native teachers to build up their confidence and pursue a better trajectory in their careers. 

The ideas and misconceptions we have about languages is not only important but also relevant to our daily experience, because just as is said by Gerard Van Herk, “many of the language myths have widespread consequences. They serve to reinforce the higher status of the standard, at the expense of other varieties.” (2018, p. 177). The native-like myth is one of such that has resulted in materialistic impacts on bother non-native language teachers and learners. When languages are classified into the different categories and are attached with different social importance, language speakers are also stratified into different social ladders. 

The native-like myth is built on monolingualism which takes languages separately as entities whose boundaries should be defended and whose purities should be preserved. Therefore, under this ideology, the native-like myth is constructed to serve as a golden benchmark, judging the linguistic proficiency of any language learners. 

However, the monolingual bias is not sustainable when we consider how languages are actually used in people’s life. In practice, bilinguals and multilingual speakers do not take different languages separately when they are speaking. They use their rich personal repertoire to perform the sense making process without paying close attention to the boundaries of different languages. Or if you agree with the idea that everyone speaks a certain idiolect or a variant of a language, rather than a named language, even people who only speak one language do not conform to the monolingual standard. 

Therefore, taking down the monolingual perspective and stopping to put emphasis on the dichotomy between nativeness and non-nativeness would empower non-native English speaking teachers by removing the prejudice attached to them, so that their rich language resources and life experience would be valued and appreciated. With this change, they would be more confident and motivated to bring their unique insights to the their teaching practice. 

Reference:

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? (Second, Ser. Linguistics in the world). John Wiley & Sons.

Standard language ideologies: Attitudes toward language varieties

Elizabeth M.

There is comfort and pleasure in traveling to places where you speak the language. Languages have the power to make one feel right at home. As I entered a coffee shop in France, I smelled the wonderful coffee and baked goods. I made my way near the cash register and ordered an americano. My friend living in France had told me that americano was the equivalence for a black coffee in Québec, so I was confident that I would be able to prevent any confusion. My prediction was unfortunately incorrect. The cashier stared at me, squinted his eyes, and paused for a while. I could not tell if he did not understand my order or if he noticed my unfamiliar accent. I repeated my order, a little louder, with less “Québécois”, and made sure to pronounce each and every syllable in my sentence. I felt pretty confident at this point. He continued staring; no words were uttered. He finally said: “Tu es Québécoise? Je suis sûr! J’adore votre accent, c’est si drôle! The barista was very friendly and meant nothing wrong with this remark. I sounded different, which made him smile. We chatted for a while, exchanged warm smiles, and waved goodbye. Throughout my stay in France, redundant remarks, some not so friendly, related to my Québécois accent made it clear to me that there were deeply-rooted attitudes and ideologies related to French of France (FF) and French of Québec (FQ). Standard language ideologies influence how speakers of a language feel about themselves and how they identify with their language community.

The comparison between FQ and FF has been a significant topic for examination in the sociolinguistics field. Who is “better”? Why is one “better”? What does “better” mean? Why are FQ and FF different? What are others’ perceptions of these variations? The ideologies attached to the French language variations reflect the prestige, correctness, and status that is given or declined to FF or FQ. After the Quiet Revolution, a linguistic Québécois identity emerged. This nationalist identity was detached from the rest of Canada and from France (Puska, Jansen & Chalier, 2019). The distinction of the French language in Québec from FF presents various cultural, identity, and linguistic issues. Historically, the standard, the ideal way to speak French has mostly been attributed to FF. Thus, FF has gained most of the prestige, privilege, and advantages over FQ. This significantly affects the ways in which people approach both varieties. For instance, the majority of allophones in Montréal would prefer learning FF than FQ (Guertin, 2018).

How are these privileges maintained and preserved? Lippi-Green (1997:68) contextualizes the language subordination process.

  1. The FQ is mystified. « Je comprends vraiment rien! Il faut vraiment être Québécois pour vous comprendre. » I don’t understand anything! You have to be a real Quebecer to understand.
  2. The FF claims authority. « Nous sommes les experts, nous parlons « le vrai» français. » We are the experts, we speak « real » French.
  3. FQ is trivialized. « Votre accent est si drôle! Je ne suis pas capable de vous prendre au sérieux. » Your accent is so funny! I am not able to take you seriously.”

The issues related to FQ and FF can relate to the duality of native and non-native speakers of English. The dichotomy of native and non-native speakers, of “good” and “bad” language attitudes are deeply embedded in second language teaching and learning contexts. The identities of non-native English speakers are significantly affected by the negative ideologies that are associated with varieties that do not sound “native”. Learners of English as a second language have this idea that to attain a high level of proficiency and competence, they must sound like a native speaker of English. Language myths, assumptions, and long-established beliefs strengthen the cycle of superiority and privilege of native English speakers. Breaking this cycle is easier said than done. In the classroom, teachers play a significant role in ensuring that L2 learners of English feel confident and satisfied with their language abilities, regardless of sounding like a native or non-native speaker of English. By reinforcing this open and inclusive language ideology, students may focus on their proficiency and competence level without comparing it to native-like language models. Individually and collectively, we can break standard language ideologies and embrace language varieties by resisting myths, assumptions, and stereotypes related to languages.

When traveling, languages give a sense of belonging and not belonging. Languages give us a chance to connect, exchange, and identify with communities all around the world. Not just the language itself, but the people that speak and embody it allow us to understand parts of ourselves. Language ideologies and attitudes shape our (mis)understandings of ourselves and others; hence, the importance of demystifying and bringing to light new, more comprehensive alternatives to seeing languages. The dualities of FF and FQ, and native and non-native speakers of English, require further examination and consideration to mend cultural, linguistic, and social gaps. When, or, how are “we” going to stop the perpetuation of “good” and “bad” language attitudes?

References:

Pustka, E., Jansen, L., & Chalier, M. (2019). “C’est toujours l’autre qui a un accent » : Le prestige méconnu des accents du Sud, des Antilles et du Québec. Glottopol, 31, 27-52. 

Guertin, M. (2018). Variation sociophonétique dialectale et stylistique: quelle est la langue cible en français langue seconde à Montréal? Arborescences,  7, 67-89.

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. 

Multilingual Speakers and the Monolingual Expectations

MunPat

I used to work as an ESL teacher at a small community centre in Montreal, where I taught students between the ages of 6-12 once a week. The students were multilingual speakers, who  already knew French and Arabic. Before my first day at work, my boss told me that I was to ONLY speak in English in the classroom. She warned me that if I let students know I could speak French or if I allowed them to speak French, then they would not bother to try and speak English. 

As a new and inexperienced teacher, I took her advice to heart in the beginning. However, I quickly realized that this practice was actually hindering my students’ desire to speak in English. They were having a lot of trouble communicating and understanding a language they barely knew. This was making my students frustrated and they were losing motivation to learn. I made the mistake of having monolingual expectations for multilingual speakers and was unintentionally making them feel as deficient speakers. 

Learning

After realizing my mistake, I decided to focus more on my students multilingual abilities, instead of a monolingual goal. As multilingual speakers, not only do they have access to different linguistic resources, but their experiences also influence their language learning process (Cenoz & Gorter, 2019). I started using more French in the classroom and making cross-linguistic references between English and French. According to Jason Cenoz and Duck Gorter (2019), multilingual learners benefit more from their repertoire when teachers spend time highlighting the common features between different languages. Once I started encouraging students to make connections between the different languages they knew and to use their whole linguistic repertoire, they were much more engaged with their learning. They were no longer afraid to make mistakes, they took more initiative in their learning and even used their linguistic knowledge as tools to help one another. 

My experience as an ESL teacher at this community centre taught me about the negative impacts the monolingual bias can have on second language learners. They are not new language learners, rather they are speakers of multiple languages and possess a rich repertoire of linguistic and cultural knowledge. However, as I learned with my boss, this is not a practice that is favoured or appreciated by everyone. Language teachers and students still face external challenges in regards to monolingual expectations. Hence, in order for multilingual speakers to thrive, there needs to be a societal shift in the way language learning is viewed. 

Here is a link to an article that gives practical examples of how language teachers can better accommodate the needs of multilingual speakers: https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2020/10/raising_the_bar_for_ell_instruction.html

Question

  1. As a teacher or as a student, have you ever used different languages inside the classroom to help you teach or learn another language?

Reference

Cenoz, J. & Gorter, D. (2019) Multilingualism, Translanguaging, and Minority Languages in SLA. The Modern Language Journal, 103(S1), 130-135.

The betrayal of the unconscious mind

By Silvia Nunez

A couple of weeks ago, inside the classroom of the daycare where I work, one of my students was excited about saying something and he exclaimed: “J’aime the red car, il est my favorite!” I am sure he is able to say this whole phrase in English, but sometimes code-switching emerges. (https://bilingual-babies.com/code-switching-in-bilingual-children/). It is not the first time that this happens to me, and even though, I am teaching English in an immersion program, other languages are welcomed in my classroom too!

For children being raised as bilinguals or multilinguals, it is common to use all the languages inside their repertoire to make meaning of the world around them (Seltzer, Ascenzi-Moreno & Aponte, 2020). It is fascinating to see how their choices are being influenced by the community where they grow up. There is evidence that children, at the preschool level, already “have some understanding of language choice patterns and levels of bilingualism [or multilingualism] in their community” (Paradis & Nicoladis, 2008 p. 294), so they already know what language to use depending on the interlocutor that will receive the message or the context they are immersed in. (You can find more about it in this case study). But even though they are able to make take these choices, sometimes they mix languages without even noticing it! 

By validating the variety of languages that we bring to the class, students feel more confident in integrating  English in their lives, they are more open to learning from mistakes and they support each other when languages are mixed. Even sometimes, I am also betrayed by my unconscious mind and I mix Spanish and English, especially in phrases involving feelings where I am trying to tell how much I love them or how much I care for them. But why does this occur? Why do we unconsciously mix languages even when our intention is not to do it? Has it ever happened to you? In my example, the reason why I mix languages could be related to the fact that my native language is Spanish. As it is the one that I have always used to express love at home with my parents, husband, daughter, son, and closest friends, my brain might just follow the same path producing affectionate words in this language, but I don’t think this kind of unconscious language mixing is always related to feelings. 

According to Van Herk (2018), each person has the ability to consciously control his/her choices and do what he/she wants in relation to language, we have speaker agency, and we use it most of the time, but what happens when we lose control of these decisions and our unconscious mind takes control deciding when to mix the words or languages we use? I am still trying to find the correct answer and keep understanding how languages, society, and mind are interconnected, but meanwhile, I will continue to provide a safe place to my students where they can code-switch or code-mix languages while becoming multilingual children in this world. 

References:

Paradis, J. & Nicoladis, E. (2007) The Influence of Dominance and Sociolinguistic Context on Bilingual Preschoolers’ Language Choice. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 10:3, 277-297, DOI: 10.2167/beb444.0

Seltzer, K. Ascenzi-Moreno, L. &  Aponte, G. (2020) J.A. Panagiotopoulou et al. (eds.), Inclusion, Education and Translanguaging (pp.24-39). Inklusion und Bildung in Migrationsgesellschaften, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28128-1_3

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

The age of distinction is sociolinguistically shrinking

Chaoyang Zhang

We tend to categorize people of different ages and times for convenient referencing purposes and because of our biological and social differences. Despite the differences between generations, you are not alone if you get muddled by the confusion of naming the generational cohorts. 

* Baby Boomers: age between 56-74

* Gen X: age between 40-55

* Gen Y: age between 24-39

* Gen Z: age between 8-23

Among people of Gen Y and Z, there’s a popular trend to differentiate them by decadal terms such as post-eighties, post-nineties and millennials (born after 2000). 

While the generation Y splitting themself into Gen Y.1 and Gen. Y.2 is mainly due to the great difference caused by having and not having income, post-nineties find themselves needing to be divided into 2 groups because of the different features that emerge from them and the different values they share. Therefore, a new term ‘post 95s’ is created, making the parameter of each cohort shrinks from 20 years (boomers) to 5 years (post 90s vs. 95s). 

One needs to be educated to read and write in a language but this does seem to be the case among Chinese post 90s. Most Chinese (both educated or not) do not understand the meaning of these combinations of letters that are frequently used by post 95s in their cyber typed communications (social media moments, online forums, show comments, virtual gaming and celebrity chasing topics): ‘ssfd, ssmy, yjjc, zzr, hyh, yxh, hyq, djll, nss, cdx, bhs’. Some might have been familiarized with ‘xswl and zqsg’. According to Cedergren’s Language change and age grading chart (Cedergren, 1988), the adolescent peak indicates that non-standard features are used at their highest rates by young teenagers and may contribute to pushing change forward. 

Since the universalization of the Internet and and its joint products, language change has taken a massive turn. From the beginning stage (the creation of Martian letter i.e., using ‘尔’ or ’妳 ‘instead of ‘你’ to mean ‘you’ ) to the introducing of cyber terms that went viral in real life (i.e, ‘雷人’ semiotically means ‘lightning people’. ‘lightning’ here functions as a verb and places an action on its object ‘people’ to mean shocking. 

These unique forms of modifying language have been evidenced to be maintaining identity by different groups. I was once among the teens that played with language. But as I grow old, my social activities and identity have changed so that I no longer have access to the newly updated language variants and resources. It is also an evidence of a creativity-encouraging society where there is no penalty for breaking socially constructed identities. 

References

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? (Second, Vol. 6). John Wiley & Sons.

Internet Abbreviations and Acronyms

Sabrina Chang

In present days, people are gradually getting used to communicate on the Internet. Whether it is by text, audio, or video formats, technology indeed brings out hearts together. During the process of this development, some new terms popped up especially for the younger generation. People would use abbreviations and acronyms on the Internet or social networking websites due to the laziness of typing the whole word. For example, I usually use “prob” for “probably” and “LOL” for “laugh out loud”. Gradually, people even use these internet slang not only on the Internet but also face-to-face.

Explore the Interwebz: 30 English Slang Terms for Internet Noobs

So, what are the differences between abbreviations and acronyms? Let me tell you. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase used mainly in writing to represent the complete form such as “tmrw” for “tomorrow” and “QT” for “cutie”. The interesting thing is, when people are reading these words, the sound of the original words actually come up to our minds quite fast. On the other hand, an acronym is a pronounceable word formed mostly (but not always) from the initial letters of a descriptive name or title. For instance, “B/C” stands for “because” and “FYI” stands for “for your information”. These acronyms seem to be difficult and confusing to a newbie of the Internet world. They will have to do additional research on those terms used by more experienced users. However, I think it is quite interesting to use these terms in our daily lives since we are living in this society where everything shifts fast.

Other questions hit me when I was doing a research on the Internet slang. Since when did these terms start to become popular and why did they become popular? Who started to use these terms also interests me. It seems that one of the main reasons is Internet. Internet brings people from different places, cultures, and languages together. People from different places could share their point of views, combine thoughts, and develop new terms that are especially for netizens. However, some problems arose too. When younger generation started to use these Internet slang, they might gradually forget the original spelling of the words and use the slang in formal essays. In addition, popular students are more likely to use abbreviations and acronyms during communications. If some students are not familiar with Internet slang, it would lead to failure of communication just like the picture below. We couldn’t deny that these abbreviations and acronyms do make the conversations on Internet more convenient, however, I suggest that we don’t bring those terms into real-life situations.

Internet Slangs

What are the Internet slang including abbreviations and acronyms that you usually use? How do you think it benefits your life and your time? Are there also disadvantages in terms of using these terms? Let me know what you think!

References:           

50 Popular Texting Abbreviations & Internet Acronyms

https://www.smart-words.org/abbreviations/text.html

Why did the words in Internet slang become popular? What made them popular?

https://www.academia.edu/10946105/Why_did_the_words_in_Internet_slang_become_popular_What_made_them_popular

Internet Slangs

Internet Slangs

Explore the Interwebz: 30 English Slang Terms for Internet Noobs

Explore the Interwebz: 30 English Slang Terms for Internet Noobs

Theydies and Gentlethems

By Jacqueline Mallais

This poster popped up on Quebec ESL facebook group this past week and after partaking in discussions about the use of gender neutral terms to address individuals and a group I became acutely aware of my own classroom language.

https://m.facebook.com/hello.esi.argentina/photos/a.2078485958945189/3273667556093684/?type=3&source=57

Typically I refer to all my students as “my lovelies” but occasionally I call them to attention with “guys”.  I caught myself using “guys” with a group of secondary 3 students and stopped.  In front of the class I decided to call myself out and publicly and consciously edit my language. I told them about the poster that had the greeting “theydies and gentlethems” on it and how I found it so inclusive and that instead of “guys” I wished I had used “theydies and gentlethems”.  It opened up a discussion about inclusive language and how to respectfully address people. I told them how at university we are asked for our preferred pronouns and while some of the students already quietly ask to be referred to as they, others had never heard of this before.  This chat lead quickly into a conversation about the difference between gender and sex.  I am sure there were a few interesting dinner table conversations that night.

I have written ESL curriculum for a variety of publishing houses and each of the grammar charts lists the pronouns in a table and I realize now that it is time to reissue the texts so that they include gender neutral pronouns.  I wonder if the mainstream publishing houses are ready for the necessary shift.  They are already cognizant of gender-bias when teaching the units on professions.  Gender-biased is understood as language that uses stereotypes to describe men and women. For example, fireman is no longer used, in its place is the word firefighter, or anchorman/anchorwoman is now just anchor.  I can’t remember how we dealt with terms of address like Mr. or Miss or Ms. Are we going to include Mx.?

So why is this discussion important to ESL teaching? Words matter.   The words our students hear influence their understanding of gendered careers. We have not yet moved beyond gender bias even if we try to use flight attendants in lieu of stewardesses. Using gender neutral language not only helps stop gender binaries but it is respectful of diverse identities.

A personal example of how awkward biased language is comes from a student who asked to be referred to as they at the beginning of the year and has found themselves in gym class where girls are warming up on one side of the gym and the boys on the other. They are not sure where to go and uncomfortable in both groups.  Thinking about language and its power goes beyond the simple utterance of words.  It needs to move into the  actual act of teaching.  Don’t divide a class by gender, don’t just ask the boys to grab the pile of activity books from the library. Ask for volunteers instead. Indicate your preferred pronoun so others feel comfortable doing so too. And, welcome all your students to class with a “Hello theydies and gentlethems”.  

* caution language *

Language and ethnicity: sideways crossing

Eva

I was a Spanish teacher at a small high school in a Latinx community in California for four years. The school aimed to improve the graduation rates of Latinxs from high school, in particular Latino boys, which are much lower than graduation rates for Whites and Asians in the state. In line with that mission, there was a strong social justice culture that encouraged fairly open discussion of social justice issues. A subgroup of the school population, mostly Latino boys, was very invested in Hip-Hop culture. As Low, Sarkar & Winer (2009) express, it is more than just music, but encapsulates dress, gestures, walk, ideologies and language. While this culture originated in the Black community and continues to be centered within it, these Latinos had embraced it as their own, and had enacted sideways crossing (Van Herk, 2018). Crossing is when White or prestige groups adopt language from a lower prestige group, which leads to the term sideways crossing, or lower prestige groups borrowing language from another lower prestige group. So in the case of the United States, Latinxs using Black language, or vice versa, is considered sideways crossing (Van Herk, 2018). 

A side effect of sideways crossing, as these Latino teenagers enacted, is when sensitive terms reserved for use by the original community are brought into the new group of “sideways crossers.” Maybe you’ve already guessed what I mean by this, but yes we are talking about the N-word. My lovely, goodhearted students were casually dropping the N-word.

As a White person growing up in a left-leaning US American community, I was very aware that that horrid word was not something I could ever let fall from my lips, no matter the intent. Not even reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in high school could I read aloud the word on the page in front of me and none of my classmates did either (maybe a Black one would, but my school had very few Black students and I can’t specifically recall any moments of this). So hopefully you can understand my shock when I first heard that taboo word spoken from a non-Black person’s mouth.

So, I calmly sat down with the boys to discuss the issue. Their response surprised me. There was none of the shame and denial you would perhaps expect from a White person, but many reasons and a carelessness that blew me away. In their perspective, they were also racialized by White supremacy and their community suffered similar negative effects of this oppressive system, like police brutality, the school to prison pipeline or a devaluation of their ethnolects. This I definitely agreed with. They saw themselves as not-White, and thus exempt from the universal ban on Whites’ use of the N-word. I tried to explain the best I could how history plays a significant part here, and Blacks have specifically suffered from the N-word as a weapon of oppression and humiliation. Apart from Afro-Latinxs, Latinxs in the US simply do not share this specific history, regardless of their other shared experiences of discrimination. 

My students’ other reasoning was that they were just following along with their favorite songs and rap artists. In my opinion, this is still not a valid excuse, but it’s also fairly controversial. Whether non-Black people can sing along the N-word in rap songs could arguably be a whole other post in and of itself. In addition, my own identity as a White woman who doesn’t practice Hip-Hop culture, even though I am still a fan, surely made it more difficult for them to listen and relate to me. 

Even with what felt like significant and productive conversations, it often felt like my crusade (and other teachers’) to end N-word use at our school seemed like an uphill battle. And this issue extends far beyond the classroom walls, like when Latina actor Gina Rodriguez took down a video of her singing the N-word after significant backlash. Despite my students’ fairly valid reasoning and strong connection to Black language in Hip-Hop culture, racism still plagues the Latinx community too and can explain some of the carelessness associated with their use of the N-word. While sideways crossing is a natural and inevitable result of the intermixing of ethnicities and more fluid identities, we should still be sensitive and cognizant of the pain of the past and its effects on language and ethnicity today.  

References

Low, B., Sarkar, M. & Winer, L. (2008). ‘Ch’us mon propre Bescherelle’: Challenges from the Hip-Hop nation to the Quebec nation Journal of Sociolinguistics 13/1, 2009: 59–82

Van Herk, Gerard. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.


Saving face: A discussion about its presence in our daily life

Henry Luong

“Hi, how are you!” 

This sentence is probably the most common phrase in our daily life. While being a very basic greeting, its function is far from a mere question of eliciting your health status (the proof is that we often use neutral adjectives as an answer for whatever we may feel: good/so-so/not bad). So why do we ask such question instead of simply hello or hi? 

The answer may lie within the single but complicated notion: “face”, which can be either positive or negative, and which… we can decide to either save or lose it (Van Herk, 2012). That is why we tend to use general questions to start a meeting to probe interlocutors’ willingness to participate, thus developing specific tactics to help the conversation go smoothly without harming the face of anyone. Let us look at the following examples of “Hi, how are you!” and see how it can be interpreted differently from these two situations.

Situation 1: That Saturday, I was walking to the bank and I ran into two old close friends from high school.Situation 2: That Saturday, I was walking to the bank and I ran into two old friends (A and B) from high school. They are nice, but I’m not really on good terms with them.
My friends: “Hey, how are you?”
Me: “Not bad. On my way to the bank for some papers now. So busy today. What’s up mate? Going somewhere?”
My friends: “Oh not much. Just gonna pass by school for some stuff done as well. Probably done in an hour. Wanna grab something to eat after that?”
Me: “Ok deal! Same café. See you in an hour.”
My friends: “Deal!”		Friend A: “Hey, how are you?”
Me: “Um, not bad. Actually, I’m on the way to the bank now for some papers…”
Friend A: “Oh no worries. Let’s meet up for some coffee next time then.”
Me: “Sure! See you next time!”
Friend B: “Oh no! It’s Saturday. Banks are closed. Why do you look hurried? Something wrong?”
Me: “Um just some questions about my account. The branch in the downtown is open today, butthey are closing soon…”
Friend A: “Oh then you should be hurried. We are on the way to the mall too. See ya!”
Me: “Nice day! See ya too.”
Table 1: An illustration of how “Hi, how are you!” are used in two situations.

As you can see from Table 1, the same sentence “Hi, how are you?” receives similar answer of “not bad” and “going to the bank for some papers”. However, the two conversations developed into different paths with different implications. In situation 1, although we were busy in our own ways, we try to keep each other engaged to the end with the follow-up café meeting specified by time and location. This is the most ideal scenario where participants are actively aware of each other’s positive face and collaborate to achieve it. However, real life can be messier and one of the speakers has a negative face of not wanting to be bothered due to personal reasons like in Situation 2. In this case, things can be troublesome if speakers fail to make considerate and tactical moves. On the one hand, friend A recognized my wish to be unbothered and accordingly respected it, which has saved not only my but also his face. On the other hand, the awkwardness escalated quickly when friend B could not realize that and keep invading my privacy with such personal questions (“Banks are closed. Why do you look hurried? Something wrong?”). In other words, I lost my face when my will was not taken seriously by friend B, and he also lost his face when I expressed my non-cooperation by dodging his questions. (Table 2)

 Positive faceNegative face
SaveSituation 1 (me and my friends)Situation 2 (me and friend A)
LoseSituation 2 (friend B)Situation 2 (me)
Table 2: A summary of the two situations above.

Here comes the dilemma: how you are able to tell when a person is holding a positive face and vice versa for appropriate follow-ups, since there is such a thin line between them. Let us take a look at the following comparison of how “face” is expressed in Vietnam and Canadian cultures through my lenses. (Table 3)

 VietnamCanada
Students’ way of addressing teachersCan only use either “thầy” (for male) or “cô” (for female) to call their teachers. Allowed to call their teachers by first names.
Customers’ expectation in a storeLeft undisturbed looking for the products they like, unless asked for help. Treated warmly and enthusiastically introduce the products.
Greeting mannerWaving handsShaking hands
Conversation topicsJobs, salary, relationships, ageWeather, pets, news, travel
Table 3: A comparison of faces perceived in Vietnam and Canada.

Obviously, we cannot conclude which way is more sensible since it belongs to the dimension of spiritual and mental beliefs in different cultures. Any cultures would have positive faces that are perceived negatively by other cultures and vice versa. Therefore, being considerate and sophisticated can help avoid awkward situation and save participants’ faces, and the most secure approach is usually wait for the person from the higher hierarchy to signal their preferences and then we can go along (Katila et al., 2020). 

References

Katila, J., Gan, Y., & Goodwin, M. H. (2020). Interaction rituals and ‘social distancing’: new haptic trajectories and touching from a distance in the time of covid-19. Discourse Studies, 22(4), 418–440.

Van Herk, G. (2012). What is sociolinguistics? (Vol. 6). John Wiley & Sons.

Korean Hagwons – Studying and Capitalism

Me exploring Seoul’s historic Bukchon Hanok Village

By Daniele Iannarone

For a year from mid-2017 to mid-2018, I embarked on an adventure that would forever shape the way that I think. I moved to Seoul, South Korea, to teach English at a private language academy, called hagwon. Needless to say, I was quite excited about the experience, and overall, I had an incredible year in Korea, filled with unforgettable memories and cherished friendships.

Unfortunately, what I was not prepared for when I moved to Korea was the cultural shock when it came to education, and how these hagwon owners treated education as though it was a for-profit business venture, as opposed to an educational institution that prioritizes the needs of the students.

For context, Korean students aged 5-17 attend hagwons, private after-school academies, where they build upon the information taught in school in order to get ahead. Hagwons exist for almost every subject: English, Mandarin, science, math, music, and even gym. The average Korean student might attend anywhere from 5-10 hagwons per week.

According to J.M. Beach’s book Children Dying Inside: A Critical Analysis of Education in South Korea (2011), “insecure people all across the world feel immense pressure to gain increased amounts of education in order to hold onto middle-class social status, let alone to seek increased economic mobility. Nowhere is this pressure felt more than in South Korea” (p. 5). Essentially, South Korea was very poor following the Korean War in the 1950s, and they rebuilt thanks to hard work and education. Education was seen as the key to avoid falling back into poverty, hence the rise in popularity of hagwons (p. 15).

The situation has become so extreme that, in order to get into one of the country’s three prestigious universities, Korean students need to sit a CSAT exam that is said to be extremely difficult. Just the English section of this exam is so hard that it is said to give even highly educated English speakers a hard time. You can find some examples of questions asked in the English section of the exam HERE.

Over the years, hagwons became so popular that many saw it as a legitimate opportunity to make a significant profit (Beach, 2011, p. 17). Hagwons are quite expensive, yet many of them operate like businesses instead of education centres. According to Beach, “Business owners with suspect educational credentials seem content to hire foreign staff with equally suspect educational credentials [in a service] designed more to generate fast profit rather than quality education” (p. 18). Teachers are merely required to hold a Bachelor’s degree in any field and be from an English-speaking country to be hired.

As Beach (2011) writes, it is not uncommon for teachers to be treated as figureheads and to conduct classes like robots, merely repeating words and sticking to a strict curriculum planned out by the hagwon, such as was the case for him with his employer, KEPA (p. 25). This type of educational model, he explains, “limits English expression and critical thinking” (p. 22). This model reflects poorly on mental health, with high rates of anxiety, depression, and even suicide (p. 38).

The Korean hagwon system, therefore, ties in perfectly to the idea presented by Kingsley Bolton in his article “World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition” (2018), in which he explains that a common issue with the model of English being a sort of lingua franca for the world can serve as somewhat of a disservice to the practice of language teaching, and instead perpetuate capitalist ideologies (p. 8). He writes that “‘global English’ was a ‘capitalist neo-imperial language that serves the interests of the corporate world and the governments that it influences’” (Bolton, p. 8).

Which brings me to discuss my experience in Korea. While my personal life was very enjoyable, my hagwon, which was small and privately owned, certainly prioritized profits over the well-being of students. Teachers were instructed to give large amounts of homework, and we even inflated grades to make it appear to parents that their children were improving. Management frequently tried to take advantage of staff by trying to force us to work on our days off and finding ways to cut our pay. While I would consider myself as having been moderately qualified for the position, and certainly passionate about teaching, some of my colleagues were certainly not competent enough to teach adequately. Students were studying for hours per day, and the older, CSAT-aged students were incredibly sleep-deprived. It was clear that mental health was never a priority; not for management, nor for parents. Parents paid steep prices for their children’s education, yet management would often pack classrooms and operate on a low budget, increasing personal profits.

While, generally, class materials were provided to teachers by management, we were free to apply our own teaching style in the classroom, which was a relief and allowed me to get the students to interact more instead of operating like robots. With this said, ultimately, the main factor that led me not to renew my contract at the end of the year was seeing the mental health of the students suffering. I could not live with myself knowing I was a pawn in this torturous “educational” machine.

References:

Beach, J. M. (2011). Children Dying Inside: A Critical Analysis of Education in South Korea. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216830514_Children_Dying_Inside_A_Critical_Analysis_of_Education_in_South_Korea

Bolton, K. (2018). World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition. World Englishes, 37, 5–18. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.proxy3.library.mcgill.ca/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/weng.12299

Park, S. (2018, November 17). Check your English ability with ‘notorious’ Korean college entrance exam. The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/11/177_258803.html#:~:text=The%20English%20test%20of%20Korea’s,put%20on%20test%20takers’%20desks.

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