“If you know all the languages of the world and you do not know your mother tongue or the language of your culture, that is self-enslavement. Knowing your mother tongue and all languages is empowerment.” (1986)
These words were taken from a well-known book called “Decolonizing the mind” by Kenyan writer and academic Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. According to Van Herk (2018), most immigrant families shift to the languages of their new country over two or four generations. This phenomenon is called Language Shift. It is a topic I am interested in because of my fear of losing my heritage language.
As I reflect on my language autobiography, I recall the comments I hear whenever I speak in Cantonese.
“Did your Cantonese get worse?”
“Your language structure seems reversed”
“That is not how we say this….”
As a result, I’ve come to realize that I might be slowly losing my first language. It is a very odd feeling because Cantonese is the language I grew up with. My parents emigrated from Hong Kong and my mom was adamant about me speaking this language at home. She firmly believed that it would help maintain my relationship with my family. Since I don’t have many opportunities to practise, it has been difficult to learn literacy and communication skills.
In fact, most children from newcomer families in Canada generally speak either French or English. Jaffer Sheyholislami, a linguistic teacher at Carleton University, says that “One of the important causes of language shift and loss in Canada is the absence of robust language policies that would advocate and actively promote and support multilingualism and multiculturalism.” Losing the first language is not only losing a way to communicate with closed ones, but it also means losing one’s identity and culture. Sheyholislami also believes that any government has an obligation to cherish language diversity, support children’s learning and promote other languages.
In my opinion, heritage languages should be approached with understanding and empathy. No one should feel ashamed for their lack of language proficiency. For many second-generation immigrants, not being completely fluent can mean letting their family down. Thus, it is necessary to promote multilingualism and encourage acceptance that no language is “wrong” or “bad”.
As language teachers, how can we help our students preserve their heritage language?
Many industries here in Quebec are facing a critical worker shortage. Even though many people argue that the current situation could be alleviated with the help of immigrants or temporary foreign workers, the government of Quebec regards immigrants as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, immigrants will boost to help fix the labour shortage and develop Quebec’s economy in this post-pandemic period. On the other hand, the government of Quebec is afraid of the status of the French language with the influx of non-Francophone immigrants. The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) candidate for Trois-Rivières, Jean Boulet, made the comments during the provincial election campaign: “Eighty percent of immigrants go to Montreal, don’t work, don’t speak French, and don’t adhere to the values of Quebec,” he said. “The key is regionalization and francization.” Although he apologized for his comments which “didn’t express his thoughts well,” he was criticized by his competitors and the public. The premier of Quebec, Francois Legault stated that it would be suicide to accept more than 50000 immigrants a year; he also tied immigrants to violation and extremism. It seems that Quebec is in a dilemma, it is obvious that Quebec needs to welcome more and more immigrants to address the worker shortage problem. Nevertheless, the government of Quebec privileges the protection of the French language even at the cost of the development of Quebec’s economy.
According to Statistics Canada’s most recent report on Quebec immigration between 2011 and 2016, Quebec received 215,170 immigrants. Of those, 179,270 (83 percent) went to Montreal. The most immigrants during that period came from France (20,030), followed by Haiti (16,875), Algeria (16,380) and Morocco (13,480). Cameroon (7,555) and Tunisia (5,850) are also on the list, along with non-French speaking countries China (10,705), Colombia (7,540), Iran (7,505) and Syria (7,460).
In the 1970s and 1980s, teachers focused on behavioural theory between L1 and L2 in teaching pronunciation in second language acquisition, influenced by behaviorist master theory, and engaged learners in a lot of audiolingual drills, like dictations, repetitions, etc., but little consideration was given to the actual meaning of the content.
Since the 1990s, the goals of instruction seem to have changed. Phonics teachers began to focus on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), not only focusing more on what communicative language means. At the same time, a critical assumption arose in academic field: Biological and maturational constraints affected on adults’ L2 learning. There was a growing belief that there is a critical period for learning L2 in childhood, between the ages of 6 and 7, and that once a person misses the critical period, it is difficult for them to learn as much as they did from the beginning (Critical period: the key period for learners to learn some special skills or behaviours).
So what are the goals of learning to L2 pronunciation, the nativeness principle or the intelligibility principle?
There are many influencing factors, for example: negative transfer from the native language: it is very difficult for a Chinese adult to become a native speaker of English, because the Chinese pinyin is different from IPA in that there are no diphthongs. For example, if the word “down” is not known, most people will pronounce it as “dang”. There are many other effects of negative native language migration, so I will not go into details here. There are also local dialects, emotional factors and so on.
What I am interested in is one of the social factors that influence the L2 pronunciation: identity.
Some L2 learners do not want to sound like native speakers because they are concerned about and want to preserve their L1 identity, such as English speakers with a French or Spanish accent. Others believe that the closer the native speaker is, the more successful their learning will be.
Not only the learners , but also the other people in their social network play a key role. For example, in foreign countries, if a Chinese person’s English pronunciation is too native, he or she is often first recognized by people in his or her language community as being of Chinese descent or as having immigrated many years ago, and is not considered to have received his or her second language education in China. In addition, there is a phenomenon where some of the L1 community around the learner will accuse them of being disloyal to the L1 community by their overly authentic accent, and the L1 community will put pressure on them to assert their support for their national ideology. In such cases, L1 learners are likely to maintain some superficial desire to sound like native speakers, but in most cases they are satisfied with a certain level of pronunciation proficiency to communicate effectively at an understandable global average.
Questions:
Have you ever experienced anything in the above situations? How do you balance the relationship between pronunciation learning objectives and identity?
As a teacher, if you find that your students have such contradictions, how should you help them?
References:
Loewen, S. (2020). Introduction to instructed second language acquisition (Second). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved 2022, 149-165.
Moedjito, M. (2009). Priorities in english pronunciation teaching in efl classrooms. K@Ta, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.9744/ing.v10i2.16884
Gilakjani, A. P. (2012). The significance of pronunciation in english language teaching. English Language Teaching, 5(4), 96–107. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n4p96
Do you really know who you are? How do you see yourself as a language teacher? What are the impressions of your students and colleagues toward you?
These questions boil down to knowing one’s identity. Identity is the “whole sum of characteristics given by place, gender, age, race, history, nationality, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, religious orientation, ethnicity and above all the blanks between all these…” (Meyer, 2017). The video below captures the concept of identity. It also shows the intersection between language and identity.
When I took LLED 510: Language, Discourse, and Identity at the University of British Columbia with Dr. Bonnie Norton, an authority on the subject https://faculty.educ.ubc.ca/norton/, we discussed the various components of identity vis-à-vis language learners, language teachers, investment, imagined communities, indigeneity, digital era, digital storytelling, transnational research, and future directions.
Cognizant of language teachers, it is inevitable to know the kind of rational human beings they are, capable of deciding for themselves, their school, and communities. This connects with Gee (2000) that identity is “being recognized as a certain ‘kind of person’, in a given context” (p. 99). The romance between identity and language teachers cannot be overemphasized. As Motha et al (2012) argue that “if teacher linguistic identities are to become available as pedagogical resources, critical reflection on how these identities are formed and maintained is crucial.” Varghese et al. (2005) add “In order to understand language teaching and learning we need to understand teachers; and in order to understand teachers, we need to have a clearer sense of who they are: the professional, cultural, political, and individual identities which they claim, or which are assigned to them” (p. 22).
Barkhuizen (2021), the winner of TESOL’s 2017 Award for Distinguished Research, popularizes the term Language Teacher Identity (LTI). He refers it to “the way language teachers see themselves and understand who they are in relation to the work they do. It is also the way others, including their colleagues and students and institutions, see them” (p. 1). Barkhuizen explores LTI in detail, including its research potential on this video Professor Gary Barkhuizen on Teacher Identity – YouTube .
Personally, I have always been passionate about teaching- it was my first love. At 7, I already knew that I would become a teacher someday. While teaching is a tiring and a demanding profession, the difference I make in the lives of my students who are newcomers to Canada outweighs all the challenges and difficulties. It is my accomplishment to see students able to settle and integrate to the Canadian mainstream. Much more, it is gratifying to receive positive feedback regarding teaching performance and a true ‘thank you’ from students and administrators.
References: Barkhuizen, G. (2021). Language teacher identity. In: Mohebbi, H., Coombe, C. (eds) Research questions in language education and applied linguistics. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Cham. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79143-8_96
Gee, J. P. (2000). Identity as an analytic lens for research in education. Review of Research in Education, 25, 99–125.
Motha, S., Jain, R., & Tecle, T. (2012). Translinguistic identity-as-pedagogy: Implications for language teacher education. International Journal of Innovation in English Language Teaching, 1(1), 13– 28.
Varghese, M., Morgan, B., Johnston, B., & Johnson, K. (2005). Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4, 21–44
Recently, I have been watching a TV series called Fresh Off the Boat. It is a drama talking about a Chinese immigrant family who moved from Washington, D.C. to Orlando during the 90s.
In this family, we find that all the children speak quite good and “appropriate” English since they were born and raised in America, and they consider themselves to be native speakers. However, culture shock happens everyday and the whole family is trying their best to solve troubles and making a better life in the melting pot.
pics from Northwest asianweekly: https://nwasianweekly.com/2020/02/fresh-off-the-boat-leaving-indelible-mark-on-tv-landscape/
There is an episode talking about “identity” and it impressed me a lot. It is about the oldest children in this family, Eddie, refusing to take the lunch made by his mother to school since it was typical Chinese food. He really wanted western food in order to integrate into the school, where the dominant students are western/white students. So he dumped his home lunch secretly and took a pizza instead to the canteen. He greeted other students, very proudly this time, “Hey, what’s your lunch?” “Chips and coke? Good. I got a pizza.” At that time, Eddie felt so comfortable that he was the same as others. However, all his efforts were in vain: he was bullied in the end, because he was still the different in school.
Eddie felt so sad and also confused after fighting with other students. He asked his mother why he is different and why he cannot be the same as others?
pics from Eater.com: https://www.eater.com/2014/5/13/6224945/watch-the-trailer-for-abcs-fresh-off-the-boat-pilot
I think the sorrows of poor Eddie are also shared by many other young immigrants. Maybe we can address this later after we make clear what happens to these young immigrants.
As we know, when stepping into a new country, the first difficulty for young immigrants is the language barrier. And they will quickly realize that a single linguistic choice can mark them as a member of a particular community. This kind of awareness is also reflected in this drama, where Eddie and other children in his family are resistant to speak Chinese in public areas.
When they communicate with native-speakers, they keep an eye on the association among race, nation, culture and community. In a word, they want to “behave” like native-speakers, because they don’t want to be the different one, or they just want to protect themselves from discrimination, etc. However, these young immigrants might also be surprised to find that their diverse cultural background has a far-reaching impact on them, stronger than they imagine. Gradually, their performance becomes aligned with their cultural background, like their accent and tiny habits, and people can easily tell that they are different. Allen (2006) also mentioned in her article that “many of the discourses from outside the school may be reinforced within the school, some may clash.” (p. 253)
With this struggle between family and school, these immigrants might be extremely conscious of their identity: Who am I and what kind of role should I play in this society?
Back to the show. Eddie asked the same question to his mum. His mother told him patiently that he is both Chinese and American, and he should not be ashamed for being different. She believes these conflicts could make her son stronger in the future. I was moved by those words at last and also gratified that Eddie has such a wise and considerate mother.
It reminds me of my own class, where my classmates and I have discussed many times how important being “native-like” is, when super diversity can been seen everywhere in this globalizing world. And our answers are “not really” . But Eddie is not us. He is still a young, sensitive teenage boy, and he needs help.
In this case, not only family members, but also the school should take the responsibility to help immigrant students with their identity construction, to pay attention to the interaction that takes place between peers. And I am reminded that our teachers are all encouraging us to share our cultural background, culture shock experiences and interesting phenomenon with other classmates. (Our teachers talked about their experiences too.) Sadly, school administrators in Eddie’s school just showed a negative example.
pics from École St. Angela Merici Home of the Griffons: https://www.rcsd.ca/school/StAngela/pages/newsitem.aspx?ItemID=159&ListID=a9b34e43-4718-43fd-8dfa-594728e1d69b&TemplateID=Announcement_Item#/=
I believe, that every culture should be equally valued and respected, and school, family and community are obliged to help young immigrants shape their identities and help them to be free of discrimination and anxiety.
No more poor Eddie.
References:
Allen, D. (2006). Who’s in and who’s out? Language and the integration of new immigrant youth in Quebec. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 10(2-3), 251–263
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
Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30.
Van Herk, G.(2018). What is sociolinguistics? (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Preparing to co-facilitate a group discussion on the connection between ethnicity and language brought up a lot for me. The readings helped me to think about how I situate myself in terms of ethnicity and language and how these intersecting forces have impacted my life.
I begin with my family history, specifically on my mother’s side. My mother was perhaps the first person in centuries on either side of her family to be born outside of the state of Louisiana (my grandfather’s side was from New Orleans proper and my grandmother’s side from the neighboring countryside). Before my mother’s birth, my maternal grandparents had moved to Nashville, Tennessee so my grandfather (Pop-Pop) could complete his medical residency at Meharry Medical College. A couple of years after my mother was born in Nashville, the family moved to a place, coincidentally, not too far from Montreal–Buffalo, New York. By the time the family made their way to Harford County, Maryland both of my aunts had been born. My grandmother (Meman) still lives in that house, which, despite going through many changes, still seems, in many ways, untouched by time.
People develop intricate ways of expressing their belonging
to a group of people. Within groups such as university cohorts, sports teams,
school clubs & others, individuals infuse emerging sets of language
practices into their personal vernacular in an attempt to climb the social
ladder. Here are a few expressions that are popular in my community:
“At home, I mostly speak Spanish, but once I walk out the door, I say to myself, I have to be English now.” Juliana, my daughter, on her multilingualism; a snapshot that portrays the duality that define her identity. The statement, although a bit radical, does not completely describe her dealings with English, French and Spanish. Something I love about Juli is that she has embraced a certain fluidity when it comes to using her three languages. However, a stronger voice emerges as her Hispanic background is always present in her daily interactions as if she didn’t want that part of herself to fade away in the vast ocean of “Englishness” of her days.
When Juliana wrote the poem “The Puzzle Pieces under the Stairs” for her ELA class, for example, she intentionally manipulated language to create effects, images and emotions. Such an appropriation of language denotes her awareness of discourse as a tool to also signal identity by letting the reader “visit” the inner world of her stories. By also drawing on people, artifacts, her multilingualism and the material and immaterial memories of her life in Colombia, Juli mirrors and constructs a current image of herself. Moving across sites, Juli’s multilingualism is dependent on Discourses (Gee, 2015). It serves her socially-situated language use and cultural practices because it works as a way to affirm her presence in social meaning-making and interactions in the different contexts that she crosses. Her interactions are infused by her having “a foot in both [the Canadian and Colombian] worlds” (evident in her impressive ability for code-switching!); they operate as semiotic catalysts of subjectivities in the meaning-making process that Juliana embarks as she reads, writes, jokes, or talks to friends.
I had an interesting discussion with someone the other night on the subject of English-speakers in Montreal. We were speaking about Quebecois theater and movies, and fell into a discussion about English-speakers in Montreal. We had found that a significant portion (not all of them!) of individuals we know, who had grown up in English-speaking families in Montreal, are completely disconnected from Quebecois culture. They don’t have French-speaking friends with whom they speak French, they don’t listen to French music, they don’t read French literature, they don’t watch French movies, or partake in any other Quebecois French cultural activity. We found it interesting that these individuals, most of whom are able to speak French, seemingly make no attempt to connect with French-language culture. Why is it that in a city, surrounded by so many French speakers, they haven’t made those connections?
“It’s good. And the people here are very nice to me.”
“So you must be very good at English because you are studying in Canada.”
“Emm … Not exactly. Academic writing is a great challenge for me. And I feel that I cannot involve in Montreal because it’s kind of like a French monolingual city.”
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