The Politics of TESOL

1
The Politics of TESOL

• Robb Kvasnak, M.Ed.
• Dr. M. Bendixen, Dr. P. Fritzer, Dr. A. Rhone,
  Dr. H. Zainuddin

2
Heidegger (1958)

• Die Sprache ist das Haus des Seins
• Language is the house of being

3
Espánglish con Alevosía

• ESOL students are not maintaining their mother
  tongue in a meaningful and useful way
• ESOL students are not connecting with their
  mother culture

4
Popkewitz and Curriculum

• Curriculum consists of two main parts What is in
  it, and, more importantly What isnt in it

5
Prestige Languages

• Standard American English
• Spanish in the US
• Spanish in Southeastern Florida

6
Nynorsk

• Først har vi den dialekten vi lærer heime, i
  bygda eller gata der vi veks opp som barn. Siden
  møter vi andre dialetar (språksystem), meir eller
  mindre ulike vår eigen. Og så endeleg kjem vi til
  skriftspråket, og i Norge vert vi også der stilt
  overfor valget mellom to ulike alternativ bokmål
  eller nynorsk.

7
How Bush won (J. Skelton, 2005)

• used a Southern variant, more precisely a Texan
  variant, of American English to impress and
  attract voters
• Reagan
• Nixon
• Clinton
• Gore

8
Which English?

• Who decides which English to teach in ESOL?
• Immigrants speaking Ebonics
• Who decides the content?
• Why do Casins US Spanish speakers use
  Hispanicized terms from English when speaking
  Spanish?

9
Dörnyei (2005)

• Posits that Second Language Learners develop a
  second language self
• This second language self is constructed on
  attitudes toward the second language
• What are the images that TESOL projects of
  American English and its speakers?

10
Dörnyei (2005)

• English as a foreign language abroad stresses
  variant used in Great Britain
• ESOL English for everyday use in the US
  school, work, society

11
Englishes of the World

• English is not a monolithic construct
• There are many variants of English
• Usage in GB and USA are very different

• English, in its local variety, is the official
  language of many countries
• Pronunciation, semantics, syntax, discourse,
  pragmatics vary from place to place

12
English in the US

• Regional variants
• Northeast
• Midwest
• Southern
• Texan
• West
• Non-continental

• Socio-economic variants
• Corporate English
• Academic English
• Political English
• Working Class English
• Rural English

13
Dr. Rickford (1998)

• Using Ebonics for comparative analysis
• Uproar in Oakland
• Proof of how emotional the debate about which
  English to teach is

14
This raises the questions

• How do we acquaint ESOL students with American
  English?
• How do we acquaint ESOL students with the native
  speakers of American English?
• How do we help ESOL students develop a positive
  L2 self?

15
Conclusion

• TESOL is subject to political decisions in the
  narrow and in the broader sense
• Who should be making those decisions?
• Should the ESOL students be aware of what
  decisions are being made?
• How can ESOL students actively construct their
  own curriculum?