Under the whole language umbrella: many cultures, many voices

Cuadernos de Lingüística Hispánica, 2007

Resumen en: The present text is a critical reflection visualized through a dialogue inside of me, during a moment of silence. The creative form of the text allows th...

Rajakumar calls for “a more inclusive conversation” within academic cultures to take greater account of linguistic and cultural difference. She argues that even within a single-language-use setting, especially with a dominant world language such as English, there can be multiple linguistic and identity formations. She frames her argument with Pennycook’s (2010) understanding of language as a dynamic, socially constructed and locally specific form of human interaction. Building on the work of Nunan and Choi (2010) and Rivers and Houghton (2013), she draws parallels between language and communication styles. With examples of gendered speech in the workplace ( Llamas and Watt 2009) and a more contemporary context internet communications ( Nakamura, Chow-White, and Nelson 2011), Rajakumar makes a passionate case for educators to open the communicative space of academic settings to these diverse cultural experiences.

ELT Journal, 2018

Thresholds, British Council, 2005

Luís Mendes and Gillian Moreira are part of a new politicised movement of language teaching. In this field of education, there is a running debate about how language teaching should react to globalisation and the historical perspectives of colonialism. Many agree this lively discussion is a good thing but the arguments are often crudely simplified, especially in the case of English language teaching. On the one hand we are asked to consider the plundering promoters of English. With their veiled motives of neo-imperial greed, they are busy thinning out the biodiversity of the world's languages by raising the cash crop of text books and pedagogies known as ELT. These professionals, say their critics, are all of a kind: they are invariably white Anglo-Saxons and are either shameless or guilt-ridden oppressors, trading the commodity of English at the price of cultural subjugation. In the opposing corner stands another protagonist: one who denies charges of cultural imperialism by an appeal to the marketplace. If we listen to the customer, goes the argument, we find that international students want international English, a tool stripped of any cultural elements which might impede communication. You don't need to know about what an 'Englishman' has for breakfast in order do business across Asia. For them, a uniform global 'youth' is united by a common aspirational culture and seeks a neutral communication tool to further its educational and professional ambitions. Mendes and Moreira deepen this debate by claiming that culture is more than kings and queens or an optional extra. They argue that culture lies at the heart of a revolution in the classroom, one that recognises that using another language to communicate across cultures can no longer be seen as a simple transaction which leaves both parties unchanged. The multiple channels through which we can choose to communicate, and the crossing and recrossing of borders due to migration and travel, create new educational possibilities and responsibilities. These are no longer hypothetical choices; they are now unavoidable. Of course, linguistic communication is still used to exchange information for a purpose but it is increasingly more likely be a personal challenge: some of those borders crossed will be within ourselves as we confront values different from our own. The two writers, whose research we feature here, see language learning as a key to self-understanding. For them, we enter a dramatic encounter with otherness, and thereby can see our own values in a new light, relative to the values held by those from different cultures. This isn't a matter of just acquiring facts, but reflecting on our attitudes and sometimes deciding to change. We no longer see our identities as fixed but recognise that the self is a fluid entity, being formed and reformed by cultural cross-currents. We operate in the 'space in-between' or the 'third space' between cultures. The language classroom is particularly rich in opportunities for developing and exploring these special spaces which question rather than reinforce borders. Mendes and Moreira are researching this with their communities of teachers. The political terms of this debate have shifted from being a critique of colonial ideology to examining the extent to which we can use education to increase respect for the ecology of cultures, combat racism, and become 'critical citizens'. Fellow researchers Alred, Byram and Fleming, see a time when 'frontiers become less barriers and prohibitions and more gateways and invitations.' (Intercultural experience and education, 2002). Everyday life is full of these 'gateways and invitations'. One way of deepening our awareness of them is to observe how others negotiate them and grasp intercultural difference. Testimonies of ''real' intercultural living' draw us into the 'third spaces' created and employed by others. The fascinating case-study that follows, provided by Mendes and Moreira, combines human interest and intercultural insight in its explorations of the encounters and experiences of a couple, named P and B: Case Study We studied an example of the personal narratives of two people who have come together from two completely different worlds.

2016

This paper draws on two points about the difficulties of conducting research between two languages and cultures which are scant in social science research: one is reflecting on the notion of “making sense ” and how prevalent it has become to make sense for a western audience. This process is complicated and leads to more meanings lost in translation, so it is important to unpack it specifically during the research process. The second point I discuss in this paper is the notion of “situated auto/biography ” that is not specific to an author or a researcher, but deals with all parties involved in the process of knowledge production. I argue that translation acts as a creative space for thinking and not just conveying meanings, but that through a dialogical and transversal act, it can help in creating new meanings. As Hoffman (1989) argued in her book, Lost in Translation, speaking a different language is analogous to living another life in another social setting. Translation is an act...

2011

Language learning has two distinct personas, an idealistic one and a real one. In some cases the two are very closely matched but more often than not they are very different. The ideal language learning experience might be argued to be a deeply personal one that takes the learner through a process of self-discovery and into the wider world with fresh eyes that are able to appreciate difference, recognise common ground and forge new understandings. However, it is often the case that the more functional motivations for which we learn a language intervene and detract from the idealistic nature of the experience making it a more mundane and limited one. So what is it that makes language more than a simple list of words and grammar rules?

De Gruyter eBooks, 2023

The linguistic negotiation of identities and policies Over the last decade, translanguaging has been implemented and explored in a variety of learning contexts with cultural and linguistic diversity, including schools catering for indigenous, minority and immigrant populations as well as heritage community language schools. Studies have shown that it is an effective pedagogical practice in contexts "where the school language or the language-of-instruction is different from the languages of the learners" (Li 2018: 15). In its commitment to social justice and equality in education, on a theoretical plain, it deconstructs the socially and ideologically constructed divides between indigenous v. immigrant, majority v. minority, target v. mother-tongue languages (Li 2018: 15). Ultimately, it challenges the dichotomy between content and form maintained by institutions in the separation of school subjects or academic "knowledge" from linguistic practices through which knowledge is generated (García et al. 2021; Tarsoly and Ćalić 2022). When adopted in in educational contexts, translanguaging "empowers both the learner and the teacher, transforms the power relations, and focuses the process of teaching and learning on making meaning, enhancing experience, and developing identity (Garcia 2009; Creese and Blackledge 2015)" (Li 2018: 15). Chapter 8 explored the transformative impact of translanguaging on the various stakeholders involved in teaching and learning; Chapters 10 and Chapter 13 extend the scope of transformation beyond the classroom. This chapter focuses on the ways in which socially and institutionally constructed boundaries are interrogated due to a translanguaging stance in education. In the classroom scene in video 1 (Translanguaging as cultural mediation) we witness an instance of cultural mediation in which the pupils engage in the language of their home, a local variety of Romani, in a cultural practice, poem recital, which typically occurs in Hungarian. Reciting poems in public is a ritual performance in Hungarian society. On national celebrations poems suitable for the occasion are recited in public, often by actors or other trained professionals, and audience members may join in. Learning a canonical set of poetic texts by heart is integrated into school curricula. Children also learn poems for various celebrations, and recite them in front of parents and other members of the school's community. There are schoolbased and national competitions of text recital, including poetic and prose texts. Good results at national competitions may gain scores in applications for further Open Access.

Vaagartha:a Festschrift in Honour of Professor Padmakar R. Dadegaonkar , 2012

"Two different genres of writing, least identified as possessing any mutual resemblance are kept side by side, to look into the underlying signified of culture present in both. Ethnographic writing as a product of extensive field-work done by an ethnographer to describe cultures, peoples, their customs, beliefs and behaviours is often viewed upon as the outcome of a scientific and systematic research. So also is its mother discipline, anthropology, endowed with such a methodology which is drawn out to produce „objective‟ and „realistic‟ accounts of the 'unknown'/„Other‟. Translations between languages irrespective of their classifications as poetry, travel writing, social theory, or text books of medicine are tested against scales of fidelity, originality and by theories of equivalence. The medium through which an ethnographer makes an 'alien culture' comprehensible, and the one with which a translator narrates is the same, so also is the nature of transaction which takes place in both these tasks. The translator who unlocks the meanings embedded in the source text and the ethnographer who treats language as a "key to culture‟ use 'language' as a medium to depict 'culture', always the culture of the 'Other' to his/her readers. Each language being a product of a specific culture, when used as a tool to illustrate details of another culture would in fact create novel representations and images, which in turn end up in creating new identities. Here, the translator and the ethnographer face the interference of concepts from his/her language and culture, as a pertaining intrusion which cannot be warded off forever. The paper tries to draw out the theoretical and methodological trajectories through which both these above-said activities of representation have passed through and tries to figure out the differences in perceiving „language‟ in these junctures of shift, since approach towards language is a decisive factor to be examined in questions related to representation."