Sexual Identities in ESL: Queer Theory and Classroom Inquiry by Cynthia Nelson

This article is very intriguing to me, because before I read this article, I did not think about sexual identities in language learning and teaching. This article reminded me of one Korean entertainer who is gay. He was a very famous entertainer in Korea. One day he confessed that he is gay. Because of his confession, I had to leave TV programs. People had very negative attitudes toward him. I could not see him on TV for a long time. Later, I read a story about him in the magazine. He was banned from showing on TV. He had a lot of difficulty in leading his life because of money and prejudice from people. He ran his restaurant in spite of his hard situation. His sincerity made people accept him as a nice man. Now I think that how brave he was and how many difficulties he faced. The Korean society has very negative attitudes toward lesbian and gay. These attitudes must have had impact on his identity negatively. He had to hide his identity for a long time.
I have learned that language have influences on identities. Sexual identities are one part of identities. According to this article, it is difficult to separate sexual identity from other acts of identity because identities are not just multiple but mutually inflecting (p. 376). Therefore, we need to take into consideration sexual identities in language learning and teaching.
While I am reading this article, I thought about the notion of power. Students who are fluent in English have a power over students who are not. Native speakers have a power over non-native speakers. Likewise, heterosexism has a power over lesbian and gay. This power relationship has negative effects on identities, excluding people with less power from opportunities for formation of positive identities.

Dear Dave

I am a graduate student. I am enjoying reading your job advertisements. However, as a graduate school, I want to talk about your job advertisements.
I came from Korea. I worked at the middle school as an English teacher. I have some experience working with native English teachers. Most native English teachers did not know their working environments exactly before they came to Korea. Their information was usually focused on sightseeing. They did not know students’ levels, school systems, the needs from students, etc. When they came to Korea, they were so excited. However, as time went by, they realized that they came to Korea with too high expectation. They had lot of difficulty in teaching students. They tended to be frustrated too easily. Therefore, I think your job advertisements need to provide the exact information, I mean, advantages and disadvantages in teaching Korea.
I know that many Korean people welcome only native speakers, especially Americans. Because of this tendency, there are many unqualified native speakers. We do not usually take into consideration their qualification as an English teacher if she or he came from America and has American accent, not British accent. However, accent does not solve the problems he or she will face with in teaching. They need to develop various teaching skills. If you provide the video where a native speaker or a non-native speaker is teaching English, we can evaluate him or her in many different aspects.
Lastly, if you provide the cultural materials for teachers who will work in Korea, he or she will adjust in their working place better. If there is misunderstanding between students and a teacher, it is difficult to teach effectively.

If you give more exact information about teaching and provide more opportunities to many people who have interest in teaching area without restricting any chance according to their race, accent, and nation, the qualification of teaching English will be improved a lot.

How to empower non-native English teachers and their students in Korea

In Korea, most English teachers are losing their pride and confidence in teaching English because of high expectation of society. I want to talk want some ways to empower them, including students.

First, as a non-native English teacher, most Korean English do not have any confidence in their language abilities. They want to improve their English abilities. However, they do not enough time to spend improving English abilities. Most teachers are supposed to teach about 20 hours a week. Usually they are homeroom teachers. They should take care of their class students. In Korea, homeroom teachers have a lot of responsibilities from morning to evening, sometimes at night. Therefore, they do not have enough time to improve their expertise. In my opinion, if Korean English teachers have less amount of teaching time, they will make efforts to improve their English abilities and to prepare their lessons. If they have confidence in their lessons, they will teach better and they will be motivated. Also, if some special English programs for improving English abilities and professionalism are provided for them, they will be more encouraged to be a good teacher.
Second, we need to provide many different kinds of practical English programs for English teachers. In Korea, we spend a fortune in hiring native English teachers. I know native English teachers are necessary for Korean English education. However, the equal amount of money should be invested for improving Korean English teachers’ qualification. Teachers can be reeducated through various kinds of English programs. For example, if some teachers think they need to improve language abilities, they can take a course appropriate for their needs. If some teachers have difficulty in applying different kinds of methods, they can choose their course suited for them. Not only do they have opportunities to improve language abilities and teaching skills, but they also share their concerns and interests with one another. Sharing common ideas make them feel that they belong to the same community and they will find solutions about problems they are facing more easily.
Third, there should be a community for native English teachers and Korean English teachers. There is a barrier between native English teachers and non-native English teachers because the communication between them is blocked. Korean English teachers think native English teachers do not have any will to learn about Korea, for instance, Korean students, language and culture. However, native English teachers think that Korean English teachers are irresponsible and indifferent to them. Each teacher is complaining about their counterparts because of miscommunication. If there is a community for them, they can share their difficulties and understand each other better. Moreover, if they have a chance to show their classes, they will compensate for their deficiency. I think that we are all English teachers. We do not have to divide native English teachers and non-native English teachers. We need to break this barrier.
Finally, most teachers want to be perfect, but I think it is impossible to be a perfect teacher. Teachers are frustrated because they tend to focus on only negative aspects. Every teacher must have at least one merit in teaching. If they make good use of their good points, not complaining about their disadvantages, they are more likely to be better teachers. Besides, while they are training themselves in many ways, they will be encouraged through their achievements and self-satisfaction.
Like teachers, students tend to focus on only negative aspects. Some students are very good at reading, while others are very good at speaking. Most students have different learning styles like their personality. We teachers need to accept their differences. I do not have to evaluate their differences. If teachers encourage student to develop their good points, they will eventually improve their less developed skills with the help of other developed skills.
In conclusion, I want to put emphasis on differences. Most teachers and students are very different. I am different from native English teachers, so I have different advantages native teachers do not have. If we create a community which accepts all difference, we can understand each other better and make more comfortable and beneficial environment for all the teachers and students.

Native or non-native

I like the message this article tries to send us stating that “natives and non-natives have an equal chance to become successful teachers, but the routes used by the two groups are not the same.” (p.340) It is a very positive and promising message for me because I can be a good English teacher by taking the full advantage of this equal chance, and at the same time of the other advantages that natives do not have.

Before reading this article, my belief has been always that the more proficient a teacher is, the more efficient a teaching becomes in teaching English. Many non-native Korean English teachers, including me, compare their language proficiency with that of native and then they become frustrated. They tend to think they are useless in the presence of a native English teacher. Therefore, many non-native English teachers depend on native English teachers too much and consequently spend most of their time observing the class. Surely, many teachers forgot that there are weaknesses and strengths in both native teachers and non-native teachers. Even though native teachers are fluent in English, they have difficulties understanding the needs of students and using some learning strategies effectively. However, non-native teachers can understand students’ difficulties better and use appropriate learning strategies with their students.

I have some experience in teaching with native teachers. I remember that if we had enough time to talk about the lesson, we could teach students more successfully. However, when only a native teacher conducted a lesson at the beginning of the semester, especially, when he was not familiar with students, the class was not so successful. Even though he was a fluent speaker, he failed in figuring out students’ characteristics and needs. Without complementing one another in their strengths and weaknesses, teaching English is not likely to succeed. Native teachers can provide clearer and more accurate input for students, while non-native teachers can help students understand what the native teacher explained, sometimes using mother tongue.

Even though I have some advantages over natives as a teacher, I am very often frustrated by my limited English ability. I have to accept this limitation as my reality. What is a qualified teacher? In my opinion, it is very difficult to answer because teaching is so complicated that it requires many different skills. I do not have to compare my English ability with that of native. However, as an English teacher, language proficiency is the most important element. There are not enough native English teachers in Korea. Therefore, usually only Korean teachers teach students without any help from native teachers. When Korean people evaluate the English teacher’s language proficiency, they tend to take into account only pronunciation. They do not consider other components of language proficiency, such as, vocabulary, grammar, speaking, writing, etc. Many Korean people think that English teachers should sound like a native speaker. Most English teachers do not sound like a native speaker. Therefore, many Koreans, including parents and students, do not trust Korean English teachers. They do not consider the advantages Korean English teachers have. They want to take lessons from native teachers outside the classroom, without considering their qualification.

The class I am taking now is a good example of how a non-native teacher can be a successful teacher. I do not compare her pronunciation with that of native. Her accent is a little bit different from that of native. However, I think accent is not so important. She has high English language proficiency. In addition, she understands students’ difficulties very well. It is very surprising that she understands what I am saying even though there are many mistakes in it although usually natives cannot understand it. She is more empathetic to the students’ needs and difficulties. While I am taking her class, I hope that I can be a good teacher like her.
I heard from her that “the change in the society is very slow compared to the development of theory”. Many people contend that natives and non-natives have an equal chance to become successful teachers. However, it seems that the Korean society reluctantly accepts this message. I hope that in the future many Korean people think that Korean English teachers too have many advantages and are able to create the environment where they can make good of these advantages.

A sociolinguistically based, empirically researched pronunciation syllabus for English as an International language by Jennifer Jenkins

Many people contend that English is being used as an international language. In Korea, I did not think English as an international language, because American English had a power over the other Englishes. However, since I came here in America, I have had experience in using English as an international language. I have more opportunities to meet many international students than I expected. To my surprise, there are less Americans than international students in my classes. In this context, this article gave me some insights into learning and teaching English.
I realize that I need to be accustomed to different accents from international students. My classes, which consist of various students from different countries, are very good to receive much exposure to different pronunciations. At the beginning of semester, I wanted to listen to only native speaker’s pronunciation. However, as time goes by, I understand that listening to different pronunciations is very essential in learning and teaching English. Now I can guess which country the speaker comes from through his or her pronunciation.
Even though American English is so powerful in English education in Korea, there are some shifts in English education. When I was very young, I listened to American pronunciation in TV or radio, however, today, I can listen to different accents from Australian, Canadian and Newzealander. In addition, when I had an Internet Based TOEFL test, I had to understand the passage recorded by people with different accents. Not only in the world, but also in Korea, students need to experience different accents. However, it is difficult to cover all the different accents in the homogeneous classes. Therefore, it is very significant to listen to various accents through mass media. Before I came here, I did not realize how important to be exposed to different English accents through mass media. I am so pleased that Korean English education is on the right track.
Whenever I needed to teach pronunciation, I had plenty of difficulties in deciding what to teach. I did not have any confidence in teaching pronunciation, so the easiest way is to let students repeat after the native speaker’s voice recorded in CD. After I have read this article, I think that teaching some difference influencing the interpretability is very important when my students have opportunities to exchange some ideas with people from different countries. The ways mentioned in this article are very practical for me to cover in my classes. The tendency to compare my pronunciation with native speaker’s leads me to be frustrated and to lose my confidence when I speak and teach my students.

Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches by Sandra Lee Mckay (Chapter 1-2)

Nowadays English is being used as an international language. English is spreading all over the world. There are some negative effects of the spread of English. I want to talk about these negative effects.

Firstly, I’d like to talk about the association of the language with the economic elite. In Korea, English ability is closely related to parents’ wealth. Parents and students feel that public school can not satisfy with their needs of English education. They usually depend on private language institutes. However, only people with wealth can access to private language institutes. It causes a big gap between students’ abilities and opportunities to succeed in society. English education is very essential for students’ success in many ways. Students with high proficiency can enter high qualified schools. It guarantees students’ success in their lives. They can receive a high salary job more easily and more opportunities to become the elite. In this situation, I think that public schools need to create more practical programs for English educations. Besides, the Korean government should provide English teachers various programs for improving their expertise. One of the ways to improve English education in Korea is hiring many native English teachers. However, it does not guarantee the success of Korean English education. Korean English teachers are a lot more important than native English teachers. Usually, native English teachers teach for one or two years and after that they leave Korea. Also, some native English teachers are not qualified as an English teacher. However, we English teachers depend on native English teachers too much. Their pronunciation is the main criteria to judge a good teacher. Even though Korean English teachers are qualified, they seem to be frustrated by comparing them with native English teachers’ pronunciation. Korean English teachers should get over this sense of inferiority and build their expertise through various kinds of training programs. More importantly, Korean society should create an environment for parents and students to trust English education in public school. Only public school can narrow inequality between students’ opportunities.

Secondly, I’d like to mention about the cultural identity. While I was teaching English, I did not think about the negative effects on students’ cultural identities. I think that it was a big mistake. I used American culture to attract students’ interest and attention. While I was focusing on American culture, I seemed to look down on Korean culture. For about first five years since I became an English teacher, I did not deal with Korean culture in my English classes. It was not common to find some Korean cultural materials in textbooks. Naturally, I did not deal with Korean cultural materials. This prejudiced teaching attitudes had effects on students’ cultural identities negatively. Recently, I have tried to deal with Korean cultural materials in my English classes. Surprisingly, we had a lot of difficulties in sharing Korean cultural materials in English, even though we are Korean. Students are more familiar with American culture. Now, English is an international language, so English is no longer connected to American culture. I should provide different cultures from different countries as well as help students build abilities to share their cultures.

Finally, English is very essential for students’ future. The opportunities to access to qualified English education should be given equally. In this sense, the qualification of public school English teachers is very important. Teachers should keep in mind that their teaching attitudes can have effects on their students’ identity formation. Also, society should create the mood for teacher to do their best in studying and teaching.

Japanese Culture Constructed by Discourses: Implications for Applied Linguistics Research and ELT by Ryuko Kubota

To begin with, this article made me reflect on my English classes. I know the importance of teaching culture but I don’t know what to teach about it and how to teach it effectively. I have always struggled to know how to use culture materials. However, this article gives me some insight into teaching culture.
According to this article, there are three models for teaching culture: the acculturation model; the pluralist model; critical multiculturalism. I think that my attitude toward teaching culture is between the acculturation model and the pluralist model. Korean people, including me, tend to respect only American culture and language, and teachers usually focus on teaching this American culture. This tendency for focusing on American culture seems to come from the acculturation model. In acculturation model, we think American culture is superior to our Korean culture. This evaluation leads us to abandon our culture and follow American culture without any critical thinking. In my English classes, I tend to focus on only American culture, even though there are many different cultures from English-speaking countries. There are two main reasons I put emphasis on American culture. First, many people, including students and parents, want to learn only American culture. In Korea, American culture and language have preferred to another culture and language. People want to enjoy that power of American culture and language guarantee. They want to stay safe within the area of insider power. Second, I do not have enough information about different cultures. I should be the source of information about different cultures. My knowledge about different cultures is very superficial, so I cannot attract students’ interest and attention. Whenever I have an opportunity to teach another culture, except American culture, I feel a lot of burden.
Now, I am in America. I am thinking of what made me to come here. There are different countries I could choose to study English; however, I have made up my mind to study in America. Maybe I was eager to obtain the power in Korea. Studying English, especially in America, can give a power over other English teachers in Korea. In this sense, I was in the stage of the acculturation model when I came to America.
While I am dealing with this article about culture and language, I am changing my attitudes towards them. My goal has been changed. My first goal was improving English ability to get a power. However, my revised goal is learning English to explore culture and language in a critical way. I want to get a freedom from the subordinate and slavery position from American culture.
Nowadays, I am very surprised that the words, for instance, native language and western culture, I used without thinking have a power to control other languages and cultures. I did not realize that using these mystified words made me more frustrated and inferior as a teacher. I will make efforts to reconstruct the meanings of these words; however there are numerous barriers I should get over, such as the needs from students and parents, the expectation of my English ability as a teacher from our society, and the blind acceptance of American culture and language.
Finally, teaching has a tendency to evaluate language and culture. However, as an English teacher, I should be very careful not to evaluate language and culture. This evaluation can give us prejudice against language and culture. Besides, this prejudice creates cultural stereotypes. These prejudiced and cultural stereotypes can keep students from exploring different cultures and languages in a critical way. Today, I am thinking that teaching culture and language can be influenced by society but teaching culture and language can change the society. I understand the significant role as an English teacher.

Breaking Them Up, Taking Them Away: ESL Students in Grade 1 by Kelleen Toohey

“Breaking Them Up, Taking Them Away” : ESL Students in Grade 1 by Kelleen Toohey

I was very shocked to read this article because some very insignificant looking things in daily life can make a big negative difference. Even though it was written about 10 years ago, it made me think about my English classes and my two sons’ English classes from the different aspects. I realized that what I did in my class without thinking have has serious negative effects on their learning and self identities. In addition, this article made me curious about my two sons’ classrooms in America.
This article deals with three things mainly: the location of participants; the management of the material; and the source of the intellectual sources. First I want to mention about the location of participants. Ms. Jones who worked as a homeroom teacher shows that she didn’t like her students moving around the classroom and making noises and so decided to assign seating to students. There are many teachers with the same thinking like Ms. Jones, including me. It is a lot easier to control students with assigned seats. Besides, I don’t have to worry about my class disrupting neighboring rooms. In my case, there was a library next to the principal’s room at school I worked. Most teachers hesitated to use the library because they felt an extra burden to make students stay calm and quiet. Sometimes, when there are loud noises from the students’ activities in the library, the principal came and looked around the library. That made teachers hesitate to use the library. Even though they used the library, they tended to plan individual work for students. I think the location of classroom is also important.
If I look at the classroom in Korea, an individual desk is assigned to each student. There is only one student whom to talk to and to receive a help from side by side. Each student should not change their seats without any permission from the teacher. Therefore their interactions between classmates are very limited. It is natural for students to stay calm. We teachers tend to think if there is no noise, it means students will study hard. What a cruel situation this is! I thought about my two sons. What if there is no one they can get help from in America, especially when they can’t speak English well and they are very intimidated. So I was very curious about my two sons’ seating arrangement and asked them about it. In the case of my second son, his seating was in the front row, so the teacher could watch him very well. Whenever he had a problem in the classroom, the teacher helped him. However, one month later, his seating changed. He is sitting in the middle surrounded by friends. It’s very easy for him to get help from friends and to make friends. Also, he told me that he is feeling more comfortable than before. He felt awkward while the teacher was watching him even though he received lots of help from the teacher. I am very delighted because he does not have any difficulty in making friends. For my own convenience, I assigned students’ seating without considering any side effects on my students. This was selfish of me.
There is a big difference between Korean students’ English abilities according to their parents’ economic status. We parents should spend a fortune to improve our children’s English abilities. Some people say that if the parents want their child to succeed in getting good grades, they should meet three requirements; grandparents’ wealth, mother’s resourcefulness, child’s intelligence. Parents who do not have enough money to spend for their children’s English education need to ask for money from their parents. Mothers should have lots of information about English education, especially English academies. The last one is the child’s intelligence. People think that if there is enough money and information for their children’s education, less intelligent children may still succeed. It is a sad and harsh reality. However, the similar things happen in the classroom where children should be treated equally. Students who are not fluent in English have difficulty in borrowing materials. Usually students who are fluent in English have power in the classroom. It seems that interactions between students are decided by students with the power in terms of language and wealth. To prevent students with less power who are isolated from students with power, teachers need to provide many opportunities for students to share their educational materials with their classmates. For this purpose, grouping students is better than assigning individual seating to students because these students can receive help from many students with less difficulty.
I have experience in studying TESOL in Sookmyeong Women’s University. At that time, all the professors put emphasis on cooperation and collaboration. At the beginning of studying, I didn’t understand the importance of these two ideas. However, while I was studying with my classmates, I realized the importance of cooperation. We usually shared all the things, for instance, place, materials, and knowledge, with one another. Once we shared the desk, it was very easy to share materials and knowledge. Especially, by sharing knowledge, we can expand our knowledge more effectively.
After I have read this article, I think that when I manage my classroom I need to take into account all the possible side effects I have learned. The convenience in controlling students should not be the main element in planning seating arrangements. I agree that there are many benefits from moving individual desks together and sharing the supplies and materials. However, I think that teachers should plan lessons appropriate for grouping. Some lessons are suitable for individual work. I don’t think grouping tables is the best one for all students. Teachers should be flexible in grouping according to their students’ needs and contexts.

Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning

I really enjoyed reading ‘Social Identity, Investment, and Language Learning’ by Bonny Norton Peirce. This article made me think about my English learning and teaching experience. I have taught and learned English without taking into consideration social identity and investment related to me and my students. While I am reading this article, I have an opportunity to understand myself and my students. Two things, social identity and investment, attracted my attention and interest. So I’d like to talk about it.
I have used and heard about the word ‘identity’. Maybe it could mean ‘who I am’. Very often I don’t know ‘who I am’. However, while I was taking the lecture, I had a chance to understand it. I have taken charge of many roles regardless of my intention. In these different roles, I took different contradictive selves. I agree that these different selves have affected my English learning. As an English teacher, I needed to get many opportunities to talk with native speakers in the classroom or outside the classroom, even though my personality was very shy and calm. At that time my two selves were contradicting each other. However, it is very interesting that talking with native speakers has changed my personality. Even though I was really shy, I talked with a native speaker. As time goes by, my English ability has been getting better and better and confidence in myself has been improved. As a result, I become more active than before. Like this, I have noticed that my social identity is multiple, usually contradictive, and a site of struggle. My active personality struggled to beat my shy personality. Eventually, my identity has changed. There are numerous possibilities for my social identity to be changed in every moment.
However, when I taught my students, I had prejudice against students, especially unmotivated looking students. Even though some students want to improve their English abilities, they seem to be unmotivated because they don’t have any successful experience in learning English. I am just wondering how many times I gave them to experience their success in English learning in the classroom. They might struggle to learn English inside of themselves. I didn’t give a chance to try it. They lost their power in class. That might affect their attitude toward English learning and English teacher negatively. I think that it is necessary to take into consideration students’ situations from different aspects when there is a student who doesn’t have any interest in learning English.
I have lots of interest in the notion ‘investment’. I am investing all I have in my own social identity. I don’t know if my investment has a positive effect or a negative effect on my own social identity. In my opinion, any investment accompanies some risks. The more dangerous risks are, the more benefits we get. Language learning itself can affect my social identity. As I mentioned before, while I am improving my English ability, my attitude toward English has become positive in general. However, when I have faced with a difficult situation, for instance, I was surrounded by native English speakers in class, I lost my confidence in English and was frustrated again. Because they spoke so fast that I couldn’t understand them. In addition to that, sometimes they spoke a slang I couldn’t understand. That seemed to make me alienated from them. But I think of the investment (money, time and efforts) I made for my English learning and once again I struggle to survive. With the help of the notion ‘investment’, I can understand my multiple self identities in myself in different situations.
Finally, I think that I need to get rid of the prejudice against my students. I used to think that the unmotivated students cannot be chanbed. They are very flexible and changeable in different contexts like me. Therefore, if I understand their investment and give more chances to succeed in their language learning, I can help them improve their English ability. One of the ways I can understand students’ investment can be a journal. I will have a chance to understand my students and to help them improve their English abilities through analyzing their journals. However, the obstacle I should overcome is to make students feel comfortable and write down their candid journals of themselves. I think that it’s not so easy to get students’ candid journals. The notion that students’ social identities are flexible gives me high hopes.

Toward a Postmethod Pedagogy(B. KUMARADIVELU)

After I have read this article about a postmethod pedagogy, three pedagogic parameters: particularity, practicality, and possibilty come to my mind. Even though I have taught English for about 15 years, these parameters gave me an opportuntity to think about my job as an English teacher.
I read new theories in anticipation that these fantastic theories could solve all the problems I would face with my students in the classroom. However, whenever I tried to apply the theory in the class, I felt frustrated. The theory was not fit for my students. The class was a mess. First, I didn't consdier my teaching situation; my students' levels, my goals and students' needs, even more institutional context. Without considering the specific situation, I just tried to pour all the knowlege I have learned to my students. My students were very embarrassed and I was very frustrated in spite of my efforts. I have always thought the theory was useless for me and it is just an ideal.
When I had chances to listen to lecutures about new theories, I always nodded my head. However, I didn't try to test theories in my classes. I just tried once or twice. That's all. As I mentioned above, my efforts were always useless. I didn't analyze the reasons theories were not so effective in my classes. I always doubted about the usefulness of theories. Frankly speaking, I know that I need to acquire context-sensitive pedagogy knowledge and to use it in every day teaching. However, I know that it is too difficult. Very often I think that it is difficult to just follow theories without any consideration of the context. Right now, I am very frustrated. I am wondering if I can deal with this practicality parameter in my classes. I think it is really painful to theorize through my practice and practice what I theorize. In my opinion, first I need to firm my context-sensitive knowledge through endless efforts.
In my teaching experience, I didn't think about the last parameter, possibility. Language teaching is not neutral. I can have a strong influence on students' identity formations. I was a little bit of surprised to see that nobody wants to have English nick name, even though I was forced to make up my English name when I was very young. People tend to understand the relationship between English names and their identities. I should aware what I am teaching and asking all the time. In addition to that, language is related to power. I also need to conscious of sociopolitical aspects, for instance, the changes of social positions when I teach English.
In conclusion, after I have read this article, I feel responsibility as an English teacher. Before I came here, I was too passive that somebody had a key for my problems. However, the key is in me. The greater autonomy I have, the more responsibility I accept.

Firth, A. & Wagner, J.(1997). On discourse, communication, and some fundamental concepts in SLA research.

This journal is a little beyond my understanding. It is difficult for me to catch some important ideas. Even though my understanding is not correct, I will try to write a response related to my teaching experience.
The first thing which attracts my interest is "theory culling". I have heard many theories about English teaching from my professors and textbooks, however, I don't have any core value in my teaching. Whenever, I hear a new theory, I am swayed without any goals. In this journal, "theory culling" can be used differently, but I need to do "theory culling" for my teaching. In my opinion, it is important to select some advantages and disadvantages of theories fitting for my teaching value critically.
Secondly, I like the notion "Integrated and balance". I tend to go to the extreme. For example, if someone says, "This theory or method is wonderful!" I discard the theory or method I applied and follow new ones without considering my teaching goals and situations. Mostly the new one is the opposite of the old one. Also because of the lack of knowledge of the new theory and method, I usually misunderstood and applied them in a wrong way. All the things need to be integrated and balanced, for instance, cognitive and social dimension of Second Language Acquision. I will have more opportunities to understand students' language problems more deeply and correctly. In addition to that, students will enjoy some benefits from the integrated and balanced approach.
Thirdly, according to Varonis & Gass, native speakers and nonnative speakers are mutiply handicapped in conversation with one another. This made me a little bit of excited and encouraged. As a nonnative speaker, I have any confidence in my English. Moreover, whenever I taught my students, I told that native speakers English is superior to ours. However, we are all handicaped in conversation. Therefore I don't have make my students frustrated all the time. Our nonnative speakers' English is also systematic and valuable. I emphasized that native speakers' English is perfect in my classes and just asked students to imitate their English. How foolish I am! I didn't explain why their English is perfect. To be honest, I didn't know the reason. Without considering the contexts English can be used, I just asked my students to follow native speakers' English. I just taught English as a tool, but I didn't teach how use it appropriately.
Lastly, when I taught students, I focused on only their mistakes, I mean, only negative things. However, from this journal, I need to focus on students' communicative success as well as their problems. By examining their communicative success, I will observe students' language progress.
I don't know how well I understood this journal, but it made me think about my teaching experience and value once again.

This is my TESOL paradise!!!