#classroom dynamics

ADHD and school have been a struggle for decades.This is a post I first wrote in 2008 – and it is still painfully relevant today. Read this post in Swedish -> Originally published August 10, 2008.Shared again because it is still urgent. This is an older text. I wrote it on my very first blog, Malix – yes, I actually did it, many years ago.When I read it today, I am struck by how little has…

xplore the foundations of ESOL teaching in this comprehensive course module. Learn about second language acquisition principles, cultural diversity, challenges, and integrating first languages. Enhance your teaching practice today.

I’m writing a series of modules on the foundations of teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). This is long overdue as I was an ESOL teacher for many years, but it feels good to be looking at this content again with fresh eyes. I have roughly six chunks planned which I will draft and post here like I normally do with new content: Introduction to ESOL Teaching (this…

Reading: 

chapters 3, 4, 5 from Biliteracy and Education: English Language Education and India (2005) by Viniti Vaish:  Vaish’s research is done in the context of a single school in New Delhi (Rajkiya Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya), one run by the Delhi administration. These chapters in Vaish’s book examine the different pedagogies employed in the classroom teaching of English--namely, choral recitation, translation, and codeswitching. The quality of textbooks, social contexts of the classrooms in which English is taught, and the socio-cultural and pedagogic goals that the teaching of English aspires towards are some of the other themes explored in the research.  

1. We discussed how the presentation of content in the book, while lucid and written in short, direct sentences, seemed simplistic; there seemed to be a lack of an overarching framework and the author seemed to cherry-pick examples rather than adequately detail out the context of study (especially the context of teachers). The description of students--as somewhat unruly or inattentive--already introduces a bias about the context of learning. It is also not clear what the socialization of these teachers and students are. Language learning and language ideology is influenced by one’s socialization in multiple spaces (we discussed some experiential examples), so the lack of detailing in the chapters makes it seem as if the socialization is primarily happening in the classroom. Also, the author seems to be positive that the students are learning (using theoretical frameworks to justify her point) from classroom pedagogies instead of studying the student-faculty and student-student interaction over a period of time. 

2. Chapter 3 presents ‘choral recitation’ or the drilling method of learning words/grammar as a culturally situated pedagogy. There were disagreements regarding the implications of this method. Some argued that it is not enough to merely memorise the word, but learn how to use it in different contexts and towards different social agendas; some suggested that it may be useful to first introduce and learn vocabulary to be able to engage with textual material. Another limitation of the drilling or recitation method is that remembering and articulating words (and further fluently use them in conversations) are different tasks; one does not implicitly follow from the other. 

3. We also pondered over what ‘critical’ function memorising words might serve--it is difficult to understand the relation between rote learning and critical interpretive thinking. This is relevant even in university settings, where students frequently ‘memorise’ answers requiring critical interpretation. How does that shape one’s use of language to ‘critically’ interpret? 

4. The chapters present code-switching as an effective, and perhaps inevitable, mode of teaching and learning in bi-literate and multi-literate contexts. This was considered an important point since it reinforces the premise that boundaries between languages are artificially constructed. However, some of us argued that code-switching between two languages might have mixed implications for how grammar and idiomatic usage is taught--the logical principles of grammar might be incorrectly taught. Some discussed there might be productive implications for code-switching and translation in teaching regional languages. It was felt that language learning experiences in regional languages (the example of Hindi in English-medium schools in Delhi was used) was over-standardized and disconnected from contemporary usages, and could perhaps benefit from the evolving discourse of language pedagogy--perhaps this is because the conversations on language pedagogy in regional languages gets less attention or representation. 

5. Another point of discussion was how language ideology gets shaped. Chapter 4 argued about the importance of culturally situated textbooks and how cultural ideology would be shaped by the kinds of examples used in the textbooks. However, the mere use of diverse examples does not necessarily sensitise the student to diversity or necessarily teach the content effectively--both depend on pedagogic negotiations, relationships between students and teachers, socialisation, among other factors. Students are also picking up language from a variety of media--the prescribed textbook is always a limited source. Chapter 5 presents a set of aspirations students associate with English--that it will help students develop their ‘personality’ and mobilise greater social and economic power. We discussed whether that should be assumed as a default aspiration to begin with. For example, aspirations to communicate in English might serve functions of social bridging (talking to other communities), diverse career interests (not merely derived from some standardized or limited understanding of professional mobility). Students might also be expressing in English through different forums--one of the chapters presented the example of students writing journal entries in English (it might be for practise but also linked to expression of private thoughts). One’s relationship with language is also shaped by social and emotional relationships--we discussed the example of forming emotional bonds with teachers (there might be a gendered or community-based logic to it frequently). 

6. The question of how teaching English to address different social functions can be imagined in a standardized system was raised. While there are no easy answers, some suggested that perhaps the emphasis of teaching language should also engage with teaching approaches or attitudes towards the language; to initiate students into the language and then encourage them to reflectively explore it in their own contexts. The NCERT/institutional learning outcomes could also incorporate such an insight--the outcomes represented in the chapter seemed to speak to more limited needs. 

Readings: 

Building Multiliterate and Multilingual Writing Practices and Identities, Allison Skerrett: This essay spoke about the multiliterate reading and writing world in a classroom of fifteen to sixteen consenting students. Here, seven focal students were examined, with particular interest given to Nina - a Mexican American student who had a complicated relationship with both English and Spanish. The researchers in question looked at how engagement was increased by tapping into the student’s world outside of school: through cellphone literacy, notes left at home, and conversations between friends. 

A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World, The Douglas Fir Group: This essay offers a multidisciplinary theoretical framework, combining socio-cultural and neurocognitive perspectives to study as well as pedagogically navigate second language acquisition.

Given how much of SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research is mired in isolated disciplinary approaches, the essay by The Douglas Fir Group is a welcome attempt at combining/transfusing disciplinary approaches. The emphasis on the neuro-cognitive (not so much in terms of cognitive development as cognitive factors influencing language acquisition and usage) in relation to the social and ideological can be instructive in developing pedagogic orientations. However, the schematic organisation of the argument (for example, language learning and teaching happens across micro, meso, macro levels; there are ten thematic clusters along which language learning-teaching can be categorised)--perhaps inevitable in a theoretical project of such a scale--can also be questioned for its universalistic presumptions and the logic of categorisation. 

Some of the other criticisms of the essay which came up include: a) it is unclear as to how research informed by this framework can practically translate into teaching practices b) the technologization of language acquisition might work very differently for different social and material contexts--the essay tends to make the point about technology in rather broad strokes c) how can this framework be adapted to Indian contexts where SLA is far more complex? While some of the general aspects/approaches can be useful (displacing the monolingual vantage-point from the conceptualization of literacy research; considering the social, ideological, cognitive, affective aspects of language learning-teaching in literacy/pedagogic practice; recognising that people already work with an existing multilingual repertoire of words), the particularities will need to be figured out in relation to local variations of language use and acquisition. 

It was discussed how experiences of SLA in India might have a more complicated relation to ‘mother tongue’ acquisition and usage. While we may be (comfortably) speaking in regional languages within familial/social settings, our positionality shifts according to where we are speaking and who we are speaking to. In school, the disconnect from/lack of belonging to ‘traditional’ cultural values of the standardized regional language (we discussed the examples of Hindi and Bengali), the absence of multiple registers of the regional language being used within educational settings, along with the rote-learning approach favoured by language pedagogy (learning idioms), might not necessarily ensure a grounding in the ‘mother tongue’ itself. The emphasis on multilingualism might emphasise a token diversity of languages/identities operating in the classroom, but might not help flesh out the practices through which language learning can happen. We thought that we can read up more on the politics/modalities of first language acquisition, along with SLA. 

The question of how a multilingual orientation in literacy practice can be related to assessment was brought up. In a context where standardized assessment is allied to socio-economic mobility, the teacher might have to play the paradoxical function of both ‘empowering’ the student according to normative requirements as well as encourage a critical attitude towards such norms. It was also discussed that such a notion of empowerment was in terms of ‘market’ or ‘employer’ interests; that it might still be subject to socially discriminatory attitudes/dominant interests; and might not generate a critical discussion of what education, literacy, and ‘empowerment’ means for both the learner and teacher. This was a segue into a discussion on the other reading, Building Multiliterate and Multilingual Writing Practices and Identities by Allison Skerrett, where the premise of ‘literacy’ appears self-evident--it is not asked why is ‘literacy’ important to begin with, what ‘literacy’ exactly means, or what the agendas of literacy should be?

While walking in line…

Walking in line is a hard thing to do for my kids and its understandable. We have a long way to go before we reach the cafeteria. The dynamics of my classroom makes it an interesting class. There are kids who fight in line, kids who decide it’s time to sit down for a conversation, kids who turn like pinwheels while walking (and cry when they fall down 😆😂)

The kids are walking in line as we head…