The second year of my teaching, I was selected to compete in the University Model-class Competition – which intended to select the best class in each subject area and set it as a school model. I won the first prize and my class became the model English class in my university. Two months later, I was nominated to be the coach of the University English Speech Team. I felt honored and at the same time excited about my new responsibility. My role shifted again from a teacher to a coach and there was more pressure since I had to train my students to make them competitive among students from other universities and let them stand out and win. I became ambitious and I felt I had more power in using English as a tool to win honor for my students as
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This person is smart that he/she does not say anything such as “Your English is not standard but mine is”; instead, he only judges, fails or marginalizes people who do not speak like him or her. Thomas (1999) claims that “The development of a standard form of a language is tied up with the development of a national and cultural identity” (p. 155). To apply it to English, which English or English varieties people speak could represent the national and cultural identify of people from a particular society. However, it is almost impossible to have one single English or English variety that identifies every person in a country or society because each individual uses English differently; their purposes of using it vary, and “how they perceive themselves, and what identity they want to project” (Wareing, 1999, p. 10) are different as well. In this case, it seems like the identity of language is actually the identity of the people who speak that language. Wareing (1999) asserts that “Who speaks which language (or which variety of a particular language) and the attitudes of people towards that language (or language variety), are further issues inherently connected to the concepts of power and society” (p. 10). In other words, some speakers are powerful enough to empower …show more content…
When language is used, variations happen since there is “scope for creativity and invention” (Wareing, 1999). While we are teaching English, one of our purposes should be focused on how to encourage free language expression without judgment. We need to work on providing the space “where Standard English could be acquired while at the same time respecting and reinforcing the children’s pride in their own variety” (Van Lier & Corson, 1997, p. 237). In addition, we need to be mindful and open-minded when perceiving language since language is not isolated from the society; it is interdependent to the social, political and cultural aspects of the world. Another important point is that perceiving other people by the way they speak is sometimes dangerous since often times our perception is biased because of the concept of language prestige we receive from the popular culture and media. Finally, a language researcher of English needs to be free from bias when exploring and studying the varieties of English in the language
This person is smart that he/she does not say anything such as “Your English is not standard but mine is”; instead, he only judges, fails or marginalizes people who do not speak like him or her. Thomas (1999) claims that “The development of a standard form of a language is tied up with the development of a national and cultural identity” (p. 155). To apply it to English, which English or English varieties people speak could represent the national and cultural identify of people from a particular society. However, it is almost impossible to have one single English or English variety that identifies every person in a country or society because each individual uses English differently; their purposes of using it vary, and “how they perceive themselves, and what identity they want to project” (Wareing, 1999, p. 10) are different as well. In this case, it seems like the identity of language is actually the identity of the people who speak that language. Wareing (1999) asserts that “Who speaks which language (or which variety of a particular language) and the attitudes of people towards that language (or language variety), are further issues inherently connected to the concepts of power and society” (p. 10). In other words, some speakers are powerful enough to empower …show more content…
When language is used, variations happen since there is “scope for creativity and invention” (Wareing, 1999). While we are teaching English, one of our purposes should be focused on how to encourage free language expression without judgment. We need to work on providing the space “where Standard English could be acquired while at the same time respecting and reinforcing the children’s pride in their own variety” (Van Lier & Corson, 1997, p. 237). In addition, we need to be mindful and open-minded when perceiving language since language is not isolated from the society; it is interdependent to the social, political and cultural aspects of the world. Another important point is that perceiving other people by the way they speak is sometimes dangerous since often times our perception is biased because of the concept of language prestige we receive from the popular culture and media. Finally, a language researcher of English needs to be free from bias when exploring and studying the varieties of English in the language