Gender inequalities related to SLA

Gender inequalities related to SLA

It is true that in our society, there are many inequities. We may all influence by those inequities somehow. Indeed, social inequities play a negative role in second language acquisition. In this reflection, I mainly focus on the gender inequalities on foreign and second language teaching.

Basically, gender plays a dual role in foreign and second language teaching. On the one hand, Learners as individuals whose motivations, investment, choices, and options may be limited by gender as a system of social relations and discursive practices. One the other hand, in the language classrooms, teachers introduce students to "virtual world" of other languages where gender and sexuality may be constructed and performed differently than in their own culture.

Because of the gender inequalities, there is difficult for women to get access to the material and symbolic resources, including education and interactional opportunities. For examples, in some culture, women are supposed to look after their babies and families. In this situation, mothers may be forced to stay at home. Therefore, they may have no chance to learn other languages after they have families. What’s more, some women’s husbands do not want their wives to become more educated than they are. Therefore, females are supposed to be less educated than males under the social bias. In turn, women may be reluctant to attend classes due to the prior lack of education. This kind of social bias may decrease the females’ learning motivation. It is just like a vicious cycle.

            Therefore, the gender inequities become a major issue preventing some women from acquiring a second language. Teachers of second languages must be aware of the gender inequities that might exist in their classrooms.

It is apparent that women from all cultures are subject to the demands of their first language culture that might interfere with SLA. The inequities range from something as serious as sexual harassment to demands that women remain home to look after their children and husband. Their level of education prior to beginning to acquire a second language, their financial status, the level of freedom which they were allowed in their first culture and perhaps their comfort level with men in the classroom. All of these issues, in varying degrees, could have an impact on their SLA.

It is imperative, therefore, that the teacher of second languages be aware of the cultural background of all students in the class and especially the background of the female students in the class.

To counteract the affect of gender inequities, some researchers proposed that a feminist curriculum be developed to help women acquire a second language in the face of so many gender inequities. However, in my opinion, if a feminist curriculum is developed and used in a second language classroom, does that mean that the men in the classroom will be disadvantaged by the curriculum or will the curriculum deal with any male gender inequities or will second language programs have to be segregated into male and female classes. It is clear that something needs to be done to account for the gender inequities which women experience, but some thought needs to be given to just what should be done. Perhaps a curriculum could be devised to offset all gender inequities (male and female) and keep both men and women in the same second language classes. Segregating them might rob the teacher of an opportunity to show both men and women the negative affects of gender inequities.

In conclusion, the gender inequalities do interfere women with their second language learning. It is important for teachers to be aware of gender inequities in the classroom. What’s more, it is ideal to create a curriculum balance all the gender inequities in both males and females.

Family Language Tree

  Family Language Tree

                                                                                                 Qingqing Liu & Ting Bai  Oct.16^th

   

	Grandmother	Grandfather	Grandmother	Grandfather
Name Called	Petunia	Brady	Edna	Hyle
Spoken	Cantonese	Cantonese	Cantonese	Cantonese
Written	Cantonese	Cantonese Mandarin	Cantonese	Cantonese
Read	Cantonese	Cantonese Mandarin	Cantonese	Cantonese

	Mother	Father
Name Called	Lisa	Mancel
Spoken	English, Spanish  Cantonese, Mandarin	Spanish, Cantonese   English
Written	English, Spanish Cantonese	Spanish, Cantonese  English
Read	English, Spanish  Cantonese	Spanish, Cantonese English

	Main Information
Name Called	Ryan
Spoken	Cantonese, English French Spanish, Mandarin
Written	Cantonese, English French
Read	Cantonese, English French

Analysis of Ryan’s family language tree

Ryan’s parents immigrated into Canada in June of 1992. He was born in Canada in 1998. The first language of Ryan is Cantonese. He told us that in his family, he communicated with his parents in Cantonese. Because his parents are good at English, when Ryan was young, his parents tried their best to teach Ryan English. When Ryan entered into primary school, he already acquired Cantonese and English. At the same time, his parents also taught him Spanish. So, Spanish can be considered as his Third Language. However, he can just speak it.

We know that Canada is a bilingual country (English and French). Later, Ryan chose a bilingual school. In the half of the courses, his teacher taught them in French, and the other half of classes, the teacher taught in English. Ryan told us that before he entered into primary school, he did not know anything about French. He did not understand the knowledge what teachers taught to them and he did not play with his classmates. However, Ryan became quite fluent in French quickly. He was exposed to the French language environment for a long time. Just half a year, he could participate in classes’ conversations and play with other classmates fluently. Besides, in his elementary school, he met many students whose first language is Mandarin. Therefore, in this situation, he learnt how to speak Mandarin. However, he could just speak Mandarin, and could not write and read.

From Ryan’s language background, readers can understand the influence of family language background. Ryan has a various language background. His parents might not be conscientious about their commitment to bilingual education, but their language influenced his language a lot.

During our interview process, we found that there are some reasons behind his language changes (English became their main language, meanwhile, their abilities to use other languages decrease). First, English begins to become his main language because of language socialization. Although, his parents might speak Cantonese with him when he was a baby, after he went to kindergarten, he became consistently exposed to the English spoken environment. He used English to socialize with his classmates and teachers. He also used English to gain other knowledge. Therefore, within his growing up, English plays a dominant role in his life. English became his main language. As for the French and Spanish, he does not use them as well as English when he enters into University, so, maybe in the future, his Spanish and French abilities may decrease. From this we can see, socialization also plays an important role in language learning.

After talking with him, we found that the multilingual background learners had some advantages in studying other languages than us who just have a single language background. First, we think that the more language you master the easier for you to learn another new language. Taking Ryan for example, he could learn French easily, because he has already mastered some Spanish from his parent and both Spanish and French have the masculine and feminine words, he felt easier to learn French.

However, for the learners who come from a single language background, it is difficult for them to learn another totally different language since there isn’t any similarity. Compared to us, when we studied in undergraduate degree, except learning English, we had a chance to choose learn another language, most of us chose French. However, Learning French was so difficult for us. After insisting two semesters, we gave up. Until now, I can just remember ‘Bonjour’ and ‘Merci’. It is so pity. I analyze the reasons of it are that first, the language we have acquired has no similarity of French, and second, we are not exposed in a French environment like Ryan.

Reflection on “investment”

Reflection on “investment”

The original meaning of investment means devoting, using or giving of time or energy to achieve something. After reading this article, I have a better understanding about investment in second language learning. In this reflection, I will explain two main points about investment in second language learning with my own experiences.

First of all, according to Norton (1995), the construct of investment is “The socially and historically constructed relationship of learners to the target language, and their often ambivalent desire to learn and practice it.” In my opinion, “the construct of investment” talks about the social and historical relationship between the second language learner and the language he/she is trying to learn. For example, I am learning English now. In order to learn English better, I came to Canada and took the TESOL program. During this process, I gained many material resources and accumulated more cultural capital related to an English speaking country. These efforts are what I invested in my second language studying and expected to gain a return on this investment. However, not every investment you do will have a positive return in your studying. If you do not engage in English studies and have the motivation to learn more about the English speaking culture and the idioms, your result may probably not be as good as anticipated.

Second, the theory goes even further and says that, “When language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with target language speakers, but they are constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world.” (Dwight, 2011, P75). That means when the learner speaks a second language, they also express their identity and perceives toward the social culture rather than just speaking another language. For example, I am learning English and when I talk to others in English, I am also saying something about who I am as a person and how I relate to the world around me. It makes me feel good to be able to speak a second language and people surrounding me may look up to me because I can speak a second language. Maybe English-spoken people will respect me because I am trying to speak their language and that makes me feel satisfied. The writer goes further and says that by investing in learning a second language, I have really invested in my own identity. In my opinion, this identity includes the person who I am and the person I want others to see me as.

In conclusion, the word investment that relates to second language learning has two aspects. There are the efforts that you spend on learning a second language and also the investment in your own identity and the identity towards the target society. As a result, during my time invested in learning a second language, I have not only developed and advanced my English skills but also gained an identity about myself.

References

Dwight, A. (2011). Alternative approaches to second language acquisition. Abingdon, England:

          Routledge.

Norton Peirce, B. (1995). Social identity, investment, and language learning. TESOL 

          Quarterly, 29(1), 9–31.