In class documentary

How does culture play out in the students writing and how are our expectations shaped by cultural preferences?

                I think that culture played a huge role in the students’ writing.  It was clear that many of the students struggled with some of the assignments they were given because of these cultural differences.  Some of them were not used to writing about certain topics and were uncomfortable, and others just were accustomed to a different writing style than what the instructor was used to.  We are so accustomed to our own “American” way of writing that we do not stop to think about how the students learned to write in their homelands.  Many educators expect students to write in our style right from the beginning without taking into consideration their backgrounds.  Many teachers may even view their writing as wrong or incorrect, when in reality they may be excellent writers who just write in a different writing style.

How do we assess international student writing when we have to grade it alongside with the native speakers, and how can we think about surface error in a fair and constructive manner?

                Many times the international students are expected to perform at the same level as the native speakers.  I think that it is important for teachers to make accommodations and modifications in order to ensure the best quality education for the student.  It is important that all students progress equally not that they perform equally. 

What kinds of teaching and testing practices disadvantage international students and which help them improve as writers?

Many times when we give them too short of a time limit, they struggle to produce a quality product.  It is important to remember that it will take them longer to process the information since it is not in their native language.  Also, giving them assignments on topics that are not familiar with will really cause them to struggle; for example topics such as American pop culture and politics.  Giving students constructive, useful feedback will help international students improve their writing.  Marking all over their papers and correcting every little mistake discourages the student and really does not help them understand how to improve.  In the documentary some students even stated that they preferred if they commented on certain sentences about what they did wrong, but also present a solution.

2/21/12

The Kubota article “Unfinished Knowledge” was particularly interesting because it links really well with another course I am taking.  The story of Barbara starts out by talking about the expectations she had for her new ELL students.  It said that her students were from Japan, China and Korea and that Barbara was relieved because she thought they were going to be able to pick up the material quickly.  I thought that this was interesting because in Special Education course that I am taking, we learned that ELL students are more likely thought to have a learning disability or an intellectual disability because teachers have these expectations for students.  When the students do not perform as the teacher expects them to, then the teacher then asks for a referral.  This shows that we need to be even more careful as educators because these generalizations made about ELL students can land them in a program that they should not be in, which could be detrimental to their education.  What I think is great about this article that it shows how Barbara reflects on her own teaching and is making attempts to learn.  It is extremely important that we reevaluate our teaching strategies many, many times throughout the course of our careers.

                Kubota’s articles in general show how a student’s culture and background can affect their writing and their learning in general.  Students come from different backgrounds that influence their mindsets and outlook on education.  I found it very interesting that Kubota stated in his “Japanese Culture Constructed by Discourses” that students from Asian backgrounds may struggle with group or peer writing because they will feel more inclined to help come up with a group goal than to criticize the work of their peers; this comes from their collectivist views that their homeland teaches them.  I do not believe this is something I would have ever thought about had it not been mentioned in this article.  Peer editing and literature circles are very common in elementary classrooms, but I never thought about how a student’s learning style or outlook can affect these activities. 

                Connor’s article can be linked to the other ones because it talks about writing styles and systems that other countries use that may be different than what we are used to here in the West.  All in all, I feel that these articles show us that as educators we must be mindful of where are students come from and what they might be used to.  My question then is as educators we are still trying to teach a curriculum; is this saying that our curriculum is wrong and that we should not teach them our writing system?  I guess I am just confused as to how to approach teaching writing or any other subjects for that matter.  How do we know what curriculum to enforce and what to change to be more accommodating?

Readings for 1/23

I found this week’s readings to be particularly interesting because as an education major, especially a bilingual one, culture is a huge topic of discussion.  It is an issue that we are constantly debating and constantly trying to understand.  In every class that I have, we discuss the definition of culture and how it impacts education.  We always get a variety of different answers about what we believe to be culture, and I found it interesting that in the Kumaravedivelu article, it states that even experts cannot come up with one single definition for the word.  It said that it is used in so many different schools of thought that it is difficult to come up with one overarching definition.  One particularly interesting comment that the article made was that people use the word ‘culture’ as a noun.  They say that this is problematic because it implies that culture is some sort of an object or thing.  They suggested that instead it should be used as a verb because the most important part about culture is what it does, not what it is.  I thought that was an amazing statement because culture has many functions that a simple definition would not express. 

Another topic that stuck out to me was the different views a society or person may have.  The first one is collectivism vs. individualism.  I had a hard time with this when I was reading it because the article said the Western countries tended to be more individualistic.  I personally feel it is hard to label an entire society with one single term.  In the United States, people do tend to be individualistic, but we have a lot of collectivist tendencies as well.  We are constantly worried about how others view us and how we fit in in the collective.  Just like with culture, I believe it is difficult to put an entire group of people under one single category.  The second set of views is the essentialist vs. non-essentialist view of culture.  The table in the book described the essentialist view as the easy way of looking a culture.  It is the way that many choose to look at culture because it is the easy way out.  The book stated that this view of how people and culture is seen is the same view that drives sexism and racism.  The book showed great insight as to how a variety of people may view culture and people. 

The most impactful of the readings was the article by Atkinson because it spoke directly about teaching second language learners.  I was completely taken aback when I read that there are people, even scholars who believe that culture has no place in education.  They claimed that “students should be looked as individuals and not as members of a cultural group” (pg. 636).  This is completely mind-boggling to me because I have always believed that an individual is greatly influenced by their culture and when you look at an individual you are looking at pieces of their culture as well.  This is something that Kumaravedivelu touched on as well; his article states that culture “presents a basis for identity formation…and plays a huge role in the development of an individual” (pg. 10).  All in all, these articles were very informative and in some cases eye opening.  

Initial post

Hello my name is Silvia