SLS 680P: Localizing TESOL

 
Fall, 2007
Dr. Christina Higgins
Department of Second Language Studies
Course Description: In the past two years, several prominent volumes on the socio-politics of English language teaching have called for greater efforts in ELT to replace west-based policies and teaching practices with policies, methods, and materials that are more appropriate for local contexts of teaching practice (e.g., Canagarajah, 2005; Edge, 2006; Kumaravadivelu, 2005; Lin & Luke, 2006). This course examines this growing interest among scholars and teachers of English and offers theoretical and practical models for achieving the goals of localization, decolonization, and pluricentrism in ELT. Among other topics, the course will address concerns and debates in TESOL regarding the role of the 'native' and 'non-native' teacher, the appropriacy of communicative language teaching, the teaching of western culture via TESOL, and alternatives to the goal of 'native-like' English as the target of ELT. Students will read theoretical approaches to localizing/decolonizing TESOL as well as applied examples of such theory put into teaching practice. Students will write weekly reflections on the readings and will organize and participate in group discussions during class. The final project will be a course paper and oral presentation that problematizes an English language policy or teaching practice that is in need of localization/decolonization, and which proposes transformative solutions. Students will be required to find a way to disseminate their work to a larger audience of language teaching practitioners or policy makers through any suitable means, such as the development of a web page or the submission of their work to a conference or journal. Readings for the course will be in a course packet, and will come in part from the optional books for the course. Pre-requisite: 600, 660, or consent of the instructor.

Optional books:
Kumaravadivelu, B. 2005. Understanding language teaching: From method to post-method. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. ISBN-10: 0805856765

Lin, Angel & Martin, Peter. (eds). 2005. Decolonisation, globalisation: Language-in-education policy and practice. ISBN-10: 1853598240

Pennycook, Alastair. 2001. Critical applied linguistics. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. ISBN-10: 0805837922

Rubdy, Rani & Saraceni, Mario. 2006. English in the world. London: Continuum. ISBN: 0-8264-8906-0.

Additional readings
Canagarajah, Suresh. (ed.) 2005. Reclaiming the local in language policy and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Edge, Julian. (ed.) 2006. (re)locating TESOL in an age of empire. London: Palgrave.

Lin, Angel, & Luke, Allen. (eds.) 2006. Postcolonial approaches to TESOL. Special volume of Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 3, 65-200.

Schedule of readings and assignments
note: electronic copies on UH Portal are marked by @

Week 1 August 20 Introduction to the course
    Kumaravadivelu, B. 2006. Dangerous liason: Globalization, empire and TESOL. In J. Edge (ed.) (Re)locating TESOL in an age of empire (pp. 1-27). New York: Palgrave.
Lin, A. et al. 2005. International TESOL professionals and teaching English for glocalized communication (TEGCOM). In S. Canagarajah (ed.) Reclaiming the local in language policy and practice (pp. 197-224). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Week 2 August 27 What do we mean by local knowledge?
  Canagarajah, S. 2005. Reconstructing local knowledge, reconfiguring language studies. In S. Canagarajah (ed.) Reclaiming the local in language policy and practice (pp. 3-24). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
@ Shin, H. & Crookes, G. 2005a. Indigenous critical traditions for TEFL?- A historical and comparative perspective in the case of Korea. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2, 95-112.
@ Shin, H., & Crookes, G. 2005b. Exploring the possibilities for EFL critical pedagogy in Korea- a two part case study. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2, 113-138.

Week 3 Sept 3 HOLIDAY
    one-page proposal due 9/7 for course project
Beginning in Week 4, one-page reflections are due in class each week.

Week 4 Sept 10 Localized models for TESOL: Pluricentrism in World Englishes            Pupus: Yoko
    Matsuda, A. 2006. Negotiating ELT assumptions in EIL classrooms. In J. Edge (ed.) (Re)locating TESOL in an age of empire (pp. 158-170). New York: Palgrave.
Shim, R. 2002. Changing attitudes toward TEWOL in Korea. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 12, 143-158.
  For discussion Tupas, T. 2006. Standard Englishes, pedagogical paradigms and their conditions of (impossibility). In J. Edge (ed.) (Re)locating TESOL in an age of empire (pp. 169-185). New York: Palgrave.
Discussion Leaders: Leejin, Anne, Emiko

Week 5 Sept 17 A worldly model for teaching English: Lingua Franca English              Pupus: Anne
    Seidlhofer, B. 2006. Englihs as a lingua franca in the expanding circle: What it isn't. In R. Rubdy & M. Saraceni (eds.) English in the world: Global rules, global roles (pp. 40-50). London: Continuum.
Canagarajah, S. 2006. Negotiating the local in English as a lingua franca. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 26, 197-218.
  For discussion @Jenkins, J. 2005. Implementing an international approach to English pronunciation: The role of teacher attitudes and identity. TESOL Quarterly 39, 535-543.
Discussion Leaders: MyongHee, Samantha, Yoko

Week 6 Sept 24 Western imports? Methods in ELT                                                    Pupus: Emiko
   

Pennycook, A. 1989. Teh concept of method, interested knowledge, and the politics of language. TESOL Quarterly 23, 589-618.
@Kumaravadivelu, K. 2006. TESOL Methods: changing tracks, challenging trends. TESOL Quarterly 40, 59-81.

  For discussion Holliday, A. 2005. The legacy of lockstep. In The struggle to teach English as an international language (pp. 39-61). Oxford University Press.
Discussion Leaders: Hatsumi, Alexis, Hakyoon

Week 7 Oct 1 Methods: How west-based is CLT?                                      Pupus: Myong Hee
  Samimy, K. K. & Kobayashi, C. 2004. Toward the development of intercultural communicative competence: Theoretical and pedagogical implications for Japanese English teachers. JALT 26, 245-261.
Leung, C. 2005. Convivial communication: Recontextualizing communicative competence. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 15, 119-144.
  For discussion Sullivan, P. 2000. Playfulness as mediation in communicative language teaching in a Vietnamese classroom. In J. P. Lantolf (ed.) Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 115-131). Oxford University Press.
Discussion Leaders: Aya, TaeYoung

Week 8 Oct 8 'C' culture, the individual and situated learning styles                       Pupus: Emily
    @Hu, G. W. 2002. Potential cultural resistance to pedagogical imports: The case of communicative leanguage teaching in China. Language, Culture and Curriculum 15, 93-105.
Kubota, R. 2004. The politics of cultural difference in second language education. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 1, 21-39.
  For discussion @Clark, R., & Gieve, S. 2006. On the discursive construction of 'the Chinese learner.' Language, Culture and Curriculum 19, 54-73.

Discussion Leaders: Emily, Roo, Pongo

Week 9 Oct 15 Frameworks for rethinking teaching culture in ELT                      Pupus: Leejin
    @Sifakis, N. 2004. Teaching EIL - Teaching international or intercultural English? What teachers should know. System 32, 237-250.
Kramsch, C. 1993. Teaching language along the cultural faultline. In Context and culture in language teaching (pp. 205-232). Oxford University Press.
2 presentations on situated TESOL practices: Myong Hee,

Week 10 Oct 22 Teaching intercultural awareness in ELT: Models                           Pupus: Hatsumi
   

Ito, H. 2002. A new framework of culture teaching for teaching English as a global language. RELC Journal 33, 36-57.
@Belz, J. 2005. Intercultural questioning, discovery and tension in internet-mediated language learning partnerships. Language and Intercultural Communication 5, 3-39.

2 presentations on situated TESOL practices: Pongo, Leejin

Week 11 Oct 29 (Re)assessing localized English                                                            Pupus: Aya
   

Elder, C., & Davies, A. 2006. Assessing English as a lingua franca. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 26, 282-304.
Corbett, J. 2003. Assessing intercultural awareness. In An intercultural approach to English language teaching. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

2 presentations on situated TESOL practices: TaeYoung, Roo


Week 12 Nov 5 Models of localizing ELT in the inner circle                                           Pupus: Roo
    Motha, S. 2006. Decolonizing ESOL: Negotiating linguistic power in U.S. public school classrooms. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 3, 75-100.
    Pon, et al. 2003. Interrupted by the silences: The contemporary education of Hong-Kong born Chinese Canadians. In S. Schecter & R. Bayley (eds.) Language socialization in bilingual and multilingual societies (pp. 114-127). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
2 presentations on situated TESOL practices: Samantha, Emily

Week 13 Nov 12 Holiday
   

Draft of course project due by email on 11/16


Week 14 Nov 19 Models of localizing ELT in the outer and expanding circles             Pupus: Hakyoon
    @Ramanathan, V. 2006. The vernacularization of English: Crossing global currents to redress west-based TESOL. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 3, 131-146.
McMahill, C. 2001. Self-expression, gender, and community: A Japanese feminist English class. In A. Pavlenko, et al. (eds.) Multilingualism, second language learning, and gender (pp. 307-244). Berlin: Mouton.
2 presentations on situated TESOL practices: Aya, Alexis

Week 15 Nov 26 Models of localizing ELT: Bilingualism and hybridity in the classroom     Pupus: Samantha
    @Lin, A. 2006. Beyond linguistic purism in language-in-education policy and practice: Exploring bilingual pedagogies in a Hong Kong science classroom. Language and Education 20, 287-305.
Fabricio, B. F. & Santos, D. 2006. The (re-)framing process as a collaborative locus for change. In J. Edge (ed.) (Re)locating TESOL in an age of empire (pp. 65-83). New York: Palgrave.
2 presentations on situated TESOL practices: Emiko, Hatsumi

Week 16 Dec 3 2 presentations                                                                                         Pupus: TaeYoung
    Hakyoon, Anne, Yoko
    course evaluations in class

December 7 Final draft of course project/report due electronically

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