While SLA at the most basic mechanical language learning level may seem like an achievable act I agree with Judd that "It is necessary to learn how to understand and create language that is appropriate to the situations in which one is functioning…" because "the possibility of a total communication breakdown and the stereotypical labeling of the second language users as people who are insensitive, rude or inept," (152) is a complete, albeit unfortunate, reality.
The problem is however is how can we bring this guarded information into the ESL classroom, and once it is there, how can we present it in such a manner that our students can replicate in real life situations. And even if it is possible to create such a situation inside the safety of a classroom, we cannot guarantee that we as educators will be able to cover all of the possible variations needed to navigate local pragmatic language situations. To make matters worse, even if we do pursue research to better inform our students, "native speakers often do not report accurately what they really do in natural language situations because they may not want to reveal that information to strangers (especially, to non-native speakers of the language)" (156).
What may be most important for us to consider then, is that situations that require these specific speech acts are exemplars of cultural capital at work. Native speakers do not wish to give up their positions that they are able to hold through their awareness of these speech acts (cultural capital) and thereby work to gate-keep non-native speakers from easily entering into positions of power, and thereby generating competition for power.
It is unfortunate that we cannot separate these pragmatic language rules from power dynamics, but for certain our students' lack of knowledge or ability to apply these speech acts can and will prevent them from gaining access to different parts of society from healthcare, to schooling, to employment.
No comments:
Post a Comment