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University of Arizona and Shantou University Jun Liu There is an assumption going on in China that native English speakers will make better English teachers. In this article, I would like to convince my Chinese college students that native English speaking teachers and non-native English speaking teachers have different sets of strengths and weaknesses when it comes to teaching English, and it is ultimately the qualification of teachers and the quality of teaching that matter. I hope, by sharing my own experience of learning and teaching English as a native Chinese speaker, we should all respect our dedicated English teachers in China, whether they are Chinese or non-Chinese. In October 2001, I went back to China for the first time in ten years at the invitation of the National Foreign Language Teaching and Research Association to give a plenary speech at their bi-annual convention in Hangzhou. I took a taxi from the bus station to the conference site. . While we were driving, the driver initiated a conversation with me. Two minutes into talking, he asked me where I was from. When I told him that I was from Suzhou, a city where I studied and worked for fifteen years, he did not believe me and insisted that I had to be from somewhere else. Out of curiosity, I asked him why he thought so. Without pausing to think about it, he told me that my mannerism as well as my tone did not reflect the local culture. He was certain that I had to be from another place in China, if not from abroad. At a recent oral comprehensive examination committee meeting for a doctoral student in the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Interdisciplinary Program at the University of Arizona, I briefly introduced myself to the graduate representative from another department. "Hi, it's nice to meet you, and my name is Jun Liu." What I was not prepared for was the question he threw back at me rather encouragingly: "So, are you ready for the defense?" I immediately noticed the puzzlement and confusion on the faces of three other committee members when the doctoral candidate came to my rescue: "Dr. Liu is my committee chair." I kept silent for a second and then smiled as a gesture to cover the embarrassing situation, and soon concentrated on the procedure of the oral exam. Anecdotes like these happened to me all the time, and I could not help thinking from time to time who I am, what I am, and what I am perceived as in different communities in different contexts. The recent publications and conference presentations in our profession have revealed a growing interest in hearing voices from nonnative English speaking professionals in TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) in both ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) contexts. Voices from nonnative English-speaking professionals in TESOL have shifted our focus of research from understanding varied experiences and difficulties of ESL and EFL learners, and seeking efficient and effective ways to help them learn English, to the impact NNES (Nonnative English Speaking) professionals have on their students, and how these professionals establish their credibility in teaching English. Although the majority of professionals in TESOL in the United States are native English speakers, up to 80% of English teachers world-wide are nonnative English speakers, predominantly in EFL contexts. The dynamic interests, multiple concerns, and unique perspectives these NNES professionals bring to our field are invaluable and immeasurable. The impact of these professionals on ESL and EFL students, on their colleagues, and on the TESOL profession have now impelled us to explore the complexities of the native versus nonnative speaker constructs in terms of self-perceived and inferred social identities, differential attributes marked by nonnative status that likely calls for different strategies to attain professional qualification, as well as self versus other perceptions. Along with the exploration of English in the global context, and the recognition of world Englishes in the classroom, the stereotype of NNS professionals who were born in foreign countries, and learned English in EFL contexts and thus are short of native proficiency in English have been seriously challenged by such researchers as Bautista, 1997; Crystal, 1997; Kachru, 1992; Medgyes, 1994; Paikeday, 1985; Rampton, 1990; Kachru and Nelson, 1996. Admittedly, differences exist between native speakers and non-native speakers of English on a number of accounts, such as the process of learning English, the context in which English is learned, and the way English is learned and used. But, given the differences as analyzed from sociolinguistic, sociopolitical, linguistic, and pedagogical perspectives or any combination thereof, the fundamental question remains: What difference does the difference of being a native or a non-native speaker of English make in the TESOL profession? This article has three parts, with each reflecting one particular dilemma I faced. First, How did I evolve from an EFL learner to an ESL user? Second, How did I attempt to develop adaptive cultural transformation competence and search for multiple identities across different communities? And third, what did I do as a Nonnative English Speaking teacher to empower both my NNES and NES students in learning? These three parts fall on a continuum of my professional development, and I hope my stories will give you, my Chinese learners of English, food for thought. I also hope that my stories will enhance a better understanding and appreciation of English teachers, across all levels, who were born in China and have dedicated themselves to the teaching of English to young learners in China. From an EFL learner to an ESL user I always remember the days in the late 1970's when I was a freshman at a teachers' college in China, majoring in English language and literature, as the result of the restoration of the college entrance examination system suspended for ten years during the Great Cultural Revolution. I had intensive English classes every day, focusing on grammar and word studies of model essays and excerpts from classics. I spent a lot of time deciphering the selected readings from 18th century British literature with the help of dictionaries and grammar books. At that time, speaking English with native English speakers, so-called "foreign experts," was something I could only dream of. The small auditorium in which weekly thematic lectures were alternatively given by a couple of foreign experts was always packed. I did not know how much I could digest out of an hour-long lecture, but the feeling of the exposure to authentic English was great. Sometimes I laughed while others were laughing without knowing why, though I afterward spent hours listening to the tape-recording I had made of the lecture until I found out why I had laughed with the others. Like some of my classmates, I was curious to see whether and how the pattern drills we practiced in listening and speaking courses and the vocabulary we learned from the textbooks could be used in real communication. Fortunately, Suzhou, the city where my university was located, is known as theVenice of the East, since it is full of beautiful gardens and pavilions which are open for tourists. They were usually packed with visitors from home and abroad. Whenever there was a chance, I would go to one of those gardens either by myself or with my friends to seek opportunities to speak English with foreign visitors. I worked very hard to commit to memory English versions of introductions to, and descriptions of those gardens with the hope of using them in real communication. I wanted to make sure that I sounded British as the result of constant listening to and mimicking BBC and Linguaphone tapes. My eagerness to gain communicative competence in English was sometimes responded to less than enthusiastically by visitors who were busy enjoying the scenery under time pressures, but I felt encouraged even with a mere exchange of greetings. I had a dream that some day I would be able to go to an English speaking country and become a fluent English speaker. Fortunately, my dream came true in 1991, ten years after I graduated from college. I came to the United States to pursue my Ph.D. in second and foreign language education at The Ohio State University, which marked the beginning of my journey of cultural adaptive transformation from an EFL learner to an ESL user. From taking weekly tests as a first-year graduate student to serving on doctoral dissertation committees as a professor; from making myself appear ridiculous by using formulaic speech in communication to making formal presentations at both national and international conferences, and from wondering what to do in front of a money machine to preferring to deposit money through a drive-through service, I have slowly but surely transferred my knowledge of English as an EFL learner to the actual use of the knowledge in real communication, though this process was by no means smooth. With a decade of experience in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a college in China, I was very confident in my English upon my arrival in the US 12 years ago. But on many occasions, I felt very awkward as I failed to demonstrate my communicative competence appropriately and effectively. When I first arrived at the airport in Columbus, Ohio, I was picked up by a would-be friend who kindly took me to his house for dinner that evening. As soon as we reached his house, his wife asked me if I wanted something to drink. Out of my Chinese sense of politeness, I said "No, thanks" while feeling very thirsty, expecting her to ask me again. But, to my surprise, she served herself a drink and started talking with me while preparing dinner. About half an hour later, the dinner was ready, and this time, she asked me directly whether I cared for a glass of root beer. Although I did not quite catch the lexicon modifying the word "beer," I accepted her offer without hesitation, thinking that a glass of beer, whatever it is, would help me relax after a 17-hour stressful flight. No sooner had I had the first sip than I realized that American beer had a very special taste. But such a different flavor soon became too unique to appreciate. To please my hosts, I kept drinking, pretending that I had really enjoyed the beer while waiting for the chance to request something else to drink. What I did not expect was that the hostess, impressed by my speed of drinking, took my glass by saying, "So you like the taste, and I bet you cannot find it in China, eh?" "Yes, well, you see..." I tried to search for the words polite enough to show my dislike of the taste. But my hesitation was understood as approval although the word "yes" in my reply did not exactly mean "yes" in this context in Chinese culture. Sure enough, my empty glass was soon filled up with the liquid of the same color. This time, however, I did not finish it, being afraid of having the glass refilled again. I used my Chinese strategy of implicit polite refusal by sipping it a little bit a time. Half an hour later, the glass was still full. A couple of months into the first quarter at Ohio State, I began to realize the difference in English between what people spoke in daily communication and what I had learned from 18th and 19th century British and American literature. The idiomatic expressions I picked up from books and from tapes sometimes caused confusion in communication; the canned proverbs, jokes or tongue twisters I consciously carried into conversation were not received as humorous. What was worse, some British poems I proudly inserted in conversation to reveal my solid literature background sometimes made me look comical. Oftentimes, I was dissatisfied with my conversational English, and I began to wonder how I had learned and taught English in China. Sociolinguistic incompetence apart, my lack of cultural experience on many occasions aggravated my frustration in communication. I felt ashamed that my knowledge of English, which was mainly obtained from books, did not give me much help in feeling natural in daily communication. One day, I had a conversation with a rental agent about the distinction between furnished and unfurnished rooms, as I did not have the schema of a variety of rental packages. Fifteen minutes into the conversation, the landlord, who was obviously impatient with my endless questions and puzzled expression on my face, quit talking with me and showed me the apartment instead. I literally questioned the meaning of "to go" when I first ordered a combo in a McDonald's because I did not know where else I could go besides the fast-food restaurant to eat the hamburger I had ordered. I was somewhat confused and offended one day when a taxi driver asked me to sit in the back seat while the passenger seat in front was available. I felt extremely uncomfortable when in one of the courses I took during my first quarter I noticed that the professor sat on the front desk while teaching. I was equally surprised to notice that some of my classmates brought soft drinks and potato chips into class. In Chinese culture, these behaviors are not acceptable as they are indications of disrespect for teachers, but here in the US, nobody in class seemed to care. It took me almost a year before I realized that I could actually try on every piece of clothing before I bought it, and I could return it if I decided that I didn't like it. What was taken for granted by Americans were all new concepts to me. It was not the language per se, though I could tell the difference between the language I used and the language spoken by Americans, but it was the American culture that overshadowed my linguistic abilities. I came from a different culture where the beliefs, values, and norms that governed my social behavior no longer seemed to function well in this new environment. What I needed then, and what I later benefited from, was my desire and courage to embark on the journey of adaptive cultural transformation. Constructing adaptive cultural transformation competence As I defined in my 2001 book titled Asian students' classroom communication patterns in US universities, by Ablex/Greenwood Publishing Group, adaptive cultural transformation refers to a process in which one constantly adjusts one's own cultural beliefs, values, and behaviors to those in the target culture, and gradually develops multiple identities necessary to operate in different intercultural communication settings with appropriate, effective, and meaningful communicative performance. Adaptive cultural transformation competence encompasses a wide array of competencies. It not only addresses what competencies one needs in successful communication, but also why and how such competencies can mark one's identities in different social settings. Adaptive cultural transformation competence can be referred to as the ability that enables an individual to communicate appropriately and effectively in the target culture by expanding his/her social identity to one that blends the new set of values, habits, and social norms endorsed in the target culture with those in the home country. It consists of a set of skills that are needed in appropriate, effective, and satisfactory cultural adaptation. Therefore, the adaptive cultural transformation competence model consists three major components: Social identity negotiation skills, culture-sensitive knowledge and mindful reflexivity, and communicative competence. My adaptive cultural transformation in the US did not come easily. The biggest challenge I have encountered in this process was how to strike a balance between my Asian cultural background and the American cultural environment I am in, and between my identity in Chinese communities and in the American communities. I was highly motivated both instrumentally and integratively to adapt myself to the American culture -- to gain new cultural experiences in order to understand and appreciate the target culture. But my Chinese-self, characterized by Asian beliefs, values, customs, and habits as illustrated by my earlier experiences in the United States, often presented conflicts in the process of my adaptive cultural transformation, which requires determination and willingness to recognize our own culture and to understand and respect the target culture. In North America, I am regarded as a visible minority due to my Asian appearance. In order to maintain my L2 social identity, i.e., to be accepted as a member of the target culture, which is a very important factor to the success of my professional career, I made extra efforts to improve my communication skills and mannerisms in communication encounters. Due to my cultural adaptation, I am often taken and/or mistaken for a Chinese American. While being identified as a Chinese American can be a symbol of success of acculturation, it is not necessarily so within the Chinese community. I found it hard to be Americanized when I was with my Chinese friends. For instance, in an only-Chinese group, speaking English would be regarded as odd or showing off; likewise, dressing like Americans would be thought of as being alienated from the Chinese inner group. Sometimes, I preferred to reveal my Chinese ethnic identity among American friends, or mixed groups when talking about something I was very proud of, such as Chinese ethnic foods which I cook without using recipes, and China's long history with numerous dynasties. Sometimes, I preferred to conceal my Chinese ethnic identity when the topic under discussion was something for which China is often being criticized, like the treatment of intellectuals, and the bureaucracy of the government. While I believe that personal preference of social identity is dependent on the social context, I strongly hold that my social identity has multiple dimensions. Each has its function when operated in the right context. I present myself as a different person in different social groups and communities. I was very quiet in class when I was in China as a sign to show respect to teachers, but I was very out-spoken in class at OSU as a sign of cooperation with teachers. I was not very talkative in Chinese communities in the U.S. as I did not want to show off, but I was very enthusiastic when talking about China and Chinese people among American friends as I considered myself a cultural informant. I seldom wrote Chinese letters to my relatives and friends in China, and I was not afraid of losing my Chinese, but I wrote almost every day in English as I still see the weakness of my English writing. Therefore, I have to maintain different identities in different contexts and to vary my communication styles depending on when and where to speak what to whom. I also find that social identity sometimes requires mutual acceptance. Even if I want to be affiliated with an ethnic group, I might be rejected. In order to know American culture well, I tried to spend Christmas Eve at my American friends' houses a few years in a row even though I was invited again and again by my Chinese friends to go to their Chinese Christmas parties. One Christmas, when I wanted to be with my Chinese friends for a change, I was unfortunately not invited. I was told later by my Chinese friends that they thought I would have declined their invitation had they asked me again. I felt bad about this experience. But perhaps my friends were right, affiliation to a certain ethnic group is reciprocal. What you want to be identified as is not enough without considering what others might think of you. In my journey of adaptive cultural transformation, I gradually perceive my Chinese culture boundaries as permeable and flexible. Instead of letting my Chinese culture and my well-established first language social identity become a shield blocking me from constructing my second language identity in American culture, I became open-minded, and was willing to participate in various social activities to give myself opportunities to experience and understand the target culture. I was considered a fluent English speaker by many native English speakers in the US. But in my first quarter at OSU, I was so afraid of speaking up in the courses I took. I was overwhelmed by the various teaching styles professors used in different courses, the intensity of information given in each class, the amount of reading needed before each class, the weekly testing-format, and the outspokenness of my American classmates. As a result, I kept quiet, trying to figure out what I should do to carve a niche for myself in the new classroom culture. I conducted numerous "experiments" on myself in adapting to this special social setting - the academic content classroom. I tried to speak up when I was very sure of something, but failed the first times, as I was nervous about making grammar mistakes. Then I tried several times to focus on basic concepts in the readings and gave my interpretations of the concepts when they were discussed in class. Sure enough, my purposeful preparation somewhat helped my participation, but I still felt nervous to speak up in class as I could notice slightly unnatural tones in my voice. However, I kept trying and reflecting on my own experiences in participation and interaction with classmates. A couple of quarters later I realized that my participation in classes had become instantaneous, improvised, and effortless. Learning some of the "normal" behavior in classroom communication in the target culture, and unlearning some of the "normal" classroom behavior in my own culture gradually brought about an internal transformation in me. In time, I deviated from the accepted patterns of my original culture in classrooms and acquired the new patterns of the target classroom culture. This led to an increased functional fitness, a greater congruence and compatibility between my internal state and the conditions of the American classroom environment. As a result, my increased oral participation in content courses gradually made me aware of my existence in class. I could hear my voice in discussion, and I had a sense of belonging. This increased confidence in myself also gradually enabled me to attain a level of communicative success beyond the classroom setting to meet my social needs in such things as making friends with people from different cultural backgrounds, and seeking graduate research and teaching assistantships across campus; achieve psychological balance in terms of having high self-confidence, low level of stress and anxiety, and high self-esteem; and philosophical drives in terms of being more creative in work and study, and having a sense of personal fulfillment. While my increased classroom participation enhanced my functional fitness and the potential effectiveness of my communicative competence and performance in the target culture outside the classrooms, it has also affected my internal attributes and self-identification, which changed from being monocultural to being increasingly intercultural. Instead of binding my group membership to the Chinese culture, I have taken a more fluid intercultural identity by observing and practicing different sets of social values, beliefs, and norms in different cultural communities. Such an intercultural identity with the cognitive, affective, and behavioral flexibility allows me to adapt to the situation and to creatively manage or avoid conflicts that occur frequently in intercultural communication settings. It is through this dynamic and continuous process of cultural adaptive transformation that my internal condition has gradually moved toward becoming increasingly intercultural. Empowering both nonnative and native English speaking students Like many Nonnative English speakers in the US, I underwent quite an adjustment period in my adaptive cultural transformation. Now I am a professor in the Department of English at the University of Arizona, teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses in applied linguistics and L2 pedagogy. Whenever I teach a class with many Nonnative English-speaking students in it, they always remind me of myself when I first came to the US. Although I understand that these students are new to the culture, I cannot help expecting them to take risks, and to make efforts to adapt themselves effectively to this culture. An encounter with another culture can lead to openness only if these students can suspend the assumption of difference, not seeing the culture as strange or alien, but instead a new culture to learn about, and to adjust to and to transform into. While teaching at both Ohio State and the University of Arizona, I encountered both suspicion and admiration from my students. The suspicion usually came from those who walked into my classes with presumptions that their English teachers should be native English speakers. When the reluctance and indifference appearing on their faces in the first few classes was greeted with smiles and understanding, when their names carrying more ten syllables were pronounced distinctly, when anecdotes of my experience in learning English, my own struggles in writing for publication, and my zigzag path from a student learning English in China to a professor teaching English and training teachers of English in US were shared with them, and when their first assignment was returned with elaborative comments, constructive suggestions and sincere encouragement, their suspicion about me was usually replaced with comfort, trust, and admiration. It is true that I am not a native speaker of English, and never will be. But the quality of teaching a language and training language teachers is not merely determined by native or non-native speaker status. I believe that the language I speak and the way I teach could make a difference in the students' perceptions of me as a Chinese teaching English in the U.S. I remind myself constantly that I am teaching English in the English environment. The only way I can make up for my lack of nativeness is being aware of my non-nativeness, which will keep me aiming high. To me, a journey of self-cultivation and refinement usually ends when one no longer feels such needs. Nonnative English speakers in TESOL should take advantage of their own experiences of learning the language they are teaching, and teaching the language they are learning. When I taught ESL composition at Ohio State a few years ago, I used my own writing samples to engage my students in understanding the purpose and the process of writing and revision. I would usually give my students an earlier draft of mine on the same topic as they were given without disclosing the identity of the author, and invite them to critique the paper in small groups and in class. In the next class, I would show them a second draft based on their comments and suggestions, and invite them to make further comments. A few days later, I would show them the final draft and ask them to compare it with the previous drafts and justify why certain changes were made or not made. It is at this time that I would claim the authorship and share with my students the process of writing and revision, as well as the dilemma I faced in writing and revising as a nonnative English speaker. Through my own observations and informal interviews with my students, it turned out that the majority of my ESL students not only welcomed the use of my own samples, but also benefited from understanding my thought processes in shaping the paper through several drafts. They also realized the importance of feedback in terms of both teacher comments and peer comments in the process of writing and revising. Such an awareness transformed into enthusiasm for and attention in doing peer review activities and receiving teacher comments. By using my own writing and by showing the process of revising with my students' input, the writing task becomes live and engaging. As a Nonnative English Speaking professional, I have demonstrated to my ESL students through these experiences that no one can write a good paper without revising, and no one can revise the paper well without receiving comments and critique. This sharing has greatly empowered my students in taking writing, peer critiquing, and revising seriously, and reflecting on their own writing experiences. I believe that nonnative English speaking professionals also have advantaged in teaching native English speaking students. When I walked into the classroom the first time when I taught an Introduction to English Linguistics course at the University of Arizona, I noticed puzzlement on my native English-speaking students' faces. "Can this Asian dude teach us English linguistics?" I looked around the class after the bell rang, and kept silent until the class was deadly silent. "Class, I am a native Chinese speaker, but I know more about English grammar than Chinese grammar. Learning a language is different from learning about a language. Your goal for this course is to learn about English. Now who can tell me what "subjunctive mood" means?" There was a moment of silence in which I began my teaching from phonology to morphology, and from syntax to language and brain. When the course moved to the topic of the writing system, everyone in class seemed to be amazed and excited by the Chinese characters, and my students were packed outside my office during my office hours the following day waiting for their chances to explore the meanings and the forms of their English names in Chinese: Jack, Mary, Jody, and Tom. As I recall this experience, I am more and more convinced that as nonnative English speaking professionals, we should always utilize our own strengths rather than worrying too much about our unattainable goal such as speaking like native speakers of English. Medgyes (1994) summarizes six characteristics that help establish the credibility of NNESTs. He acknowledges that NNESTs can (1) provide a good learner model for imitation, (2) teach language learning strategies more effectively, (3) supply learners with more information about the English language, (4) anticipate and prevent language difficulties better, (5) be more empathetic to the needs and problems of learners, and (6) make use of the learners' mother tongue. To me, empowering our nonnative English-speaking students through empathy is the most effective strategy of being a Nonnative English-speaking professional -- sailing with our students to the shore instead of summoning them from the shore. Likewise, guiding our native English speaking students to reflect on what they take for granted through different cultural and linguistic lens is also a powerful strategy to establish our own credibility as Nonnative English speaker in TESOL. I am a nonnative English speaker of English. I am a Chinese speaker of English. I am proud of being a member of TESOL as a Nonnative English speaker. I am also proud of being aware of my being a non-native speaker professional. The success of a TESOL professional does not depend on whether one is a native speaker or a non-native speaker of English. But in order to be successful, non-native speakers and native speakers might need to set different objectives, identify different priorities, and use different strategies. It is said that a person who knows her or his imperfections is just about as perfect as anyone can be. A nonnative speaker of English who is aware of what she or he is not can be as successful as a native speaker of English who learns about what she or he knows. It matters not who you are. What matters is what you do, and how you do it.
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| 作者：Jun Liu 文章来源：转载 点击数： 更新时间：2006-11-21 文章录入：xingsha 责任编辑：xingsha | ||||
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