I would agree with Harklau's statement on page 36, where she writes, "Too little is known about how these English language learners take on the simultaneous challenges of managing high school content-area academics, learning a new language, and coming of age in US society". Because this statement encompasses so many factors, it would indeed be very difficult to tell what factors are affecting which students at any given time, and because each of them are in a different situation, it is difficult to generalize. I think that was a problem for the ESOL students described in this case study... they were generalized and homogenized incorrectly. I think at some level all teachers must, at some point, mentally "group" their students in order to have a more categorized idea of the general needs of the students in their class. Of course, a teacher cannot rely too heavily on this mental grouping - as one person states later in the article, "each time you think you sort of have a profile of what the family situation probably is based on a few indicators, I find out that its - I really can't make that assumption" (48). We need to be careful that we always think of our students as individuals and not as just a member of a group of students who are all alike - the "ESL kids", the "band kids", the "trailer park kids".
I think the biggest problem here, though, is not necessarily that the students were all being grouped as "ESL", but that students were categorized and were assigned characteristics that were not true of them. Thus, teachers who thought that they were catering to or meeting the needs of these students, actually were not doing so.
The author addressed the question as to why ESL students who performed wonderfully in their high school classes became complacent and poorly behaved in their community college classes. Harklau examined the interaction of classroom practices and social structure and the role that these concepts have in students' identity formation. She discussed the way that ESL students are typically viewed by their high school instructors. These high school instructors typically gave the students high praise for their writings about their experiences, and commented that although the students sometimes failed to correctly complete their homework assignments and perhaps weren't always on task, they were very motivated, hard-working, and had pleasant attitudes.
One part of her article that I found the most fascinating was the discussion of Aeyfer's paper that she wrote, in which she was sitting between the two flags and described her story of how she came to be where she was at, etc. The teacher thought Aeyfer had done wonderful work. As the author writes, "These stories carry at least the potential for students to essentialize themselves as a cultural 'other' in order to secure teachers' sympathy and support". As I read through this section, I had to think of the term "suck-up" as a somewhat adequate descriptor in some of these cases. It happened at the ELI and in the Migrant program too. I don't say that to be derogatory, but just to describe the situation. Students who can't genuinely perform well do often position themselves as "different" because in today's society, the one who is "different" is the one who gets attention.
Anyway, though, the author points out that Aeyfer had been given the same assignment in at least two other classes - and later in the article mentions that similar assignments appeared in these students' college classes as well! Furthermore, this assignment was not actually even relevant to all of the ESL students, as many of them, like Claudia, had been in the States for some time and actually considered "her country" to be the U.S. She was viewed as an American by all of her friends and family in the country she had come from.
The problem came when these students entered college and were placed in ESOL courses, limiting them to a level of performance and learning of material that was too easy for them and somewhat degrading, almost, it seemed. I actually don't think it is any surprise that their college experiences came as a frustration to these girls. In high school, they could succeed by being "different", as described above. They could succeed by telling about their past experiences. College classes, however, require that you go beyond your past experiences in order to be successful. And furthermore, you are plopped in with a whole pool of "different" people, so being "different" doesn't necessarily single you out anymore. From what I read, this created somewhat of an identity crisis in these girls. I actually think we all go through that at some level, so I'm not convinced its just a culture/language thing. We all have our "spot" among our friends and peers in high school, our "label"; our "comfort zone". College can be a shock in that way, because you've arrived at a new place where no one knows about you, your reputation, all your great accomplishments, or your family. For some that can be a good thing, but for other students who have relied on their past to create their identity, this can be difficult.
Harklau's discussion is similar to my own interpretation (or should I say, my interpretation is similar to Harklau's). She asks, "How is the ESOL student constructed and understood" and describes the "new positioning" of these students as explicit "ESOL" students in college. She talks about frames of reference in terms of "in my country", being "from" the U.S. etc. And she describes a very common circumstance in which "In daily, subtle ways, the curriculum and teacher talk in college ESOL classes denied these immigrants ownership of English" (58). Their status as a speaker of English was unrecognized, and their ability to speak the language undermined. This resulted in a resistance to the classroom that represented this language.
I feel like this post is very scrappy, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that all of these issues are interrelated but also experienced by native English speakers on some level. It is very important for us as teachers of English to recognize our students as speakers of English and also to give them opportunities to move beyond their position as an 'other'. Perhaps that is where they would like to stay, but it would seem that this position results in their education being somewhat repetitive and does not do much for their desire to be viewed as a speaker of English and as an American.
I wonder... how do we honor and use past experiences and move into the present at the same time?
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