Possibilities around the native speaker………

Dr. Simone Smala

The University of Queensland

Dr. Robyn Moloney

Macquarie University

Who is a native speaker? Our shared focusReview of literatureMoloney studySmala StudySynthesis

Overview

Problematic : diaspora, plurality of languageDifferences in age, origin, duration of stay, etcAn enduring issue: Blyth (2003) states that ‘it

is not hyperbole to say that the native/non-native dichotomy lies at the heart of foreign language teachers’ conception of who they are and what they do, affecting virtually all their pedagogical practices, from textbook selection to error correction’ (Blyth, 2003, p. x).

Who is a native speaker?

Construction of the native speakerdiverse perspectivesTwo contexts in Qld and NSW Othering/ distancing  of Native Speakers –

needs to be broken downNew subjectivities – the intercultural

communicator

Our shared focus

Sociocultural approach: understanding of first own language(s) and culture(s) in relation to an additional language and culture (Kramsch, 1993; Byram, 1989, 1997; Liddicoat, Papademetre, Scarino & Kohler, 2003).

dialogue “where variable points of view are recognised, mediated and accepted” (Liddicoat et al., 2003, p.46).

more complex than an imitative process, to develop a critical intercultural communicator  

Dervin & Dirba (2006): helping students to become intercultural intermediaries, or speakers – not copies of an ideal and imaginary native speaker

Review of literature 1

Power: aligned with difference between an imitative model and an intercultural model of assistant practice

an imitative model: the student is in passive receptive mode, without authority; in a “banking model” of education (Freire, 1970), where one “true” version of France and the French language is “deposited” in students.

Want students to be empowered and critically aware

Review of Literature 2

Postmodern Ethics (Bauman, 1993) - question of otherness and sameness

If essentialist views of others are deployed to describe the identity of a person, the observer and the subject bearer of identity will assume that there are unchangeable features of this person, his or her position in the world in terms of nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion

“Reliance upon apparently pre-given categories of class, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and so on [invokes] a conception of identity as something to be acknowledged or uncovered rather than constructed, as something fixed rather than changing.” (Bondi, 1993, p.93).

Review of Literature 3: ‘Otherness’ and essentialism

Moloney: two schools, traditional language program, native speaker for small group withdrawal conversation practice, viewed through lens of intercultural learning

Smala: interview with teachers and programs director at eight immersion schools, beliefs and attitudes of teachers viewed through lens of postmodern theories of essentialism and ‘otherness’

Introducing the two studies

School 1(NS male, 25, 9months in Aust, no training) : NS conducts small group conversation practice Year 10,11,12, French only

School 2 (NS female, 45, 20 years Aust, 4 years experience, no training) NS team-teaches with teacher, collaborative creative planning. French only: robbery clue problem-solving; guess-who-I-am narratives.

Moloney study

Teachers wanted a micro-CLIL experience for students, in natural conversation of problem-solving games

Positioned themselves as learners, in collaboration with NS

Inclusive, integral

Moloney study: teacher perceptions

Language mastery: idiom, pronunciationRelationship with NS: a friend, relaxed,

autonomy in language useSubjectivityA different mindset, different perspective on lifePoints of view recognised mediated and

accepted (Liddicoat 2003) a sharing of power in controlling how they perceive both themselves and the Other (Wink, 2005)

Moloney: student perceptions

“I believe that to have a mix of non‑native and native speakers in your staffroom is an excellent way to go because I believe that as a non‑native speaker of the language, I learnt the system of the language well and truly. That's very important when you come to explain to other non‑native speakers of the language why things are as they are.”

Smala: Dichotomies….”learnt the system”

“It's obviously really important to have your native speakers there because they lend that sense of idiom, just the language’s way of saying ‑ expressing that sort of stuff. That's really important as well. Yeah, I appreciate that input.”

Smala: “....But good to have that idiom”

“We do like to maintain a balance between native and non‑native speakers and I think that the strength is that as a non‑native speaker of the language I really understand what the difficulties are that the children are going to come up against, what they are going to find hard to understand, why they make the errors that they make.”

Smala: Dichotomies... “I really understand”

“But the beauty then of also having native speaking teachers is that they have that fluency, particularly for immersion where they are being exposed to so much language, they have that naturalness of expression and of pronunciation and just generally the way that they express themselves.”

Smala: “Beauty of how they express themselves”

“What's really important is the fact that the teachers are bilingual because they need to go into the language without thinking, "Oh, God, what's that word?", which, say, a teacher in my position might do simply because I learnt the language the old way. So the teachers who we have in the program are very comfortable because they are truly bilingual. So their knowledge of the language, you know, is extensive; it's not just what they did at university; it's beyond that.”

New subjectivities: Being Bilingual, not native

Shared concern for inclusive practice that does not distance the NS as “other”New possibilities around being ‘bilingual’, not

simply non-native or native speakerMany shades of grey – many shades of speakersIdentities as language speakers are not fixed,

they are constantly changing“the language teacher as the cultural informant”“the language teacher as the bilingual

professional”The language in use offers many new identities,

see for example World Englishes

Synthesis – things in common and why they matter

Moloney, R. (2011).Teaching and learning languages with a native speaker assistant: a guide (AISNSW)

Practical strategies, teaching ideas.Available as a PDF, or can be accessed from

AIS NSW website later this year.

A new resource …