Language and Learning

It seems that our world is highly dependent on an insurmountable amount of terms, definitions, categories, groupings and classifications.  The application of these definitions and categories and such, has created a society that tends to view things, people and circumstances, through a sort of tunnel.  We’ve becoming so accepting of certain ideologies and practices and now they are so deeply ingrained into our psyches.  Most, if not all educators base their teaching practice on the ideas and theories of “experts” in the field, and they rarely challenge these theories – I personally admit to demonstrating a certain level of complacency when it comes to accepting popular theories as truth or the “right way” to approach a particular aspect of teaching.  Strangely enough, it’s a challenge to abandon old and ineffective practices and adopt new ones.  Now, this can apply to anything in life and in the world, but when it comes to education and trying to figure out where we’ve gone wrong with certain groups of students who are consistently struggling.  In his book, Situated Language and Learning, James Paul Gee has offered some insight when it comes to providing more adequate instruction for our students and “updating” our teaching practices.

Once we begin to understand (and for some it may be a matter of accepting), new ways of defining the term literacy, many of the programs that have been designed and implemented in most classrooms may actually start to align with our increasingly more technological world. They may also begin to as meet the demands of a population that continues to become more diverse.  Throughout the readings, much of Gee’s references were to minority groups that were comprised of African-American’s and Latino’s, and how they performed academically in comparison to their White counterparts.  However my classroom, and I’m sure many classrooms across the GTA, is made up of mostly South-Asians, and I’ve had to take some time to consider whether or not Gee’s theories still apply.  I concluded to myself that regardless of racial background and socioeconomic class, the problem of differing abilities – within classrooms and school wide – is still quite significant.  Asians and South Asians, have been stereotypically deemed as highly successful ethnic groups who have a great work ethic and often perform very well academically. However I’m seeing a bit of a shift in this trend.  Many of my students are struggling when it comes to reading and writing and language heavy subject areas, such as Social Studies and Science. Gee has challenged me to ask a hard hitting question about what might be happening inside my classroom – is it really a matter of a lack of ability, or have I neglected to allow my teaching practice to evolve and compliment these “new literacy’s” that are becoming more predominant? Is it a language barrier that is causing this change in the level of success or do the expectations within our curriculum no longer align with this new generation of thinkers?

Gee focuses a great deal of his theories about literacy education on the benefits of such things as creating opportunities for experiential learning, providing children with an adequate vocabulary bank early in their development, and the positive effects of game play and the use of technology. I think these examples of situated learning are incredibly powerful as I have witnessed the outcome of this type of learning first hand, and on many different occasions.  I was able to make a personal connection to Gee’s suggestion that children who are more successful in school tend to have had exposure to certain academic-like practices well before entering school.  I remember my dad encouraging me to trace letters and words in old books and magazines with a pen that he brought home from work.  It was a fancy gold Cross pen that had run out of ink.  I felt so important and business-like. My Cabbage Patch and Barbie dolls, and playing “house” were no longer of interest – pretending I worked in an office was much more entertaining. My parents offered my brothers and I plenty of guidance and were excellent role models when it came to placing a great deal of value on excelling academically and having a thirst for knowledge. The quote, “people like us, do and value things like this” (Pg. 24), really resonated with me.  In discussions that I’ve had with some of my colleagues, we’ve often concluded that some of our students, who are struggling, are in this position because their parents aren’t spending enough quality time with them when it comes to homework or introducing them to certain academic behaviours.  We can’t be sure that this is the case, but Gee’s research is quite compelling, and has lead me to believe that it really could be that simple. As suggested by Gee, It’s the situation that counts.  If a child is watching something on TV and their parent engages them in conversation about what it is they are watching it can have a profound effect, but if the child is watching it alone, it’s a passive experience, therefore it can be bad, of have no effect. In essence it becomes a mindless activity (pg. 21). 

Gee’s suggestion that people learn best when their learning is connected to social practices that they value (pg. 77), is simple yet profound.  When I think back to the mediocre level of success experienced by many of my students, I’ve begun to conclude that perhaps I have not offered them the opportunity to make meaning connections to what they are being taught.  Many of my language lessons can be characterized as having a heavy mechanical focus and can be quite process oriented.  If I neglect to “update” my practice and include such things as social justice, ensure that my lessons are culturally sensitive and enrich the general learning experience through the use of various forms of technology, I will be doing a great disservice to my students.  At the same time, I don’t want to be too hard on myself – I do believe some excellent learning does takes place in my classroom.  However I do think that it is important that I challenge myself to shy away from the “Status quo” and adopt a few new approaches as suggested by Gee.  After all, change is good.