Lippie-Green and Soundhouses

     Lippie-Green's article about non-accent was very interesting.  Some quotes, in particular, I found enjoyable were "language is a dialect with an army and navy" and, " dialect is nothing more than a language that gets no respect."  It's amazing to see the geopolitical facets incorporated into language.  

     While reading Lippie-Green's article, I couldn't help but think about my flatmates while studying abroad.  All of them new English as a second language, and all of them had varying English accents.  I remember one conversation in particular, when two girls from the Netherlands were discussing why they chose what accent they wanted while learning English.  One girl chose to learn "British English", while the other chose to learn "American English." This surprised me very much, since I didn't know that these practices existed.  When I learned Spanish in high school, I took a "Spanish" course, free from an explicit dialect.  Yes, we obviously were learning some form of spanish particular to the instructor, but there was no focus on it.  This made me wonder what my flatmates would be learning in an "American English" class.

     Another event that I recall was a conversation with a Finnish girl named Rikka.  While talking to her, I would have thought she was a native British speaker.  Maybe it was because I wasn't fully acclimated to varieties of British English to hear any native language breakthrough, but I was convinced she was British, along with many others.  Some other Finnish flatmates of mine criticized her for speaking British, pretty much free of any Finnish accent. They were under the assumption that she was hiding her identity and ask questions such as, "Why doesn't she speak with an accent like every other exchange student here?  In regards to this reading, I question if Rikka was right or wrong in attempting to mask her Finnish accent.  Personally, I feel that there are obviously people who want to reduce their accents, so they have an individual right to do so.

Bilingualism and Parenting

When I read King and Fogle's article, the positive view of bilingualism came as a surprise to me. I was immediately interested in the article's publication date of 2010.  When reading most articles, it seems that the general public is against bilingualism, but with this article, there seemed to be a rising consensus on the benefits of bilingualism.  It seemed that by discussing all the various popular literature and expert advice, bilingualism has become a lot more popular.  This could also be seen in the end of the article, calling for more development in the public education sector of bilingualism.  To me, this article helped illuminate the rising acceptance and importance of bilingualism in America.

    With a growing appreciation for bilingualism, King and Fogle's ideas in their article could be reached.  With rising importance of bilingualism, discourse would grow both publicly and privately, improving the methods of bilingual parents and teachers alike.

Cultural Material Evaluation.

     If there is one thing that has been taught to history education majors throughout my span at ISU, it is that textbooks are not a sufficient method of teaching students.  While textbook sections may provide some beneficial aspects of historical periods, the often portray the opposite.  It seems to be a trend in most history textbooks of failing to address the complexity of human culture.  Hinkel warns of the dangers of a monocultural textbook.  What most history books are are monocultural interpretations of events, based around Western Culture.

     Now, Western culture is a very broad term. Given the complexity of cultures that come from the occident, it would be inaccurate to use Western culture as an umbrella term.  Most history books however, only show events that are tied to these particular cultures from the west.  Most of world history, through the eyes of a textbook, are very anglicized.  In this "World" history, students learn of kings, queens, and events from Britain, Spain, or Germany.  Personally, I have very little knowledge of African, East Asian, and South American history.  It seems rather inconvenient that world history textbooks tend to marginalize the histories of a majority of the world.  A textbook should never develop a pattern of marginalization.  This is especially important in an ESL classroom.  What kind of message would ESL students receive when taught, either consciously or subconsciously, of different cultures being constantly subjugated? In American history books, most portrayals of Mexicans are being defeated by Americans in the Mexcan-American War.  In the latter portions of textbooks, most portrayals of hispanics are due to border control.  Many times,  eastern european countries are brought up only in light of a particular defeat, whether militaristic or economic.  If being taught by a textbook, the notion that "those of non-anglican cultures are constantly subjugated", will be ingrained in students heads.  

     The only positive element of this tragedy, is that these biased textbooks can be used to unearth cultural tensions.  By addressing the unequal gender and cultural stereotypes, students can see the marginalization at first glance.  Teachers may use textbooks as a guide, but by using them as a content-stable in their lecture, students are being marginalized equal to minorities in their textbooks.

Multiculturalism, English, and Globalization.

Throughout the readings, one of the most important aspects of multiculturalism, English, and globalization is the breaking down of stereotypes associated with English.  Kubota and Ward do an excellent job discussing this in their article about World Englishes.

Throughout the article, Kubota discusses the importance of making students realize their own accents.  I came to the realization that I had an accent a few years ago.  For the most part, I guess I just believed that the Chicago accent was a "normal, "standard" English.  I mainly viewed U.S. in 4 accents:  The Southern accent, New Yorker accent, bostonian accent, and then the "normal" midwestern accent. Everyone around me spoke similarly to me, so I had no reason to really be cognizant of my own accent. It wasn't until I was surrounded by a few people from Florida, when I said the word "apple," with an æ. I was met with giggles because of the way I spoke.  After this encounter, I realized people thought differently about my accent, and maybe my Chicago accent wasn't as "normal" as I once thought.

Along with picking up on accents, people have stereotypes associated with accents.  A common stereotype for U.S. English is that southern accents may sound less intelligent.  Before traveling to Liverpool, England, I wanted to get a glimpse of the accent over there.  After looking at Scouse (Liverpool's accent) I was met with a bunch of derogatory associations with Scouse.  A large number of people on the internet Liverpool to being the "Armpit of England."  Videos of Scouse on the internet portray it as a language of those of lower socio-economic status. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4vxN9vP3mg).  After arriving at Liverpool, I did run into many people who did speak similarly to the video.  Aside from the few examples on the internet I have seen of Scouse, I did not have many preconceived notions of people with such an accent.  I ran into college students, professors, or shop workers who all shared the same accents, free from a collective stereotype.  Other British English speakers may have had other ingrained feelings towards Scouse accent. On a similar note, many students on my international floor In England failed to identify a Southern U.S. English accent as "Unintelligent."  This shows more perspectives and how stereotypes can be paired with schema.

The main point of those stories is to show that ideas and stereotypes can be developed with accents. By addressing these different accents, stereotypes can be broken down or avoided completely.  Every speaker has their own accent and sense of individuality.  It is important that English Language learners, and all speakers of languages learn this.