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Conclusion

  Conclusion In conclusion, I examined the complexities facing students and teachers in the area of language learning. The pedagogy of multiliteracy was viewed and the practical benefits of using this approach to language teaching and to the scenario. It was shown that by using real life experiences and multimodal methods, students would be encouraged to learn in a safe environment where their gender, race and culture are accepted. Also mentioned was the importance for language learning of critical literacy, whereby texts are analysed by students and opportunities for students to discuss authentic social and cultural issues. The main issue discussed was the issue of identity and its complex interplay with language learning. As Norton states, “language constructs our sense of self, and that identity is multiple, changing, and a site of struggle” (Darvin & Norton, 2015, p. 36). Identity of both the teacher and learner can impact the effectiveness of the language learning. If a st...
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Bilingual versus monolingual approaches to language learning

Bilingual versus monolingual approaches to language learning Research shows that language learning is helped by using the L1 language in the classroom (Tollefson, in  Hinkel, 2011, p. 813). Traditional language teaching relied on reaching the 'target language' (Tollefson, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 813) which was usually standard language. Tollefson further states that there is a need for a variety of L2 languages and a recognition that "language and identity have complex and varied relationships" (Tollefson, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 813). There is a need for a bilingual, rather than monolingual approach to language learning, suing the learners L1 language. Baker (2011, p. 6), states that "an individual's own attitudes and preferences will influence their choice of language." For instance, older people may use the minority language, whereas a younger person may want to use the more popular language as it may be seen as having higher status. A person may also switch ...
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Critical Literacy

  Critical Literacy and Second Language Learning A Sociocultural/Sociological Approach “Critical literacy is the use of texts to analyse and transform relations of cultural, social and political power.” (Luke & Dooley, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 856). This approach is a sociological, sociocultural and critical linguistic analysis of how texts can create social power and identity. TESOL students can develop identities outside the classroom such as in “third spaces” when students use their first language with peers, graffiti and in emails and the emergence of hip hop culture (Luke & Dooley, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 859).  Paulo Freire (Luke & Dooley, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 860), proposed working with learners,   where “learners become teachers of their everyday understandings and experiences, and teachers becoming learners of these same contexts” and where opportunities for “authentic exchange around issues of moral, social and cultural significance” can occur. In schools an...
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The issue of Teacher Identity

  As Morgan and Clarke note (in Hinkel, 2011, p. 821), there are two areas of SLE that are important with regards to identity, the pedagogy and the language/texts/signs. They argue that there is a need to provide language learners with a variety of texts including digitised to create meaning-making, engage identities and to avoid “taken for granted internalised beliefs/norms” (Morgan & Clarke, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 823), such as gender and race.   The importance of text selection in second language acquisition in Delhi , Johannesburg and London) was analysed by Bhattacharya, Gupta et al (2007, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 824) to include conventional and multimodal texts and the effect on the student’s identity and ownership of the language. They found that when the texts and teaching emphasised external standards, as in Delhi and London, there was less ownership of the language compared to in Johannesburg where the text chosen used the student's life experiences and involves them in...
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Norton's Model of Investment

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  Norton's Model of Investment Norton (Norton et al., 2014, in Darvin & Norton, 2015) investigated student and teacher investments in digital literacy and English language in Uganda. They found that students and teachers are extremely invested in new literacy practices due to the skills gained by using digital technology, which also increased cultural capital and special power (Darvin & Norton, 2015). Chang (2011, in Darvey & Norton, 2015), examined the graduate student population focusing on nonnative English-speaking international students in an English speaking graduate school in the United States. Through investment the students exerted their own agency and were able to invest in areas that would benefit them. The world is constantly changing and so literacy teaching and learning is also needing to change. Due to more affordable travel, the internet and social media, learners are able to communicate in many different spaces, both face-to-face and in virtual worlds...
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Identity Texts

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  Identity Texts The term identity texts came from research involving students using multilingual and/or multimodal skills to create literature and art. (Cummins et al., 2015).  The Dual Language Showcase created by a teacher called Patricia Chow involved students from Thornwood Public School in Toronto creating dual language texts in multiple languages, including languages the teachers themselves did not speak. The result was that the students were proud of their writing and drawings as the activities affirmed their identities and were interesting for the students. These texts were posted on the school’s website. The activities were successful as they “represent expressions of identity, projection of identity into new social spheres, and re-creation of identity as a result of feedback from and dialogue with multiple audiences” (Cummins et al., 2015, p. 557). “Students invest their identities in the creation of these texts….the identity text then holds a mirror up to student...
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The issue of identity in language learning

  Identity in language learning Since the 1990s identity has come in to focus to “describe processes of language learning and to account for language learning and academic outcomes” (Cummins, Markus & Montero, 2015, p. 555). Eagleton (2000, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 817), commented on culture in relation to identity that “within this single term, questions of freedom and determinism, agency and endurance, change and identity, the given and the created, come dimly into focus." He describes identity that is opposed to change which as Morgan and Clarke (in Hinkel, 2011, p. 817) propose that Eagleton “suggests that identity is about psychic, social and semiotic work necessary to sustain a sense of unity and sameness across time and space." As Morgan and Clarke (2011, in Hinkel, 2011, p. 829) state, identity “has become a major conceptual lens for understanding theory and pedagogy in SLE."   The theories of identity The sociocultural theories of learning are based on Vygo...
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