Culture & SLA - Week 13 - Multicompetence and Learner Identity

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 13 of the course Culture and Second Language Acquisition for the master's in English teaching at ULACIT term IIIC0 2022.  In this class we will explore the topic of multicompetence as a model to explain the unique abilities of the L2 learner and discuss its implications on our role in L2 learner identity formation. We'll also take time for a final review and reflection on the topics seen in this course.

Today's Goals:

• Explore the features of Multicompetence as a model for healthy L2 learner identity formation.
• Discuss the roles we have as teachers in shaping our students' identities as L2 and C2 learners.
• Look back and topics, assignments, and activities covered in this course and express ways in which our beliefs and understandings of culture have changed, deepened, or remained the same.

Guiding Questions:

• What are the implications of the concept of multicompetence in my views about ELT?
• What role do I play in shaping my students' identities as L2 and C2 learners?
• What are my takeaways from this course?

Warm Up: Holiday BS Game

Holidays are full of symbols and practices that represent a window into exploring the perspectives of a culture. However, the historical origin of many holiday traditions are not known even to people within the culture. In this game we will explore the origin of several symbols and practices associated with Christmas. 

• Can you guess which one is correct and which ones sound like BS?

• Topic 1: Origin of the Cristmas Tree
• Student A: CLICK HERE
• Student B: CLICK HERE
• Student C: CLICK HERE

• Topic 2: Origin of Santa Clause
• Student A: CLICK HERE
• Student B: CLICK HERE
• Student C: CLICK HERE

• Topic 3: Origin of Santa's Elves
• Student A: CLICK HERE
• Student B: CLICK HERE
• Student C: CLICK HERE

• Topic 4: Origin of Mistletoe
• Student A: CLICK HERE
• Student B: CLICK HERE
• Student C: CLICK HERE

• Topic 5: Origin of the Christmas Stocking
• Student A: CLICK HERE
• Student B: CLICK HERE
• Student C: CLICK HERE

Theory Break: Cultural Persons - Our Identity(ies) as Cultural Beings

• "Culture resides in persons, in individuals. Each member of a culture, like a miniscule twist in a kaleidoscope, refracts and reflects the common colored lights of their culture in a unique display, recognizably similar yet unquestionably different (Moran, p. 98).”

• “Like other aspects of culture, identity is both explicit and tacit. There are aspects of ourselves that we can describe or put into words and there are others that we cannot express, or that are simply outside of our awareness. Not until we find ourselves in situations where our sense of self – our values, beliefs, practices – is called into question do we perceive the tacit dimensions of our identity (Moran, p. 99).”

• “Identities become even more complex when persons of one culture and language enter other cultures and learn other languages. The degree to which they do or do not integrate these new ways of thinking, acting, and interacting affect their cultural identity. For those of us who are nonnative teachers, these dimensions of our identity emerge in our language classrooms (Moran, p. 103).”

• “When students whose first language is not English first encounter the learning of English as an additional language, they cannot really avoid the issue of learner identity (be it imposed, assumed, and/or negotiated) because they must participate in a community different than what they are used to (Farrell, p. 33).”

Task 1: Deficit or Additive Model?

Language learners are often unfairly judged in terms of what they do "incorrectly" and they are seen to have a "deficit" compared to some ideal standard. Although Bert is talking about accent change among native speakers of English, how can his views of language learning being an "additive" process relate to the concept of Multicompetence?

Task 2: Introduction to Multicompetence 

Vivian Cook's (1999) model of Multicompetence provides us with an alternative way of viewing the nature of the language learning process, the goals it should have, ELT curriculum and the implications this has in the way language should be taught and our role as teachers. This topic has connections to the topic of learner identity and there are parallels between the ideas of Multicompetence and the outcomes of culture learning.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Task 3: Exploring Multicompetence and Appropriate Models for L2 Learners to Follow

For our final topic of this course we will explore possible problems with holding the native English speaker as the ideal model for learners to follow and instead look at the possible benefits of the Multicompetent English L2 User as an alternative. Click the link below and discuss the questions with your partners.

• Discussion Prompts: CLICK HERE

Theory Break: Implications of Multicompetence

• "Being a native speaker is ... an unalterable historic fact; you cannot change your native language any more than you can change who brought you up (Cook, 1999)."

• "L2 students cannot be turned into native speakers without altering the core meaning of native speaker in English. A view such as 'adults usually fail to become native speakers' is like saying that ducks usually fail to become swans: adults could never become natives speakers without being reborn (Cook, 1999)."

• Most L2 users differ from L1 monolinguals in the way they know and use the L1 and the L2, but...should such differences be seen as deficits from the native speaker standard (Cook, 1999)?"

• "L2 users have to be looked at in their own right as genuine L2 users, not as imitiation native speakers (Cook, 1999)."

• Implications for teaching: 

• Classroom teaching should be related to L2 user goals.
• Incorporate successful L2 users in course materials and encourage learners to identify Multicompetent L2 users as language role models. 
• Native English speaking teachers are not the best teachers by virtue of their L1.
• Acknowledge students L1 in class activities. 
• View students' L1 knowledge as a meaning making resource.
• Encourage codeswitching

• Taking a multicompetent view of L2 learners can, "begin to acknowledge that L2 users have strengths and rights of their own by giving the students role models of L2 users in action and by requiring the use of both languages by one person: in short, convincing students that they are successful multicompetent speakers, not failed native speakers (Cook, 1999)."

Task 4: Reading Reaction - Outsider Analysis of Costa Rican Culture

Click the group link below and follow the instructions in the document.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

Task 5: Final Course Reflection

Over the last 13 weeks we have covered a lot of content related to the nature of culture, culture's relationship with the nature of culture, how culture is learned, how to teach culture, and other topics in SLA that have connections to culture. Click the group link below and complete the reflection.

• Group Link: CLICK HERE

References:

Cook, V. (1999). Going Beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 33(2), pp. 185-209.

Moran, P. (2001). Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice. Heinle Cengage Learning.