Friday, September 30, 2011

"No memory is really faithful": memory and myth in Katherine Anne Porter's "Old Mortality".

"No memory is really faithful": memory and myth in Katherine Anne Porter's "Old Mortality". "AH, THE FAMILY... THE WHOLE HIDEOUS INSTITUTION SHOULD BEWIPED from the face of the earth. It is the root of all humanwrongs" (217). Eva Parrington, in Katherine Anne Porter'sstory "Old Mortality," focuses her bitterness and resentmenton family in general but ultimately on the family's mythologizingas the cause of her suffering. Eva has been wounded by her extendedfamily's method of dealing with their memories of the past bywriting their own narrative and holding so fiercely to the myth that noone and no event can adequately measure up to the glories of thecollectively remembered past. In her attempts to enlighten and instructher cousin Miranda about their family's wrongs, she leaves theyoung woman in the confusing position of having to determine for herselfhow she will respond to competing myths. Although myth could be downplayed as merely a fiction and not anobjective truth that should constitute a personal, familial, or evencultural memory of the past, Karen Armstrong For the operatic soprano, please see Karan Armstrong.Karen Armstrong (b. November 14 1944 in Wildmoor, Worcestershire, England) is an author who writes on Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. , in A Short History ofMyth, defends the tradition in saying that "human beings falleasily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented storiesthat enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed anunderlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressingand chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value"(2). Miranda's family in Porter's story has clearlymythologized their past in extolling the incomparable beauty and virtueof one of their females and promoting the role of their men asprotectors and worshipers of women. By examining the family'sromantic myth, Cousin Eva's opposing myth, and the effects of bothon Miranda, Porter leads the reader, along with Miranda, to aconsideration of what Janis Stout describes as the "very seriousproblem of memory, fantasy, and truth" ("Miranda's"267). Porter once wrote in her journal that "of the three dimensionsof time, only the past is 'real' in the absolute sense that ithas occurred" (Essays 449), a statement that would seem to indicateshe places a higher value on the past than on either the present or thefuture. Why then does she seem to deal so critically with afamily's sense of the past in "Old Mortality"? The answerlies in the fact that the words "the past" and"myth" are not synonymous. A myth is born from viewing thepast in a particular way. In her journal entry, Porter continues,"One of the most disturbing habits of the human mind is its willfuland destructive forgetting of whatever in its past does not flatter orconfirm its present point of view" (449). Miranda's family isindeed guilty of willfully willfullyadv. referring to doing something intentionally, purposefully and stubbornly. Examples: "He drove the car willfully into the crowd on the sidewalk." "She willfully left the dangerous substances on the property." (See: willful) misremembering or reconstructing the past inorder to create their own myth, or what the folklorist Mody Boatrightcalls "family saga For the Icelandic family sagas, see .The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. " (Grider 227). (1) An objective look at thedetails of their lives would be less flattering, less dramatic, lessheroic, less romantic than what they can mythologically devise, so theysimply alter those details to suit their needs. Even as a child, in PartI of "Old Mortality," Miranda recognizes that "suchepisodes [of family myth] confirmed ... the nobility of human feeling,the divinity of man's vision of the unseen, the importance of lifeand death, the depths of the human heart, the romantic value oftragedy" (179). Richard Gray attributes their recasting of memoryto the fact that "They--her parents, her grandparents, and her'cousins'--still subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day"subscribe, takebuy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; the official Southern version ofthe past" and that "in a sense they have to, because itprovides them with a historical confirmation of their code, a myth toreassure them as to the validity of their own life style" (186). The official memory, the family narrative that they choose to craftand perpetuate, is one made up of historical Southern chivalry chivalry(shĭv`əlrē), system of ethical ideals that arose from feudalism and had its highest development in the 12th and 13th cent. ,beautiful maidens, dramatic moments never to be equaled, and "lovestories against a bright blank heavenly blue sky" ("OM"175). The challenge for the family is that reality does not alwaysreflect these elements; however, they simply find a way to adapt bysubverting memory in order to fashion a myth. Gary Ciuba says that"Miranda's relatives desire the past that they remember yetremember the past that they desire" (83). As Miranda observes,"something seemed to happen to their ... memory ... in the face ofevidence contrary to [their] ideal" (174-75). Therefore,Miranda's father asserts that "There were never any fat womenin the family, thank God," in spite of the fact that Aunt Keziah isso obese as to be banned from riding her own horses out of "charityto our faithful dumb friends" (174). Consequently, successivegenerations of females are condemned to being continually compared toAunt Amy ("she rides almost as well as Amy"; "the firstAmy had been lighter"; "but rolled into one they don'tcome up to Amy" [177, 197]), a woman whose "brothersremembered her tenderly as a sensible girl" in spite of her ownadmission that she was not (183). "'You might live as long asanyone, if only you will be sensible,' [her mother once told her].'That's the whole trouble,' said Amy" (182).Unfortunately, as a result, a shadow is cast against any momentouspresent or future event because "there was always a voice recallingother and greater occasions" in spite of the fact that the cousinswonder, "why should anyone need to recall the past?" (179).And thus Father states after Gabriel's death, "Life forGabriel ... was just one perpetual picnic" (219), in spite of thefact that Gabriel was an obese, unkempt drunkard One who habitually engages in the overindulgence of alcohol.In order for an individual to be labeled a drunkard, drunkenness must be habitual or must recur on a constant basis. who was oftenimpoverished and had a miserable marriage to a perpetually disapprovingand bitter second wife. The willful forgetting of details, the embellishing of those theydo remember, and the focus on the resultant myth are indeed harmful tothis family, exemplifying Porter's concern about misremembering.Amy appears to have been propelled to a premature death Premature Death occurs when a living thing dies of a cause other than old age. A premature death can be the result of injury, illness, violence, suicide, poor nutrition (often stemming from low income), starvation, dehydration, or other factors. either by herdramatic efforts to become what she calls "the heroine of thisnovel" (189), as if she is consciously aware of, and trying todetermine, her place in the family myth, or to escape the mythaltogether. Gabriel, who, according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Jane Krause DeMouy, "playsthe Southern knight so well that he continues the role years afterAmy's death" (132), lives with a dead woman's memory towhich no one, not even (or perhaps not especially) a second wife, couldmeasure up. Miranda, when forced to compare what she sees around her tothe wonderful stories she has been told, is left wondering as a child,"Oh, what did grown-up grown-up?adj.1. Of, characteristic of, or intended for adults: grown-up movies; a grown-up discussion.2. people mean when they talked, anyway?"(197) and later is unsure of what truth even is. Cousin Eva is damagedby the family myth because she is unable to conform to Verb 1. conform to - satisfy a condition or restriction; "Does this paper meet the requirements for the degree?"fit, meetcoordinate - be co-ordinated; "These activities coordinate well" its requirementsfor physical beauty: she cannot be a Southern belle because she has nochin, has two "enormous teeth" and is considered"ugly," a "blot" on the family (178). After all,there are rules involved in this family's myth: There were points of beauty by which one was judged severely. First, a beauty must be tall; whatever color the eyes, the hair must be dark, the darker the better; the skin must be pale and smooth. Lightness and swiftness of movement were important points.... Beautiful teeth and hands, of course, and over and above all this, some mysterious crown of enchantment that attracted and held the heart. It was all very exciting and discouraging. (176) As a result of her outsider status as "ugly duckling Ugly Ducklingscorned as unsightly, grows to be graceful swan. [Dan. Fairy Tale: Andersen’s Fairy Tales]See : BeautyUgly Ducklingugly outcast until fully grown. [Fairy Tale: Misc.]See : Ugliness "(178), Eva becomes embittered; but rather than exposing and annihilatingthe myth as she thinks she does, she merely creates her own version--amirror or reverse image. Eva's perhaps unconscious desire to be a "romantic"part of the family myth is evident when she hopefully asks Miranda onthe train, "You don't happen to remember that I once had abeautiful sapphire velvet dress with a train on it?" (208). Thisthwarted desire has had a curious effect on Eva; as Walter Sullivan For other persons named Walter Sullivan, see Walter Sullivan (disambiguation).Walter Sullivan is a fictional character and antagonist of the video game . Although he is the main antagonist of the game, and the player character is a young man named Henry Townshend, many observes, "Eva at once is destroyer and victim: the myth has shapedher and she cannot fully rum away from it, even as she works to bring itdown" (8). The myth shapes her by driving her to action, ironicallya feminist action, considering her unwitting obsession with thedecidedly patriarchy-based family myth. She reminds Miranda, "Isuppose you must know how I fought for votes for women when it almostmade a pariah of me" (210) and sounds intentionallyself-sacrificing about it. When she later says, "It wasn'tjust showing off, mind you," the word "just" is importantto understand her motives (210). She has been forced to choose anunorthodox means of gaining attention since she lacks the more standardprerequisite of Southern beauty and thus casts herself as ananti-heroine, a feminist martyr, who was willing to go to jail threemore times for the cause of women's suffrage The term women's suffrage refers to an economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to vote — to women. The movement's origins are usually traced to the United States in the 1820s. "if it werenecessary" (210). As would-be exposer of the family myth, Cousin Eva chips away atAunt Amy's pedestal. She attacks almost every angle of the familylegend regarding their darling, including her romance with Gabriel. Shefeels that it is her duty to enlighten Miranda, whom she addresses as"you poor baby, ... you dear innocent," as to the "bitterfacts of the case" and begins by describing Amy in a manner that isstartlingly star��tle?v. star��tled, star��tling, star��tlesv.tr.1. To cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start.2. To alarm, frighten, or surprise suddenly. See Synonyms at frighten. unlike any description Miranda has heard before: Amy was a"devil and a mischief-maker," who "went through life likea spoiled darling" (212, 211). To refute the established familynarrative, Eva declares that, contrary to Miranda's claim, noteverybody loved Amy and not everybody said she was very beautiful.Furthermore, she reduces the romance of courtship to "justsex," adding that Amy was "simply sex-ridden, like therest" (216), an accusation that ironically may reveal more aboutEva herself than about Amy. Even Amy's illness is subject to thisrewriting of family legend when Eva indelicately proclaims: "Andher illness wasn't romantic either ... though to hear them tell itshe faded like a lily. Well, she coughed blood, if that'sromantic" (215). In fact, Eva doesn't appear satisfied untilshe hints darkly that not only had Amy committed suicide rather thangracefully expiring from consumption but also she had done so to"escape some disgrace, some exposure that she faced" (214). Even though Eva considers herself the one family member clearsighted enough to tell the truth, it is obvious that she too is amythmaker myth��mak��er?n.One that creates myths or mythical situations.mythmak��ing n. who simply wishes to shape the family's mutual past toserve her own needs, which are not served by the family's version.M. K. Fornataro-Neil points out that although Eva writes her own"counternarrative," she is still a "coconspirator, stilla willing participant in that established narrative, since it providesher with a sense of home and history" (352). (2) She is, after all,the one who "automatically" tells Miranda on the train,"Your mother was a saint" (217), which sounds suspiciouslysimilar to the manner in which the family describes its own. Miranda,after listening to Eva's version of the past, reflects to herself,"Of course, it was not like that. This is no more true than what Iwas told before, it's every bit as romantic" (216).Furthermore, after Eva condemns the family as a "whole hideousinstitution," she does not hesitate to step off the train, takehold of Miranda's father's arm, and immediately begin"going over old memories and finding new points of interest inthem" (217, 220). She tells Miranda what she calls "the otherside of the story" (217), but it is a "story" all thesame, and Miranda is left with the task of deciding how to reconcile thefamily myth she has heard all her life with this alternative version. Growing up, Miranda is immersed in family memory and myth; in fact,the narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. points out that she and her sister Maria at the ages ofeight and twelve "had lived not only their own years; but theirmemories, it seemed to them, began years before they were born, in thelives of the grown-ups around them" (174). It is a tradition thatthe two sisters thrive on: when listening to family lore andparticularly stories about wonderful Aunt Amy, "they were drawn andheld by the mysterious love of the living, who remembered and cherishedthese dead.... Their living memory enchanted en��chant?tr.v. en��chant��ed, en��chant��ing, en��chants1. To cast a spell over; bewitch.2. To attract and delight; entrance. See Synonyms at charm. the little girls"(176). Miranda sometimes notices discrepancies between what she sees andwhat she hears, as when she hears her father say there are no fat womenin the family and then she remembers Aunt Keziah or when she studiesAmy's portrait and then hears of her fantastic beauty, but she"simply wondered, without criticism" (174). Furthermore, sheapparently inherits the family tendency toward the dramatic and actuallyseems a child following in Aunt Amy's footsteps. After all,"She believed for quite a while that she would one day be like AuntAmy, not as she appeared in the photograph, but as she was remembered bythose who had seen her" (177). Therefore, as a young girl, eventhough she detects threats to the myth, she prefers its romance to theless attractive, and less romantic, possibilities. It is easy to see a resemblance between Miranda as a child and whatAmy must have been like at the same age. She is, as Cousin Eva relates,a "lively little girl ... and very opinionated" and has adefinite flair for the dramatic that would likely have delighted AuntAmy: "She had, in midweek, given way to despair over her arithmeticand had fallen flat on her face on the classroom floor, refusing to riseuntil she was carried out" (207, 195). When she and Maria are sentto be educated at the Convent of the Child Jesus The Child Jesus, or Christ Child is Jesus as an infant up to the age of twelve, when he was considered to have become adult, following both the Jewish custom of his own time, and that of most Christian cultures until recent centuries. , they remember theProtestant propaganda novels they have read and fantasize about being"immured" themselves in order to add a "romanticglint" to their lives, which are so different from the"thrilling paper-backed version" (194). Not surprisingly,Miranda herself initially expresses her intention to be a nun, the firstof many such unique ambitions. For example, at one point she wants to bea tight-rope walker who plays the violin while on the wire, at another ajockey, and at the age of eighteen, already married for nearly a year,she tells Cousin Eva that she now wishes to be an air pilot. As an adolescent, Miranda absorbs the family myth and longs tosupplement it whenever she can. She is disappointed when she finds thatMary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scotsorig. Mary Stuart(born Dec. 8, 1542, Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian, Scot.—died Feb. 8, 1587, Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, Eng.) Queen of Scotland (1542–67). has not actually died on the stage in front of heras she had believed; after all, it would have been a great occasion forthe family. She also regrets the fact that her distant relative whofollowed the plays of John Wilkes Booth had not seen Booth'sultimate performance since "it would have been so pleasant to havethe assassination AssassinationSee also Murder.assassinsFanatical Moslem sect that smoked hashish and murdered Crusaders (11th—12th centuries). [Islamic Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 52]Brutusconspirator and assassin of Julius Caesar. [Br. of Lincoln in the family" (180). Further, afterhearing the poem that her uncle Gabriel had written for Amy'stombstone Tombstone,city (1990 pop. 1,220), Cochise co., SE Ariz.; inc. 1881. With its pleasant climate and legendary past, Tombstone is a well-known tourist attraction. The city became a national historic landmark in 1962. , she is impressed because, after all, Gabriel is herfather's second cousin second cousinn.1. A child of a first cousin of one's parent.2. A child of one's first cousin; a first cousin once removed. , and "It brought poetry very near"(181). Even in a moment when she is confronted with a reality that appearsto contradict her romantic myth, Miranda finds a way to adjust it to fitthe legend. After a lifetime of hearing of the Great Romance between Amyand Gabriel, at the age of ten she finally meets this man whose hearthad been broken by Amy's untimely demise and is dismayed to beconfronted with "a shabby fat man with bloodshot blood��shotadj.Red and inflamed as a result of locally congested blood vessels, as of the eyes.bloodshotVox populi adjective blue eyes, sadbeaten eyes, and a big melancholy laugh, like a groan," a man who"was completely drunk" (197, 199). Not only has Gabriel nothad a brilliant career as Miranda had supposed; he is now living inpoverty with a wife who bitterly hates the myth with which she has hadto compete, Uncle Gabriel's memory of Amy. Miranda appears to havea moment of crisis when she questions what grown-ups have told her, butshe recovers by making even Gabriel's present state part of theGreat Romantic Myth. After considering the situation, "Miranda feltit was an important moment in a great many ways. 'UncleGabriel's a drunkard, isn't he?' she asked her father,rather proudly" (200). If he can't remain cast inMiranda's mind as Amy's handsome, grief-stricken widower, hecan at least be re-assigned the part of the broken-hearted familydrunkard, one whose unfortunate state can be read as a testament to hisdevastating loss of Amy, a dramatic role which would still serve familymyth and preserve the "romantic value of tragedy" (179). There is, however, a moment of clarity that occurs that same day atthe track which sets Miranda apart in a way that will not be fullyunderstood until the day years later when she returns home forGabriel's funeral. In the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?"midmost of her ecstasy over seeingGabriel's horse, Miss Lucy The schoolyard rhyme sometimes known as "Miss Lucy" is found at "Miss Susie".Miss Lucy (born Lucy Offerall, d.1991) was a member of the '60s group the GTOs. , win, she is confronted with the realityof the horse's suffering. There is no mention that either herfather or sister pays any attention to the bleeding, trembling horse;but it has a revealing effect on Miranda: "So instantly andcompletely did her heart reject that victory, she did not know when ithappened, but she hated it, and was ashamed that she had screamed andshed tears for joy when Miss Lucy, with her bloodied nose and burstingheart had gone past the judges' stand a neck ahead. She felt emptyand sick" (199). As a result, she forsakes her dreams of becoming ajockey. It seems, then, that Miranda is at least sensitive and awareenough to notice and give thought to the ugliness or harm that can bepart of a romantic myth. When, at the age of eighteen, she meets Cousin Eva on the train asthey travel to Gabriel's funeral, it initially appears that Mirandahas finally "immured" herself in myth by acting almost asunacceptably as had Aunt Amy: she has defied societal, and family,conventions by dramatically eloping from the convent school. Will shecontinue the pattern that has been set before her? Amy had destroyedherself, presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. in part as a reaction to or against her"role" in the myth, and Miranda's path seems to beheading in a similar direction. As Eva, in conversation, tries todestroy the family version of Amy's life, Miranda loyally adheresto the family version of Amy's life, protesting that everybody hadloved Amy and said she was beautiful. On the other hand, at one pointshe even seems drawn to Eva's version simply because it is actuallythe more dramatic of the two: "deep in her was a horrified hor��ri��fy?tr.v. hor��ri��fied, hor��ri��fy��ing, hor��ri��fies1. To cause to feel horror. See Synonyms at dismay.2. To cause unpleasant surprise to; shock. fascination with the terrors and the darkness Cousin Eva had conjuredup" (214). Ultimately, however, she sees Eva's account as"no more true than what [she] was told before" (216), and thusshe must either choose between the two versions, reject them both, orfind a compromise between the two extremes of complete acceptance ordenial. When Miranda steps off the train and is more or less rejected byher father, she faces a critical moment in her life. "Feelinghomeless" because she is excluded from the family favor as a resultof her rebellious act (apparently rebellious women in this family needto die before they can be revered), she decides to alienate herself fromthem; but the narrator notes she does so in her "arrogance, herpride" (219). Reminiscent of Eva, her reaction is similar to thatof a child who, when told she can not be part of a group, says, "Ididn't want to be part of your dumb old group anyway" and thensets out to make her claim true. She resented, slowly and deeply and in profound silence, the presence of these aliens who lectured and admonished her, who loved her with bitterness and denied her the right to look at the world with her own eyes, who demanded that she accept their version of life and yet could not tell her the truth, not in the smallest thing. "I hate them both," her most inner and secret mind said plainly, "I will be free of them, I shall not even remember them." (219) She begins to ask herself the right questions, questions thatappear to demonstrate growth, but her answers are still immature. Shewants to know what life is and what she should do with it; but herimmediate reaction, rather than considered response, is to run away fromanyone or anything that "threatened to forbid her making her owndiscoveries, that said 'No' to her" (220); in thisformulation she still sounds suspiciously like Aunt Amy and her selfish,childish behavior. In the final passages Miranda states, "I don't want anypromises, I won't have false hopes, I won't be romantic aboutmyself. I can't live in their world any longer.... At least I canknow the truth about what happens to me" (221). Are we to believethat Miranda breaks free of the myth as she sets out to find the truth?She admittedly comes to a recognition about her family's(mis)remembrances, as Darlene Unrue points out: "She is theself-acknowledged seeker of truth The Seeker of Truth is a position within Terry Goodkind's series of fantasy novels The Sword of Truth''. General DescriptionThe Seeker of Truth is a position that is above any king or any other person of any station. The Seeker is a balance point of power. , while being fully aware for the firsttime that she does not know what the truth is" (Understanding66-67). However, Stout notes that Miranda "is still excessivelyhopeful, excessively sure of her own freedom from the distorted visionof her elders.... Promising herself 'I won't have false hopes,I won't be romantic about myself,' Miranda is sunk in aromanticism of her own, the Byronic exaltation of the solitaryrebellious spirit" ("Miranda's" 270). Miranda doesmake a promise to herself to seek the truth: "Her mind closedstubbornly against remembering, not the past but the legend of the past,other people's memory of the past," but she does so, it cannotbe overlooked, "in her hopefulness, her ignorance" (221).Miranda is on her way to finding a means to deal with the past, and thusher present and future, because she is questioning it; but it is obviousfrom the narrator's use of the word "ignorance" that sheis not there yet. What, we must wonder, does she need to realize? Whatis Porter saying about myth and memory in this story? In notes she made for a lecture delivered in Paris in 1934, Porterwrote: No legend is ever true, but I believe all of them are founded onsome germ of truth; and even these truths appear in different lights toevery mind they are presented to, and the legend is that work of artwhich goes on in the human mind, adding to and arranging, harmonizingand rounding out, making larger or smaller than life, and holding theentire finished product in a good light and asking you to believe it.And it is true. No memory is really faithful. It has too far to go, toomany changing landscapes of the human mind and heart, to bear any sortof really trustworthy witness, except in part. (Essays 440) Therefore, Porter would certainly want readers (and Miranda) tobelieve that there are fragments of truth in both the family's andEva's memories and myths, but it is unreasonable and foolish ofMiranda to expect to find absolute truth in either version or for thereader to expect Miranda to reach a point of objective reality and totalclarity about the past, present, or future. In fact, Fornataro-Neilstates, "In Porter's world, there is no absolute, objectivetruth. We all write and rewrite our own stories and histories based onour circumstances, agendas, pains, and individual narrativepurposes" (352). So if there is no such thing as an objective orabsolute truth, but if, on the other hand, family myth and itsunrealistic ideals can cause harm, then why does the narrator seemsomewhat cynical about Miranda's claims that she will reject herfamily's "legend of the past" and refuse to perpetuateit? The answer is that the story is pointing toward the truth not ofrejecting all myth as distorted memory but of continually questioningand sifting memory and myth and seeking the "germ of truth"that does lie within. Miranda must shape her own myth, but it needs tobe myth that will lead her to her own truth, not someone else's.Armstrong proposes that a myth "is true because it is effective,not because it gives us factual information. If, however, it does notgive us new insight into the deeper meaning of life, it has failed. Ifit works, that is, if it forces us to change our minds and hearts, andgives us new hope, and compels us to live more fully, it is a validmyth" (10). Miranda's family myth was one based on theromantic ideals of a dying culture, and it held her to impossiblestandards, standards that suffocated even the woman who was presumed tobe their very embodiment. In rejecting their memories and seeking tofind her own, Miranda is attempting to write her own version of memory,a myth that will give her hope and allow her to live more fully. Suzanne W. Jones points out that although Miranda decides todismiss both versions of the family myth, she does not actually discoverthe germ of truth in either: Miranda misses not only the "truths" that both versions of the story contain but also the nature of the ideologies that shape these "truths." By failing to comprehend the complexity of the reading experience [reading the "narratives"], Miranda undermines her own ability to see how she has unconsciously used the romance narrative to script her elopement and the feminist critique to write the erotic plot out of her life. (29) She adds that in choosing this ending, Porter also creates a"typical modernist ambiguous ending that runs counter to theplot's interest in creating feminist readers" (29). I wouldagree that yes, Miranda fails to achieve what would, for the reader, bea satisfying point of enlightenment about any "truth" in thecompeting versions of the past or even her own motives or choices, andyes, the ending isn't a feminist vindication. On the other hand,how realistic would it be for Miranda to exit the train at age eighteenwith a maturity of vision that it might more realistically take her alifetime to achieve? (3) That she has begun the creation of her own"work of art" is enough. Hearing Miranda say in the end that she will turn her back not onlyon the past but also on "other people's memory of thepast" (221) creates the hopefulness of the ending because she is atleast attempting to take an active role in her own life, trying todiscover what truth is (in itself a heroic undertaking). Her tellingherself that she won't have false hopes and won't be romanticabout herself demonstrates her naivete na��ive��t��or na��?ve��t�� ?n.1. The state or quality of being inexperienced or unsophisticated, especially in being artless, credulous, or uncritical.2. An artless, credulous, or uncritical statement or act. , but at least she has set out onher journey. Like Eva, some of what she does will likely be determinedby her effort to reject the myth of others, thus, in a sense, continuingto empower it, but at least by challenging others' narratives, shewill be attempting to form her own self-identity, even while selectivelyarranging her own memories and writing her own myth. Works Cited Armstrong, Karen. A Short History of Myth. New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Canongate,2005. Boatright, Mody. "The Family Saga as a Form of Folklore."Mody Boatright, Folklorist: A Collection of Essays. Ed. Ernest Speck.Austin: U of Texas P, 1973. 124-44. Ciuba, Gary M. "'Given Only Me for Model':Porter's 'Miranda' Stories and the Dilemmas ofDesire." Desire, Violence, & Divinity in Modern SouthernFiction. Baton Rouge Baton Rouge(băt`ən rzh)[Fr.,=red stick], city (1990 pop. 219,531), state capital and seat of East Baton Rouge parish, SE La. : LSU LSU Louisiana State UniversityLSU Large SubunitLSU La Salle University (Philadelphia, PA)LSU La Sierra UniversityLSU Link State Update (OSPF)LSU Learning Support Unit P, 2007.55-114. DeMouy, Jane Krause. "Face to Face: 'OldMortality.'" Modern Critical Views: Katherine Anne Porter Noun 1. Katherine Anne Porter - United States writer of novels and short stories (1890-1980)Porter . Ed.Harold Bloom '''Harold Bloom (born July 11, 1930) is an American professor and prominent literary and cultural critic. Bloom defended 19th-century Romantic poets at a time when their reputations stood at a low ebb, has constructed controversial theories of poetic influence, and . New York: Chelsea House, 1986. 127-39. Fornataro-Neil, M. K. "Constructed Narratives and WritingIdentity in the Fiction of Katherine Anne Porter." TwentiethCentury Literature 44:3 (1998): 349-61. Gray, Richard. The Literature of Memory: Modern Writers of theAmerican South. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Noun 1. Johns Hopkins - United States financier and philanthropist who left money to found the university and hospital that bear his name in Baltimore (1795-1873)Hopkins2. UP, 1977. Grider, Sylvia. "Memories That Never Were: Katherine AnnePorter and the Family Saga." From Texas To The World and Back:Essays on the Journeys of Katherine Anne Porter. Ed. Mark Busby &Dick Heaberlin. Fort Worth: Texas Christian UP, 2001. 225-27. Jones, Suzanne W. "Reading the Endings in Katherine AnnePorter's 'Old Mortality.'" Southern (Quarterly 31:3(1993): 29-44. Porter, Katherine Anne. The Collected Essays and OccasionalWritings of Katherine Anne Porter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States. The company's headquarters is located in Boston's Back Bay. It publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers , 1990. --. "Old Mortality." The Collected Stories of KatherineAnne Porter. New York: Harvest/Harcourt, 1979. 107-82. Stout, Janis P. Katherine Anne Porter: A Sense of the Times.Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1995. --. "Miranda's Guarded Speech: Porter and the Problem ofTruth-Telling." Philological phi��lol��o��gy?n.1. Literary study or classical scholarship.2. See historical linguistics.[Middle English philologie, from Latin philologia, love of learning Quarterly 66 (1987): 259-78. Sullivan, Waker. A Requiem for the Renascence: The State of Fictionin the Modern South. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1976. Titus, Mary. The Ambivalent Art of Katherine Anne Porter. Athens: Uof Georgia P, 2005. Unrue, Darlene Harbour. Truth and Vision in Katherine AnnePorter's Fiction. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1985. --. Understanding Katherine Anne Porter. Columbia: U of SouthCarolina South Carolina,state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW).Facts and FiguresArea, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. P, 1988. CHERYL D. COLEMAN Lynchburg College Coordinates: Lynchburg College is listed in Loren Pope's Colleges That Change Lives. HistoryLynchburg College was founded in 1903 by Dr. (1) Sylvia Grider defends Porter against critics' charges thatshe displayed "selective memory" in details about her own pastgrowing up in Kyle, Texas Kyle is a city in Hays County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,314 at the 2000 census; it was 17,770 in the 2005 census estimate. GeographyKyle is located at (29.989080, -97.875947)GR1. . She cites Boatright's article "TheFamily Saga as a Form of Folklore," in which he states, "I usethe term [family saga] mainly to denote a lore that tends to clusteraround families, which is preserved and modified by oral transmission,and which is believed to be true." Boatright theorizes that a storyrelated in such a way has "a relation to a social context andreflects a social value." Gilder adds, "In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , thesestories are not empirically and literally true. They relate the deepervalues of what might have been or what ought to have been rather thanwhat really was" (227). In addition to Grider, other critics such as Janis P. Stout(Katherine Anne Porter) and Gary M. Ciuba (Desire) have written aboutPorter's own ambivalence regarding truth in recounting her past andabout her identity as artist and woman. Ciuba, calling Miranda theauthor's "fictional double," claims that Porter"illustrates [Rene] Girard's belief that novels record theirwriters' own struggles with imitative im��i��ta��tive?adj.1. Of or involving imitation.2. Not original; derivative.3. Tending to imitate.4. Onomatopoeic. desire" (59). Thus, thestruggles with memory and truth in "Old Mortality" are alsoPorter's own. (2) Mary Titus says that Porter's notes about the story"indicate that Eva's story is companion rather than correctiveto the family legend": "Scene on the train. Legend notexploded because the legend was true as the one who loved it toldit." Furthermore, Eva's version "arises from the weddingof legend and memory and confirms Eva's present identity: it is herordering fiction" (191). Ciuba points out that "Despite herdenunciation DENUNCIATION, crim. law. This term is used by the civilians to signify the act by which au individual informs a public officer, whose duty it is to prosecute offenders, that a crime has been committed. It differs from a complaint. (q.v.) Vide 1 Bro. C. L. 447; 2 Id. 389; Ayl. Parer. , Eva is a true daughter of the traditional South. Just asthe Rheas [Miranda's family] idealize i��de��al��ize?v. i��de��al��ized, i��de��al��iz��ing, i��de��al��iz��esv.tr.1. To regard as ideal.2. To make or envision as ideal.v.intr.1. beauty, the unlovely Evaabsolutizes corruption" (96). (3) Darlene Unrue believes that at the end of the story Mirandamust "wait for greater maturity." She also points out thatPorter originally "thought of the work which became 'OldMortality' as a longer novel, which she referred to as 'thatbook of Amy.'... Whether Porter intended her central character tohave a total rebirth at the end of the novel is not clear. But shesurely intended all along to show a degree of progress towardtruth" (Truth 131).

A terrible place to teach: too many students, too little time and too many tests are ruining schools today. .

A terrible place to teach: too many students, too little time and too many tests are ruining schools today. . It seemed funny at the time. I was in junior high school,seventh-grade Spanish class, to be exact. It was mining outside, so Ibrought my squirt gun to class. I held it in my lap, hidden from theteacher's view, and strategically squirted the ceiling when shewasn't looking. I then dutifully du��ti��ful?adj.1. Careful to fulfill obligations.2. Expressing or filled with a sense of obligation.du raised my hand and pointed out to the teacher thatwater was dripping from the ceiling. She studied it momentarily and thencalled the office to report that the roof was leaking. I wish Ihadn't done it, but at the time it seemed like a great experiment. "That's a great one!" one friend told me as three ofus traded such stories during a recent lunch. Then we got talking aboutteaching. It was fun reminiscing about catching students who tried ourold tricks, but my focus quickly turned to how much I loved teaching. Mymind's instant replay kept calling up experiences with specificstudents and classes, and the mixture of successes and challenges thatmake teaching so rewarding. As I enthusiastically told story after story to my friends, one ofthem finally asked, "So, how come you left?" My immediate, almost involuntary response was, "Because schoolis a terrible place to teach." As soon as I said it, I knew I had the topic for this column. Thesearen't just empty words Noun 1. empty words - loud and confused and empty talk; "mere rhetoric"empty talk, hot air, palaver, rhetorichokum, meaninglessness, nonsense, nonsensicality, bunk - a message that seems to convey no meaning . After 20 years of reform in earnest,little has changed. Sure, we've moved from a junior high schoolmodel to a middle school model, but has there been any significantincrease in middle-grade student achievement? We've tinkered withblock scheduling Block scheduling is a type of academic scheduling in which each student has fewer classes per day for a longer period of time. This is intended to result in more time for teaching due to less time wasted due to class switching and preparation. , but let's face it: school is still mostly what itwas; 25 little desks and one big desk. The bell still waits for noone--forget teachable teach��a��ble?adj.1. That can be taught: teachable skills.2. Able and willing to learn: teachable youngsters. moments, just keep moving because you've onlygot four minutes to get to your next class. We talk aboutinterdisciplinary curriculum, but content is still divided into discreetsubjects and the day into fixed periods. That's just the way we doit. IT MIGHT BE WORSE TODAY Unfortunately, some of our attempts atreform may actually have made things worse. One veteran high schoolhistory teacher told me he's never been more frustrated frus��trate?tr.v. frus��trat��ed, frus��trat��ing, frus��trates1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: . Hisgripes gripe?v. griped, grip��ing, gripesv.intr.1. Informal To complain naggingly or petulantly; grumble.2. To have sharp pains in the bowels.v.tr.1. : too many students, too little time and too many tests. He argues that for achievement to go up, teachers need more timewith fewer students. That would allow him to set higher expectations andimplement accountability that's grounded in deeper and moreeffective interactions. Today, he has so many students for such shortperiods of time that accountability, rarely goes any deeper than basicclassroom management, where students meet the standard simply by notbeing disruptive. MORE IS MORE, AND LESS IS ... Today his curriculum focuses almostexclusively on test preparation. The steadily increasing emphasis onobjective measurement has forced him to put aside the role playing role playing,n in behavioral medicine, learning exercise in which individuals assume characters different from their own. The individual may also be asked to simulate a particularly difficult situation and apply the characteristics that are common to his thatis his favorite teaching method. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. this teacher, studyinghistory through role playing gives students a deeper understanding intothe unfolding of history, and more practical insight into currentevents. It's a classic example of the "less-is-more"principle promoted so heavily in the early days of reform. But now, moreis more, and less won't help you pass the test. Having to change classrooms several times per day compounds hisproblems. Without a permanent classroom, it's nearly impossible tocreate and maintain lessons and projects that continue over severalclass periods. Several limes limesplural limites(Latin; “path”)In ancient Rome, a strip of open land along which troops advanced into unfriendly territory. It came to mean a Roman military road, fortified with watchtowers and forts. each day he has to pack up all of hismaterials and move to the next class. A shared desk (and sharedcomputer) in the faculty room just doesn't cut it. He still believes good teaching is the key to academic achievement,but has come to the conclusion that his school is a terrible place toteach. Then he watches his students. Like him, they have to gather allof their things every 50 minutes or so, and hustle to another locationto start afresh a��fresh?adv.Once more; anew; again: start afresh.afreshAdverbonce moreAdv. 1. on another subject. He believes it's just as hard for them to find continuity andconnections in their courses. Everything is so fragmented. Maybe thetypical school environment lends itself best to rote rote?1?n.1. A memorizing process using routine or repetition, often without full attention or comprehension: learn by rote.2. Mechanical routine. memorization mem��o��rize?tr.v. mem��o��rized, mem��o��riz��ing, mem��o��riz��es1. To commit to memory; learn by heart.2. Computer Science To store in memory: andobjective tests. But is that the kind of learning we want? No, andit's ... wait ... Sorry, I've got to go; I think the roof isleaking again. Daniel E. Kinnaman, dkinnaman@promediagrp.com, is publisher.

International TESOL training and EFL contexts: the cultural disillusionment factor.

International TESOL training and EFL contexts: the cultural disillusionment factor. This article reports on a study examining the implementation ofcommunicative language teaching Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. (CLT CLTtotal lung-thorax compliance. ) in Bangladesh in general and atthe University of Dhaka Coordinates: in particular. When CLT was first introducedacross Europe, the English as a foreign language (EFL EFL - Extended Fortran Language ) context in whichit would inevitably be applied was not considered. Here university EFLteachers discuss the problems and contradictions associated withadopting this western-forged methodology. One paradox faced by theteachers was that of an essentially learner-centred curriculum in atradition where the centrality of the teacher is the culturally andsocially sanctioned basis of teaching. Although in developing countrieswe cannot afford simply to retreat to traditional teaching methods, thestudy suggests the need for an educational agenda set within a newpost-colonial framework which acknowledges the importance of theadaptation of CLT and recognises the significance of its applicabilityin Bangladesh. Keywords communicative competence Communicative competence is a linguistic term which refers to a learner's L2 ability. It not only refers to a learner's ability to apply and use grammatical rules, but also to form correct utterances, and know how to use these utterances appropriately. (language) developing countries English (second language) English Teaching Globalisation Second Language Teaching These fragments I have shored against my ruins My Ruin are a Los Angeles based Hard Rock band. Fronted by Tairrie B (former vocalist of Tura Satana and Manhole and solo rap artist), they have been going through various line-up changes since 1999. They have a dedicated fanbase, most notably in the UK. . T.S. Eliot, TheWaste Land Introduction Teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL TESOLabbr.1. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages2. teaching English to speakers of other languages ) is bydefinition cross-cultural and international and hence presupposes aninternational body of learners. In spite of this, there is an assumptionin international TESOL training that the western academic setting is thedefault backdrop against which teachers teach. In most cases, theteaching environment of the international student--teacher is verydifferent from the western setting. Due to this difference,internationally trained teachers encounter incompatibilities on theirreturn home. The student--teacher abroad, who is either deliberately orsubconsciously sub��con��scious?adj.Not wholly conscious; partially or imperfectly conscious: subconscious perceptions.n.The part of the mind below the level of conscious perception. Often used with the. moving away from a teacher-centred style more suited tohis own country, is seen as disappointing the expectation of studentsback home for whom the centrality of the teacher is the culturally andsocially sanctioned basis of his teaching (Edge, 1996). This study seeksto examine the ways in which communicative language teaching (CLT) isunderstood by university English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers inBangladesh in general and at the University of Dhaka in particular. Inorder to understand the role of culture in language teaching, it isfirst important to examine the contextual givens of the situation understudy. This article begins with an introduction to the teaching of Englishin Bangladesh and the Foundation Course in English at the University ofDhaka and continues with a discussion of issues relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accthe matchand mismatch mismatch1. in blood transfusions and transplantation immunology, an incompatibility between potential donor and recipient.2. one or more nucleotides in one of the double strands in a nucleic acid molecule without complementary nucleotides in the same position on the other of language teaching methodology to the culture of languagelearners, specifically CLT methodology to learners in Asian countries Noun 1. Asian country - any one of the nations occupying the Asian continentAsian nationcountry, land, state - the territory occupied by a nation; "he returned to the land of his birth"; "he visited several European countries" .It then reports on a study conducted in the Department of English Noun 1. department of English - the academic department responsible for teaching English and American literatureEnglish departmentacademic department - a division of a school that is responsible for a given subject of theUniversity of Dhaka, where these issues were raised in a series ofinterviews with six members of the teaching staff. Themes which emergedfrom the teachers' responses are identified. In the final section,recommendations are made which seek to achieve culturally appropriateoutcomes in the teaching of English in Bangladesh. EFL in Bangladesh In Bangladesh, English is taught as a compulsory subject for 12years under a uniform national curriculum, both in state-run and privateschools and colleges. It is a required subject rather than a tool forsurvival in business and education at the primary and secondary levels.It is therefore an EFL context and, like most other countries in Asia(see Li, 1998, Liu, 1998), English teaching in Bangladesh tends to meanteaching grammar, reading and translation. In Bangladesh, students expect teachers to be authority figures andthe teaching methods to conform to Verb 1. conform to - satisfy a condition or restriction; "Does this paper meet the requirements for the degree?"fit, meetcoordinate - be co-ordinated; "These activities coordinate well" the traditional 'lock-step'teacher-centred approaches where teachers give orders to students, whothen comply. By the time students are enrolled at a university, theyhave already completed 12 years of schooling with English as acompulsory subject. In the pre-university years, students are notexposed to skills development courses. Hence the more communicative com��mu��ni��ca��tive?adj.1. Inclined to communicate readily; talkative.2. Of or relating to communication.com��mu approaches to language teaching which they come across for the firsttime at the university seem to them foreign (Chowdhury, 2000). Studentsfeel tempted to discard the new style and complain that the teacher isnot 'teaching' when tasks and activities are done in the classwithout meeting the 'sociocultural' expectations of thestudents. This may be because the sense of security and order, whichthey found in the familiar routines in which they knew their status androle, had suddenly been violated by something new. They are no longerfamiliar with the rules of this new game. The Foundation Course in English The focus of this study is on the Foundation Course in English (FC)taught at the University of Dhaka which was introduced in the academicyear 1998-1999 at the tertiary level to all first year undergraduatestudents. The FC had the dual objective of providing students withadequate English language English language,member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. skills to adapt to the linguistic demands madeby their respective academic disciplines and to make them competentenough to find suitable employment opportunities in the job market,which increasingly requires English proficiency. This course is taughttwice a week with a duration of 50 minutes per class. Currently about1300 students are enrolled in this course from all the 14 departments ofthe Faculty of Arts Historically the Faculty of Arts was one of the four traditional divisions of the teaching bodies of universities, the others being theology, law and medicine.[1] Nowadays it is a common name for the faculties teaching humanities. References1. . The FC is primarily skills based and aims to develop the fourmacroskills (i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing). It has amore or less notional no��tion��al?adj.1. Of, containing, or being a notion; mental or imaginary.2. Speculative or theoretical.3. syllabus A headnote; a short note preceding the text of a reported case that briefly summarizes the rulings of the court on the points decided in the case.The syllabus appears before the text of the opinion. rather than a grammatical one in whichthe fundamental units are based on meanings and concepts expressedthrough the language and not through the grammatical items (Nunan,1991). At the end of the academic year, students have to sit for the FCexit test in which 100 marks are allotted al��lot?tr.v. al��lot��ted, al��lot��ting, al��lots1. To parcel out; distribute or apportion: allotting land to homesteaders; allot blame.2. where the pass mark is 33.Marks above 50 are added to the final BA Honours result. Theoretically the implementation of the FC represents an innovationin foreign language learning as continual attempts are made to changesyllabus content, textbook design and classroom teaching approach intune with the current principles of communicative language teaching(Khan, 1997, p. 3). This course has been running for about two yearsand, in spite of a number of major modifications made to the curriculumand teaching strategies, it has yet to reach a consolidated, substantialand unanimous shape conforming to both the demands of the learners andsuggestions made by teachers. The modifications are largely based onideas developed during several ELT ELTEnglish Language TeachingELTn abbr (Scol) (= English Language Teaching) → Englisch als Unterrichtsfach workshops conducted all through theyear for FC teachers. Although some of the FC teachers of the department do not haveinternational training, a number of them have completed TESOL coursesfrom abroad. These teachers have often complained about the incongruity in��con��gru��i��ty?n. pl. in��con��gru��i��ties1. Lack of congruence.2. The state or quality of being incongruous.3. Something incongruous.Noun 1. that exists between the nature of their international TESOL training andthe subsequent disillusionment DisillusionmentAdams, Nickloses innocence through WWI experience. [Am. Lit.: “The Killers”]Angry Young Mendisillusioned postwar writers of Britain, such as Osborne and Amis. [Br. Lit. on their return home. Contemporaryliterature in this area suggests the existence of a rather one-sidedunderstanding of the requirement of TESOL professionals fromnon-English-speaking countries. The following section discusses theseissues, along with the importance of culture in language learning andteaching and how these factors affect the internationally trainedteacher. Pedagogical ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. incompatibilities It has long been felt that most of the much professed pro��fess?v. pro��fessed, pro��fess��ing, pro��fess��esv.tr.1. To affirm openly; declare or claim: "a physics major and populartheories devised in the 'inner circle of countries'(Ramanathan, 1999, p. 211) or the West are incompatible with teachingsituations at the University of Dhaka--not so much because of thephysical constraints and lack of adequate logistic support Noun 1. logistic support - assistance between and within military commandslogistic assistancesupport - the activity of providing for or maintaining by supplying with money or necessities; "his support kept the family together"; "they gave him emotional , but becauseof cultural differences that exist between the target culture and theBengali culture. With the EFL setting in Bangladesh, the home cultureand the EFL classroom/textbook cultures are very often at odds, and thevalues and teaching methods presented in class are alien and thereforeoften unappreciated. This becomes worse when classes expect to beexposed to a particular version of the target culture which the teacherdoes not endorse. This might be explained by Kramsch's convictionthat in many EFL classrooms the focus is on 'what is on the otherside of the border' but not on the 'border crossing'(cited in Duff & Uchida, 1997, p. 452) as a result of which teachersare actually teaching language and culture or culture in language, butnot language as culture. A considerable gap is felt between the theoriesof communicative teaching of language and the sociocultural so��ci��o��cul��tur��al?adj.Of or involving both social and cultural factors.soci��o��cul relevance ofteaching it in its westernised form. If the teaching of English is more than the teaching of language(Gee, 1994; Pennycook, 1994), cultural study is of paramount importanceand can directly contribute to the EFL teachers' attempts to adaptteaching methodology in their countries, because no language, whetherverbal or non-verbal, can be devoid of cultural influences (Liu, 1998),nor can any teaching or learning methodology. Brindley (1991) shares thesame conviction and says that, because of culture-related reasons,language education research is best done by practising teachersthemselves. CLT and TEFL TEFLabbr.teaching English as a foreign languageTEFLTeaching of English as a Foreign LanguageTEFLn abbr contexts In contemporary literature on communicative language teaching(CLT), the role of the subtle yet intriguing in��trigue?n.1. a. A secret or underhand scheme; a plot.b. The practice of or involvement in such schemes.2. A clandestine love affair.v. interrelationship in��ter��re��late?tr. & intr.v. in��ter��re��lat��ed, in��ter��re��lat��ing, in��ter��re��latesTo place in or come into mutual relationship.in betweenlanguage teaching and culture and the nature of TESOL training intoday's world plays an important part. In the 1970s, interest inand development of communicative-style teaching mushroomed and authenticlanguage use and classroom exchanges where students engaged in realcommunication with one another became quite popular (Savignon, 1991).Today CLT is one of the most practised practisedAdjectiveexpert or skilled because of long experience in a skill or field: the doctor answered with a practised smoothnessAdj. 1. language teaching methods allover the world. This is a student-centred (as opposed toteacher-centred) approach where the objective is to provide linguisticinput to the learners according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. their needs. CLT makes use of real-life situations that necessitate ne��ces��si��tate?tr.v. ne��ces��si��tat��ed, ne��ces��si��tat��ing, ne��ces��si��tates1. To make necessary or unavoidable.2. To require or compel. communication (Richard & Rodgers, 1986). The teacher sets up asituation that students are likely to encounter in real life andstudents use the language creatively to relate forms to functionsappropriately in situations involving real meaning, real time, andactual interaction. The 'four utterance ut��ter��ance?1?n.1. a. The act of uttering; vocal expression.b. The power of speaking; speech: as long as I have utterance.c. paradigm'--the sampleschema of the teacher--student string of question, response, feedbackand response to feedback (Wajnryb, 1992) typical of agrammar-translation approach--is avoided in CLT. Unlike the audiolingualmethod of language teaching, where teachers have a more central anddominating role, relying on repetition and drills and requiring studentsmerely to listen, repeat and respond to questions, the communicativeapproach can leave students in suspense SUSPENSE. When a rent, profit a prendre, and the like, are, in consequence of the unity of possession of the rent, &c., of the land out of which they issue, not in esse for a time, they are said to be in suspense, tunc dormiunt, but they may be revived or awakened. Co, Litt. 313 a. as to the purpose of a classexercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses. In adopting CLT in foreign language learning, teachers and policymakers are likely to accept implicitly and subconsciously certainassumptions concerning their pedagogical roles and goals as culturalguides (Talebinezhad & Aliakbari, 2001). The hidden but inescapableassumption supporting these objectives is that meaningful language useis culture bound and culture specific. Theories and methodologies concerning language teaching in generaland CLT in particular are mostly incompatible with the physicalrestraints Physical restraint refers to the practice of rendering people helpless or keeping them in captivity by means such as handcuffs, shackles, straitjackets, ropes, straps, or other forms of physical restraint. and lack of adequate logistic support in the teachingenvironment at the University of Dhaka. Differences among students,student competence levels, school populations, teachers, scheduling andthe physical environment invariably in��var��i��a��ble?adj.Not changing or subject to change; constant.in��vari��a��bil impose limitations on theories.Medgyes (1986, p. 21), in a caricatured, somewhat ironical portrayal,says that the communicative teacher requires extraordinary abilities: hehas to be 'a multi-dimensional, high-tech, wizard-of-Oz-likesuperperson--yet of flesh and blood'. He argues that CLT places toomuch of a burden on a teacher. Because it is a student-centred approachand not a teacher-centred approach, the teacher has to accept extraresponsibilities both before and during the class. This is particularlydifficult for non-native teachers who are usually reluctant to acceptthe communicative approach because of the heavy demands made on them.Non-native teachers may be already immersed im��merse?tr.v. im��mersed, im��mers��ing, im��mers��es1. To cover completely in a liquid; submerge.2. To baptize by submerging in water.3. in the audio-lingualapproach, a system which is set in such a consolidated state that it isvery difficult to free themselves from the constraints, thus making theproblem and the sense of burden all the more palpable Easily perceptible, plain, obvious, readily visible, noticeable, patent, distinct, manifest.The term palpable usually refers to some type of egregious wrong, such as a governmental error or abuse of power. . Language and culture: The symbiosis symbiosis(sĭmbēō`sĭs), the habitual living together of organisms of different species. The term is usually restricted to a dependent relationship that is beneficial to both participants (also called mutualism) but may be extended to in TESOL pedagogy A language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture. (Brown, cited in Jiang, 1994, p. 147) The purpose of learning a foreign language is to communicate,either in written or spoken form, with the people who speak thatlanguage. In order to communicate properly, the rules of communication,norms of formality formality,in chemistry: see chemical equilibrium; concentration. and other cultural issues should be considered. Theseare elements that are inseparable in��sep��a��ra��ble?adj.1. Impossible to separate or part: inseparable pieces of rock.2. Very closely associated; constant: inseparable companions. from language and so inextricably in��ex��tri��ca��ble?adj.1. a. So intricate or entangled as to make escape impossible: an inextricable maze; an inextricable web of deceit.b. linked with language that one cannot be separated from the other. Withlanguage learning come other factors, the knowledge of which supplementslanguage learning--the way to greet, address others, wear clothes, lookat people, talk, laugh, say goodbye, wave hands, prepare food and eat.The relationship between culture and language is therefore functionaland mutually complementary. In the same way, language teachers are very much 'culturalwarriors' (Giroux, 1992, cited in Hall, 1997, p. 37), and this roleis at once inevitable and perpetual and fundamentally related tolanguage (Hall, 1997). It is in this sense that classrooms become'battlegrounds in culture wars' (Shor, cited in Auerbach,1995, p. 76). Hall (1997) explains that culture is something that we do,something that coheres us as a society; language, on the other hand, isa way in which we practise prac��tise?v. & n. Chiefly BritishVariant of practice.practis��er n. culture. But culture itself is neverfrozen--we consume culture as we produce it and are defined in terms ofour use of culture. Pedagogy, likewise, is embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. in and shaped byculture. It is hence important for teachers to be aware of this in theirpedagogical practices. Damen (1987) appropriately terms culture as the often neglected,mostly overlooked 'fifth dimension' of the language classroom.Jiang (1994, p. 27) proposes three different kinds of metaphorical pairsto show the intimate relation between language and culture--flesh/blood,swimming skill/water and vehicle/traffic light. Every spoken or writtenword in any language has a particular context-bound meaning--designativeor social, denotative de��no��ta��tive?adj.1. Denoting or naming; designative.2. Specific or direct: denotative and connotative meanings. and connotative con��no��ta��tion?n.1. The act or process of connoting.2. a. An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or thing: as associated with culture. Duffand Uchida (1997) examine the complex yet inevitable 'fundamentalinterconnectedness' between language and culture in socialcontexts--between teachers' sociocultural identities andpedagogical practices and between their explicit discussions of cultureand the implicit modes of cultural transmission. If culture shapes ourview of the world, language is the most representative element in whichculture manifests itself. Any item of behaviour, tradition or patterncan only be understood in the light of its meaning to the people whopractise it. Whether they are aware of it or not, teachers are alwaysinvolved in the transmission of culture (Duff & Uchida, 1997). Theseauthors have argued that teachers' professional, social, culturaland political identities and their representation involve numerouscomplexities and paradoxes which are manifested in their pedagogicalpractices. Some of these can be resolved through a careful understandingof the mismatch and an unobtrusive assimilation of the two cultures. Imported theories, local understandings A host of authors have commented on the EFL situation in Asia andhave invariably talked of problems associated with the implementation ofwestern teaching techniques including CLT. Although these authors havepointed out that cultural continuity should be respected in makingchanges (Fryer & Wong, 1998; Liao, 2000; Zhenhui, 2000), they havealso shown how it is possible to adapt certain techniques to meet localneeds while acknowledging the limitations. Li's (1998) article onthe cultural constraints in introducing the CLT in South Korea points tosome of the problems discussed earlier in the Bangladesh context--hementions a number of Asian EFL countries where CLT has been used withlimited success--China, Hong Kong Hong Kong(hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , Japan, Vietnam, Pakistan, Singaporeand the Philippines. Liao (2000), on the other hand, shows how CLT hadbeen acceptable in the secondary schools in China. In drawing out three major differences between Confucian-heritagecultures (CHC CHC Chicago CubsCHC Community Health CenterCHC Chestnut Hill College (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)CHC Congressional Hispanic CaucusCHC Community Health Council (UK National Health Service)) and western culture, Biggs (1997) points out twooften-neglected views. First, Asian students more readily work togetherspontaneously than do western students. This is not cheating but acollectivist col��lec��tiv��ism?n.The principles or system of ownership and control of the means of production and distribution by the people collectively, usually under the supervision of a government. attempt to share knowledge and do the best job possible(Tang tang, in zoologytang:see butterfly fish. , cited in Biggs, 1997, p. 108). Secondly, in westerners,achievement motivation is individualistic and competitive; in CHCstudents, it is collectivist, embracing the peer group (Salili, cited inBiggs, 1997, p. 109). These appear to be paradoxical since thecommunicative classroom is meant to be one in which collectivespontaneity spon��ta��ne��i��ty?n. pl. spon��ta��ne��i��ties1. The quality or condition of being spontaneous.2. Spontaneous behavior, impulse, or movement.Noun 1. and motivation appear to play an important role. In view ofthese insights regarding learning approaches, it is important to ask thefollowing questions: In spite of their collectivist nature, why dostudents of this part of the world appear to fail to be'communicative' in the language classroom? Is it possible that'communicative' is a culturally situated word and differs inits connotations, expectations and manifestations across cultures? It appears, at this point, that the term 'communicative'itself is problematic. Holliday (1994) points out the perceiveddifferences in the interpretation and perception of what we mean bycommunicative between the West and the EFL countries where CLT hasfailed to gain ready acceptance. Crystal (1985, p. 57) defines'communication' as 'transmission of information'--inhis Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics--'between a source anda receiver, using a signaling system'. In theory, he says,communication is said to have occurred only when the informationreceived is the same as that sent. Hymes (1972) defined the term 'communicative competence',which includes knowledge about what is formally possible, feasible, andappropriate in a given language and to performance (or use) of thislanguage. Clearly communicative competence entails more than justlinguistic competence. What may not be communicative in one settingmight well be in another and this depends to a large extent on localculture as Hall (1997) has pointed out in his article on discoursecommunities The term discourse community links the terms discourse, a concept describing all forms of communication that contribute to a particular, institutionalized way of thinking; and community, which in this case refers to the people who use, and therefore help create, a particular . On the one hand, there are small classes with plenty ofresources and, on the other, large classes with few or no resources.Holliday (1994) shows that the former is the model based on whichmethodologies and materials are disseminated in other countries. The culture in Bangladesh is one that has a long tradition ofunconditional obedience to authority. The teacher is seen not as afacilitator but as a fount of knowledge, which is delivered without anyconcession to students and which students 'struggle to attain'(Holliday, 1994). The south Asian teacher is the authoritarian purveyor (World-Wide Web) Purveyor - A World-Wide Web server for Windows NT and Windows 95 (when available).http://process.com/.E-mail: <info@process.com>. of knowledge, one to lead and to draw matters to a correct conclusion.An authoritarian, cold and unproductive classroom climate to a westerner west��ern��eralso West��ern��er ?n.A native or inhabitant of the west, especially the western United States.WesternerNouna person from the west of a country or regionNoun 1. may not be perceived that way by the participants of a collectivistsociety. There, hierarchy determines the nature of teacher--studentinteraction, which is facilitated by mutual respect. First names andphysical proximity can make things uncomfortable and unfamiliar. Theworld outside and the classroom may be paradoxically at odds. Biggs(1997) refers to 'the inside/outside rules' of classparticipation: 'Student talk is "outside" (inappropriate)when inside the classroom, but "inside" when outside theclassroom'. Cultural constraints inhibit the communicative competence of thesestudents and limit the choices they could make elsewhere. Again, in CLT,the student with the best control of structures and vocabulary is notnecessarily the best communicator. Due to heavy grammar input frompre-university schooling (Chowdhury, 2001), first-year universitystudents in Bangladesh generally have a modest grasp of structure andusage, though the demands made by the CLT class cannot be fulfilled withthis knowledge. Referring to Chinese culture, Biggs (1996, p. 9) goes onto comment, 'It is not that Chinese students won't talk insidethe classroom, but things have to be structured so that they see it asappropriate that they do'. It appears from the above discussionthat the problem lay not so much with the competence of students as withthe overall cultural orientation to the academic atmosphere. This type of primarily didactic di��dac��ticadj.Of or relating to medical teaching by lectures or textbooks as distinguished from clinical demonstration with patients. , product-oriented andteacher-centred (Liu, 1998; Zhenhui, 2000) tradition is incompatiblewith what student-teachers learn in TESOL programs across North America North America,third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. ,Britain and Australia (NABA NABA North American Butterfly AssociationNABA National Association of Black AccountantsNABA National Adult Baseball AssociationNABA North American Bullriding AssociationNABA North American Broadcasters AssociationNABA Namibian Biotechnology Alliance ). NABA-trained international TESOL students often return home to face not only the problems of modifying their methods and techniques, but also the conflict between their newly acquired ideas and those still firmly followed by local professionals. (Liu, 1998, p. 8) But several authors have also convincingly discussed the supple supplePhysical exam adjective Referring to free movement of a body part , ifsomewhat amorphous Unorganized or vague. A lack of structure. For example, the amorphous state of a spot on a rewritable optical disc means that the laser beam will not be reflected from it, which is in contrast to a crystalline state which will reflect light. See crystalline. nature of CLT. Li (1998) emphasises the flexibilitythat CLT offers-contrary to popular misconception mis��con��cep��tion?n.A mistaken thought, idea, or notion; a misunderstanding: had many misconceptions about the new tax program. , he suggests, CLT isnot defined and practised within cautious perimeters. He recommends thatEFL countries should adapt rather than adopt westernised forms of CLT,meeting the immediate needs and recognising the local constraints. Inthe same line of argument, Bickerton (1996, p. 43) intriguingly arguesagainst what he calls the 'enormous intuitive appeal' of CLT,despite which, he warns, 'a naive, even impoverished view oflanguage' can be found at the heart of CLT. He examines six'fundamentally trivial propositions' upon which he thinks CLTis based and says that the propositions are 'only superficially andtrivially true'. Against these propositions, he offers sixcounter-propositions and suggests an alternative: 'pluralistmethodologies are more likely to be successful than any singleorthodoxy'. Difficulties in the developing context usually arisefrom a western adviser telling people who have been working with theirown ways that they have got it all wrong (Liu, 1998). Brown (2000)recommends gradual changes and a simultaneous respect for 'culturalcontinuity', which should keep contact with the socially andinstitutionally sanctioned current practice. How does the CLT approachfit the teaching of English in Bangladesh? In the following section, theUniversity of Dhaka study explores this question. Teacher participants of the study This research was carried out with six teachers of the Departmentof English of the University of Dhaka (DU). Although the emphasis was onteachers who had received international TESOL training from abroad, thelocally trained teachers provided a study in comparison and contrast.Four of these teacher-participants received their degrees from abroadand the rest were locally trained. The first group of teachers had beenexposed to both western culture and the westernised models of CLTcurrently in practice. It was the intention of the researcher to includeparticipants with experience in a number of English--speaking countries.These included a participant with a PhD in English language teaching(ELT) from the United Kingdom, one with a Masters degree in TESOL fromthe United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and two participants with degrees from Australia. Theparticipants' teaching experience ranged from two years to overfifteen years. Participants' perceptions of CLT vis-a-vis learners'culture Considering that ideal and actual roles of teachers and students(as perceived by TESOL practitioners) and the role of culture wouldthrow light on the inquiry made by this study when discussed with thephysical-cultural limitations of the teaching context, views expressedin the interviews and questionnaires were sorted into five categories:teachers' roles; students' roles; resources and constraints;the nature of international TESOL training; and the negotiation ofcultural content. The last category emerged, as the study was inprogress, as a spontaneous choice made by teachers to bridge theincompatibility The inability of a Husband and Wife to cohabit in a marital relationship. incompatibilityn. the state of a marriage in which the spouses no longer have the mutual desire to live together and/or stay married, and is thus a ground for divorce . Teachers' role As mentioned earlier, CLT as a term and as a technique is more orless new to teachers who have not been trained in the West. One of thequestions asked participants to select the best way of describing CLTwhere options included 'student-centred teaching','teacher-student two way interaction', 'teacher isnegotiator rather than supervisor', 'based on students'needs analysis', 'focus on meaning rather than on form'and 'all of the above'. While 'student-student two-wayinteraction' was an option that should ideally have been includedin the question, it was left out because real classroom time andphysical constraints made it almost impossible in the given context.Three out of the six participants chose 'teacher-student two-wayinteraction' as the best way to describe CLT whereas two chose'teacher as negotiator'. It seemed from their comments that social and cultural norms loomedlarge in the shaping of the way students view teachers and vice versa VICE VERSA. On the contrary; on opposite sides. .Earlier we have seen how teachers are viewed as authoritative figures inthe classroom in Bangladesh. In the face-to-face interview, Neelimamentioned that culture is an important factor in defining the nature ofstudent--teacher interaction. One of the reasons why students feelinhibited in student-centred interaction is that teachers do notadequately encourage students due to the culturally situated role of theteacher. This view, albeit true, is also paradoxical, because she alsosays that students see the teacher simultaneously as a 'fatherfigure'--nurturing and authoritative. Osman explained: I think there is something wrong with the traditionally expected image of the language teacher in our country but you can't blame [students] for upholding this image because the general [students] don't know what kind of teacher [an authority figure or a facilitator] is more suitable for teaching language. Neelima complained about the discrepancy between the role she playsas a teacher from the role she is expected to play as a teacher by thestudents. Though none of the teachers mentioned it explicitly, itappeared that, despite all the changes that are taking place, teachershave accepted their role but at the same time they are realising thatstudents should be encouraged to take more responsibility in theclassroom. Interestingly participants viewed the authoritative standing of theteacher, since unavoidable, as something that could rather be used forstudent benefit. It was also apparent that although they all wanted to'break the ice' that lay between the students and theteachers, they were not entirely willing to give up the authoritativeand somewhat distanced role of the traditional teacher. The reason forthis was explicitly elaborated by Neelima who, echoing Bithi, said thatit was a matter of culture and that sometimes it is better to allowstudents to pay the respect and maintain the distance they arecomfortable with. The students want the teacher to be an information provider and if you are not one, it is sometimes taken as if you don't know much, and that's a part of our culture. It all comes down from the family image because even at home there is someone who is really the head of the family and it is this concept that has also come down to the classroom and the students see the teacher as their guardian, one who would truly guard them and give them all their answers to their questions and queries. Participants viewed the role of the teacher as facilitator,provider of information, mentor, resource person, maintainer ofdiscipline, etc. However the emphasis seemed to be on the role ofteacher as facilitator. What was interesting about the ways in which teachers negotiatedtheir roles in relation to culture was the difference between theperception of CLT by western-trained teachers and non-western trainedteachers. On the one hand, western-trained teachers saw themselves astransmitting a culture essentially alien to the students by means of atechnique alien to them and, in the process, making demands on studentswhich did not match their present level of competence. On the otherhand, the locally trained teachers found that the traditional way workedbest, provided care is taken that students learn independently and thetasks are communication--based even if that meant the teachers wouldstill assume an authoritative position. Also interesting was the way teachers perceived the paradoxicaljuxtaposition juxtaposition/jux��ta��po��si��tion/ (-pah-zish��un) apposition. jux��ta��po��si��tionn.The state of being placed or situated side by side. of the authoritarian role of the teacher as facilitatorand as the maintainer of discipline against the cultural backdrop.Participants suggested this traditional viewing of the teacher could beused positively because tasks endorsed by the teacher are alwaysaccepted by students. Learners' role The expected student behaviour of the FC teachers of the DUdiffered from student behaviour expected in the West. Some participantswanted their students to be disciplined, regular and punctual punc��tu��al?adj.1. Acting or arriving exactly at the time appointed; prompt.2. Paid or accomplished at or by the appointed time.3. Precise; exact.4. . Thereforeit was not surprising that some participants would see their roles asmaintainer of discipline or mentor. In response to one question, Osmandescribed his role of teacher as a 'maintainer of discipline'. I do believe that there is a gap between teaching and learning and the student may not learn what the teacher teaches ... so responsible learners are what I would like to see in my class ... [I also value] my role in maintaining classroom discipline, working with others ... On the question of student freedom, participants offereddiametrically di��a��met��ri��cal? also di��a��met��ricadj.1. Of, relating to, or along a diameter.2. Exactly opposite; contrary.di opposing views. For example, asked if liberty woulddisrupt the teaching process, Neelima compared her experience inAustralia and said that, with carefully bestowed classroom freedom,students could improve a lot. Some advocated giving full freedom to thestudents whereas others went for the more traditional controlledclassroom. This reflected not only the sociocultural tension thatexisted between teachers and students, but also the fact that teacherswere not prepared to discard their traditional roles completely infavour of a more westernised approach: 'What we probably need issomething in between communicative and our traditional way of teachingthe students'. Osman far from blames the students for relying so much on theteacher. Recalling his own days as student at DU, he said he used tohave similar views and gives an example where one particular teacherasked students to do a 'presentation' and spent the wholeclass time on it. Students felt they 'didn't get anything fromthe teacher himself'. It appeared that, although each of the participants had highexpectations and concern for the students, they were divided in theiropinions in regard to expected student behaviour. All four participantswith degrees from the West said that their views of how students shouldbehave and interact in the classroom were 'legitimised by theirtraining in the West'. The notion of the inseparability in��sep��a��ra��ble?adj.1. Impossible to separate or part: inseparable pieces of rock.2. Very closely associated; constant: inseparable companions. of thestudent's social culture and cultural identity of both the studentand the teacher, Neelima argued, played an important role in the waythey behaved and were expected to behave in the classroom. Perceived limitations The perceptions of the teacher-participants in relation to thelimitations and obstacles in implementing CLT at DU showed a broadspectrum of variety. Limitations ranged from logistic lo��gis��tic? also lo��gis��ti��caladj.1. Of or relating to symbolic logic.2. Of or relating to logistics.[Medieval Latin logisticus, of calculation limitations(Osman, Bithi, Tania Hayd��e Tamara Bunke Bider, communist revolutionary Tania (queen) Tania was an alias of Patricia Hearst Tania Borealis and Tania Australis, stars in the constellation Ursa Major Tania Emery, actress Tania Lacy, comedian Tania Libertad, singer , Rina, Farzin) to time constraints In law, time constraints are placed on certain actions and filings in the interest of speedy justice, and additionally to prevent the evasion of the ends of justice by waiting until a matter is moot. (Osman, Bithi)and physical setting (Tania, Neelima). Other limitations includedstudents' financial obligations regarding the course (Osman,Farzin), lack of study materials (Rina), bureaucratic bu��reau��crat?n.1. An official of a bureaucracy.2. An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure.bu red tape and lackof administrative interest (Neelima), student population (Osman,Neelima) and sociocultural adjustment to the environment (Farzin). Neelima questioned the competence of students in regard to theirtaking up the responsibility of student-centred learning Student-centred learning or student-centered learning is an approach to education focusing on the needs of the students, rather than those of others involved in the educational process, such as teachers and administrators. ('theirlevel is not to the standard where they could continue with simplystudent centred learning ... there's still got to be some kind ofguide to instruct the students'), which is so crucial to theimplementation of CLT. Needs analysis is regarded as so important incommunicative curriculum design that not to carry out such analysis mayscandalise many language educators in the west. Even so, DU did notconduct any needs analysis prior to introducing the FC (Hamid, 2000).This is because it appears to be irrelevant and impractical in the DUcontext. First, there is no way of communicating with prospectivestudents until first-year classes start. Secondly, needs analysis mayappear a foreign concept to many students and, as Graves (1996, p. 27)noted, they would neither know nor be able to articulate their purposesor needs. They would presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. be able to spell out their'subjective needs', but with regard to 'objectiveneeds' many would be dumbfounded dumb��foundalso dum��found ?tr.v. dumb��found��ed, dumb��found��ing, dumb��foundsTo fill with astonishment and perplexity; confound. See Synonyms at surprise. because they are yet to beoriented to their future academic needs. Again, since the EnglishDepartment Noun 1. English department - the academic department responsible for teaching English and American literaturedepartment of Englishacademic department - a division of a school that is responsible for a given subject is not in a position in terms of resources and faculty todeal with both objective and subjective needs of some 1300 students, andhas to work on selected needs, it is pointless to survey student needsand preferences. Finally and more substantially, needs analysis involvesthe question of funds, which may not easily flow from the DU treasury. One important aim of this study was to identify difficultiesimposed by differences between the home culture and the target cultureand the constraints in implementing CLT as originally conceived at theUniversity of Dhaka with focus on the FC. These difficulties andconstraints were identified as including logistic and physicallimitations, student population and competence, time constraints andinstitutional commitment. Most of these difficulties and constraintshave been mentioned by authors like Li (1998) and Liu (1998). Theselimitations were similar to those in other Asian countries. Apart fromthe logistic and physical constraints, the level of student competenceand the corresponding failure on their part to adjust to learner-centredteaching appeared to be a major problem. Conceived cross-cultural issues: Wasted West? In spite of the westernised orientation to teaching English as aforeign language TEFL or Teaching English as a foreign language refers to teaching English to students for whom it is not their mother tongue. TEFL can take place in English-speaking regions, for example in language schools or summer camps or before the start of a university degree, but , some teachers found both themselves and the studentsto be culturally bound. The notion of this essential cultural entity ofteachers has been discussed by authors like Damen (1987), Giroux (1992),and Shor (1986). Teachers had different perceptions of CLT which wereopen to interpretation and were based on personal choice: the less ateacher was exposed to CLT academically or pedagogically ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. , the moreconnotative weight or interpretability CLT bore for him or her. Due to the insufficient number of language teachers, some of theseteachers, often without any language teaching degree or training at all,have to teach the FC and other language subjects. Asked whether alanguage-teaching bachelor's degree would have helped them betterin teaching in their then teaching context, the three participantswithout language and ELT-based degrees answered in the positive. With a Masters degree in English literature English literature,literature written in English since c.1450 by the inhabitants of the British Isles; it was during the 15th cent. that the English language acquired much of its modern form. and another in ELT,Neelima still thought of herself primarily as a literature teacher. Shewas completing her M Ed TESOL program when this study was conducted. Sheargued that though 'learning a lot', 'I think I'mmore confident in taking up language classes (now) because I didn'treally know much about language teaching before; I didn't even knowanything about CLT!'. Tania, on the other hand, believes that shehas learnt practical ways of teaching in the EFL class--an experienceshe gained from teaching culturally heterogeneous classes in the UnitedStates. When asked if this multicultural milieu mi��lieun. pl. mi��lieus or mi��lieux1. The totality of one's surroundings; an environment.2. The social setting of a mental patient.milieu[Fr.] surroundings, environment. of language teaching inthe West could actually confuse student-teachers to an extent insteadand make things more difficult because of the number of ideas andsituations dealt with, she said that, rather than confusing them,students would have the opportunity of taking in the 'goodthings' from the different cultures. It is usually only in ELT classes or TESOL classes where you have teachers or students from all over the world and this multicultural nature of ELT classes really makes you learn a lot from each other which you would not really find in Bangladesh which is a monocultural society. And you would not expect many kinds of people from different nations at the British Council Bangladesh either. You would really kind of learn the similar things--more or less similar things--from each other. You would definitely learn, but they would be similar ideas whereas if you were doing it in the West you would have people from different cultures and they would put in a lot of their knowledge, their way of teaching, their way of adjusting to classrooms ... You see what I'm saying? (Neelima) However she warns: Ideally [western training] should be followed by training in Bangladesh so that we can adapt the ideas to our own context. One of the major problems of training in the West is that teachers often have very little idea of the realities of our teaching scenario. Some participants brought up the notion of the incompatibilitybetween the cultural content in the FC textbook and the home culture.Despite plans and attempts of including culturally appropriate material,the FC textbook still consists of chapters and items borrowed fromnon-local grammar and language learning materials. In the questionnaire,four participants thought that the textbook material for the FC was'sometimes' 'culturally appropriate' whereas oneparticipant thought it was 'seldom' appropriate. Again, fourout of six participants said they did come across cross-culturalconflict when teaching English language. Rina, who said she did not comeacross this conflict, also thought that knowledge of target languageculture 'seldom' helped students in their knowledge ofEnglish. The question of the relevance and significance of western TESOLtraining provoked a lot of discussion among the teacher-participants. Itappeared that there was a degree of discontent among western-trainedteachers in relation to their real needs which were infrequently in��fre��quent?adj.1. Not occurring regularly; occasional or rare: an infrequent guest.2. takeninto account in the international training that they had received.However some participants emphasised the possibility of adapting ratherthan uncritically adopting western teaching methods at home. One of theaims of this study was to investigate how far westernised ideologiesinform and legitimise Verb 1. legitimise - make legal; "Marijuana should be legalized"decriminalise, decriminalize, legalise, legalize, legitimate, legitimatise, legitimatize, legitimize teachers' pedagogical practices and it wasfound that although some of the western--trained teachers vindicatedtheir choice of pedagogy with their western training, others relied moreon the knowledge of and experience in teaching in the home settingalone. Negotiating cultural content The study also aimed at finding out how teachers negotiated thecurriculum in terms of its cultural content and how they viewedcurrently practised pedagogical policies on cultural content in texts.It appeared that teachers had their own idio-syncratic and unique waysof adjusting to the cultural content of texts and this was far fromuniform among them. Explanation appeared to be the most popular amongpracticed strategies, though some teachers found it to be timeconsuming. Media exposure seemed to be a good way of explaining. It alsoseemed that in some cases certain cultural contents of the text weresimply discarded dis��card?v. dis��card��ed, dis��card��ing, dis��cardsv.tr.1. To throw away; reject.2. a. To throw out (a playing card) from one's hand.b. as foreign. The current FC textbook is in factundergoing regular modifications, so culling cullingremoval of inferior animals from a group of breeding stock. The removal is premature, i.e. before completion of its life span, disposal of an animal from a herd or other group. and replacing material onthe basis of its cultural content is common practice. This requiresfurther research that is currently being conducted by a member of thefaculty at the department who was also one of the participants in thisstudy. It was understood that CLT and the more student-centredcommunicative techniques were in a transition stage demanding patiencebut also expertise. This transition had to be a gentle one. Regardless of their opinions, all participants shared a sense ofaffinity with their teaching situations and a concern for thedevelopment of the FC. They seemed to be working with the pedagogicalpractices and values of both traditions to meet the needs andexpectations of students while gradually developing their autonomy aslearners. Teachers were also concerned with and involved in negotiatingand positively resolving the paradoxes. Instead of conforming blindly towestern training, in most cases attempts were being made so that insteadof being subjugated sub��ju��gate?tr.v. sub��ju��gat��ed, sub��ju��gat��ing, sub��ju��gates1. To bring under control; conquer. See Synonyms at defeat.2. To make subservient; enslave. by either CLT from the west or the traditionalpedagogies currently practised in Bangladesh, they develop a culturallyappropriate adapted version. Although some participants were adamant in seeing CLT as an act ofcultural imperialism Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, or artificially injecting the culture or language of one nation into another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, , they viewed the politicisation of TESOL trainingas one aspect of a whole repertoire. They were still happy to reshapeCLT and take the best of practices that they could meld in theirpedagogy that suited students and their cultural values. Responses alsoadvocated the need for the self-confident western-trained teacher with acritical outlook and one that would defy, if any, the subservience sub��ser��vi��ent?adj.1. Subordinate in capacity or function.2. Obsequious; servile.3. Useful as a means or an instrument; serving to promote an end. implicit in Adj. 1. implicit in - in the nature of something though not readily apparent; "shortcomings inherent in our approach"; "an underlying meaning"underlying, inherent such trainings. Looking to the future: recommendations The teaching of culture as a component of language teaching has traditionally been caught between the striving for universality and the desire to maintain cultural particularity. (Kramsch, cited in Duff & Uchida, 1997, p. 456) Based on the findings of this study, the following section containsrecommendations for the implementation of CLT in Bangladesh and thefurther development of the FC. Clarifying teacher and student roles Roles of teachers in relation to students need to be clarified.Although the participants in this study had each assumed multiple rolesas teacher, the findings suggested a somewhat arbitrary choice inselecting the proper role at the proper time or environment for theteacher. Teachers could view their roles not only as a culturallysituated choice but also as a way of negotiating between the targetculture and the home culture. It is important for teachers to meet anddiscuss their roles in conjunction with curriculum development. Students' roles too should be well defined. On one hand, theexpected student behaviour of the participants varied widely and, on theother, it was seen that the roles were in some cases in conflict withthe competence level of the students. The hope for increasing learnerautonomy Learner autonomy has been a buzz word in foreign language education in the past decades, especially when talking about life-long learning skills. It has transformed old practices in the language classroom and has given origin to self_access_language_learning_centers around the was not being realised. Defining the goals of the FC Further clarification of the goals of the FC is needed. Althoughthe goals and objectives of the FC remain ill-defined to date (Hamid,2000, p. 42), the unavailability of required resources makes goalsetting for the FC a more critical task. On one hand, these goals haveto impress students and other stakeholders StakeholdersAll parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. and be down to earth andfeasible enough to be carried out, on the other. Usually conducting aneeds analysis is the common practice for setting goals to identify whatstudents' needs, wants and expectations are. With the learners notyet prepared to take the responsibility of self-learning andstudent-centred learning, they have to be trained first before thefeasibility of needs analysis in the context of DU is focused on. Several lecturers have recommended that groups be formed on thebasis of students' proficiency level (Khan, 2000), but thesuggestion still remains unimplemented because of the cost andadministration associated with conducting the arrangement of aproficiency test proficiency testn → prueba de capacitaci��n. I, however, believe that the existing grouping isacceptable because it ensures diversity. The placement of differentproficiency level students in the same class would enable group work andmotivate the less proficient pro��fi��cient?adj.Having or marked by an advanced degree of competence, as in an art, vocation, profession, or branch of learning.n.An expert; an adept. students to keep pace with their moreproficient peers with a moderate grasp of the language. Fromresearchers' points of view, moreover, heterogeneous grouping ismore conducive to language learning than homogeneous grouping(Wong-Fillmore, cited in Mohan, 1990). What can additionally be done is to modify the goals in accordancewith the feedback from teaching experiences, students' reactions toexisting goals, and insights from research projects. The insightsreceived in the course of this study could only have come throughtalking with the teachers themselves. Developing learner autonomy: Towards a critical pedagogy Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach which attempts to help students question and challenge domination, and the beliefs and practices that dominate. In other words, it is a theory and practice of helping students achieve critical consciousness. A central tenet TENET. Which he holds. There are two ways of stating the tenure in an action of waste. The averment is either in the tenet and the tenuit; it has a reference to the time of the waste done, and not to the time of bringing the action. 2. of CLT is the learner-centred teaching and learningenvironment. In spite of the fact that many language programs claim tobe learner-centred and supportive of learner initiative, most classroompractice appears to subvert this goal (Cotterall, 1995, p. 154) byexcluding learners from decisions about planning, pacing and evaluatingclassroom tasks. According to Fairclough (1992, p. 32), not only doteachers need to think critically about their own pedagogical practicesand the appropriateness of these for students, they also need to thinkabout how they can help students to become critical learners. Learnertraining programs would give them the critical stance towardsinteraction and decision making and eventually make them more consciousof their roles in the communicative class, ironically, in the EFLcontext, it might provide them with the choice of deferring to theauthority of the teacher's role. Given its sociocultural and economic backdrop, DU has yet to becomefamiliar with such a high-sounding approach. Nevertheless thisuniversity places a high premium on students because it is their feltneeds that led to the introduction of the FC at DU (Hamid, 2000). Learners need to be supported in becoming gradually moreautonomous. Cray (Cray, Inc., Seattle, WA, www.cray.com) A supercomputer manufacturer founded in 1972 as Cray Research, Inc., by Seymour Cray, a leading designer of large-scale computers at Control Data. In 1976, it shipped its first computer to Los Alamos National Laboratory. and Currie cur��rie?n.Variant of curry2. (1996) have argued that teacher trainingprograms have always failed to include in their curriculum and teachingagenda those individuals most concerned with and affected by whatteachers know and do. As yet, there is no place for the individuals forwhom classrooms exist and for whom teachers teach--the learner. Learnertraining would put emphasis on the specific needs of the students andfree him or her from the traditional pedagogical limitations. A systematic learner training is fundamental to change, coveringthe why (to defend the rationale behind such changes in activities andapproaches) and the how (the gradual and staged introduction oftechniques to proceed from the known to the unknown). This freedom fromcontrol implies responsibilities and begins with extending theresponsibility of deciding who should speak from the teacher to thelearner. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , a staged and careful metamorphosis is Metamorphosis I is a woodcut print by the Dutch artist M. C. Escher which was first printed in May, 1937. This piece measures 7 5/8 x 35 3/4” and is printed on two sheets. requiredto introduce the classroom culture of CLT along with a consciousnessraising Consciousness raising (often abbreviated c.r.) is a form of political activism, pioneered by United States radical feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group of people on some cause or about the differences of L1 and L2 culture among learners. Redesigning texts and materials The current FC textbook requires more and more varied classroomactivities and the curriculum needs a more explanatory approachregarding cultural content. Its activities, if at all, are confined con��fine?v. con��fined, con��fin��ing, con��finesv.tr.1. To keep within bounds; restrict: Please confine your remarks to the issues at hand.See Synonyms at limit. tomechanical gap-fillings, matching, ticking tickinga coat color pigmentation pattern in which hairs of one color are distributed in small groups throughout the background color, e.g. Australian cattle dog. Called also speckling. and the like. It is simply aselection of teaching units, which does not touch upon any instructionalpurposes. This has led to varying interpretations of not only the courseobjectives but also the nature of the course itself. Chapters follow onefrom the other according to grammatical hierarchy. Students primarilyinterested in making use of the language rather than in learning aboutits structure are not likely to find such an arrangement particularlyhelpful. As proposed by some participants, students could be introduced tothe target language culture by adequate exposure to the media andaudio-visual materials. Funds are needed for this and budget allocationsshould be made by both the department and the DU treasury. Also,proposals have been officially lodged for self-access centres for thestudents. These proposals have to be considered with urgency. Although texts would be based on culturally appropriate localmaterial including authentic texts, elements and items of the targetculture should be included, provided they are accompanied by adequatefootnotes and illustrations where necessary, and both theirheterogeneous levels of competence and contextual relevance are kept inmind. Explanation and adaptation (to local content and context) might bepractical ways of adjusting to alien cultural content in texts ratherthan avoidance or exclusion which should not be used as a possible meansof adjustment, even if there are time constraints. Changes should alwaysbe made in accordance with the expected roles of the students. Further professional development Most participants emphasised the need for follow-up teachertraining at home on return from the west. These training programs couldbe short in duration and would focus on the way in which recentlyacquired knowledge can best be adapted to meet local needs andstudents' cultural expectations. A number of foreign--aided projects, such as the Bangladesh EnglishLanguage Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP), with the objective ofimproving the quality of ELT and learning through communicative ELT inBangladesh are operating at present. The long-term impact will be theimprovement of English language through a cadre (company) CADRE - The US software engineering vendor which merged with Bachman Information Systems to form Cayenne Software in July 1996. of teachers trainedunder systems established by ELTIP. Further projects like this arenecessary to run over a longer period of time. Due to financiallimitations, foreign aid is required but the implementation should beconducted by local advisers and teachers. So far, much research has been conducted on CLT--most of it in theWest. Indeed there is such a wealth of research regarding this that CLThas become the insisting and alluring language teaching technique of theWest--an object of adoration adoration,n a prayer of worship and praise. and desire shrouded shroud?n.1. A cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet.2. Something that conceals, protects, or screens: under a shroud of fog.3. a. in mystery. Identifyingwith the western norm was seen to confer a sense of sophistication so��phis��ti��cate?v. so��phis��ti��cat��ed, so��phis��ti��cat��ing, so��phis��ti��catesv.tr.1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly.2. as aprofessional. Over the years, teachers from EFL countries may havesubconsciously developed an assumption of it as an epitome of westernachievement. However this study has found that teachers need to findtheir own roles and that of their students within the cultural backdropagainst which they practise pedagogically and measure the applicabilityand relevance of CLT in terms of these contexts. The findings of this study imply a need to set an educationalagenda within a new post-colonial framework which acknowledges theimportance of the adaptation of CLT and recognises the significance ofits applicability in Bangladesh. Whatever method we may adopt, it is notlikely to be effective unless we take the home culture intoconsideration. Exploring CLT in EFL contexts requires the input of localpractitioners--teachers in the context in question. Students withdifferent first language backgrounds have different problems andBangladeshi students have learning problems and expectations peculiar tothem. Although many of these constraints can be overcome, we mustacknowledge that every country and nation is unique and has uniquecultural and educational traits. Gradual changes and a simultaneousrespect for cultural continuity should accompany the socially andinstitutionally sanctioned current practice.Profile of ParticipantsName Age Experience Gender1 Rina Above 35 15 years F2 Tania Above 35 9 years F3 Neelima 30-35 6 years F4 Bithi 30-35 8 years F5 Osman Below 30 3 years M6 Farzin Below 30 3 years F Filed of Academic qualifications/Name Expertise Degrees1 Rina TESOL MA(TESOL) University of Northern Iowa, USA, PhD in ELT, University of Warwick, UK2 Tania TESOL MA (TESOL) Deakin Columbia University, USA3 Neelima Literature M Ed (TESOL) Monash University, Melbourne, Postgraduate Certificate in ELT Warwick University, UK4 Bithi Literature MA (Literature), University of Dhaka5 Osman TESOL MA (Literature), University of Dhaka, MA (TESOL) Deakin University, Melbourne6 Farzin TESOL MA (Applied Linguistics and ELT), University of Dhaka Experience in Experience inName EFL ESL1 Rina Bangladesh, over 15 Nil years (intermediate To advanced)2 Tania Bangladesh, over 9 USA, 2 semesters, years (elementary grade V and to advanced level) adults (18-60)3 Neelima Bangladesh, 6 years Nil (pre-intermediate to intermediate)4 Bithi Bangladesh, Bangladesh, GCE University of Dhaka, 'O' level, 6 years 2 years advanced level5 Osman Bangladesh, Nil University of Dhaka, 2 years6 Farzin Bangladesh, North Nil South University, University of Dhaka, 3 years References Auerbach, E. 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