Why localize ESL at UH and in Hawai'i?
The ongoing border crossing of technological and economic, cultural and linguistic flows in the age of globalization has generated a new interest in the local. Postcolonial researchers (Pennycook 2010; Kirkpatrick 2006; Canagarajah 2005) have addressed the importance of raising awareness for language appropriation and local knowledge in ESL/EFL classrooms of the Outer and Expanding Circle. By contrast, local speech and knowledge in the countries of the Inner Circle is mostly un- or underrepresented in ESL teaching materials. The co-existence of several languages in Hawai'i, Standard English, Hawaiian and Hawai’i Creole, along with numerous immigrant languages, provides an interesting and challenging context for the teaching of English as a Second Language. As a part of the United States, Hawaii, technically, is placed in the Inner Circle of Kachru’s concentric circles of English (1985; 1992). Its local language Hawai’i Creole, to which the speakers mostly refer as “Pidgin”, is part of the new Englishes that commonly are located in the Outer Circle. Does this quandary of linguistic classification matter for the teaching of English language learners and their ability to function successfully in their surroundings? Or is this nothing else but academic nitpicking?
In the past year that I have been teaching ESL in the English Language Institute (ELI) at UH Manoa, I came to the conclusion that it does matter to the students in my classrooms. These international graduate students who are enrolled in an academic writing course at UH have been instructed in one of the Inner Circle varieties (typically American or British English) in their home countries for numerous years; they usually are advanced speakers of English. The linguistic demands, however, that L2 speakers face in Hawai'i go beyond proficiency in Standard American or British English. As one student in my class put it, “I don’t understand local people. I only understand white people from the mainland.” In an informal survey that I conducted with my students during the semester, only one out of 15 students was aware that, in addition to English and Hawaiian, another language plays an important role in Hawai'i: Pidgin.
In the course of the semester, my students began to negotiate class time for addressing questions about local language that they encountered in their daily lives on and off campus. As a teacher who is committed to critical pedagogy I found it crucial to provide space for questions that students identified as important in their lives, although the curriculum I am committed to requires me to keep my course focused on academic writing. In the project presented here I have localized three lesson plans that bring together academic writing and topics related to local language and knowledge in Hawai'i.
In the past year that I have been teaching ESL in the English Language Institute (ELI) at UH Manoa, I came to the conclusion that it does matter to the students in my classrooms. These international graduate students who are enrolled in an academic writing course at UH have been instructed in one of the Inner Circle varieties (typically American or British English) in their home countries for numerous years; they usually are advanced speakers of English. The linguistic demands, however, that L2 speakers face in Hawai'i go beyond proficiency in Standard American or British English. As one student in my class put it, “I don’t understand local people. I only understand white people from the mainland.” In an informal survey that I conducted with my students during the semester, only one out of 15 students was aware that, in addition to English and Hawaiian, another language plays an important role in Hawai'i: Pidgin.
In the course of the semester, my students began to negotiate class time for addressing questions about local language that they encountered in their daily lives on and off campus. As a teacher who is committed to critical pedagogy I found it crucial to provide space for questions that students identified as important in their lives, although the curriculum I am committed to requires me to keep my course focused on academic writing. In the project presented here I have localized three lesson plans that bring together academic writing and topics related to local language and knowledge in Hawai'i.