Taboo Language in the Classroom Context

I use to work with mass media in my classes since students are really motivated, the idea of watching a movie, sending e-mails or listening to their favourite songs is specially interesting for them and at the same time they are manipulating the language in real life context. This activity is used in straightforward ways; students listen to pop songs and fill in the lyrics or put the verses in the correct order.
Students from second year of secondary school were asked to prepare a practical work with lyrics they liked most under some conditions, such as providing the song, writing the lyrics on a poster, saying the topic of the song, drawing a picture related to the topic and giving some information about the singer or band. One of the groups chose a song by Eminem (a controversial white rapper) which was full of taboo language.
The group followed all the requirements to do the task, i.e., they provided the cd with the song, they wrote the lyrics on a poster, they talked about the topic, they drew a graffiti and gave information about the singer. They also brought a photo of Eminem. They liked the topic of the song which was really aggressive and full of taboo language. They knew the general meaning of those words and they seemed to expect a certain teacher’s reaction. They were a group of rebel teenagers who usually wanted to create conflict in class and test the teacher’s skills in dealing with conflicts and the teacher’s knowledge on second language.
At first, I felt embarrassed since my role as an educator was to teach not only English as a second language but also values. As Freire points out “…human activity consists of action and reflection: it is praxis; it is transformation of the world. And as praxis it required theory to illuminate it” (as cited in Hoffman-Kipp,P., Artiles, A & Lopez-Torres, L. “Beyond reflection: teachers teaching as praxis”, 2003, para.4). Therefore, I tried to explain the meaning of taboo words as natural as possible since they knew the meanings from movies , for instance.
We analysed the relationship between violence and taboo language, physical and verbal violence and tried to find possible solutions to solve some relationship problems that occurred in the school, recently. As Crawford (1994) states “Reflection that develops a political consciousness might involve teachers integrating curriculum around concepts and issues that would be of current interest to both student and teacher or focusing on inquiry and using literature to support that inquiry, thus helping their students not only to be problem-solvers, but to become problem-posers”.( as cited in Hoffman-Kipp,P., Artiles, A & Lopez-Torres, L. “Beyond reflection: teachers teaching as praxis”, 2003, para. 3).
I also guided them to infer the differences between standard English ( the language commonly taught at schools) and every day language ( the language commonly used in talk among friends of colleagues). Helping students to improve their listening to spoken language is extremely important in the English class because the better students understand what they hear, the better they will take part in spoken interactions
To conclude, reflection is relevant in the teaching-learning process , for both students and teacher. We may reflect alone or in discussion with others in order to solve problems and pose problems, too. The challenge is to create the necessary conditions to support reflection in the classroom.

References:
Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond
reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved
October 2007, from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NQM/is_3_42/ai_108442653

Focused Journal Entry

Teaching Learning Processes on Teacher’s Education

Teaching is more than knowing a subject, through teaching you show your emotions and you share your attitudes and values with your students. As Tejada (2000) states, “A good professional is somebody who reflects on his teaching practice, takes decisions, considers the classroom atmosphere and solves problems” (as cited in Gonzàlez,J. Escartìn, N. & Pèrez, M., 2003, p.101)
Therefore, it is necessary to undertake continuous assessment in teaching strategies. Teachers not only convey knowledge on a specific area but also feelings. Besides, the cultural dimension is constantly interacting. They perform both the role of the learner and teacher.
As Monereo (1999) points out:
“En este sentido, desde la formación inicial y continuada, se tendrá que ofrecer a los profesores instrumentos de interpretación y análisis de la situación en la que se desarrolla su actividad, que les permitan tomar decisiones respecto a su actuación como aprendices y como docentes estratégicos, de manera que se vaya enriqueciendo y ampliando su formación en la interacción con la realidad cotidiana de la pràctica profesional” (p. 52)
Strategies vary on learning context and on learners-teachers’ ideologies. Dealing with teaching strategies, critical incidents are considered as a pre-service and in-service teacher education strategy. As Gonzàlez, Escartìn and Pèrez (2003) argue, “The idea is to integrate theory and practice. The diversity of teachers and the possibility for the reflexive analysis of classroom events, often solved in a spontaneous way, are the basis of this powerful strategy” (p101)
Thus, it is important to bring tools for teachers` professional development and to bring strategies to deal with critical incidents successfully. A Critical Incident (C I) implies a context, a problem, reasons and solutions. “El anàlisis de las causas y las posibles soluciones està contextualizado desde la diversidad de planteamientos en los aspectos educativos que se reflejan en los modelos didàcticos ” (Gonzàlez,J. Escartìn, N. & Pèrez, M., 2003, pp.104-105)
To conclude, critical incidents are relevant in the teaching-learning process, i.e., teachers must be ready to manage critical incidents they may occur within the classroom atmosphere and get profit of the situation since critical incidents contribute to personal and professional development.




References
Fernández González, J., Elórtegui Escartín,N & Medina Pérez, M. (2003). “Los incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria de Ciencias de la Naturaleza”. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formaciòn del Profesorado, año/vol.1, número 001. Universidad de Zaragoza. Zaragoza, España 101-112. Retrieved October 2011, from http://redalyc.uaemex.ms
Monereo,C., Castellò,M., Clariana,M., Palma,M. & Pèrez, M.L. (1999). “Estrategias de enseñanza y aprendizaje”. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formaciòn de Profesorado, Universidad de Zaragoza. Retrieved October 2011,from http://redalyc.uaemex.ms
Tejada,J.(2000). “Profesionalidad docente” En: S. De La Torre y O. Barrios (Coods.), Estrategias didácticas innovadoras (pp. 72-76). Barcelona : Octaedro

English proficiency

As reading and writing are considered an effective system in the academic discourse community, the aim of this blog is to deal with writing in academic contexts, promote reading and writing proficiency and share information with colleagues of this discourse community

A discourse community and its implications

When describing a discourse community, it is necessary to consider some basic criteria. According to Swales (1990) every discourse community shares these requirements:
Common goals - As Bizzel (1992) points out “a discourse community is a group of people who shared certain language-using practices…(that) can be seen as a conventionalized incomplete idea.” ( p.222)
Participatory mechanism : Discourse communities are described as little ecosystems since they inevitably interact with systems abutting them, they cannot be isolated from other discourse communities (Porter, 1992).
Information exchange - As described by Soltis (1981), interaction with the people in one’s environment is a major determinant of both what is learned and how learning takes place.
Community specific genres : As Cole (1999) reports, human activities are culturally mediated and entail the use and transformation of artifacts. Culture itself mediates human actions in the sense that it is a system of shared meanings or social inheritances embodied in the artifacts of a given social structure.
Highly specialized terminology: Kelly-Kleese (2004) establishes that when community members share knowledge, they are redefining the language
High generally level of expertise: Zito (1984) argues that “an author is granted a certain binding authority to his intended meaning; this is legitimated by academic credentials, professional associations, and the division of knowledge within the academy” (p.89)
The concept of discourse community deals with people interacting and using systems of speech and writing. Teachers are a relevant part of the discourse community, they not only share their knowledge; they also share their attitudes and values which are involved in their discourses. That is the reason why the role of a teacher and his/her constant improvement is so important


References
Pintos, V. & Crimi, Y. (2010). Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Universidad CAECE

Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers Need Teachers To Grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved September 2011, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3960/is_200404/ai_n9349405

Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond
reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved
October 2007, from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NQM/is_3_42/ai_108442653

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2004). UCLA community college review: community
college scholarship and discourse. Community College Review. Retrieved October 2007, from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HCZ/is_1_32/ai_n6361541

Bizzel, P. (1992). Academic discourse and critical consciousness.
Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Welcome to my blog!!!

Hi, I am Silvia Pustetto. I live in Florencio Varela, in the south of B.A., Argentina. In this blog ,I will share my academic papers with the members of this discourse community. Thanks for visiting my blog, hope you enjoy it!!!
Regards, Silvia