+

Acts of identity during online collaborative interactions in foreign languages

João A. Telles, Ph.D.UNESP – Universidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil

Center for Languages and Teacher DevelopmentFAPESP – São Paulo State Foundation for the Support of

Research

Teletandem and

Performativity

+

2005

www.teletandembrasil.org

Teletandem Brasil

Foreign languages for all

+Concerns and reflections weaknesses of foreign

language education in the countries;

quality of foreign language teacher development

digital literacy exclusion: restrict access to technology

hegemony of English in relation to other languages;

geographical isolation [linguistic and cultural isolation]

restricted access of the economically challenged students to the existing languages and cultures of the world;

social and educational exclusion

the importance of developing students’ oral competence (production and comprehension) along with writing and reading abilities in FL learning.

+ Our partner institutions Georgetown University Virginia Commonwealth

University University of Miami University of Georgia University of Washington –

Seattle University of Hawaii at

Manoa Truman State University University of Arizona Northwestern University Hillmar Middle School

(California) Hillmar High School

(California)

Università del Salento (Italy) Università di Bologna (Italy) Università degli Studi Roma III (Italy) Université Charles-de-Gaulle, Lille III

(France) Université de Lyon (France) University of Stockholm (Sweden) Johannes Gütenberg Universität

(Germany) University of Southampton (England) Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai (Romenia)

NORTH AMERICA EUROPE

LATIN AMERICA Universidad Autonoma

de Mexico (Mexico) Universidad Argentina

de la Empresa (Argentina)

Universidad del Trabajo (Uruguay)

MIDDLE EAST

SOUTH ASIA King Saud University –

Ryad (Saudi Arabia)

University of Bankok (Tailand)

ASIA University of Hubbey

(China)

+A bit of what we have learned about teletandem interactions teletandem conversation emphasizes themes of interest

to partners, vocabulary meaning negotiation and, grammar input or discussion about grammar rules (Santos, 2008, 2009; Brocco, 2009);

frequently, discussions on these differences are repetitive, common sense and essentialist in nature – what Pennycook (2012:526) calls cultural ascriptions;

teletandem conversation sessions are frequently and essentially focused on contrasting daily life in each of the partners’ countries – highlighting differences - and talking about them (Benedetti et al, 2010; Telles & Maroti, 2006).

+How do we “perform” national identities with words, during

teletandem sessions?

The making of the subject in Butler’s thinkingThe highlighting of differences

Teletandem as Performance

+ Butler’s concept of Performativity draws on

BUTLERPerformativity

AUSTINSpeech

ActsFelicity

conditions

DERRIDACitationalit

yIterability

BOURDIEUHo it is that

words come to have power

ALTHUSSER

Interpellation

PENNYCOOK, 2007

+Butler’s main ideas on performativity

Identites of gender. The performance of gender. Gender is performative. Interpellation: “Girls are not born girls, they are girled” (Gender Trouble)

Gender is the effect and not the cause of discourse (Salih, 2002:103) “(…) the action of gender requires a performance that is repeated (iterability of gender). This repetition is at once a reenactment and reexperiencing of a set of meanings already socially established (…)” GT:190) [systems of categorization – Woodward, 2000)

Normativity, heteronormativity, heterocentrism, parody, sedimentation

Performativity: an aspect of discourse that has the power to put into action that that it names. “It is not a singular act, but a repetition and a ritual, which achieves its effects through its naturalization (….)” (GT:198)

The conditions for the emergence of the subject in discourse Is the theory of performativity (a theory of agency)

transposable onto national identity???

+Pennycook’s insights on Butler‘s work

“Discussion on performativity provides a way of thinking about relationships between language and identity that emphasize the productive force of language in constituting identity rather than identity being a pregiven construct that is reflected in language use” (p.70-71);

“We are not as we are because of some inner being but because of what we do” (p.70);

Drawing from Butler’s works: “Identities are a product of our ongoing performances of acts that are largely pre-scribed (…) within highly rigid regulatory frames” (p.70).

Pennycook, Alastair (2007) Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows. London: Routledge.

+

We perform identities with words (rather than reflect identities in language). We also perform languages with words (p.73). Identities are formed in the linguistic performance rather than pregiven (p.76).

Language and identity are constantly performed and remade. (p.76)

Pennycook’s work suggests a move from the performative to the transformative: performativity understood as neither merely the playing out of the public roles nor the acting out of sedimented behavior, but the refashioning of futures (p.77).

Pennycook, A. (2007) Global Englishes and Trancultural Flows. London: Routledge.

Pennycook’s theoretical reflections: Links with teletandem discourse and activities

+

Teletandem is a special collaborative and autonomous mode of telecollaboration. Performative Theory can shed light into the constitution of subjectivities and of national identities of foreign language students. During these online interactions, students engage into linguistic performances of highlighting and discussing differences between their countries.

Marking differences

during teletandem

sessions

+The marking of differences during teletandem sessions A: (…) And when do you play soccer for your team?B: We play on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Wednesday we have a match. (…)A: Okay. Are you guys, are you guys very good?B: Yeah. Kind of, because it’s a university team, college team, so it’s not like great because we don’t have too much time to play, you know?A: Is it, is it um. Is it intramural? Is it like the professional university team?B: No, it’s not professional.A: So you guys do it for fun, right?B: We play fun, yup.A: Here they call that, intramural.

B: Intramural. Oh okay intramural. A: So, like our school has the, the um… the professional soccer team that, you know, they compete with other universities and all of that stuff. And then they have an intramural soccer team that is with uh… like, I can join an intramural soccer team.B: Oh no, but but our team… we play against other universities and stuff but it’s not like its professional. It’s not the eeeuuuuh quality level, not professional level. But we still play for against the other universities, and we play championships, you know?A: Oh okay. So, is is that the only, are you guys the only soccer team in the school?B: Yeah.A: So, okay. That’s the school soccer team.Intramural or professional soccer

team?

+The marking of differences during teletandem sessions B: We have a pizzeria in . I own, we own a pizzeria in my city and my brothers work there. My father work there. My mother’s a…, how can I say that? Funcionário publico.A: She’s a civil, uh, a civil servant.B: YeahA: But she works for the government. B: YupA: Okay, so she’s a civil servant.B: She’s a math teacherA: Oh, she’s a teacher! Oh, okay! Well, she’s a teacher.

B: Yup.A: That’s how you would say, here, so uh… uh, so civil servants would be people who work for the government, uh, work for the government in government jobs. Teachers. For teachers you would just say “teacher”.B: Okay.A: You wouldn’t say… you wouldn’t say that your teacher is a civil servant. You would just say that she’s a teacher.B: Okay.

Teacher or Civil Servant?

+The marking of differences during teletandem sessions A: Yes, yes, yes. And, huh... did

you like X [the country where B has been]?

B: You see [both laugh]… It depends. The… was interesting… The experience, many things, you know, are different from here, you see, from Brazil, many different things from [my continent]. It is REALLY different. But, I did not like the… the… the dirt… X people are a bit piggish, have you noticed that?

A: Sujeira [dirt]? What does sujeira mean?

B: All right. Sujeira [dirt] is, look, wait! [probably checks an online dictionary]

A: Sujeira dirty. Oh! It’s, it’s... Sucio in Spanish, sucio.

B: That’s it. A: [surprised voice] Do you know

what sucio means in Spanish?! B: I know, I know. That’s exactly it.

That’s it. A: That’s it. So X is mui sucio [very

dirty]. B: Very (laughs). A: Are you sure this is what you

mean? B: That’s what I mean. They are...

it’s too polluted. They make things dirty, they mess up the floor. They don’t care much about cleanness. (Pause). You get it?

Dirt: Matter out of its place

+Final comments Understanding how these notions are performed are important not only to students but to language instructors. They must deal with such issues in their professional development, as they increasingly adopt technologies for transcultural and transcontinental interactions in their language classes.

If the teacher is not critically well informed about such issues, the mediation session does not transcend the level of mere experience reports, perpetuating stereotypes and sedimented conceptions of self and other. Having students to simply interact with people and languages from other countries is not enough.

The online context of teletandem for transcultural communication, per se, does not educate students towards global citizenship. Rather, it is the ways that instructors use this online learning context that may promote the critical teaching and learning of foreign languages and the critical appreciation of identity and difference.

+

jtelles@assis.unesp.br

www.teletandembrasil.org

ObrigadoGraciasGraziegràciesMerci

Thank youDanke

Спасибоநன்றி謝謝

لك .شكراתודה

شکریہ کا ありがとうآپσας ευχαριστώ