Comments on: Explorations in language shaming

By: Work in Progress | Hoa Nguyen

Work in Progress | Hoa Nguyen — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 23:05:10 +0000

[…] Piller, I. (2017b, Sep 28). Explorations in language shaming. Retrieved from http://languageonthemove.com/explorations-in-language-shaming/ […]

By: VinN

VinN — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 12:38:00 +0000

Thank you for sharing your and Li’s exploration. I really like the state that “shame is a key mechanism that leads oppressed people to accept their oppression”. This oppression, from my point of view, can sometimes come from the oppressed ones’ heart. Despite the discrimination they received, they may lose self-esteem when compare themselves with “common” people. Teachers can play an opposite role in decreasing the oppression, however, they may still feel inferior in after school life. Fortunately my awareness of this problem has been arisen now. I hope more and more people can read this.

By: Kris Nguyen

Kris Nguyen — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 09:23:00 +0000

Thank you for this Interesting article. This reminds me of something quite strange that I have experienced while teaching in an international school. Things started in a Canadian International school in Vietnam (Please have this in mind that the school is in Vietnam), where foreign students (Korean, Chinese, American, Canadian, Australian, etc.) and Vietnamese students go there every day. I taught senior high school there so the students that I am about to mentioned are in their teenage years. So in the school, they learn everything in English and in English only. They have normal high school subjects just like any other schools but the only thing that is different here is they are taught in English. This was where the drama emerged. I started to see that Vietnamese students were being shamed by their limited English, or the way they look, “not fashionable”. I personally think to the foreign students what fashionable was something non-Vietnamese. Then I started to wonder why Vietnamese students were shamed by not knowing enough English in Vietnam. I mean, according to the article, it’s their country, the foreign kids should feel bad not knowing enough Vietnamese, not the other way around. So I came to a conclusion, I concluded that, the dominant language will have the last word.

By: Hoor Raj

Hoor Raj — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 04:06:00 +0000

Thanks much Ingrid for bringing such a serious topic in front!
Language shaming, which nowadays is a frequent practice in many societies, is one of the basic reasons why some people remain silent forever. For second language learners it’s not easy to achieve native like competence, unless they are given ideal environment of language learning. I have seen many students losing their self-esteem just because their accent is mocked, or their mispronunciation is made fun of. Such learners who once lose their courage never confront the public in the target language again.
The need of time is to Perceive what the speaker is trying to communicate rather than finding out what wrong language he has spoken!

By: YUYANG SHE

YUYANG SHE — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 02:32:00 +0000

An advertisement video is quite popular on Chinese social media recently. The video is about some spokespersons sharing feelings about the concept of “love” as a part of the advertisement. The three spokeswomen are all actors but have different family backgrounds and learning experience. Some people criticize their accents in the video and just relate their “poor accents” to their previous experience. Some even try to humiliate them. English language learners in China always weigh too much importance on pronunciation and intonation while they neglect the fact that accents do exist. Plenty of them lack the confidence to speak out aloud because they are afraid of “losing face”. They place their focus on the language itself rather than the content. Luckily, people are now aware of these and some of the most famous independent education institutions are trying to change the situation,

By: Luc Belliveau

Luc Belliveau — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 03:13:00 +0000

As someone who has taught in Taiwan for a number of years, I really have to agree with this. I would add, however, that while managers and parents often cite accents or language level as a reason, this goes far beyond just language shaming. Photographs are often required along with job applications and even non-Anglophone sounding names arouse suspicion for managers and people in charge of hiring. Local English teachers are often paid less than half of what a foreign teacher makes. On the other hand, other job requirements, including level of education, are often overlooked if a teacher appears “American.”

This is a major problem, and in the past, I have watched as friends, whose teaching (and even language!) ability was totally ignored, left Taiwan in frustration. Whenever I was asked to find a substitute or a new teacher, I always asked people who came from different backgrounds (linguistic and otherwise) than me, and if my manager complained, I would threaten to quit. I know that that’s not enough to resolve the issue, and I think that it will take long term collective action on the part of all teachers to effect real change. However, given the short term nature of a lot of teaching jobs in East Asia, this fight is going to be particularly challenging.

One of the best things we can do now is to keep this discussion on language shaming in focus, as at least it can help to dismantle the excuses made when people in charge of hiring ignore competent teachers.

By: Bindu pokhrel

Bindu pokhrel — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 11:25:00 +0000

In any language teaching scenario both the teachers and students could be the victims of language shaming in one way or the other at the same time. Acquisition of a second language is not less than a challenge to a beginner. Teacher’s position is quite higher than that of students so, if teachers involve themselves in language shaming I would regard it as an unethical and unprofessional act. Especially in second language teaching learners need to be highly encouraged and well supported by the teacher because there is more chance among students to build anxiety, confusions and frustration. Teacher’s inappropriate remarks and comments may adversely affect the psychology of students ultimately leading to depression.
There are instances where even the students are involved among themselves in this process. Its a kind of human nature where the weaker ones are always dominated by the stronger ones.

By: THI THU NGAN DONG

THI THU NGAN DONG — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 07:43:00 +0000

In reply to LAILY HARTI.

Hi Thao & Laily,
Thanks for sharing your stories. I have experienced the exact same reactions from my friends (and sadly, some of my family members) when I decided to major in linguistics. They even suggested me do a double degree because ‘language is only a tool’ and I need a ‘proper’ major such as finance or business. So yes I did try to complete another major but soon realised that it was not my passion and dropped out. And look where I am now, doing my master’s degree in one of the best uni in Australia and enjoying every moment of my learning journey. The more I learn about linguistics and TESOL, the more I realise about the possible contributions of the field to society, which is much more than “just a tool”.
During my bachelor’s year, I also learned Thai as a third language, which made me sort of a victim of language shaming. My friends often laughed at me because they thought Thai language’s pronunciation is ‘funny”. And to their surprise, being multilingual actually gives me a big advantage in life (i.e. making friends and seeking jobs).
All kinds of bullying and shaming are simply caused by narrow-minded shamers so we should not let them hold us back from our potential and our dreams.

By: Yeongju Lee

Yeongju Lee — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 10:37:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing this interesting post!!
The concept of language shaming sounds very interesting and it is actually interesting for me.
As a language learner, I have been exposed to the traditional institutional setting classroom and I understand how language shaming feel like. I could reflect my teaching and learning English experiences in this post and I realised that being a teacher takes a huge responsibility. As a teacher, I should be careful about leading the class, concerning how to develop students’ confidence in language learning. For example, when teachers give feedback, especially on their writings, they have to be careful of the way of giving corrections, such as using a red pen to make corrections is not a good way since students might feel like their works are so bad.

By: TDV

TDV — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 06:06:00 +0000

Thanks for your post. I just want to share my experience about “language shaming”. On the early days I was in Sydney, I suffered language shaming that was created by myself so I felt so ashamed of using my English to communicate with others. Luckily, I came over it. Language shaming not only happen in the case of foreign language, but it also happen in different accents of one language. For example, when I was in secondary school, there was a student who is from the south of Vietnam while the rest is from the north. Everyone mocked at her because of her different accent so she became reserved and ashamed of talking to others. I think that in this situation, teacher played an important role of helping her to integrate into the whole class.

By: Pejman Golshahi Soumeh Saraei

Pejman Golshahi Soumeh Saraei — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 09:41:00 +0000

I appreciate sharing such topics dealing with the common issues and mutual concerns of teachers and students like LANGUAGE SHAMING. Personally, I have always realized the destructive and preventative effects of social and personal shaming not only as I was learning English but also as teacher in the eyes of my learners and the possible negative reaction of class toward that. I think it is remarkable to notice that students possess different types of social characteristic. Some are obviously more sociable and willing to share their insights to others, enjoy teamwork and others are rather introvert and self-oriented and the later ones are often fearful of committing mistakes. I strongly believe that it is teachers responsibilities to manage the danger of isolation in class by encouraging rather than only criticizing for the sake of effectiveness, eradicating the fear of asking, answering and sharing their thoughts, reminding students of the point that nobody is perfect and looking at mistakes as symptoms to progress. Teachers must be aware of kind of correction they have planned to be used in class to avoid demolishing students’ pride and self-confidence.

By: Hayu Austina

Hayu Austina — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 08:18:00 +0000

Thank you so much for bringing the concept of “language shaming” in this article. I can actually reflect my experience as both an English learner and an English teacher while reading this. I realize that being a teacher has a big responsibility, especially in developing students’ confidence in learning a foreign language. The students need constructive feedbacks but the teachers have to pay attention on the way they correct the students.

By: X_C_X

X_C_X — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 02:36:00 +0000

In reply to Wonghoi. Hi, Wonghoi. It is so glad and inspired to see that you could think positively of your teacher's behaviour towards your mistake in Chinese learning. I assume most students will view such kind of experience as a nightmare which jeopardizes their progress in learning foreign languages or second languages, including me. I had the similar story when learning Chinese (my mother tongue) in grade three and I would never get rid of the scene that when the teacher asked me to stand on the classroom platform to read the incorrect vocabulary I wrote in my homework from my memory. Honestly, since then, I started to not show interest in writing and Chinese class which led to the terrible results in Chinese exams. What a teacher says and does in helping correct students language errors really influences the potential learning of students in a long run. Considering L2 or FL education, pedagogically, an effective educator will be more aware of showing students respect, avoiding language denigration, developing their confidence, as well as motivating them maximally.

By: Brendan Kavanagh

Brendan Kavanagh — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 01:04:00 +0000

These teachers have a very prescriptivist view on language. The extreme is when English teachers perpetuate convention myths with no basis such as “don’t split an infinitive” or “don’t end a sentence with a preposition”. These stifle expression and creativity.
Having said that, conventions need to be recognised depending on the audience and purpose. When writing an application for a job or a government grant, a slight deviation from the rules can send a strong message about your character and lead to negative consequences.
Shaming should never be encouraged.

By: Phoebe N

Phoebe N — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 02:06:00 +0000

Thank you so much for this such insightful article. It can be said that “language shame” is not a strange thing to me as it has been taking hold in my case and I has still struggled with it since I came to Sydney for my further education. In my country, English is just a foreign language that we have been trained in school to use for employment and communication purposes. However, in fact, due to limited time allowance for an official English lesson, there is more emphasis put on grammar and vocabulary session rather than improving learners’ oral communication skills, I did not have much chance and contexts to practice it on a daily basis. As a result, when first entering university, I was shocked, even did not dare to talk and engage in discussion with other classmates as I was afraid that I would be a laughingstock and they might make fun of me due to my not-properly-English speaking, especially with my strong accent. Also, I always had the feeling that I was at low level of language proficiency in comparison to my friends. But then one day, my flatmate told me that “never give up, if you don’t try, you never know if you can”, this changes my mind and motivates me significantly to overcome this such shame and become more confident to learn to achieve target goals.

By: Language on the Move

Language on the Move — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 23:48:00 +0000

In reply to salmat.

Thanks, Salmat and all, for all these reflective comments!
There is, of course, a place for error correction in teaching. A good way to get around any demotivation and even shaming associated with error correction is to praise in public and to correct in private.
Also, pointing out errors in general for everyone’s benefit (“a common mistake is to [xxx]”) is a good way to address the error but not pin it on an individual. Ingrid