English Language Teaching in its Social Context
English Language Teaching in its Social Context
English Language Teaching in its Social Context
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DO1 NG-E N G L IS H-L E S SO N S 275and her feel<strong>in</strong>gs naturally and comfortably <strong>in</strong> <strong>English</strong>. She was <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> both Ch<strong>in</strong>cscand <strong>English</strong> literature, and she read for lcisure <strong>English</strong> magai<strong>in</strong>es. Sometimes, she wouldbr<strong>in</strong>g her old magaz<strong>in</strong>es from home to the class library and share them with her students.The read<strong>in</strong>g lesson described below was run smoothly and the teacher cngaged students<strong>in</strong> high-level (e.g., beyond factual) questions about the story they had read. All through thelesson <strong>English</strong> was consistently used by both teacher and students and the classroomatmosphere was <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>gly both relaxed and seriously on-task.A read<strong>in</strong>g lesson <strong>in</strong> Classroom AThe teacher began the read<strong>in</strong>g lesson with the follow<strong>in</strong>g extended <strong>in</strong>troduction:T: Okay. . . now. . . have you brought back. . . Flowers for Mrs. Harris?. . . Now. . .I’d like to discuss one th<strong>in</strong>g with you . . . for this lesson for this book. Have you everwondered WHY this book is called Flowers for Mrs. Harris . . . and not a Dior dress forMrs. Harris?. . . Now the whole book we are talk<strong>in</strong>g about HOW Mrs. Harris . . .saved . . . how she worked extra hard to save up the money . . . so that she could go toParis to buy the dress. And after that . . . aa . . . aga<strong>in</strong> she went through a lot of troubles<strong>in</strong> order to get the dress back. . . and at the end it was ru<strong>in</strong>ed. So all along we weretalk<strong>in</strong>g about a drcsr . . . and Mrs Harris . . . but why . . . why Flowers for Mrs. Harris?. . . Alright now . . . I want to spend . . . aa . . . the next five to ten m<strong>in</strong>utes or so . . .and try to discuss <strong>in</strong> groups, okay? aam . . . you can probably f<strong>in</strong>d some h<strong>in</strong>ts . . .towards the end of this book, <strong>in</strong> the last chapter.The students swiftly formed groups and discussed.The teacher walked to a group and startedto engage students <strong>in</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g deeper about the story by ask<strong>in</strong>g them some guid<strong>in</strong>gquestions, e.g., “What did Mrs. Harris see <strong>in</strong> those flowers?” or, “Besides the flowers, howelse can she feel that friends are very important?”. After spend<strong>in</strong>g some time with one groupshe moved onto another group and did the same.After about fifteen m<strong>in</strong>utes she addressed the whole class aga<strong>in</strong> and asked morequestions about the story. The students readily gave her answers and she built on theiranswers to br<strong>in</strong>g out the themes of the story: friendship, hard work and couragc.Then shetalked about the class’s upcom<strong>in</strong>g exam<strong>in</strong>ation and encouraged her students to emulate Mrs.Harris, to work hard and not to lose heart when faced with difficulties. Most of the timedur<strong>in</strong>g the lesson, the students seemed to be attentive to their teacher or on-task.Classroom R: a scenario f<strong>in</strong>compatible habitusBackgroundThis is a form 2 (grade 8) class of forty-two students, twenty boys and twenty-two girls,aged bctween thirteen to fourteen.The school is located <strong>in</strong> a government-subsidi7ed publichous<strong>in</strong>g estate. The students largely came from families who lived <strong>in</strong> the nearby publichous<strong>in</strong>g estates. Their parents were manual or service workers and their education lcvelranged from primary to secondary school.They spoke only Cantonese at homc. Most of thcboys read comics, newspapers,TV news, and pop youth magaz<strong>in</strong>es. Most of the girls readTV news, love stories, ghost stories, newspapers, and pop youth magaz<strong>in</strong>es. They did notrcad any <strong>English</strong> cxtra-curricular materials.I <strong>in</strong>formally <strong>in</strong>terviewed a group of boys who were observctl to be the most resistantto the teacher <strong>in</strong> the classroom.They were playful and test<strong>in</strong>g, as if check<strong>in</strong>g out whether I