Educational Ethnography

The concept of teaching as a political act in Canagarajah's "Critical Ethnography of a Sri Lankan Classroom: Ambiguities in Student Opposition to Reproduction through ESOL" gives historical context to much of what we talked about this semester. It may be too early to start looking back at much of what we have discussed so far in class, but this article stood out to me because it looks at TESOL through the (at the time) current perspective of the theory in the 80s and 90s. Given that my only exposure to TESOL from a theoretical perspective has been in this course, seeing previous references to criticisms of methods in this field provides me with historical context alongside that of colonial power, which I am far more educated in considering its importance in my field. All semester we have discussed the double edged sword that is English, which is difficult to reconcile with the benefits of speaking, reading, and writing in English for socioeconomic mobility. Such mobility, regardless of where it is in the world, is often talked about in ways that are problematic. The reference to Kandiah's challenge early in the article looks at how "the dreams encouraged by the English are illusory (as English learning does not challenge but in fact perpetuates inequality) and its ideals are suspected by students of resulting in cultural deracination" (604). The universality of the idea that English, as a language, provides what Canagarajah calls dreams (in the U.S. context, this is certainly the American Dream) is not popularly presented as debatable despite the long, problematic history of disillusionment with opportunities and stability. Turning to the role of ethnography in considering cultural contexts and working within them, the surroundings are impossible to escape while attempting to discuss what occurs in the classroom since the classroom is in no way an isolated space. The attempts to treat it in such a way when it comes to the study of language indirectly asks the students to turn a blind eye to society. When  Canagarajah mentions fighter jets and bombs in the background of the students taking the English placement tests, the conscious social experience is at the forefront and the classroom cannot escape it. Inside the classroom, daily, perhaps subtle activities emphasized their identities as students in the larger social context. The example of correcting pronunciation, which revealed the distinction between standard and nonstandard Sri Lankan English (616), comments on the global, multiplying prejudices within a "single language."