Jay Busby

 Development and Identity Through Language and Culture

I. Strand Four: Individual Development and Identity

  Performance Expectation: c, describe the ways family, religion, gender, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, and other group and cultural influences contribute to the development of a sense of self.

II.  Learning Outcomes:  Students will define the important role language, as well as culture, play in the development of self.  Students will be able to identify the challenges faced by non-native speakers as they attempt to assimilate into a new culture.  Students will recognize recurring themes in the development of self across cultures. Students will use critical thinking to develop two questions for a future discussion.

III.  Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on how well they interpreted the short stories through a write up, as well as the quality of the two discussion questions.  The questions should not be answerable yes/no unless followed by an explain or elaborate kind of statement.  Also, the questions should not be trivial in nature, ex. “Who is the author of Native Tongues?”.  Questions should foster discussion.

IV.   Curriculum: This lesson could fit into an English class as well as a Sociology class

V.   Instruction:  This lesson would be ideally inserted into a unit covering the development of self, as in Sociology, so as to give the students some ground to stand on.  The instructor briefly discusses or reviews the concept of developing a self.  The instructor points out that culture is a huge force in determining a self.  Included in culture is the language we speak.  Talk briefly about the challenges faced by non-native English speakers.  Challenges include trying to assimilate into a new culture with a new language while attempting to maintain an identity in their native cultures.  Hand out photocopies of the following short essay pieces from The Brief Arlington Reader.  The handouts will include all of the following essays:  Mother Tongue by Amy Tan (5 pages), Notes of a Native Speaker by Eric Liu(6 pages), How To Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua(11 pages), and finally Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective by Leslie Marmon Silko(10 pages)  All students will read all the essays.  Number the class off by threes.  Ones will write on and develop discussion questions for the Amy Tan and Eric Liu stories because they are both an Asian perspective and only half the length of the other essays.  Twos will write up and develop discussion questions for the Gloria Anzaldua essay and threes the Leslie Marmon Silko essay.  The essays will be a brief (two or three paragraphs) synopsis and touching on of main points from the numbered reading(s).  Students should be given the rest of the period to begin reading.  All essays should be read by the next class meeting.  Possibly, more time could be needed for everyone to finish all the essays, a day or two would suffice.  At the beginning of the next class period, allow a short amount of time for the 1s,2s, and 3s to meet to compare discussion questions, eliminating duplicates and possibly thinking of new ones.  Discuss each essay and have students pose their questions during the portion pertaining to their essay.  This may spill into another period.  Wrap up the discussion by emphasizing the extent into which language and culture play a role in developing a self-concept (hopefully) illustrated to the students by the essays.  The instructor should use a list of his/her own questions for use when the discussion inevitably stalls.

VI.  Discussion Questions:

1. Amy Tan writes of speaking different “Englishes”, describe the English with which she chooses to write the essay.  Why does she choose this particular form?
2. Define “assimilation” in your own words.  What facets of their native language identity were the authors willing to sacrifice to belong?  
3. Both Tan and Anzaldua discuss using different forms of language to suit various environments (home, school, peers).  Detail the differences between the forms.  Provide examples of instances where one form of language is preferable to another.
4. Cite an example from each of the essays illustrating the connection between cultural identity and language.
5. What is the Pueblo Indian theory of language and literature?  How do the Pueblo Indians use the tradition of storytelling to maintain cultural identity?
6. Hypothesize the impact of language upon the story of your own immigrant ancestors.  Predict potential effects language might have on your own future and identity.