Race, Language, and Identity

I am sorry for the brief response this week- busy busy.

Kubota and Lin’s article, “Race, Culture, and Identities in Second Language Education”, gave an overview of the terms race, culture, and identity and further explained how there is no concrete meaning- a theme of this semester.

Kumar's article "Cultural Stereotypes" covered stereotypes that many Asian students face and discussed stereotyping in education as a whole. I found one of his ideas very interesting; that we use stereotypes to understand the unmanageable and unknown reality of our students' diverse backgrounds. We fall back on stereotypes because we need something to understand. Teachers must be aware of this and not let it become a part of our classroom.

“Becoming Black: Rap and Hip-Hop, Race, Gender: Identity, and the Politics of ESL Learning” by Ibrahim discussed how blacks base their cultural and linguistic representation on rap and other pop culture. Rap and pop culture directly effects how they shape their identity and their perception of others' identity. Ibrahim suggests to use the pop culture of talk, dress, and music in the classroom since learning takes place within this framework. Students will be more invested and willing to learn and help them develop these identities.