Narrating Their Lives: Examining English Language Teachers' Professional Identities within the Classroom

From Outer Circle to Inner Circle Society: A Code-Switcher’s Sociolinguistic Journey Veneza Angel Pablico

28 Narrating Their Lives From Outer Circle to Inner Circle Society: A Code-Switcher’s Sociolinguistic Journey Veneza Angel Pablico Intensive English Program, California State University, Los Angeles The issue of native English–speaking teachers versus nonnative English–speaking teachers was a stimulating topic of discussion in my sociolinguistics class when I was a graduate student in a master ’s program in TESOL. Most of my classmates were able to provide insightful and well-argued viewpoints. During the discussion, however, I was silenced and confronted by a burning dilemma—I did not know which category I belonged in: native or nonnative speaker of English. As simple as it sounds, the question “Are you a native speaker of English or a nonnative speaker of English?” haunted me for several days. I could not provide a simple yes or no answer as my linguistic background did not unfold in such clear-cut lines. I even asked my mother, my best friend, and a friend whom I had known since childhood. Unfortunately, they provided me with contradicting answers: “yes,” “no,” and “I don’t know.” The inconclusiveness of my query led me to ponder the course of my linguistic development . I have identified two major phases: growing up in a multilingual society and acquiring American English through acculturation. I will describe both phases, discuss their relationship to my evolving social and professional identities, with implications for teaching, and then attempt to answer the seemingly simple yet thought-provoking question, “Am I a native speaker or a nonnative speaker of English?” Growing Up in a Multilingual Society I was born in the Philippines, a multilingual society with more than 170 native dialects. During its colonial period (1521–1898), the lingua franca or “common language used by speakers of different language backgrounds” (Sridhar, 1996, p. 53) in the Philippines was Span- 29 2 Autobiographies of Transnational Teachers ish. In 1898, the United States liberated the country from Spain, and English became its lingua franca. After the U.S. interim government (1905–1935) left and handed power to the Filipinos, former President Manuel L. Quezon proclaimed Tagalog, which was the dialect spoken in Manila (the capital), and English the official languages of the Philippines. Philippine society is a clear example of Ferguson’s (1959) notion of diglossia, in this case involving the use of two different codes for different purposes or in different domains.1 In this diglossic situation , English is equivalent to what Ferguson labeled high, whereas Tagalog is equivalent to low. The former is the language more often associated with elites and highly educated people. It is the language used in formal situations, government and official proceedings, news and media, and colleges or universities. Tagalog, on the other hand, is the language more often associated with blue-collar workers and is more commonly spoken in intimate and informal settings. (This diglossic situation sporadically changes. When I was in high school, Tagalog and English were converging into a pseudo-Creole code called Taglish, which was commonly used in almost all aspects of communication. Currently, there is an ongoing movement toward minimizing English and promoting the indigenous language, Tagalog , by the media.) As a child, I was surrounded by Tagalog speakers. People at church and in my neighborhood all spoke Tagalog. However, my parents, along with some relatives and family friends, spoke to me in English during my early childhood. According to my mother, my first words were in English and before I started kindergarten, I spoke English and “Taglish.” I asked my mother why they spoke to me in English instead of Tagalog, and she told me that she wanted me to grow up bilingual because she knew that someday we would immi1 While Ferguson’s (1959) notion of diglossia referred to the use of two different varieties of the same language for different functions, Fishman (1972) expanded the notion to refer to bilingual communities in which two languages play different societal functions. The case of the Philippines is reflective of Fishman’s definition. 30 Narrating Their Lives grate to the United States. In addition, at that time, she considered English a superior language to Tagalog since it was often perceived as the language of intellectuals and the upper class. Aside from my family’s language input, I also watched American television programs and cartoons like Sesame Street, The Smurfs, Transformers, and so on. Thus, at an early stage, I was exposed to...