PREMIERE PRESENTATION REPORT OF CISMEDUCATION - THE CAMP FIRE - MARCH 2023

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The use of the word “ideologies” is an attention-getter when it comes to multilingual, global educational courses, especially those who are designed to train non-native English speakers to teach English.

At its source, in its heart, the teaching of English is “ideological,” and this fact needs to be planted firmly in the minds of every teacher who is involved in the instruction of this language in any way. The simple fact that teaching English is a global phenomenon and seen as crucial is ideological in itself. The ideological viewpoint of the teachers and of the students is often a common one, not one of variance. It may, however, conflict with the ideological point of view of the country's educational ministry.

It is significant when the teachers come from Arabic countries, and this fact lowers “ideological” input from the start; in particular, their (the prospective teachers’) viewpoint is culturally similar and often, as expected, is linked to their religious backgrounds. As an American Muslim scholar who is engaged in multilingual pedagogy and andragogy, and as a current learner of languages, I can absolutely say that my pervasive Western-trained mindset and my philosophy of education are in stark contrast to the Middle Eastern educational and methodological points of view. This is how ideology interferes with instruction; I battle against it daily. I teach in the MENA region (more than four years now), so I am aware of the consistent cultural and foundational barriers I face every day, all day, as I work to make myself understood in English and to help my students understand English in an academic and professional way. It is one of the main reasons that I place such a high importance on my own learning of their language and of their culture – I use their language and cultural systems as a base for my own instructional methods.

As a recent immigrant to Eastern Turkey, where I work with almost exclusively native Arabic speakers, I can say that even if their acquisition of English is at an advanced level, their comprehension, their learning, their oral and written use at the semantic level of English language structure is extremely low.
This deficit is due to the instructional, andragogical and pedagogical methods that were used when they were taught English. Many of my students even teach English as their current job, but they do not understand it or how to use it – this level of understanding, as many EFL students state if they are interviewed, requires thousands of hours of work, linguistic immersion, translation studies, and all these activities should be with a NATIVE English speaker, not someone who learned English as their second or third or fourth language and who now is an English instructor.

In our modern world English must be used to teach and to learn in more technological areas, such as mathematics or science or computer technology, but these areas are also laden with ideologically embedded points of view in their vocabulary usage especially. Because of this embedded viewpoint, your training courses for English instructors must include the development of an awareness of the distinct and often, unintentional presence of the desire of users/producers of English to share not only information but also to embed their philosophical and cultural points of view within the development of their knowledge sharing frameworks. This is true ideology, and this is unavoidable in any language system worldwide. But for English, for Global English, it is an ideology that must be brought to the forefront when you are designing EFL course structures.

For now, I agree that teaching at least mathematics in English is a fundamental and crucial point – but care must be taken when instruction begins in English in ANY subject (even Maths) – as I said, the vocabulary, the underlying philosophical systems of belief (or disbelief) must be addressed instructionally, and the lack of a basic understanding of how English works as a tool of enculturation MUST be remedied in the training of EFL teachers.

These final points must be respected. English is not just a language – it is an historical system of beliefs collected for purposes of progressive economic and educational development. When you teach English, you are not just teaching a language; yes, you may be opening doors for students to succeed in areas of science, medicine, technology, and mathematics, but you are also opening the door to a powerful and invasive mindset that lays deep within the language itself.

When I teach English, I also teach these facts – the ones I just stated above. I want my students to be aware of what they are doing as they acquire, learn, and assimilate the divergent language system of English into their minds and their work. Properly done, English instruction can definitely benefit and enhance any non-native speaker’s ability to critically view alternative philosophical and religious frameworks. But the student must be made aware of what s/he is doing when they acquire and incorporate English into their life. English, as Arabic, as all languages, contains a way of life, not just words or ideas.

The study of English can change one's personal or global perspective or alter an academic worldview.
Caution must be taken during the course of English language study.

I respect and admire the efforts of the countries of the Middle East to appropriately design their EFL/ELT course formats to include English in their overall curriculum with a deep regard for their historically valued cultural and religious viewpoints.

Herein lies the Ideology of English Language Teaching.

A colleague from a listserv I have been on for many years recently posed the question - "What is the name of the concept used when a teacher shows how we should be proud of one's dialect, culture and identity?"

I love this question -  it speaks to the foundation of what our new center (The Center for the Integrated Study of Migratory Education: CISMEducation.com) represents. I feel that it is seminal, that we must ask it of ourselves, especially if we are teaching other languages to students who intend to use them to express their ideas, their inner thoughts, and their motivations.

I now live and work in Gaziantep, Turkey so I am fortunate to spend my time exclusively with non-native speakers here, primarily Arabic speakers but also some Turkish students as well as my fellow colleagues and scholars.

In America, I taught at a community college and also at a university that attracted a large population of non-native English speakers. To me, these students and colleagues have always been my preferred "audience" as a teacher and researcher. I welcome their new (to me) perspectives and unique ways of using English that always sound delightful to my ears even if others may think that these "idiosyncratic" ways of expressing oneself in their second language (in this case, English) is not completely correct. It's why I choose to live and work abroad.
It's one of the reasons.

As a professor and trainer and teacher, and especially as an adviser and consultant, I encourage the people I train and the people I teach to place a high value on these "unique-nesses" in their language use, spoken and written. And I have always worked with my students who use English as their second (or third or fourth) language to preserve some of their native constructions as they present their thoughts and ideas in English. This results in very forceful and persuasive and often, very personal, writing and speaking. And, this writing and speaking reflects the dialects, cultures, and identities of my remarkable and gifted students.

So, to answer this question - in my program in New Mexico, we called this preservation "heritage language" - but the term isn't broad or inclusive enough to mean what we might want  or need it to mean.

What I often do when I write essays or articles is - when I need a specific word, I use all of my language knowledge to find it - searching through dictionaries of many languages to find how to say what i want to say in the way I want to say it. I am encouraging all of us to do this also to find the words, or to make the words, we are looking for. I always look in the older languages, Ancient Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit.  I am currently studying Arabic, which I find to be the most encompassing and expressive language I have ever encountered. Arabic is deep and almost unending in its ability to express ideas, feelings, and descriptions according to a specific context. So, maybe there is an Arabic word that describes what we mean - and we can translate it or find a way to express it in English. 

The act of "being proud of one's dialect, culture and identity" needs to be developed and preserved and protected in ALL students who learn another language that is used academically. I remind my students that residing in their language is their soul, their heart, their true character - that they should NOT lose their native ability to express themselves, even if when they translate it into another language, and it doesn't sound quite as true or have the same deep meaning.  I tell them that when they travel to study, it is crucial to retain their native ways of understanding and expressing, of feeling and reacting - that this is who they are and they must care for it and nurture it and not allow their "adopted culture" to interfere in it, even though it is difficult to do. 

I wish I had the exact word that we need. Maybe it will manifest one day as we begin to work together.

In Native American cultures, people identify themselves by tribe, clan, family and marriage bonds when they introduce themselves. It locates them linguistically and culturally from the beginning. One of my students here told me that this is also done in Arabic cultures - in my mind, this shows how one is "seating" oneself, especially in a place of dislocation in this time of heavy, painful, and forced migration. It is in Arabic names, preserved for all to see - we must admit and respect that in our "naming" we identify and present the confidence and pride that we express as we speak and write and work. If any of us can present an historical "snapshot" of who they are when they introduce themselves, that is what we are looking to define; it's what we should be working to preserve.  There should be a term for this - maybe there will be someday.

Thanks so much to my fellow scholar for asking this question.

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these learning tools are ready to be implemented following an initial evaluation of individual needs. Our priority is migratory education and schooling in areas of conflict.