Reading Response: Culture and Community

In her book, Marshall (1989) gives a detailed guide to learning language in situ. Unfortunately, I do not have the advantage of being in or around a community that speaks Yaqui. Still, I believe Marshall's guide can be applied to my learning process.

Finding and learning a language with the help of a mentor (preferably a native speaker) would be invaluable. Though, I do believe it is possible to be your own mentor if you do not have access to a community of native speakers. Obviously, being your own mentor has some inherent drawbacks: lack of (modified) native speaker input, no partner for role=playing (unless you can convince a friend to do it!), no correction (unless you are self-monitoring- in which you are unlikely to catch most errors) and likely insufficient cultural input/behavior modeling. Nonetheless, the "mechanics of a learning relationship" (daily expectations, conducting hard-working sessions, varying activities, cultural differences) outlined by Marshall can be easily carried out by oneself.

I found Marshall's chapter (7) on "getting a head start at home" to be quite pertinent to my own language learning experience. Lets say I am preparing to go to a Yaqui community, what can I do to prepare myself (linguistically and culturally) before I immerse myself in the community? Marshall suggests "living abroad at home" (especially if language courses do not exist). This means finding possible mentors at home, in nearby communities (i.e. families, churches, social groups), and looking at literature (or other resources) to learn more about the target culture.

With LCTLs, it is difficult to locate a community of native speakers- even in Los Angeles. More than likely, most speakers may only have perceptive language abilities and do not speak the language. Furthermore, a native speaker will also speak English and/or Spanish. In this situation, it would be tempting to rely on those languages to talk about the LCTL, and not speak in it. One point that Marshall made on this topic of mentor selection was that learners should not ask "why" a native speaker says something one way (and not another, for example). I do not agree with this sentiment entirely. Being inquisitive about a language, its use as well as its form, I believe, is a sign of a good language learner. They want to know more about the language they are learning so to better use it when placed in the target culture environment. Although, being inquisitive and still not accepting the reasons for certain usage/form would not be acceptable.

Turning to the good language learner discussion in Finkbeiner, I believe the question about "good language learners being culturally more competent because they do not face culture shock" is an interesting one. While cultural competence in general can be difficult to attain when not studying a foreign language in the target community, a good language learner might seek out opportunities and resources to acquire cultural competency. For example, watching videos, reading about the target culture, interacting with native speakers, or studying abroad. Good language learners are probably more likely to accept the practices of the target culture without having to compare them (particularly by a better/worse standard) to their own cultural norms. This would make the "culture shock" phenomenon less traumatizing and could promote language learning.