“Imagining myself speaking English”
An approach to addressing student reticence to speak
in class
Taharu Tezukahttps://www.ted.com/talks/takaharu_tezuka_the_best_kindergarten_you_ve_ever_seen?language=en#t-109907
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjvq3AONXmE
What do these speakers have in
common?
• Non-standard accents• Non-standard grammar (errors?)• willingness to speak
Kachru’s circles of English
Inner - Outer - Expanding
It’s not about native-speakers
It’s about all the different ways that
people speak English
in different countries
and even in the same country, differences between individuals
Role models
inspiration?
Taharu Tezukahttps://www.ted.com/talks/takaharu_tezuka_the_best_kindergarten_you_ve_ever_seen?language=en#t-109907
comedy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjvq3AONXmE
“people like me?”
https://carroll.gnomio.com/course/view.php?id=2
You!
The Teacher
Language is not just exchanging information
it’s also making your relationship to the social world.
Bonny Norton-Pierce
Imagined identitiesImagined
communities
Can you imagine yourself as an English
speaker?
https://carroll.gnomio.com/course/view.php?id=2
Dramaworks
Jay : Hey! What are you doin’?
Nobu: Who? Me? ….. Nothing.
Jay: Oh yeah? ….. What’s that?
Nobu: This? … Oh … This isn't mine!
Jay: You got that right!
Nobu: Oh, Wow, I’m sorry. It’s yours, isn’t
it?
Jay: Yeah, it is. I thought you were stealing
it!
Nobu: Me? No! …… Wait, ……..Where’s my
bag?
Jay: Gee, I don’t know … ….. Does it look
like this?
Nobu: Oh, thank God!
Jay: Thank God!!? …….. What about me
pal?
Nobu: Oh, man, I’m sorry. Thank you!
Jay: Forget about it.
PopstarsTheo Steckler
Kyoto: Dramaworks
Useful references• Norton, B. (Guest Ed.). (1997). Language and
identity [Special issue]. TESOL Quarterly, 31(3).• Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language
learning: Extending the conversation. 2nd edition. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
• Murphy, Tim (2001) Reported Belief Changes through Near Peer Role Modeling TEFL-EJ 5 (3)
• http://www.kuis.ac.jp/~murphey-t/Tim_Murphey/Welcome.html