Sunday, June 3, 2012

Accented, embodied, Asian female professional L2 identity

Clip art: Clker

Clip art: Clker
How's this for an "embodied" conference presentation proposal?

 "In this workshop, examining current theory on L2 identity related to Asian professional women and embodiment theory, participants work through a series of haptic-based (movement and touch) exercises, including a set of speaking/rhythm-based exercises, which provide a helpful anchor for shifting into confident and accented, professional English." 

         It was submitted to TESOL 2013 by two of our female, Asian--graduate students. Both are interested in the general question of L2 identity. (One of them has also submitted a poster proposal for a related classroom-based project as well.) The basic idea is, after setting up a conceptual framework on accent and identity,  to use a haptic (movement and touch)-based classroom technique to anchor something of the "felt sense" of confident delivery and  performance-- even with possibly problematic, accented speech. What it is getting at is the notion of establishing a sense of confidence in the learner more intentionally, explicitly identified and experienced as such as the selected professional style and register of speech is practiced in class. The process, at least for some, provides a more readily accessible anchor, a way to step back into that emotional "space," if you like, what it is like when "We are  speaking confidently." I have used something analogous for years in giving my professional NNS students a way to get focused before they step up to the podium. 

2 comments:

  1. Embodied leadership for women is big. For example: http://www.movement-education.org/embodiedleadership/

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  2. I wasn't able to access this link, but found this article instead: "Enacting the True Self"(Ladkin and Taylor 2010). They do an nice analysis of Barak Obama as an authentic leader and Western acting theory based on the Stanislavski System (1936a, 1936b, 1961). Key is the difference between enacting the external manifestation and having the interior experiences that result in those external manifestations which is central to the System and producing authenticity (Ladkin and Taylor, 13). Neurophysiologically, this has to do with the activation of voluntary and involuntary muscles in the face and body, which we read as real or fake (fake being that absence of involuntary muscles in a smile, for example).

    Will send you the article, since acting, identity in narrative and authentic leadership have analogous relationships.

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