Gaming Subculture Part Tres: The Revenge

You know, I was going to just put this image in as a visual metaphor of stereotypical male gamers versus female gamers, but I actually really like the inflection of gender identities this picture's got going for it. Often times women in games have skimpy and revealing clothing while the men wear conservative clothing, but here the roles are reversed. Well, sort of. Sarah here is looking conservative compared to quite a few other characters, ESPECIALLY in the realm of fighting games. Sure, all the men are badass warriors that can be garbed in anything from traditional martial arts gear to full fledged armor, but as soon as you lose that Y chromosome, official tournament rules demand you remove at least half of your clothing. You know, because women have an unfair advantage against men with all of their extra muscle. Seriously, besides Chun Li, what other woman wears unrevealing clothing? And of course they had to sexualize her greatly in that one animated Street Fighter movie. Not the one with Jean Claude Van Damme. That movie rocks. Oops, I did it again. I took what should have been something simple like a caption and made it super long, complicated and half of it is probably irrelevant to my topic. Oh well, I still like that live action Street Fighter movie.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the game this image comes from is Virtua Fighter 5.

This is it. The final showdown. I've discussed how there was a problem with Gamergate heavily influencing how gamers communicated, I've discussed that there is a lack of research into this topic, but now it's time to bring my own opinion to the table. No more dancing around the issue, no more Donald Trump references, No More Heroes is a pretty fun game, you should play it if you own a Wii.
So why exactly did so many gamers think that it was perfectly normal to talk to (and about) women like they weren't the same? The answer is actually quite simple, we, the typical male gamer, have been conditioned to think of girls not as people, but as something else. It usually doesn't matter what this something else is, many video games until recently (and I mean VERY recently, like around 2014 when Gamergate first happened) treated women as a wholly different species from men. Women in games were, at best, a non playable character that in some way accelerated the plot. Often times they were damsels in distress (think Princess Peach and Zelda from the Mario and Zelda games), and the few times they were playable, most of the time they were disguised as men (think Samus from Metroid).
Other times women in games are treated as enemies. Ewan Kirkland discusses this using Silent Hill 2 as an example. As great a game as it is, and while the theme may not actually be about misogyny, you can't deny that many of the enemies in that game are either women, or sexualized to look like women (think H.R. Giger).
Sometimes it isn't that the games depict women in a negative light, but they have a gender theme that winds up being censored due to localization. For example, an enemy character in Final Fight, a woman named Poison, was removed in the original version and replaced with a male enemy instead. Granted, having a woman as an enemy wouldn't have been much better, but removing her altogether implies that women can't participate in arcade street brawlers.
It's not a completely un-salvagable scenario.  The Tomb Raider reboot from 2013 saw a great redesign of the Lara Croft, depicting her as a more realistic human being and toning down on the highly sexualized design she originally had. Likewise, Role Playing Games (RPGs) are steadily increasing in popularity, and many of them discuss heavier themes such as gender (an outstanding example of gender and societal pressure is Persona 4 on the PS2).
Hopefully you'll all take something away from these blogs/rants. Hopefully they'll at least have you bust out the thinking cap the next time you pop in a Mario game and go Goomba stomping, remembering that Princess Peach is equally capable of crushing them as Mario. As Cherie Todd says in her article, one silver lining about the Gamergate debacle is that it's been forcing the issue into light, no longer able to be swept up under the rug.

Slang: A Cultural Phenomena

One of the most controversial features of language is the usage of slang. Many people believe that slang is only used by marginalized subgroups and teenagers.  However, amid my research I have found that throughout history, slang has been used amongst the elitist groups and the most prestigious professions such as the medical field. Scholar Felix Rodriguez-Gonzalez, states that by the close of the 20^th century as technical and institutional acronyms were becoming more recognized, the use of slang was seen in diverse professional and social groups of America and Britain. His article shows that slang and acronyms can also be connected to the distinguished classes of society as well as the middle to lower class citizens. Other studies have shown that slang’s popularity is increasing in value and it is spreading rapidly through society. Scholars Yanchun Zhou and Yanhong Fan state: “Although many intelligent people consider slang is of lower acceptability in society, the trend is more obvious that the use of slang expressions in movies, television, newspapers, and magazines is noticeably increasing. From the trend, we can see American slang is becoming more and more widely used and plays an increasingly influential role in everyday discourse of American English” (2209).  So not only do we see slang used amongst the subgroups and the elites, but we see it in many different forms of the media.

Photo courtesy of mindyourslanguage.blogspot.com 

In addition to the study of who uses slang, many scholars were concerned with why people use slang. Tamara Fabjancic for example, focused on the social phenomenon of slang and concludes by stating: “All in all, I have to say that this journey through the colourful world of slang has been an interesting and enlightening one. It revealed just how important the role of slang is in people’s lives… Slang, inconstant as it may be if we focus on individual expressions, is therefore nevertheless an ever-present phenomenon in all societies”(43).  So even scholars like Fabjancic have come to the realization that slang has an important role in society and therefore in our language. Yanchun Zhou and Yanhong Fan believe that slang is used as a means to gain social acceptance and is a pursuit of self-identity. For instance, if someone was new to a social group s/he would use the popular slang of the group so as to gain approval. In addition to acceptance, scholar Robert Moore believes that slang also serves as an “affective function” and he states: “they express an attitude that invites an egalitarian sociability” (186).  Therefore, slang has many different functions and cannot be regarded as a degradation of our language, but rather adds creativity and has emotional qualities.

Throughout my research I have come to find that scholars are recognizing the true nature of slang words and how they need just as much attention as other words we use. They reflect societal changes more than any other lexeme. The function of slang serves to include members into society while aiding in an egalitarian relationship. Slang is an important part of language and need not be considered inferior.  

Children's English Language Acquisition Skills

This picture demonstrates children reading. "  "

Jessica Lahey explains in "Poor kids and the word gap" children who come from wealthy families and children who come from families who live in poverty have different learning skills and expectations. Children who are raised in poverty attend school with a series of poor skills that continues into adolescence. While children who come from a background of educated parents and who are wealthy, are the ones who are more prepared to continue higher levels of school. Lahey goes into detail, expressing how researchers call it "the word gap." Parents who acquire a greater income, spend more time each day teaching and reading to their children in direct contact. The others who come from poor income families do not spend as much time engaging in teaching their children. Poor learners demonstrate in school expressing how they do not read books. Lahey believes "because the word gap first appears during periods of critical neurological and cognitive development, it's effects cannot be easily remedied by later interventions." Only the child's parents are responsible to help their children excel in the proficiency of math and reading. Lahey also explains that in a recent study "low - income parents underestimate their power to influence their children's cognitive development, sometimes by as much as 50 percent." Educated parents invest in their child's cognitive growth by being more involved with their children and engaging more time of teaching them. Lahey expresses, Obama created support programs to help children from low income families to perform better on their skills of English language acquisition.

In "Language Acuisition" Betty Birner explains that children learn how to communicate from interacting with their parents and from other children around them. Birner believes while parents interact and speak to their children more, the children will acquire language skills. There is not a specific age of when children learn to communicate. Birner expresses that when a child begins to utter, he or she has employed sounds and rhythm of communication for months. Children learn language skills in certain levels and in these levels children acquire cognitive skills at different periods. When children attend kindergarten, they have learned methods and sounds of speech. After this level of communication, Birner explains that children just have to connect sentences in newer fashion and increase their vocabulary. Language is genetic because the child learns how to communicate whether if their parents are teaching them or not. 

In "Poor children a year behind in language skills" the Sutton Trust charity explains how children who come from low income families struggle with their skills and they face many difficulties learning. While when parents read to their children daily, the children tend to perform better on tests. Making visits to the library helped sharpen children's learning by "2.5 months." The children who come from the low income families, have parents who did not receive "A-C grades." When children who come from wealthy families had a parent who is educated and completed a high degree. Some children who come from poor families do not live with their biological mother and father. Some live with a single parent. The charity is imploring the government to set up free education for younger children who face hardships in learning and the charity wants to provide classes to low income parents on ways to improve parenting.            

Aspects of teaching English Language Learners to be Literate in English; the problem areas where these students really struggle

This picture illustrates referring back to a students native language while teaching them English 

Learning a new language is far from easy. Especially at a early elementary school age; which is where more and more of these English Language Learners and first starting to learn English. Since proceeding further on my research I have learned about where a lot of the problem areas are for these student.

In fact before teaching students that are English Language Learners I can highly recommend looking at the performance in their native language. Through research I have learned that there is a strong relationship between these students literacy performance in their native language and the English language. If they perform lower in literacy in their native language chances are it will also reflect how they perform when working on English literacy skills. This can go both ways though if a student is stronger in one area of literacy in their native language this could show positively as they could do in that part of literacy in English. This patterns cover a variety of literacy areas including, oral proficiency, pseudo word reading, reading comprehension, reading strategies, spelling and writing.  Therefore, I have learned though my research it important to refer back to students native language.

I found the information mentioned above as a good foundation for my research and to keep in mind as a future educator. One of the main problems with learning literacy in English as a new language for these learners, is a lot of aspects in the English language and can be very different in other languages. Phonemic awareness is one area these students may struggle. "Children's minds are trained to categorize phonemes in their first language, which may conflict with English phonemes(Antunez 1). For example, Spanish-speaking children may speak, read, and write ch when sh should be used because in Spanish, these two combinations produce the same phoneme." Other aspects  similar to this could be metaphors as mentioned in my annotated bibliography. There are different words in vocabulary that we could be trying to teach these students that could have a completely different meaning in their native language. The article I read used the example of "bread" are a symbol of power here in America but, it could have a completely connotation in that students culture. 

Another aspect I learned about was the aspect of homophone, homonyms, and homographs. These are everyday words and can be very confusing when trying to teach ELL students to be literate in English. Thus being so because words can have double meanings and double sounds. One word can be spelled exactly the same and then have two different pronunciations. This can cause a lot of confusion for these students. It is important as a teacher to be prepared to explain these differences and help your ELL students understand. 

Language Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

When a baby is born, the parents or caregivers of that infant are filled with joy. The infant seems to provide much sunshine, happiness to the families' life. With each day, the bond between the infant and their family grows; as the infant grows in terms of development. As early as infancy, caregivers are able to see distinct improvements in the child's language and communication skills. An infant may begin to babble or say their first words, such as momma or dadda; or the infant may begin to engage in imaginative or constructive play. So as a parent or caregiver to an infant showing progress in regard to language development we are happy, right? Yes, of course! But, what if you were the parent or caregiver to an infant not exhibiting language or communication skills; as evidence of language development? What would this mean for the infant?

Let's say the child falls in the age range from infancy to pre-school. The child is lacking proficiency in both, verbal and non-verbal communication skills. The child may be exhibiting trouble with speech or grammar (verbal), as well as exhibiting difficulty with expressing feelings through crying, smiling or laughing. After much examination, testing and evaluation it may be evident that the child's lack of language development is a direct result of Autism Spectrum Disorder. But, what does this really mean for the infant or young child?

According to the article The Effective Teacher's Guide to Autism and Communication Difficulties: Practical Strategies author Michael Farrell explains that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Autism may explain a child's lack of effective language skills. It is likely that a child with Autism would have difficulties with communication and interaction, on a daily basis. The child may fall under two extremes: being mute or lacking the ability to use spoken language, or being able to speak, but repeating words over and over, again. What do you do as a caregiver to an individual who is unable to use spoken language? It's simply, actually! According to the Autism Speaks blog the“7 Ways to Help Your Nonverbal Child Speak” includes: encourage play and social interaction, imitate your child, focus on nonverbal communication, leave “space” for your child to talk, simplify your language, follow your child's interest, and consider assistive devices and visual support (Geri Dawson & Lauren Elder 2016).

I have also found, as a caregiver to a child with Autism (my younger cousin, Danny), that in order to enhance a non-verbal child's language skills you should incorporate the use of manipulatives and technology. My younger cousin Danny has Autism and was not able to use verbal means of language or communication for much of his young childhood. With the assistance of help in school and at home- using resources such as flash-cards, speech classes, computer-games/applications and etc.; Danny became verbal. These enhancements to language development to an Autistic child assists them in the long-run, for the rest of their life. So what implication does Autism have on a young child's language-many; does this mean we are not able to boost their language development/language skills. NO!

Combating Language Bias in the Classroom and Beyond

For my past blog posts, which you can retrieve and read here and here , you and I have explored the kind of rejection, intimidation, and stigmatization English Language Learners feel upon arriving in America. We together have understood the many aspects of culture shock the Spanish ESL population faces in school and in their everyday lives. It seems as though everything is against them. The media constantly puts out negative images of immigrants, while politicians denounce certain populations who have immigrated to America. Together, we have looked closely at statistics of dropout rates for ESL students, and we have gained insight on the growing population in school districts. For the last post, we will talk about language bias among language learners, and the truth behind an accent.

                Language Bias is something ESL students will face in their lifetimes, and could be a reason behind their insecurities, such as public speaking. Written in an article by William Chin , “A 1981 study found that listeners gave lower ratings to Mexican-American speakers with a high degree of accent. In the study, Mexican-American and White high school students evaluated Mexican-American speakers of English”.  English speakers with an accent are often looked down upon, or made fun of, especially if they are from Spanish speaking populations. Shireen Baghestani sheds light on this in her article , saying “It is an ongoing reality that non-native speakers of English receive unfair treatment in this country because of the way talk. It is easy to see that fear plays into people's consciousness when they hear a language other than English being spoken”.  Baghestani also adds that some groups are targeted more than others; native Spanish speakers file more discriminatory acts than “such groups as Swedish, Dutch and Gaelic speakers”. 

Pronunciation Tips for ELL students

                                                                   

                So is there a way to combat language bias for ELL students? Is there a way to help students with their accent as they are learning English for the first time? Researchers suggest that if the language is learned before or during the mythical “critical period” of language acquisition, speakers will not maintain an accent. This “critical period” has been debated over decades; some researchers predict this period begins around the age of 2. Others say this “critical period” of language learning starts in early childhood and ends around the age of 12, or the age of adolescence. In an informational article by Palea and Bostina-Bratu, they explore different theories of the critical period, and include research such as “Research published prior to the mid-1990s claimed that people learning a second language after puberty still retain a foreign accent, while those who acquired it before puberty did not. Scovel suggests that if a second language learning begins after the age of 12 years, learners can never ‘pass themselves off as native speakers phonologically’”. Accent depends on when the learner acquired the language; to combat language bias, language should be taught to learners as early as possible.

Exploring Language Acquisition

This child is learning cognitive skills.

     

The journal of Educational Psychology explains in "Acquisition of Literacy: A Longitudinal Study of Children in First and Second Grade" the idea of this study was to examine a new model of learning acquisition. The model concentrates on progress in spelling, word recognition, reading comprehension and handwriting. As students went from first to second grade, longitudinal measurements were collected. Characteristics such as, IQ, ethnicity, language and the comparison at which child advanced through their knowledge from books were connected to development in phonemic awareness, lexical, and spelling - sound knowledge. The effect of these elements on growth in spelling and in word recognition was examined. Furthermore, recognizing the words, reading, listening comprehension, the association of spelling and expressing creativity to writing stories were analyzed. The final outcome from this study shows without the practice of phonetics, writing does not help with spelling - strong cognition. The similarity between recognizing words and spelling them was demonstrated in a powerful way because both of these abilities seems to depend on some of the same intelligence. The similarity between the comprehension of reading appeared weaker because the formation of theories included in the creation of story did not seem equal to the development of literacy.

Catherine L. Taylor explains in ""Early motor development is part of the resource mix for language acquisition - a commentary on Iverson's developing language in a developing body: the relationship between motor development and language development" Iverson endorses us to notice motor skills and new sensorimotor knowledge as elements of the language acquisition and cognitive growth. She believes that new motor practice can change the child's experience and are an educational mechanism for language and cognitive growth. In this model, normal neuro growth, normal brain development, general interactions with individuals, common activeness and guidance from adults are important for natural language growth. The study examines the observation, data and understanding of children and the family. The final outcome shows a part for neurbiological structures of language.

Elinor Ochs explains in "Language acquisition and socialization three development stories and their implications"  Two requests are made pertaining to the close relationships of language acquisition and the way we interact with each other. The process of obtaining language is very much influenced by the procedure of becoming a capable affiliate of an association and the process of becoming a competent member is perceived to a greater size through apportionment and clarifications in and across social circumstances. These assertions are reinforced with prof obtained from a comparison of a social growth of children such as, middle class, Kaluli and Samoan. Certain theoretical disagreements and the method of approach for a characteristic technique to the growth of language are bestowed paying attention to economic investigation, with attention and sources of the theology dealings with the growth of language origin nature and destiny of human beings. Five particular features, of the human culture are analyzed in language strategy are inscribed. The cultural group of philosophy and language use, integration of social and cultural factors and code awareness, the unequal of language growth and the most important situation for language investment, the relationship between adults and children pertaining to language precisely the absence of match between them the capacity of the scientific study of life in language accession.                           



       

Awareness in Code Switching

When researching the topic of Children Code Switching for the first blog post there was a lot of information in the popular media about bilingual children and code switching. While reading through those popular sources about code switching being a natural part of being bilingual there were main academic sources about wheter children are aware when they code switch. One of those academic sources found was from Ana Zentella and her research.

While researching Spanish-English code switching in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in New York, Ana Zentella found that her participants would code switch to make up for a lack of proficiency in their languages. They would use code switching as a crutch and only would remember, “because of the effort and embarrassment involved in code switching”. She also argues that that effortless code switching, in which proficient bilinguals engage in, is likely to be unconscious by the speaker. Code switching in bilingual speakers also functions below the level of their awareness.

            There are many different forms of code switching that a bilingual speaker can engage in from one word borrowing to translation equivalents. Code switching is governed both by marked and unmarked choices in switches as well as by the importance of social norms that act in accordance with constraints in linguistic structures. People may use code switching to express group identity, status and cross social boundaries. With children they have may different levels in which they use language due to the age when they were introduced to the language, their familiarity with the language, their social networks. All of these factors lead to different rates of lexical development for each language they speak.

            While there is not a lot of information in popular media to the effects of whether children are aware or unaware when they code switch, there is a lot of information in the academic sources. I feel that the reason why there is not a lot of information about whether children are aware when they code switch in the popular media is because when a child code switches, parents and teachers are more focused with trying to stop them from code switching. Parents and teachers feel that when a child code switches it is because of their lack of knowledge in both languages. I feel that if the general audience was aware of the fact that is it is normal to code switch than more information and research would be conducted on whether child are aware when they code switch.