Making a Difference

The Language Teacher and Cultural Capital

Associate Professor Noel Watts was awarded Life Membership of NZALT in 1999, in honour of his outstanding contribution to the association. At Massey University he is engaged in research with Associate Professor Cynthia White in the field of applied linguistics and language teaching in the New Zealand context. Professor White's book on language learning in distance education will appear at the end of 2003.

Teachers of international languages have long argued the value of developing competencies in cross-cultural communication. Our view is that in the modern world people must develop greater understanding of other cultures and accept that their own ways of doing things are not necessarily the only or the best ways. A decade or so ago this message may not have seemed that important to many New Zealanders whose experience of "foreign" cultures was mainly gained from brief periods of travel abroad. But the situation has radically changed in the past decade or so. Apart from rising numbers of visitors to our country, there has been an influx of international students as well as immigrants from all parts of the globe. It becomes very obvious when you walk down the streets of almost any main centre that New Zealand is fast becoming a multicultural society.

The NSP cultural capital study

The nature and scope of immigration have provoked considerable debate in recent years. Following their own political agendas, certain critics have condemned the more liberal immigration policies that governments have followed since the preference for British immigrants was dropped in 1989. They have warned that the influx of immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and other non-Western regions could be socially harmful. In particular, they have argued that the cultural baggage that immigrants from these areas bring with them may be destructive of our culture and way of life. While such negative views have been given wide exposure in the media more moderate opinions have not received the same attention. What is the positive cultural impact of immigration? In what ways do different values, attitudes and practices actually add to our cultural capital - our fund of tangible or intangible cultural assets? In what particular ways do immigrants from non-English speaking countries extend our cultural awareness and help develop new tastes, understandings and appreciations that enrich our lifestyle?

As part of the New Settlers Programme research activities at Massey University we have been carrying out a study this year which focuses on these issues. One aspect of the study involved heads of teaching units in a number of our tertiary institutions who were asked to express their views on the cultural contribution of immigrants. We deliberately chose tertiary institutions for this particular study as universities, polytechnics and private training establishments which offer degrees and diplomas have experienced very large changes in the composition of their student body in recent years, particularly with the growth in numbers of international students and permanent residents from non-English speaking backgrounds. In addition, serious shortages in some specialist areas (such as Information Technology) have led to an expansion in the numbers of staff recruited from countries where English is not the main language.

The research methodology we used involved the design of a comprehensive questionnaire that was completed by 159 heads of teaching units in major tertiary institutions throughout New Zealand. Of these 159 heads of teaching units, 90 were working in universities, 54 in polytechnics and 15 in other tertiary institutions (colleges of education, private training establishments etc.). They were involved in 46 different subject areas from art history to viticulture and included 19 senior staff members who were in charge of teaching units engaged in the teaching of languages other than English. The second phase of the study comprised follow-up interviews with 17 of the heads of teaching units to gain further information.

Next we will outline some of the results as a whole and then look more closely at those that relate more directly to language teaching. Although our survey involved only tertiary institutions we have a feeling that many of the findings might also apply to other educational sectors. If you are teaching in intermediate or secondary schools and interested in this topic we would certainly like to know what your colleagues say about the cultural contribution of immigration.

General views on the cultural contribution of immigrants.

An overwhelming majority of the heads of teaching units (96 per cent) agreed that immigrants had made a positive impact on New Zealand life in the past decade and contributed to our overall cultural capital. They considered that the most obvious effects were in cuisine and hospitality, ethnic relations, education and training, social life, the arts, and industry and commerce. Many referred to the increasing number of ethnic food outlets and the widened range of food products from around the world which we now find on supermarket shelves. But the influence of immigrants has gone well beyond changes to our food habits. Our attitudes and practices have also been profoundly affected. New Zealanders have been forced to face up to the realities of living in a diverse, multicultural world. According to one participant: "A greater number of New Zealanders have been challenged to examine ethnicity-based issues as a result of the growing presence of new immigrants".

It was also felt that education has generally benefited as the result of a broader cultural mix as staff have had to become more sensitive to different student needs and preferences. New Zealand-born students have gained from having students from other parts of the world in their classes. As one of the teaching heads said, becoming more open to other views, attitudes, and experiences must be counted as an essential part of learning in today's world: "Globalisation impacts on us all. If we don't try to understand what is happening elsewhere we will be left behind. Global understanding is a core part of the knowledge wave".

A clear majority of the participants (62 per cent) agreed that their main teaching area had been directly influenced by staff who have come to New Zealand from countries where English is not the main language. Almost 70 per cent reported they had overseas-born members of staff in their units. These staff members played an active role in transmitting their cultural values, experiences, skills, and knowledge to New Zealand students and/or staff. The examples given of the kinds of influence that immigrant staff had exerted in different subject areas related principally to challenging attitudes, beliefs and values, developing awareness of different traditions and practices, and widening aesthetic perceptions.

Language and culture

It was noticeable that when asked to comment on the cultural contributions of staff members from non-English speaking backgrounds in general the heads of teaching units made very little reference to the specific contribution of immigrants as native speakers of other languages. They failed to recognise that language and culture are inseparable. The exception, however, was the 19 senior staff members included in the survey who were in charge of teaching units engaged in the teaching of languages other than English. Two themes emerged from their views: (a.) the positive impact of immigrants on language learning; and (b.) ways in which language teachers can help immigrants in the maintenance and recognition of their languages and cultures.

(a) The positive impact of immigrants on language learning in New Zealand

Some of the participants commented on important spin-offs of immigration as far as language education is concerned. The increasing number of immigrants from non-English speaking countries has meant that New Zealanders have become more accustomed to hearing other languages spoken. While at one time it was very rare to hear a language other than English or, in some circumstances, Maori spoken in public places, this is no longer the case. New Zealanders have slowly had to accept that speaking other languages is a normal and natural part of people's lives. This has important implications for language teaching. It helps to develop the feeling that learning another language is not somehow odd or irrelevant. Even more importantly there are far more native speakers of different languages in the classrooms who can act as linguistic models. The impact on classes is also likely to be long-lasting. Parents want their children (and later their grandchildren) to develop proficiency in their language. In addition, as experienced language learners themselves they are likely to encourage their children to study other languages.

The presence of immigrants in the teaching programme was also seen to be crucially important, as native speakers of target languages provide authentic links with the languages and cultures studied. However, there was no obvious evidence of professional rivalry between native speakers and non-native speakers on the teaching staff. The emphasis was on complementarity of functions. As a New Zealand-born teacher of Spanish said: "Colleagues whose first language is Spanish have given significant cultural depth to the teaching of Spanish in this institution" and he added: "We have helped our new colleagues to understand and adapt to the expectations and capabilities of New Zealand students in their study of the colleagues' language."

(b) Ways in which language teachers can help immigrants in the maintenance and recognition of their language resources

Some participants referred to the heavy assimilationist pressures on new settlers to conform to New Zealand ways of doing things. A head of a teaching unit concerned with teaching Pacific Islands languages and cultures commented: "A lot of immigrants unfortunately have been hoodwinked into believing that you need to lose part of your language, part of your culture to be fully accepted". The rich mix of languages that immigrants bring with them is a major asset for our country socially, culturally and economically (particularly when we think of the need for fluent speakers in international business and trade). Language teachers as professionals who know the importance of high level linguistic and cultural competencies can contribute towards conserving these assets by lobbying to make people more aware of the importance of language maintenance.

A related issue was that language teachers should vigorously support the case for greater recognition of the linguistic skills of immigrants. Skills in other languages are grossly under-valued in New Zealand. As one of the senior staff members who was interviewed pointed out, immigrants are often used by government and community organisations as "unacknowledged gap fillers" when they are called on to carry out translation and interpreting duties on a voluntary basis. Just as fluent speakers of te reo Maori may be officially recognised so too should the linguistic assets of immigrants be acknowledged and their use encouraged.

We believe that our study does provide some insights into the perceptions of tertiary level teachers of the cultural contribution of immigrants. The finding that the great majority of those who participated in the survey viewed positively the increased diversity and mix of cultures in our New Zealand society and consider that immigrants have contributed positively to our overall cultural capital is heartening. However, the fact that many of the heads of teaching units that were not involved in language teaching failed to recognise language and culture as being intertwined suggests that there is still much work to be done in tertiary institutions to convince staff that language learning is an essential part of developing cross-cultural awareness and appreciation.

A full report on the findings of this research project will be available at a later stage and posted on the New Settlers Programme website: http://newsettlers.massey.ac.nz