Comments on Vivian Cook's "Going beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching": Going Further beyond the Native Speaker Model: A Remark concerning Language Models

Abstract

* Vivian Cook's succinct article, Going Beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching (Vol. 33, No. 2, Summer 1999), develops methods for recognizing L2 learners as competent L2 users by proposing that an attainable model be developed to replace the misanthropic native speaker (NS) one. It is clear from Cook's desire to go beyond the NS model that he sees it as an oppressive ideology--a position one would be hard-pressed to disagree with. However, given this philanthropic desire to include L2 learners in the realm of competent language users, in what sense is a primarily L2 user model less oppressive than the NS one? In what ways could an L2 user model avoid being used as a tool of political economic oppression as effectively as the NS one has been? Derrida (1998) has pointed out that all language (whether an individual's native, second, or third language) is inherently oppressive, in that individuals must conform their thoughts and feelings to grammatical, semantic, and syntactical rules. Derrida identifies a certain meaningto-say (vouloir dire) reaction that all humans possess. Subjects formulate their thoughts in this meaning-to-say language and then translate these ideas into the language being used at that time (whether it is the native language or the L2). Thus both the NS and the L2 user are oppressed by language, conforming their meaning-to-say reaction to the appropriate language model. I raise the idea above regarding oppression not to take away or dissent from Cook's desire to incorporate the L2 learner in the realm of capable language users; on the contrary, I fully agree with the need to recognize the success of competent L2 users. Rather, I wish to point out that all speakers must subject themselves to language, and simply changing the language model (NS or otherwise) does not erase this subjugation. Most language instructors would agree that the identity of an individual is not ducation. Pa r presented at th a nual meeting of the Midwest Modern anguage Ass ciat o , Minneapolis, MN. ampton, M. B. H. (1990). Displac ng th native peaker: Expertise, affiliation and heritance. ELTJournal, 44, 97-101. ang, C. (1997). On the power and status of non-native ESL teachers. TESOL uarterly 1, 377-580.