Commnent on Canagarajah(2006)

One of the sentences which attracts my attention is 'there are multiple stories of TESOL'. Along with this sentence, when I read the article, the notion 'postmodern' was spinning around all through the article. The author tries to and encourages us to try to redifine everything which have been researched and studied in SLA in terms of 'post-X' consideration - postmodern, post method, post colonialism, etc. At the fisrt glance, the argument might seem to be so radical that SLA teachers and researchers need to discard all the cumulative concepts which have governed SLA teachers and researchers. But postmodernity in the article is not that radical but just a suggestion that one need to reconsider/redefine English learners, subjects in English teaching, teaching method, and needs of egalitarian, sociocultural perspectives in teaching English. He also tries to step further to reconcile conflicting theories and concepts in SLA surrounding teaching English. It seems obvious that it is needed to reconsider and rearrange the 'circles' of Kachru (1985). The question is to which direction we should head for to draw a new picture in SLA.

The article was written only three years ago and the questions raised by him are still unresolved. It might be meaningless to find an ultimate, solid, and neat resolution to the question: what is the best in teaching English? Just because it is not only a subject in teaching but also a part of life, which is changing all the time according to the sociocultural contexts. Still we need to look at the realities in teaching English, because even if we keep an egalitarian perspective to English in global era, for example, there are differences in weight, significance of each English around the world.

In short, if we acknowledge the locality, diversity, and postmodernity of English today, it would be hard to find a right approach in teaching English, as there are infinite number of contexts where English is taught. This is why we should shift our focus on learning or learner from teaching or teachers.

Finally I would add a term to SLA studies today - glocalization, which is a portmanteau of globalization and localization. We know the world is getting smaller with the advancement of science and technology. Think globally, act locally.