Kuma, B. (2006). TESOL Methods: Changing tracks, challenging trends. TESOL

I quite enjoyed this article. One of the things I loved about it was opening up the criticism behind communicative based and task based teaching. For example, both communicative and task based language teaching have some goal behind them i.e. only one goal to provide success in the classroom, yet, it eliminates other options of teaching. Having one set option of teaching a language, or one set theory clearly makes a remaining variety of resources disappear. Also, I believe as it also says in the article, that language is not something that should be studied from a purely syntactical or morphological approach, as there are many other forces shaping language (social, political, economical), which, to me, makes language seem even the more important. I also was a little discouraged by the use of "post-method." I understand the argument, but I also think that taking words such as method and attaching post before it further complicates a problem. The same can be said with "modern," and "post-modern."

Chapter 2, Theories of Teaching in Language Teaching.

While reading this chapter, I was troubled by many things. One of the main aspects of the chapter that I found unsettling is how many different varieties of teaching are grounded in theory and sets of values considered by norm-enforcing standards. For example, Theory Based Approaches of Teaching are theories for teaching that are all based on a set of assumptions regarding theory. I believe teaching should be something that is not based on theory, because that eliminates perhaps a fraction of teaching instruction that becomes unavailable, due to teaching theories making these other aspects of teaching insights unavailable. I also feel the same way regarding Value Based Approaches of Teaching, because this exactly like theories and conforms to a certain set of standards or norms as seen accepted by a group or society. This also eliminates a great deal of other resources for teachers to use, because if the resources are not supportive of the values, then they will not be used. I believe teaching is something that should use a variety of methods and materials to provide effective results, rather than one or two aspects based on theories or values.

Jenkins, J. (2009) Who Speaks English Today?

While reading this article on the digital reserves, I was most interested in MacArthur's circle model of English showcasing a "World Standard English" at its center. Then surrounding the World English centerpiece were several varieties of English, such as American English and Asian English. Yet, within these subsets of Englishes, there were several fabrics of Englishes forming a single network for the entire standard of the circle. This became very interesting to me, as I noted that within American English there exist several varieties such as African American Vernacular English or Northern English. This goes back, in my opinion, to the idea that any language, like English is composed of many many layers. Within one language, we get subsets and groups of differentiation that allow variation from what is considered a standard to the language. This makes it impossible to me to say that there is a standard English.
Also, what fascinated me is the fact that the same circle map, showcased the places around the world where English has become an important part of the other language. And when I saw this map, seeing things such as East Asian English made up of Hong Kong English or Singapore English, we see the exact diagrams where colonization by English speaking peoples has taken place, and where it has impacted the speakers of these places. This idea made me wonder whether English will someday replace all languages around the world? Certainly, we hear every so often that a certain language x has died because there are no longer any surviving speakers of that language. If English has become such a dominant force in consumerism, economical transactions, and political change and manifestations, then is it possible it could continue to expand its behemoth size and wipe out every language imaginable? I, for one, would hate to see only one language.