During the early years, parents exert a great influence on their children; however, with the introduction of other socialization agents such as peer groups, teachers play a significant role in later years. ‘As we grow older the peer group remains a primary reference group and source of pressure and influence’ (Feldman et al., 1981). Conformity with current trends is often a driving force for dressing or behaving in certain ways. Frequently, a peer group replaces parents’ influence on social competence and provides additional pressure to conform with current norms and standards (Zigler et al., 1983: 86). Research suggests that peers are very important agents of socialization since they might have much less flexible notions of what is acceptable than adults do (Kohlberg, 1969).
Peers have an influence on the social and cultural competence of children and adolescents. Evidence supporting this idea is available from studies of children who were deprived of social peer contact. These children were found to be socially incompetent (unpopular) or had greater probabilities of maladjustment in school with subsequent low achievement, delinquency or need for psychotherapy (Asher et al., 1977: 39). The latter may relate to minority language children, who, because of their ethnicity or poor language skills experience isolation from their peers or, in extreme cases, racism, discrimination or bullying.
Moreover, teachers tend to encourage and model conventional behavior, thereby supplementing the pressures and demands of parents. As Zigler et al. (1983: 87) point out, in the area of education and academic achievement it is often teachers, not parents, who exert greater influence over adolescents. For example, teachers can impact their students’ motivation to learn and their assessment of their abilities (Gruen & Zigler, 1968; Turnure & Zigler, 1964). Although schools have a significant impact on children’s socialization, their influence does not operate in isolation. Schools often reflect and shape social attitudes. ‘They change to meet current social climates, and they serve as implicit models for family practices. Thus, schools may play a role either in perpetuating or combating social problems’ (Zigler et al., 1983: 87).
Cultural Continuities and Discontinuities between Home and School
Culture and ethnicity have a great impact on the psychological development of adolescents. Being brought up in a different culture and speaking another language may impact general perceptions/views of the abilities and skills needed to succeed in that culture.
Apart from the presence or absence of formal educational institutions (like schools), different cultures and ecological conditions make very different demands on individuals – including children who live in them. Those abilities that are valued and practiced in a society are likely to become better developed than those abilities or skills that are irrelevant to success in that culture. (Zigler et al., 1983: 87)
In other words, children from different ethnic backgrounds may perceive the same things differently or consider various things more or less important as a result of former socialization practices. They may possess various better-developed skills than their counterparts from other cultures. These differences in perceptions, conceptual processing, learning and memory may be related to the demands and practices of the society one lives in or one previously lived in. Thus, the problem of ‘discontinuity’ (the problems caused by discontinuity between the home environments and the school environments and also by home ecologies that are different from new school ecologies) appears when the transition from one mode of being and behaving to another is accompanied by noticeable differences in social tasks and expectations (Marcia, 1987). In this situation, an individual needs time to develop his or her own understanding of the new demands that are being imposed on him or her by the new environment.
Phinney and Chavira (1995) acknowledge the importance of interaction between an individual and his or her environment/cultural context (particularly ethnicity that determines one’s cultural heritage, history and status within society) within which socialization occurs. Immigrant adolescents have an ethnic identity, that is, their personality may result from growing up in a particular society/ethnic group. Developmentally, minority adolescents are beginning to explore identity issues in general (Marcia, 1980) and their ethnic identity in particular (Phinney, 1989). During adolescence, minority youths begin to examine the meaning of their ethnicity and minority status. Therefore, adolescence is a very challenging period for minority adolescents as not only do they start searching for their unique self-identity but they also need to accommodate their ethnic and cultural identity within their own social identity.
Language Socialization Perspective on Adolescence
Assuming the perspective that language socialization (LS) takes place across one’s life span allows the period of adolescence to be perceived as particularly important. It is ‘the period at which individuals in modern societies find themselves at the intersection between childhood and adulthood, the period during which social identity formation becomes central’ (Langman, 2003: 182). If LS is perceived not as a developmental process leading to adulthood but as a ‘social practice’ (where individuals become agents of socialization), membership of a particular group (a community of practice) as well as ‘practice in its own right’ becomes fundamental to both LS and identity construction processes. As Langman (2003:184–199) points out, an individual ‘practices’ his or her identity concerning a wide variety of communities of practice ranging from a school group to a community group such as a church group or family. ‘In such practice, dimensions of identity-related to various social categories such as ethnicity, class, gender are practiced and negotiated in specific social settings’ (Langman, 2003: 182).
Nevertheless, at various moments in our life, it frequently happens that one particular community of practice may become central – the most influential to one’s identity practice/construction. A review of the current literature suggests that children of all ages, especially adolescents, have a strong need to belong to certain groups/social circles. ‘No one but an adolescent can be fully socialized well-functioning member of certain adolescent group’ (Langman, 2003: 183). Taking the perspective of LS as a social practice phenomenon enables viewing both socialization and social identity construction from multifaceted perspectives (Eckert, 2000). Thus, adolescents engage in negotiating their social identity in age-appropriate ways (i.e. negotiating values, beliefs and power relations) in response to the social environment (communities of practice) in which they find themselves, for example, school settings, peer groups, family and other communities to which they belong. This book illustrates these processes, highlighting parental choices and adolescents’ own agency.
Key Issues in Socialization and Second Language Socialization
Wentworth (1980) states that socialization can be viewed from various perspectives; however, the central element of socialization is the same. It refers to the role assigned to the individual in the process of becoming a member of society. Merton (1949) and Parsons (1937, 1951) perceived socialization as a passive phenomenon through which individuals internalize the values of society comprising those relating to personality and behavior to function in society. In comparison, for Mead (1961) socialization is a process in which individuals and society shape each other through social interaction. Theories within a ‘socialization-as-interaction model’ have focused on the processes of socialization, including symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969), phenomenology (Schutz, 1967), ethnomethodology (Garfinkel, 1967) and structuration (Giddens, 1979) theory.
These latter theories consider ‘the medium through which the ability to produce society is transmitted from member to novice’ (Wentworth, 1980: 79), which is ‘the interaction that constitutes socialization’ (Wentworth, 1980: 83). In other words, such theories focus on how children or novices acquire the knowledge, orientations, ideologies and practices that enable them to participate effectively in the social life of a particular community. This process – actually a set of interrelated processes – is realized through the use of language, which is the primary medium through which culture and knowledge are communicated.