Research Proposal: Testing and Comparing Perception of Japanese Learners on R and L

Introduction

                It has long been acknowledged that second language learners have difficulty producing sounds that do not occur in their native language.   One example of this is the difficulty distinguishing between r and l sounds for Japanese nationals learning English as a second language.  This paper will look at the research history behind Japanese perception of r and l, and suggest ways that it can be further tested.

Literature Review

Human speech is capable of a wide range of sounds known as phonics.  However not all of these sounds are the same in every language.  It is a well documented fact that adult learners of second languages will have trouble learning phonics that do not occur in their native language.  Difficulties arise not only in the production of second language phonics, but also in the perception of these phonics (V. Hazan et al ., 2005). 

Among English as a second language learners, one of the most prominent examples of this is the Japanese difficulty in distinguishing between English r and l sounds.    This is because neither of these sounds occurs in Japanese.  There is a liquid consonant in Japanese that is usually written in English translation as an “r” (for example in such words as “samurai,” “Hiroshima,”  “Rashomon” et cetera.)  However in the native Japanese accent this sound is actually somewhere in between the English r and l sound (Guion et al., 2000).  Therefore Japanese speakers have great difficulty correctly pronouncing r and l sounds in English words.

Although this phenomenon has long been informally observed, it was tested by Hiromu Goto, in 1971, who found that not only were native Japanese speakers unable to correctly pronounce r and l sounds, but also that they were unable to distinguish the sounds even when enunciated clearly by American voices (Goto, 1971), indicating that both production and perception of r and l sounds presents problems for Japanese learners.

Since this time, many studies have been done exploring both Japanese production and perception.  What is the relationship between the two of them, and under what conditions can they be improved?

Much of the work in particular has been done on perception.  In part, this is because it is easier to test perception, particularly when testing large number of participants simultaneously.  But it is also because perception testing may be a more accurate way of testing the participants’ knowledge.  It has been argued that many learners of English feel that their accent is part of their individual identity, and can be reluctant to switch to a received pronunciation (Jenkins, 2000).  And at least one study confirmed this among some Japanese learners of English (Benson, 1991).

In tests conducted in the early 1990s, it was shown that it was possible to improve Japanese perception of r and l sounds through training by asking participants to identify a sound, and then giving them immediate feedback on whether or not it was correct.  However even after such training, none of the participants reached native level competence ( Lively, et al. 1993). And, although the exact relationship between production and perception is still unclear, it has been shown that Japanese participants exposed to such training will have a corresponding positive effect on pronunciation (Bradlow et al., 1997).

                However another area of interest was under what conditions perception improved naturally.  Several studies focused on Japanese students living in the United States, and found that they showed improved  perception over Japanese learners who had little to no contact with native speakers.

                One study found that Japanese learners who had frequent contact with native English speakers performed much better on perception tests than Japanese people who did not (MacKain et. al, 1981).  Another study found that Japanese adults who had lived in the United States for an average of 21 years identified r and l sounds more accurately than those who had only been in the United States for only 2 years (Flege et al. 1996).

                One such study, published by Aoyama et al. in 2003, tested the perception of 16 Japanese adults (and their children) living in Texas.   The participants were tested twice, one year apart, on their perception of r and l.  The first testing was after the participants had been living in the United States for an average of 0.5 years, the second testing was at an average of 1.6 years length or residence.   It was found that the perception of the Japanese children improved dramatically between the first and second test, but the Japanese adults’ perception did not improve significantly (Aoyama et al., 2003).

                Besides age, length of residence in a foreign country, or exposure to native speakers, there are also a few other factors which may influence accurate perception of r and l.  There is also evidence that familiarity with the word being spoken helps aid perception, even with Japanese people who have had little experience living abroad (Flege et al. 1996).  And several tests have shown that Japanese speakers will be more likely to correctly identify a work containing r than l in perception tasks (Bradlow, 1997).

This Study

When discussing the results of improved perception over time in Japanese nationals living abroad, it is important to establish control groups with students learning English as a foreign language in Japan.  And when testing Japanese EFL students, it would be interesting to see if their perception changed at all during their 6 years of English study.

Japanese students begin studying English in the first year of chuugakko (which is often equated with the American term “junior high school”).  All Japanese students must by law complete 3 years of English education in the junior high school as part of their compulsory education.  Japanese  high school (kotogakko) is not technically part of the government mandated compulsory education, but in an educational society like Japan it is increasingly becoming assumed that most students will continue on, and almost all of Japanese students graduate from high school.   Japanese high school graduates will have completed a total of 6 years of English education. 

Because these English classes are mostly taught by Japanese nationals speaking English as their second language, it has been widely assumed that the students’ pronunciation and perception of l and r will not improve during this time.   And indeed, studies of Japanese perception with Japanese participants living inside  Japan show that even University graduates perform little better than chance on perception tests (see Goto, 1971, among others).

On the other hand, studies such as Aoyama et al., 2003 indicate that Japanese adults, who have completed 6 years of English education in Japan, start out with statistically significant higher perception than their children who had not yet started English education in Japan.  (Although while living in the United States, the children later quickly catch up and surpass their parents by the time of Aoyama et al.’s second testing.)

                It would be interesting to see if there was any, even a slight, change in perception at all during these six years of English study.  And, especially in light of studies indicating lexical familiarity aids in perception (Flege et al., 1996) it would be interesting to see if perception accuracy increases on certain words which are more likely to be known to a sixth year English student than a second year English student.

                It is more than possible that this test will not yield any interesting results, and will simply confirm the conventional wisdom that r  and l perception is not learned at all in the Japanese school systems.   However either way these two groups will act as an important control against the other groups of participants.

                 Contrasted against Japanese students in the traditional Japanese school system, it would be interesting to see if Japanese people attending weekly classes taught by native English speakers acquire any advantage in regards to perception.

                Finally, it would be interesting to compare these two groups against Japanese people living abroad in an English environment.

                This last test would in some ways be a duplication of studies which have already tested the perception of Japanese nationals living abroad, such as the above work of Aoyama, et al.  However the variables in the study will be adjusted slightly.

                The participants in Aoyama et al.’s study had a mean age of 39.9.  This study will seek to examine younger adults, those here in Melbourne as international or exchange students (18-22) or on a working holiday (under 30) to see if the age variation results in any significant differences.

                Also, Aoyama et al.’s adult participants came over to the United States with their Japanese families, and were married with children.  Since people with families often have less time for socializing outside the home, it might cut down on their exposure time to English.   Young unmarried Japanese people living abroad might socialize more with native English speakers, and might acquire the perception skills with more accuracy.  And students especially studying in Melbourne will have lots of exposure to English.   Indeed, at the end of their study, Aoyama et al. acknowledged that one of the reasons their adult participants might have shown little improvement in perception was because they might have had limited chances to speak English.   As Aoyama et al. noted, the children went to school every day and received a constant stream of English input, where some of the Japanese housewives might not have received this input.  

                Finally, Aoyama et al.’s test, and most other tests of Japanese perception to date, took place with participants living in the United States.  This study will seek to test Japanese students living in or around Melbourne, Australia, which has its own unique accent and culture which might further influence the results.

Research Questions

1.       During the course of their normal scholastic education in Japan, do Japanese students learning English exhibit any significant improvement of perception of R and L?  And if so, is this increased perception related to lexical familiarity?

2.       How do Japanese students studying at English conversation schools taught by native speakers compare to Japanese students solely studying in the public schools?

3.       Do Japanese young adults living in Melbourne exhibit an improved perception of rand l compared with Japanese students who have never been abroad?

4.       Among the Japanese living in Melbourne, does fossilization occur over time in their perception abilities?

Method

Participants

                The first two comparative tests will involve Japanese students studying in public schools.  Any students who have spent significant amounts of time abroad or who receive private English classes from native speakers will be excluded from the test.

                Because first year English learners in a Japanese junior high school start out with zero knowledge of the alphabet, it might be premature to ask these complete beginner students to discriminate between different English words.   By the second year, however, basic spelling and phonics should, in theory, be learned.   So the first test will be conducted with second year English students in a Japanese junior high school.

                These tests will be compared against a second group of students studying either in a Japanese high school, or a Japanese university.  (The latter being preferable depending on access.)

                The third group will be students attending private English schools taught by native English teachers, but who have not lived outside of Japan.  

                As this group consists mostly of individuals rather than whole classes, access to statistically significant participants might be a problem.  But where ever possible, care will be taken to match both the age of these students and the length of their instruction period.

                The fourth group will be Japanese people studying in Melbourne or doing a working holiday. 

Instrument

                All participants will be tested using minimal word pairs focusing on the differences between r and l.  For example: light and right, or lock and rock.  (For a complete list of minimal pairs, see the instrument included in the appendix.)

                The pairs will be arranged in two columns, one under the R column, another one under the L column.  Each pair will be numbered.  The participants will circle the word that they think they hear.

Procedure

                Participants will listen to a native speaker read out different words, and then write in the blanks provided either an r or and l depending on what word they think they hear.  The native speaker will read the words in a pre-arranged order that will be the same for the initial tests in all 4 groups. 

                Before testing the students, the reader will first pilot test this instrument on other native speakers to certify that the pronunciation is discernable by the standards of native speakers.

                All the groups in Japan will only be tested once.  The fourth group, living in Melbourne, will be tested three times at two-week intervals to determine if their perception during this time remains consistent, and to test for either improvement in, or fossilization of, perception.  Because this last group will be tested multiple times, the order of words read aloud will change between tests.

Analysis

                All the results from individuals will be collected, and analysed together in their respective groups.

                For each group, the amount of correct answers will be averaged.

                It will be assumed that by chance each group will get 50% of the questions right.  Therefore group results at or around 50% will be seen as not having any perception of r-l discrimination. 

                The junior high school second year learners will be the baseline against which all other groups will be compared for improvement.  (It is anticipated that this group will have scores at or around 50%.)  Groups average test scores will be compared against each other using an independent t-test.

                In testing for the effect of lexical familiarity on perception, each individual minimal pair number will be looked at separately.  If there appears to be a difference in percentage correct between groups for a particular minimal pair, a chi-square test will be run to confirm significance.  These words would then be compared to the vocabulary that a high school English student in Japan is likely to know.

                In addition to between groups t-test, a dependent t-test will be run to compare the multiple tests on taken by the Japanese group in Melbourne

Limitations/ Anticipated Problems

                There are some severe limitations on the generalizability of the first test.   One classroom, in one city, can not be generalized to all of Japan.　Even though the Japanese education system is famous for its highly homogenous national curriculum, there is still no way to account for the variation produced by individual teachers.   Some Japanese teachers of English themselves have pronunciation that is little better than their students.  Others have, through study or travel abroad, managed to acquire an accent that is close to native like. 

                It might be possible to take this variation into account by testing the perception and accents of the teachers themselves.  However, this would only account for the class’s current English teacher.  In larger Japanese schools the English teacher for each grade, and often for each class with a grade, would be different.             In order to take into account the cumulative effect of 6 years of English education, all the teachers who had contact with the class would need to be tested.  Because the educational board transfers teachers  from school to school every year, it would be difficult to track down all the past teachers.

                In addition to the teacher’s individual accent, there is also the teacher’s use of additional audio visual materials.  The textbook manufactures often include CDs, and videos with the textbook (usually featuring native speakers modelling correct pronunciation) which some Japanese teachers might use more often than others.

                And, since the beginning of the assistant language teacher (ALT) programs, many schools even make use of a native speaker who will occasionally assist in the English class. 

The advent of the assistant language teacher program, which began in the 1980s, and came into wide use in the 1990s, means that many young Japanese students are getting more input from native speakers then they did 30 years ago.  And it might mean that tests on Japanese perception, such as Goto, 1971, or even more recent tests, have now become outdated.  And it represents yet another reason why it might be interesting to take another look at the perception of Japanese learners in Japan.

                However at the same time it represents another variable in the students’ educational history that might be difficult to accurately account for.   Between schools, and often even between different classes within schools, there is much discrepancy between the frequency of the ALT’s visits, and the amount of actual teaching time the Japanese teacher is willing to allot to the ALT during these visits.

                Because it is impossible to accurately account for all these variables, the results of this study will clearly not be generalizable to all classes and all situations.  The most it can hope to do is to disprove one or the other extreme position, and thus perhaps establish a parameter around which future studies could build.  If there was no significant improvement, it would be established that it is possible in at least some cases for a class of Japanese students to receive 6 years of English education and to show no improvement in their perception of R and L sounds.  Conversely a significant increase in perception would show that in at least some cases it is possible for perception to improve in classroom education alone.

                Another variable will be the particular native speaker who reads out the words.   Every person has their own peculiar accent, voice, and reading style.  Japanese listeners might find one native speaker’s voice easier to discern than another’s.   Even within the same person, when reading through a list of words at different times it is likely that the pronunciation, stress, or volume would be slightly different between one reading and another.

                If one single recording was made and used for all the different tests, it would add more internal validity to this project.  However, in so much as the voice of the single native speaker used to make the single recording might not represent the pronunciation of all native speakers, there would still be the problem of external validity.

                Also, as with any test involving listening, the quality of the device used to play the sound recording, the volume at which it is played, and, in particular, the location and the background noises inherent to that location are all factors that it might not be possible to control for.  But in so far as it is possible, care should be taken to minimize background noises and make the volume level consistent.

Conclusion

                This study will seek to improve understanding of how Japanese perception of the English consonants r and l are acquired.  Building on previous research, it will seek to answer if perception can be acquired naturally, or if it requires training.  And if this perception can be acquired naturally, the study will examine under what circumstances it can be acquired.  Can perception simply be acquired in the English classroom in Japan?  Or does regular contact and private instruction from a native English speaker make a difference?  Or can this perception only be acquired living in an English speaking country?  And if so, for how long?  And does perception steadily improve during the time spent the English speaking country, or does fossilization of perception set in at some point.

                It is hoped that a better understanding of all these questions can be reached through this proposed study. 

Because confusion of r and l sounds is one of the major frustrations for both Japanese students and their English teachers, determining under what conditions perception is best acquired is useful for pedagogical reasons.

 Because of the shy nature of many Japanese students, it has long been a pedagogical dilemma over how and when to correct pronunciation.  Teachers are often afraid to over-correct their pronunciation for fear of making the students overly self-conscious.  On the other hand, there is the fear that letting repeated pronunciation errors go unchallenged will lead to fossilization.  Therefore, in as much as perception is related to production, it is useful to better understand the conditions under which perception is acquired.  Is it simply enough for a teacher to model correct pronunciation for their students, or does more active intervention need to take place?  Because this study also examines Japanese students studying in Melbourne, it will also be useful for ESL teachers as well as EFL teachers.

                References

Aoyama, K., Flege, J.E., Guion, S.G., Akahane-Yamada, R., and Yamada, T. (2003).  “Perceived phonetic dissimilarity and L2 speech learning: the case of Japanese /r/ and English /l/ and /r/,” J. Phonetics 32. 233-250

Benson, M.J., (1991).  “Attitudes and Motivations Towards English: A Survey of Japanese Freshman.” RELC Journal. 22. 34-48

Bradlow, A., Pisoni, D., Akahane-Yamada, R., and Tohkura, Y. (1997). “Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: IV. Some effects of perceptual learning on speech production,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 101, 2299-2310

Hazan, V., Sennema, A., Iba, M. and Faulkner A. (2005). “Effects of audio-visual perceptual training on the perception and production of consonants by Japanese learners of English.” Speech Commun. 47, 360-378

Flege, J., Takagi, N., and Mann, V. (1996.) “Lexical Familiarity and English-Language Experience Affect Japanese Adults’ Perception of /r/ and /l/,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 99, 1161-1173.

Goto, H. (1971). Auditory perception by normal Japanese Adults of the sounds “l” and “r”.  Neuropsychologia 9, 317-323

Guion, S.G., Flege, J.E., Akahane-Yamada, R., and Pruitt, J.C. (2000). “An investigation of current models of second language speech perception: The case of Japanese adults’ perception of English consonants.” J. Accoust. Soc. Am. 107, 2711-2724

Jenkins, J. 2000. The Phonology of English as an International Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lively, S. E., Pisoni, D. B. (1991). “Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/. II: The role of phonetic environment and talker variability in learning new perceptual categories.” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 96, 2076-2087

MacKain, K., Best, C., and Strange, W. (1981). “Categorical Perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese Bilinguals,” Appl. Psycholing. 2, 369-390

APPENDIX: Draft Data Collection Instrument

Please circle the word that you hear.

R                           L       

1. rock                             lock

2. grass                  glass

3. lake                             rake

4. right                  light

5. red                      led

6. road                    load

7. arrive                 alive

8. correct               collect

9. fire                               file

10. froze                  flows

11. crime                climb

12. more                mole

13. grade                glade

14. cram                 clam

15. raid                  laid

16. rip                    lip

17. ride                  lied

18. rim                            limb

19. reef                  leaf

20. ray                             lay

21. rack                  lack

22. root                  loot

23. rate                  late

24. room                loom

25. row                  low

26. rook                 look

27. rot                             lot

28. read                 lead

29. race                  lace

30. fresh                 flesh

Grade and Professor's Comment
Grade 70 out of 100.0
Comments: This is a fairly interesting topic but an underdeveloped proposal. The lit review is too brief and is missing crucial information about the target phonemes, especially a full articulatory description. You'll need to have a look at the relevant literature in phonetics, and the Sem. 2 subject "English phonetics & phonology" will also be helpful. You should also reflect more on transfer, particularly phonetic transfer.
As to the design, testing the group in Melbourne in 2-week intervals is not likely to render any meaningful results because the time is to short for them to develop. I would recommend dropping this longitudinal component from the study.
In the analysis section, I don't quite understand what you're planning to do with chi-square. The limitations section is also far too long and rambling. The references are not APA style. Overall, it's also not clear what the significance of the study is but more phonetics background might help you embed it in a larger theoretical concern.

Journal Entries: Washington DC IMF Protests 4/14/00-4/16/00

4/14/00
We left Calvin at 5, Amber and TJ saw us off. ( Bytwerk, Sean , Thomas , Vito , Micah, Lindsey, Evita, and Ruthee). We went to Meijers first, where Sean and Bytie ran into Kim who helped them shop. Vito rode w/ the girls. The rest of us joked around and listened to music.

We stopped along the way at an impulse of the girls. They saw a bridge they liked, so we just pulled the car over, got out and explored underneath it. When we got back in the car, Bytie started going forward before Sean was completely inside (Sean was getting in the trunk, Bytie didn’t realize it). Sean just called Bytie a bitch and we pulled off. I sat shot gun and kept Bytie awake for along time until I myself fell asleep. I eventually went to sleep in the back (Evita rode with us from the girls side when Micah went over to drive Lindsey’s car.

4/15/00
When I woke up I was slightly fearing for my life, as there was a great commotion up front b/c of Bytie’s driving. When we finally arrived in downtown DC-we split up. The girls went to Ruthee’s grandmothers house (in DC, where they were staying) to get some sleep, us guys wandered around. We tried to get in by the IMF building to scout out the protest but police had it blocked off. We saw the capitol building, but when we walked toward it somehow we lost track of it. We went to breakfast and I talked briefly to a friendly cop. He noticed we were there for the protest, said for the last 8 days he had been working 12 hour days to get ready, and that he hoped their was no trouble. I replied that I hoped there was no trouble as well. We went to visit one of Sean’s friends who lived in DC, everyone except Sean and Vito slept in the car while they went out to check out the small protests that were occuring on Saturday.

We met up w/ the girls and went looking for the protests. We went to this church were we saw all the protestors, but they asked us to leave b/c it was attracting attention. We went to another church where protesters were gathered and wandered around there. Some how we were seperated from Sean, Bytie, and Thomas. I went back to look for them. On my way back, I had an interesting conversation w/ 3 street kids, who wanted to know what everyone was here for and I explained the IMF to them. I met up w/ Micah and Ruthee. Ruthee had a lot of questions about the IMF, and I explained it to her. (The girls had come b/c of us. The other guys told me that they had only come b/c of the road trip idea. Lindsey explained to me later in the car that she had come b/c she felt God was calling her to go. She had done some research b/f hand, and even b/f she found out about it knew God wanted her to be socially involved. Evita’s bravery in the streets the next day would convince me she felt passionately about the subject, even if she may have been uninformed).

(Another random point-Ruthee told me several times on the trips that she appreciated my calmness. This caused me to have a slight crush on her, but nothing big (at different points in the weekend I had different small crushes on all 3 of the girls).)


We eventually went back and found Sean, Bytie and Thomas. By this point Evita, Vito, and Lindsey were in some sort of training workshop, so we went without them. A bunch of people went to the car, and I stayed w/ Sean and Micah by the church. (The protesters headquarters had been taken over by the police earlier that day. We kept hearing reports of the puppets that were confiscated and stuff. Appearently 3 people were arrested in the morning, one of whom was someone I knew because a girl had complimented me on my wolf shirt, and he had come up and started talking to her while she was talking to me. There was also a message that we got messages of Solidarity all over the world, so they declared it a moral victory.

Anyway, we heard of a protest at the justice department protesting the Military Industrial Complex. We tried to get down there amidst some confusion, and when we finally made it down there, there was nothing happening. (We found out later that 300 peaceful protestors had been arrested there, which was why the protest was over by the time we got there.) Ruthee compared our actions to trying to find the party on Saturday night, only we were trying to find the protest.

We went all the way back, and became involved with the housing protest, protesting evictions we marched peacefully up and down the streets of poor minorities who those Capitalistic bastards were evicting because of urban renewal. At two different places the tenents came out and talked to us. Unlike media reports, this group at least was very diverse-probably only 50% white. When the march ended we ran into Lindsey and Evita, who told us they didn’t know where Vito was. As part of the protest against evictions, a group of people had gone into a evicted house and where planning to stay the night. Vito had gone in, they had left the area because they didn’t want to get arrested. We drove down to the house, the cop there told us everyone had been cleared out, no one was arrested (although Sean later heard that everyone in that house had been arrested). We went for supper instead of looking for Vito. We joked about what lousy friends we were (in fact we laughed about the fact that Vito was missing the rest of the weekend, it seemed to increase in funnyness the longer he was gone). However there was little we could do. We were so unorganized that Vito did not have any number where he could contact us, so we had no way of finding eachother. We called all sorts of places to see if he had been arrested, but no one was any help and Vito had left all his ID and everything behind so he could do Jail Solidarity if arrested (not coorperate w/ cops at all-not give name). We were also somewhat upset at Vito since our plan was specifically not to get arrested if possible.

At the resturant we talked to other protester (Seattle veterans I think), who told our unorganized group about the march at 5 AM. Our imaginations were excited, we quickly ditched plans of legal protest.

The boys and girls split up. Sean was driving to friends of his parent’s outside of DC. Sean and I were the only ones awake in the car, and both of us had a hard time understanding the directions. Sean was getting frustrated and my directional skills were not helping, but we eventually found it. (After first stopping at the wrong house and frightening some old lady, hopefully not too bad).

4/16/00
Woke up at 3:45, eventually left shortly after 4:15. (I took responsibility for getting everyone up, joking , "Alright everyone, up and at them, that Bank’s not going to close itself).

We got to the park shortly after 5 AM, waited a while for the girls who didn’t show up until 5:30. The organizers kept encouraging us to go, so not too many protesters were at the park. Eventually when the girls got there, we joined the march.

There was a meeting at the park. Some B group or something was meeting. Even though we were not part of it, we just joined up. (Again, we were very unorganized, and if we had been arrested we would have been screwed b/c we were not signed up with their legal consul). A cop car and small bus (probably for holding arrestees), went by the park and protesters flooded into the street to block its path. Our leaders shouted at us not to go help, because they already had enough people to take care of it, and we needed to stay together.

We marched past police barricades, giving them the peace sign. We marched through into an illegal area, chanting slogans. (Slogans we changed: "The people, United, can never be divided; This is what democracy looks like, this is what hypocrisy looks like; Hey hey, ho ho, the IMF has got to go; no justice, no peace: etc, etc, etc). We later heard that those who straggled behind the group were arrested.

We arrived at police barricades where we stopped. The police put on gas masks, and we started preparing to get tear gassed, but it turns out it was only a scare tactic. We stayed there, and chilled. Dances began and stuff, and I regretted not being where the action was (little did I know). People wrote stuff on the street w/ chalk such as "Our streets" and "Imperialist Mother Fuckers".

Thomas and Micah walked by. They had not marched down w/us b/c they did not want to get arrested, and it was funny first of all b/c they were walking around an illegal area not in the safety of a big group but only by themselves, and second b/c they were so calm about it, not understanding what we were excited about.

They would later end up over by the Anarchists when the Anarchists got Tear gassed, and would walk forward not understanding what was going on, and get some of the gas (according to their story at least).

Anyway, a long time of sitting there and dancing. There were group spokespeople meetings, and we designated Bytie as our spokesperson (which turned out to be somewhat humerous b/c he was constantly in meetings, and we would always laugh whenever another meeting was called, and he would make a face and have to go back in.) We decided not to let any cars through our barricade. The fact that riot police were parked on the corner a block away led people to believe that they were going to try something.

Our first test came when the police tried to lead a bus through the our intersection. They approached with a Police escort, we quickly formed up. Although we did not intend to be in the front lines, there was a gap by the corner and the organizers told people to fill it and we ended up being right in front. The Police moved forward and started grabbing and dragging people away, (approaching with the bus in the front and from behind as well) but when they grabbed a protestor, other people held on to that protestor. Things began to get chaotic so we started chanting: "Peaceful Protest". The bus kept moving forward, and a cop told Evita that if she didn’t move her leg it would be run over. She replied: "I shouldn’t have to move my leg! They shouldn’t even be here!" The cop replied: "I’m just doing my job ma’am".

The protestors refused to give up, one was shoved right by where I was sitting, "Stay there you Fuck" the police man said. Eventually the police gave up and the bus backed away. We were jubilant, standing up and yelling: "The people United, shall never be divided." (Random addendum: for some reason, probably b/c it was an illegal protest area, TV cameras were not allowed).

The next confrontation came when the police tried to move a car from their barricades out into the street. We were caught a little off guard but quickly rushed in to block it. The cops used their clubs to push people away. Evita got pushed down several times by the cops, but always rushed back in front of the car. I sat down in front of the car a couple times, but it just went around me. The cops sprayed pepper spray. I covered my face in a crouched position like the other protesters, but was not hit. Ruthie and Evita both got some spray in their hair, neither one of them affected seriously. One protester was knocked down by the police as he ran towards the car. The car got away, and several people yelled at the police as they walked back-Evita especially was really getting in their face.

Someone else (journalist) later interviewed Evita, and she told how she was repeatedly knocked down by the cops and I vouched that this was true.

The cops asked for a liason from the group, and after a spokesperson meeting we were informed by Bytie that the cops considered this intersection too important, and were intending to move us out. Our leaders told the cops we weren’t leaving. We sat down and locked arms. I was locked w/ Ruthie and a canadian (who, like most of these protesters wouldn’t give out his real name.)

The Canadian had the idea of locking legs too, but we eventually gave up on b/c it was too uncomfortable. A messanger biker came in from one of the other intersections saying a medic was needed b/c a police Van had just run protestors over. I still do not know if this report was true or not, but it scared me at the time.

Since the police had already proven they were not gentle people, I was nervous but we sat down and chanted (Over and over again-great stress reliever. Most popular one was "This is what Democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like"). Eventually one of the leaders told us to save our breath, we were going to need it. We were joined by many other protesters from other interesections. Eventually someone shouted out (while a leader was speaking) that the cops were leaving, and we cheered again.

Another car tried to get by our intersection, again catching us by surprise. The police ran out and clubbed someone on the head who was blocking the intersection, others were forcibly moved back. While the police were struggling, the rest of us formed a barricade in front of the car. People asked who the driver of the car was, and the police responded, "it ain’t got shit to do with you, let him through." Eventually it turned out he had a union card. There was some debate about to let him through or not. (Why would a union guy try and run our barricades?) But at least one protestor was vocal that we let him through. We did not move and just let him drive around us, as protestors yelled at him, "It doesn’t matter what Union your from, you don’t run your own people over."

A legal observer came up and asked me if I had seen what happened, and I told him, and then pointed out the cop that had clubbed the guy on top of the head. The legal observer talked to the cop, and I don’t know if he ever got a hold of the person who was clubbed or not.

Cars repeatedly came up after that, but when we formed our barricades they gave up quickly. There was talk of victory being declared, and leaving, while others said that we really needed people. I fought a losing battle among my group to stay. At one point I checked out another intersection. The cops were all in gas masks, and appearently had just issued a warning that they were about to shoot off tear gas. It was close to the legal rally (which I was just coming back from visiting), so people surged over there, and the cops eventually took off their masks.

Another time new cops assembled behind the police barricade, and so we thought they were going to clear us out, so we stood up and chanted and one of the leaders asked the cops to consider what they were about to do to us, and the protestors even offered them water (which they refused) and gave messages of love to the cops. Nothing ever came of this though, I think the extra cops were just there because of the legal march coming through.

Once a legal march came through, we eventually left (no one had gotten a lot of sleep all weekend, the girls especially were really tired).

(The girls were also interviewed –Evita in the one mentioned above and then all 3 of them video taped by some group doing a documentary. I thought it was kind of ironic that they got so much attention since they were the ones pressing to leave, but they definitely looked attractive and photogenic, they had flowers in their hair, and the 3 of them comprised 3 ethnic groups.

Thomas and Micah had rejoined us, and everyone decided to go. I was initially left behind because I was still watching the march, but Ruthee noticed I was gone and they came back and got me. (Good thing, after Vito got left behind I wouldn’t want to get left behind also).

To my great frustration, we went to a pizza place in DC. (I left the biggest protest of my life to get Pizza. Oh well, it was either that or be an asshole against the group). After that we got in our cars and headed home.

Initially I was in a car w/ Sean, Bytie, Ruthee and Evita. Ruthee was really nervous when driving, but I sat shotgun and coxed her. Sean wanted to trick Bytie into being forcibly exposed to Dave Matthews. (It’s all Evita listens too, but Bytie hates it.) So I went and sat in other car. Lindsey was the only one awake. Although I hadn't talked to her before, I had a really nice 9 hour or so conversation w/ Lindsey. (The last hour of the trip I started seeing things, and Lindsey said it was okay if I went to sleep).

Lindsey (at first especially) did most of the talking. Among other things she mentioned during the protest a media figure was going to take her picture, and another protester told her to take off her bandana, and then she didn’t look mean anymore so the guy didn’t take her picture.
We arrived back at Calvin at around 5 in the morning. I went to bed.

Addendum: This video contains some footage from the intersection we were at. You can see some of us briefly near the end of Part 2 -at about 26 minutes into it.

Journal Entries: Windsor FTAA Protest 6/3/00-6/6/00

Windsor protest: A few starting comments first of all. Certianly an event like this deserves to be covered thoroughly, although it is always impossible to write everything down. Windsor was supposed to be the next in the chain of protests: Seattle, DC, Windsor. Unfortunately the numbers were not what people were looking for, and the media called the protest a failure. The reasons for this can be debated, and I won’t get into it here. Suffice to say it won’t be remembered like Seattle or DC, rather as a footnote to Seattle and DC. However it will be remembered nonetheless, and a footnote is important. What makes me excited about Windsor is after Sunday almost all of the protestors left, and by Tuesday our numbers were pitifully low, but the media and police were still in full force. Therefore I feel as if I had a direct role in shaping this footnote of history b/c I was one of a few, not one lost in a crowd. A few who were received a huge amount of police and media attention.

Also, since by Monday and Tuesday we were only a few, most of the people mentioned in this journal entry are people I got to know a little bit well, even though in most cases I can not remember their names. It was a vibrant group that I felt bad about leaving on Tuesday (even though I didn’t have any terribly good friends, I had gotten used to a lot of famaliar faces).
It also helped me realize I was now part of an international student movement.

6/3/00
Woke up. Met Mark for first time at his house (David had hooked us up for this), and drove out to Canada w/ him. We stopped at the Detroit protest convergence center first to get information. We asked about getting across the boarder, and they told us it was almost impossible, but we decided to try anyway. We had coordinated our look so we looked as much like preps as possible. I had cleansed the car of anything left leaning b/f the trip, but Mark wanted to take along literature from the Detriot center, and I allowed it in the end (I figured after talking to people in Detroit we would probably either get waved on through or turned right back, I didn’t think we would get searched).

I wanted to say we were going to Windsor bars (Mark only 20, so it was perfect), but Mark said going to Stratford to see plays is better excuse. We went w/ that, and were asked to have car searched. As the boarder patrol went through everything in the car, they got closer and closer to the literature, and I got more and more nervous, and Mark and I struggled to keep calm, but our nervousness I’m sure was appearent (It was also cold out, which helped us shake). We had hid the literature in bottom of food bag, but they found it anyway. Police officer kept asking us questions, acting like he was just making conversation by mixing in serious questions w/ friendly ones "You guys ever been to a protest before? Are either of you a vegetarian?"

Finally he said, "we’re pretty sure you guys our here for our OAS protest." Mark tried to keep up façade (which I thought was pointless after they found our literature), so I interjected that we had lied b/c we were told in Detroit, "They probably won’t let you through, especially if they know why you are coming."

Mark and I were seperated, and eventually brought to different detention cells. I was nervous b/c I didn’t know what the penalty was for lying to boarder guards. A whole series of questions followed. Most humerous was the cops fascination with Butterball, b/c of a note Kathryn had written the night before which they found searching the car: "Butterball’s cell phone number [followed by the number] ,activities begin to night at 6". They also asked me about DC, and I answered a lot of questions about that (including giving out the names of the people I went w/, which I didn’t really think about at the time but later regretted). They were trying to coordinate my stories with Mark who was in another detention cell. This was again humerous b/c Mark had no idea who Butterball was.

They confiscated Mark’s bandana, a hose and bungy cords (my dads I assume, left in the car when I borrowed it) and an "empty" (cops said it was, I could still get some out) bottle of clearsil.

Anyway, long story short-we got out in 3 hours or so . Final guy was sympathetic, said he would be protesting himself but they just didn’t want violence there. As we left another humerous moment as Mark reached for his crackers to discover they had all been crushed by boarder patrol.

Went to welcome center. Went to non-violence training, at the end of which formed an affinity group w/ the people there who didn’t have a group. I would stick w/ this group most of Saturday (what was left of it) and Sunday. The person leading the training b/c the spokesman for our group. It was cool b/c appearently he (Matthew) was a real experienced activist, although I never really talked to him all that much.

I locked keys in car. We got to talk to some real cool old retired teacher while we waited for locksmith. Teacher overjoyed us Americans had come up to try and help Canada fight oppression, tried to get locksmith to give us discount, but locksmith anti-protestor (and rather rude to us).

We caught the tail end of a couple of teach ins, and met our affinity group again. There was a spokes council meeting, which Mark and I originally attended but when space b/c a consideration we left and hung outside. The police were everywhere and had been harrasing protestors all day (we heard horror stories about people getting arrested for practically nothing). Since I was an American, I didn’t want to deal w/ deportation courts, and was really nervous about it. Liz (in our affinity group) was also very suspicious of the cops and stirred up my paranoia. Her fiance Dan was in the spokesmeeting, and came out once to deliver a message to us. The cops strolled in and arrested one kid (Kyle) right out of the crowd of protestors (Kyle had been violating his parole by being there, but it was also an intimidation tactic for the rest of us to take note of). Liz, Rame and I went across the corner to stay away from the police a little bit (but also at the same time removed ourselves from the group). Mark had gone back to the car at this point. (It was really freaky, their were cops and undercover cops everywhere, looking at us from far away buildings w/ binoculars and everything.

Also in our group was Rame (SP?) a 17 year old activist, who took down my story about the boarder patrol for independent media. While I was talking to him, two cops came up. They asked him about his Chevron "Oil and blood" armband, and he explained it to them, and one of them asked if Chevron was an American company, and he said it was multinational, and then they asked him if he was an American. I was just waiting for the harassment to turn to me. I suspect, at the risk of sounding paranoid, that from afar our conversation had been listened in on (parabolic microphones-etc, I know they have the tech., I know they spared no expense for Windsor), and that the cops had just picked the wrong guy by accident to intimidate. At any rate, at this point the cop looks past us and says, "Is there a problem?" and I turn around and the whole crowed of protestors has come from around the corner. The same guy who was vocal when Kyle got arrested ("judge for yourselves weather the OPP is doing what is right") asked why we were being harrased, and the cop said they were just being friendly and talking to us. The guy then reminded the protestors of their right not to talk to cops, and then made a speech about George Dudley. "And that’s why me and others like me don’t really like to talk to the OPP, b/c we know what they’re all about." The cops just left. Liz talked about how she had freaked when she saw the cops talking to us. Rame believes the cops were really just trying to be friendly (and who knows, maybe they were).

Dan came out from meeting w/ Gary (legal advisor for our affinity) and announced that the whole plan was scrapped. We had to move spokespersons meeting to the riverfront, where we were much more open to infiltration. Spokescouncil decided b/c our numbers were down not to block the meeting after all, but march w/ labor. They decided things by consensus process though, which frustrated Mark who was sick of listening to them debate.

Eventually, once we found out what plan for the next day was, we left (Mark was really pushing to leave). We had found a place to stay from the welcome center in Windsor, but the map we got was bogus. After asking for directions from a man and his annoyed wife (it was late, but their light was on), we gave up and went to sleep in the car.

4/4/00
Went to capitol theatre (where Noam Chomsky was speaking. It was sold out but Mark was still interested.) We went to a city hall park with a large group, met up w/ people from our affinity group. We marched w/ labor, and ended up at the river front. Then, in civil disobedience, we marched around the perimeter of the police barricades. I stayed close to Dan and Liz (who advised me to stick close to them if I didn’t want to get arrested). Some of the protestors were tear gassed for putting banners up on the barricades. We got all the way around to the other side of the barricades, and blocked a bus. (I was in the back hanging w/ Dan and Liz, and we would alternately go foreword and back, staying out of trouble. I didn’t want to get arrested in Canada). Rame was arrested for kneeling in front of the bus (I would find that out later), and Mark said that night he couldn’t sleep b/c he couldn’t get out of his head the images of police beating protestors, but I was far enough back where I couldn’t see any of that. At one point we thought we had been tear gassed, and Dan Liz and I all retreated a few steps w/ a bunch of other protesters. Only later did I find out that it was actually a cloud of pepper gas from the front that was carried back to us by the wind. The bus was eventually muscled through.
There was reports of people needing help elsewhere, and so Dan and Liz and I went, only to encounter phalenxes of police, so we just waited until the rest of our group showed up. Liz and Sue (also in our affinity-older woman) ridiculed an overweight cop, which I thought was inappropriate. We also chanted "Who killed George Dudley? They did, they did".
We eventually ended up at the river front. I felt a little bad b/c I left Dan and Liz (who I had marched w/ all day) w/o saying good-bye. We went to riverfront. I actually fell asleep, and when I woke up the spokes council meeting was happening right around me. Mark and I went back to the same church parking lot to sleep in the car.

6/5/00
We met at the park and marched around a little bit, met up w/ some of the high schoolers who had walked out. Mark got bored and left to get a bus ticket to go home, thinking things were essentially over. We marched down to the court house and surrounded it and chanted about the injustice for a while. The cops surrounded one of the older woman and had their clubs out and we panicked, but despite their intimidation they only wanted to tell her to stay on the street or we would be arrested.

Then, we marched over to the schools, where we yelled "Walk out" and encouraged students to walk out and join us. We did this at two different high schools, and only got a minimum of students to join (at one, the principle was standing in front of the exit. Many high schoolers had walked out earlier in the day and were with us now though.

We found a park where the delegates were eating lunch, and marched around there. At one point, we formed a barricade at the entrance when the cops wanted to get through. I allowed myself to get pushed back by the cops (again, not wanting to get arrested) and the small group sitting in front of the entrance were foricibly removed.

On the way back we passed the tunnel, and pretended to be meeting and planning something just to test the cops reaction time. With in two minutes they came rushing out in full force, with more bussed over shortly. We were split into two groups (on either side of the tunnel entrance). The cops told us to move, and I had had enough trouble by the boarder all ready, so I was the first one from my group to leave (yeah, one of the wussy things I did that weekend as an American in Canada).

We met at the feminist theatre, and then I stayed up late w/ a bunch of Canadians making banners for the next day. It was super cool-really nice feeling. Tons of cops outside and stuff (we think the delegates might have been eating at a resturant, but they were also keeping a close eye on us). At one point it was just ridiculous how many cops were outside, so we all just moved to the middle of the room for a while and sat down (working on the banners) so they couldn’t see us so well. There were only 10 of us at the most there, most of the night it was even less then that.

They harrassed a couple of people from the intersection (probably unrelated to the protest at all-but we were hyper sensitive about it and so made it very obvious we were watching them. I encouraged one girl to take her camera and make it look like she was taking pictures. "Call for back up" another guy yelled out the window ) The cops looked up at us occasionally.
A guy and girl also danced from the window for the cops at one point, but someone else told them they would get us all arrested and so they stopped.

We left in a big group so we would not be harrassed, and there was concern when I split off from the group to find my car, (they said if I wasn’t there the next day they would send for help). Slept in car for third night.

6/6/00
We met at 8 in the morning again. We marched through the streets and blocked traffic, chanting various anti-police type stuff. (I got disgusted w/ it quick. I don’t like cops, but it makes us look ugly that we are harrasing the cops well they are blocking traffic for us. They say "We all live in a big police state" (Yellow Submarine) which got changed to "Pig Police state". Our numbers were really low by this point.

At the river front, someone throw a piece of chalk at the police (behind their barricade). I must have glared at the kid w/o meaning to, b/c he said something like "oops" to me. Minutes later I noticed cops were congregating around him, and I guessed what was about to happen. He pointed to me and asked to use my piece of chalk, and I nervously brought it over to this soon to be arrested kid. He used it, tossed it back, and then the police nabbed him. As far as I know, I’m the only one who had seen him throw the chalk, so the others thought he had been picked out randomnly as an intimidation tactic. They were furious and tried to block his being taken away. The cops got him behind a human barricade of theirs and whisked him away as the protestors tried to break through and help him, then they linked arms and sang pig police state, and some french chant about how the police are fascists. (I didn’t participate-usual reasons plus I didn’t have a ton of sympathy for the kid anyway-dumb thing he did and I thought he was kind of annoying in general.

As we marched away, someone realized that we were supposed to be at the high schools then to encourage a walk out. I was recruited b/c I had a car and got 3 (all 19 I think) high school girls who volunteered to go w/ me. (Nice ratio, but I was just beginning to talk to this girl I had been interested in all weekend when I got pulled away).

They were all from the area, but none of them went to this high school, so although they thought they knew were they were going, we took a couple of wrong turns. By the time we got to the high school, the walk out had already happened, and 5 of our people had been arrested their by the police (who had arrived b/f I did). The high schoolers were marching w/o clear direction (or so we thought at time-I think now they were pretty organized), so we found them and I dropped the two annoying girls off. Picked up one of the high school "leaders" (technically everything is democratic, but certainly she was one of the more visible personalities), Sarah who needed to go to her house to get food and bandanas. Tricia also stayed in the car.

I dropped Sarah and Tricia off at waterfront, but wasn’t allowed to park car there so I had to park car out a ways. I then ran into the High schoolers, who were at city hall, and I told them the rest of the group was at water front. Marched down w/ them chanting "2468 Windsors a Police state" and "Political views are not a crime". I also warned those in the front about the cops near the river front, but when we got to the river front, after the high schoolers were jubilantly welcomed, everyone just marched back to city hall again.

We congregated on the steps and had a teach in, and then we marched. The cops arrested 3 people who had strayed from group, so we were all encouraged to buddy up. I buddied up w/ this girl who ended up taking off her shirt b/c it was hot (she still had a bra on, but I was kind of embarresed-didn’t stick to closely to her).

The cops surrounded us at one point. They outnumbered us so greatly now it wasn’t even funny (maybe 50 of us all together-including high schoolers). We were intimidated enough to quickly decide to retreat to the side walk and go back to the park.

At the park we lounged and sang songs, despite the fact that our small number was ridiculously surrounded by cops, plainclothes and undercover cops, and even a helicopter above. At one point some of the plainclothes cops were looking at pictures of us they had, obviously an intimidation tactic (we panicked as we asked if anyone had ever been arrested or was wanted). Our legal advisor confronted them, and we surrounded them and gave them a rough time but they didn’t give us an inch.

We eventually went back to feminist theatre. We found out that the 9 of our number arrested that day were not allowed to see their lawyer, and was being shipped out to different prisons, allegations of abuse, and other stuff. Since these 9 were all vibrant personalities to me (many I had stayed up late w/ making the banners-and our numbers were so small I knew everyone now), I felt kind of bad for not going, but I arranged w/ Mike (another American) to go over the boarder together w/ him, and he had a plane to catch, so after helping making banners, we just saw everyone off (according to papers 14 arrested that night). Mike and I went to observe Press conference (just 3 other people there and CBC.)

We went across. Our car was searched immediately after they found out where we had been, but after that they just let us through and were pretty cool about it.

Addendums: disrespect for the corporate media that was really quite funny. Like speaking in French and pretending not to know English, or refusing to talk to different reporters, to hanging up on reporters. Also, talking into a walkie-talkie while being interviewed.

While we were marching-someone yelled out, "Why don’t you get a job you bunch of idiots." I just smiled and waved, but another girl yelled out, "We have jobs. Do something useful with your time."

In park, someone took of his shirt and pretended to give orders to the cops, and then he ran like he expected them to follow, while being filmed the whole time. Appearently same person did a strip dance in front of stone faced cops on Sunday.