Abstract
Reply to Gayle L. Nelson's "Categorizing, Classifying, Labeling: A Fundamental Cognitive Process" (1998) in which Spack's (1997) criticism of the cultural labeling of English as a second language students by their teachers was denounced as psychologically impossible & as a potential encouragement for ethnocentrism. It is argued that Nelson trivializes the issue & that her own research (1992 & 1996) proves that she uses cultural labeling rather than interpretations based on individual differences in her analyses of students' attitudes, thus proving her theoretical position untenable. It is further contended that awareness of cultural labeling implies neither ignorance &/or unawareness of cultural differences, nor avoidance of individual aspects. 7 References. S. Paul