Sandra Lee McKayHello!
Hello! Hello!
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Outline
Defining Present‐Day English Use World Englishes
Three Types of English Users (Kachru, 1986)
USA, UK, Australia
Philippines, South Africa
China, Hungary
Aim of World Englishes Model
Limitations to World Englishes View
Present‐Day use is far more complex
Growing number of standardized varieties of English in both the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle
English functions as a second language withnativizedforms in intranational and regional domains (e.g. Europe)
There are varieties of English within countries
Proficiency levels are also significant
Does not recognize the localized nature of English language use for bilingual/multilingual individuals
Formal
Careful
Consultative
Casual
Intimate
Advanced
Adept
Intermediate
Basic
Rudimentary
Pakir’s Expanding Triangles of Singapore English Cline of Formality Cline of Proficiency
English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)Pragmatic Features (Seidlhofer, 2004) Misunderstandings are not frequent
Resolved by a change of topic or negotiation (rephrasing, repetition)
Interference from L1 interactional norms is very rare Suspension of expectations regarding norms
Interlocuteurs adopt a “let‐it‐pass principle” Overtly consensus‐oriented
Cooperative
Mutually supportive
Robust
Grammatical Features (VOICE database) Characterized by use of grammatical forms which, though often emphasized in classrooms, do not cause communicative problems:
They should go, no?
I lost bookThe boy which I met
She like chocolate
I like black colour
I want that we go swimming
We do swimming
We have to study about English
Grammatical Features (VOICE database) Characterized by use of grammatical forms which, though often emphasized in classrooms, do not cause communicative problems: Dropping the third person present‐tense –s
Confusing the relative pronouns who and which
Omitting or adding indefinite or definite articles
Failing to use correct tag questions
Inserting redundant prepositions
Overusing verbs of high semantic generality
Replacing infinitive‐constructions with that‐clauses
Overdoing explicitness
Phonological Features (Jenkins, 2000) Breakdowns in ELF communication are usually between speakers of different L1 backgrounds
Most due to pronunciation problems
Jenkins identified a phonological Lingua Franca Core
Suggested pedagogical focus of ELT classrooms
Phonological Features most crucial for ELF communication
Global Spread of English Homogeny position
Globalization homogeny of culture Favourable (Crystal, 2003)
Unfavourable (Phillipson, 1992)
Imperialism
Colonization
Loss of other languages
Heterogeny position Globalization pluricentricism of language and culture
World Englishes perspective
Neither position accounts for hybridity, fluidity, and human agency
English as an International Lingua Franca (EILF)
E.g. EILF in rural Japan (Kubota &McKay, forthcoming)
Locals assume migrants should speakEnglish
Global role of English exerting invisible symbolic power
“You can’t soar into the world with Portuguese…Improving Japan with Portuguese won’t let the country soar into the world” (teacher)
RECENT FINDINGS
Imagined Communities as Incentives for English Learning
Investing in English reap benefits of social and intellectual mobility
If Afghan children learn English, they will be able to discuss their problems with
people of the world (Pakistani student)
If I learn English, I can go to the United States and earn a good salary (Luz, age 25, Peru)
I dream my children might someday live abroad in a
“bigger world”‐ even if they have to live aboard as beggars (less affluent mother, South
Korea)
Imagined communities in ELT business: British Hills, Japan A leisure language‐learning complex that seeks to simulate an “authentic” English speaking environment
Sales slogan: “more English than England itself”
Depicts a Britain far from the multilingual/multicultural Britain of today: “replaces reality, becomes its own reality” (Seargant, 2005)
http://www.british‐hills.co.jp/english/
Role of Identity in Language Learning
Institutional Identities (Harklau, 2000)Peer‐based Identity (Duff, 2002)
Identity and Agency Desire and language ability to adopt the “right” way of acting must be taken into account
Technology and Language Learning
Almon: Chinese immigrant teenager (Lam, 2000)
•Designed his own home page•Joined an electronic community interested in Japanese pop culture.
Almon: Chinese immigrant teenager (Lam, 2000)
“I’m not as fearful, or afraid of the future, that I won’t have a future. … When I was feeling negative, I felt the world doesn’t belong to me, and it’s hard to survive here…. I didn’t feel like I belong to this world… But now I feel there’s nothing much to be afraid of. … It’s not like the world always has power over you. It has [names a few chat mates and e‐mail pen pals] who helped me to chance and encouraged me” (interview, October 5, 1997)
Fanfiction (Black, 2006)
http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Twilight/
Obstacles to using technology in the classroom Teachers uncomfortable being displaced from a position of expertise
Technical requirements not met
Slow internet connection
Old computers needing to be rebooted
Children without access to home computers
Insufficient number of computers
Large class sizes
Overcoming obstacles to using technology in the classroom Teachers need time and training
Reconceptualization of “literacy” in a broader framework including technology
Up‐to‐date hardware
CHALLENGES AHEAD
Inequality of Access in English learning
Less affluent families often cannot afford special English learning programs
Economic divide often reinforced by Ministries of Education
Inequality Example: English was a key component in the national modernization program (1976)
Policy was to strengthen English language teaching in elite schools
Elite schools produce English‐proficient personnel needed to modernize nation
Economically‐developed provinces given autonomy to create own curricula, syllabi and textbooks
Early learning of English is promoted
State mandates determine access to English
China
Inequality Example: (Choi, 2003) Department of Education asks schools to adopt Chinese as the medium of instruction (1997)
Allows a minority of elite schools to continue English instruction
Cost‐effective strategy of training in English skills for those who had the economic and cultural capital to benefit from it
Majority of students barred from the “language of power and wealth” as a business strategy
Parents struggle to send children to expensive international school or overseas to gain perceived economic capital of learning English
Hong Kong Inequality Example: South(Park and Abelman, 2004) English is a “class marker” in South Korean society
English language market: $3,333 million per year
Study abroad programs: $833 million per year
Korea
Inequality Example: (Leibowitz, 2005) University instruction shifted from Afrikaans to English in 1990s
Many black students had little English school experience under apartheid
Mother‐tongue instruction in townships
Emphasis on domestic and agricultural work
Lack interpersonal and academic skills needed in academic discourse
South Africa Inequality Example: (Ramanathan, 1999) Students from lower castes lack exposure to both English and the discourse of schools
India
Critical Issues of AccessA Tendency of Othering in EILF Pedagogy
Effects of Othering The Question of Standards
Two Views of StandardsEXONORMATIVE (determined by outside context of use)
Concern to maintain mutual intelligibility
Quirk (1984): tolerance for variation in language use is educationally damaging
“[The NNS’s needs are] well catered for by a single monochrome standard form that looks as good on paper as it sounds in speech”
ENDONORMATIVE(determined locally)
Plurality: different standards for different contexts of use
Kachru (1984): an educated mutually‐intelligible variety will emerge from plurality
“Native speakers of this language seem to have lose the exclusive prerogative to control its standardization”
IMPLICATIONS FOR PEDAGOGY
Foreign and second language should be relevant to the local linguistic ecology
A knowledge of the lingua franca
Valuing of other local languages
A language awareness class in place of a traditional English classroom when English has little relevancy and there is another lingua franca
Diversity of languages spoken today
Attitudes and values
Variety of language use in all languages
EIFL professionals should strive to alter language policies that serve to promote English learning
only among the elite of the country
Educational leaders and planners establish policies that afford English access to learners of all economic backgrounds
More government‐funded opportunities
Local language also fully supported
EIFL curricula should include examples of the diversity of English varieties used today Equal status to all varieties of English
Promote an awareness of variation in English use
May enhance learners’ receptive skills
Awareness that English no longer belongs to the Inner Circle
Recognition of hybridity and fluidity
EIFL curricula need to exemplify L2/L2 interactions
More examples of L2/L2 English interactions in curricula
Awareness of English’s value to allow individuals to communicate across a great variety of geographical and cultural boundaries
Provide a context for discussing various means to seek clarification and establish relationships when there are gaps in English knowledge
Full recognition needs to be given to the other languages spoken by English speakers Avoid English‐only discourse
Recognize rich linguistic repertoire of bilingual speakers of English
Encourage code‐switching to provide equal status to all the languages learners speak
EIFL should be taught in a way that respects local culture of learning
Validate local teachers’ familiarity with the local pedagogical expectations and manner in which English is used in the local context
Conclusion
ADDITIONAL READING
Jenkins, J. (2005). World Englishes: A resource book for students. London: Routledge
This book provides a readable introduction to the World Englishes paradigm. It defines key topics in World Englishes and discusses central issues and debates in the field.
McKay, S.L. (2002). Teaching English as an international language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press
This book provides an introduction to English as an international language. It discusses reasons for the spread of English, the question of standards in relation to the teaching of English, and the role of culture in ELT materials and methods.
McKay, S.L. & W. Bokhorst‐Heng. (2008) International English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a Socially Sensitive Pedagogy. New York: Frances Taylor.
This book examines the social and sociolinguistic contexts of present‐day English education. It also provides an introduction to key constructs in sociolinguistics including multilingualism, language planning and policy and interactional sociolinguistics.
Rubdy, R. &Saraceni, M. (Eds.) (2006) English in the World: Global rules, global roles. London: Continuum.
This collection of readings focuses on two major topics: conceptualizing English as an international language (EIL) and the pedagogical implications of EIL. The first section addresses the topic of World Englishes, ELF and standards while the second deals with pedagogical goals and curricula.