GLOBALISATION IN ELT AND THE DILEMMAS FACING EFL EDUCATORS

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GLOBALISATION IN ELT AND THE DILEMMAS FACING EFL
EDUCATORS

• Ho Thi My Hau
• Hue University College of Foreign Languages

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OUTLINE

• 1. The Global Spread of English
• 1.1. English Around The World
• 1.2. Reactions to the Global Spread of English
• 2. The Dilemmas Facing EFL Educators
• 2.1. Standard variety/varieties for teaching and
  learning
• 2.2. Cultural implications
• 2.3. Teaching Materials
• 2.4. Assessment and Testing
• 3. Implications

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1. The Global Spread of English 1.1. English
around the World

• 1/3 of world population speak English
  (non-native speakers 3/4 or 4/5 users of
  English) (Crystal, 2008)
• The vast majority of communication in English not
  involve any native speakers (Graddol, 2006)

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Models representing English use around the
worldKachrus (1985) three concentric circles
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Modianos (1999) centripetal circles
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Yanos (2001) cylindrical model
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• knowing English is like possessing the fabled
  Aladdins lamp, which permits one to open, as it
  were, the linguistic gates to international
  business, technology, science, and travel. In
  short, English provides linguistic power.
  Kachru (1986, p. 1)

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1.2. Reactions to the Global Spread of English

• Concerns about linguistic imperialism
  (Phillipson, 1992 Pennycook, 1994 Canagarajah,
  1999a, 1999b)
• Reactions against the ownership of English (Cook,
  1999 Seidlhofer, 1999 Alptekin, 2002)
• Inequality between native and non-native English
  speakers
• TESOL - a Trojan horse of globalisation (Birch
  Lyannage, 2004)?
• Suggestion of a Lingua Franca model

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• A lingua franca is a mode of communication
  which allows people to interact with others
  without aligning themselves to ideological
  positioning indicative of specific mother-tongue
  speech community (Modiano, 2001a, p. 170)

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Table 1 Traditional v ELF pronunciation targets
for production
Potential English Pronunciation features (PR) Traditional Br-English-based pronunciation syllabus (used for EFL/ESL) Lingua Franca Core (recommended for ELF)
Consonant sounds all 24 sounds of RP all sounds except \?\, \ð\ and
Consonant clusters all word positions word initially, word medially
Vowel quantity (i.e. length) long-short contrast long-short contrast
Vowel quality close to the 20 sounds of RP L2 (consistent) regional qualities plus \?\
Weak forms essential for naturalness unhelpful to intelligibility
Features of connected speech all essential for naturalness inconsequential or unhelpful
Stress-timed rhythm important unnecessary/ does not exist
Word stress critical unteachable/ can reduce flexibility
Pitch movement important for indicating attitudes and grammar unteachable/ incorrectly linked to NS attitudes and grammar
Nuclear/ (tonic) stress critical critical
Adapted from Jenkins, 2002 99 (Jenkins, 2005b,
p. 4)
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Table 2 Potential features of ELF lexicogrammar
from Seidlhofers VOICE
non-use of third person present tense s (as in She look very sad) interchangeable use of the relative pronouns who and which (a book who, a person which) omission of the definite and indefinite articles where they are obligatory in NS English, and insertion where they do not occur in NS English use of an all-purpose tag question e.g. isnt it? or no? instead of shouldnt they? (as in They should arrive soon, isnt it?) increasing of redundancy by adding prepositions (as in We have to study about and can we discuss about?), or by increasing explicitness in e.g. black colour (vs black) and How long time? (vs How long?) heavy reliance on certain verbs of high semantic generality, such as do, have, make, put, take pluralisation of nouns which are considered uncountable in NS English (e.g. informations, staffs, advices) use of infinitive constructions with that-clauses, as in I want that. (e.g. I want that we discuss about my dissertation)
Adapted from Seidlhofer, 2004 220 (Jenkins,
2005b, p. 5)
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1.2. Reactions to the Global Spread of English
(cont.)

• Issues relating to ELF
• ELF a patronizing approach (Taylor, 2006, p.
  51), another Centre-led definition devised by
  native speakers to lessen their feelings of
  guilt? (Holliday, 2005, p. 9)
• ELF/EIL promoted for all learners of English ?
  lacking understanding of specific context
• Debate by scholars ? lacking teachers and
  learners voice

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2. The Dilemmas Facing EFL Educators 2.1.
Standard variety/varieties for teaching and
learning

• Native-speaker norms
• utopian and irrelevant (Cook, 1999 Rajagopalan,
  1999 Alptekin, 2002 Seidlhofer, 2003)
• Native vs non-native teachers
• such native teachers may have little or no
  training other than a short preservice course,
  and few have experience of teacher education. As
  a result, their knowledge of the language and
  their teaching skills can compare badly with
  those gained in lengthy university degrees by
  nonnative teachers. Jenkins (2006a, p. 172)
• a comfortable pedagogical model still preferred
  by teachers and learners (Jenkins, 2006a Llurda,
  2004 Seidlhofer, 1999 Taylor, 2006 Timmis,
  2002 Kuo, 2006)

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2.1. Standard variety/varieties for teaching and
learning (cont.)

• English as a Lingua Franca
• lacking pedagogical descriptive model (Kuo, 2006)
• affecting international intelligibility (Petzold,
  2002 Seidlhofer, 2005)

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2.2. Cultural implications

• Native-speaker norms
• Cultural bias, irrelevant in international
  communication (Cortazzi Jin, 1999 McKay,
  2003)
• English as a Lingua Franca
• neutral, cultural free?
• language taught separately from its culture?
• How to communicate meaning at deep levels?
• (Modiano, 2001 Alptekin, 2002 Llurda, 2004
  Tarone, 2005)

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2.3. Teaching Materials

• based on native-speaker norms
• Native-speaking contexts strange to learners
  real life encounters
• EFL teachers may become purveyors of both
  cultural and linguistic imperialism Birch and
  Liyanage (2004, p. 93)
• not based on native-speaker norms no specific
  framework yet

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2.4. Assessment and testing

• Native-speaker norms
• Discrepancy between English used in tests and
  language encountered by learners in real life
  situations (Hill Parry, 1994 Davidson, 1994
  House, 2003 Jenkins, 2006b)
• English as a Lingua Franca
• Lacking standards for testing (Seidlhofer, 2003
  Taylor, 2006)
• Reverse influence discrimination against
  non-ELF users (Davies, 2006)

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3. Implications

• Raising learners and educators awareness
• Incorporate both local and international contexts
  in materials design.
• Adapting existing materials
• Changes in curriculum made by both experts from
  inside and outside community
• Reality of practice from local contexts taken
  into consideration
• Incorporate a view of World Englishes in teacher
  training courses
• Real innovation in testing criteria focusing more
  on efficiency than being near native
• Facilitate learners chance to share ideas about
  their own cultures
• Parents should be informed of the changes in
  English use