English Sociolinguistics Past Paper, SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 Week 1

SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 ENGLISH SOCIOLINGUISTICS PROF. CONSUELO MONTES GRANADO WEEK 1—THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH PENNY UR ‘THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH’—PPT Language for identification: mother tongue Language for communicat...

SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 ENGLISH SOCIOLINGUISTICS PROF. CONSUELO MONTES GRANADO WEEK 1—THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH PENNY UR ‘THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH’—PPT Language for identification: mother tongue Language for communication: not the language you identify with, for example, English as a lingua franca. THREE CIRCLE MODEL—KACHRU’S MODEL o Inner circle countries: native speakers—Canada, US, UK, Australia, New Zealand o Outer circle countries (Singapore) 🡪 English is used as an official second language o Expanding circle countries (Spain) 🡪 English is not used as an official language, not an official role. It CAN be a foreign language. “Local varieties of English are developing all over the world.” Most educated speakers of other languages speak their own language and English. Even native speakers of English (educated native speakers) speak 2 varieties: their local English and intelligible international English. “The user of English as an international language may be native or non-native.” TWO TYPES OF ENGLISH: street English (bad English) & good English (English to a very high level with wide vocabulary, accurate grammar, etc.) What language should we be teaching? British or American English? A diverse set of Englishes? A world standard model? o A diverse set of Englishes: very difficult to teach and assess, no clear model o A standard variety based on a combination of native varieties but eliminating local idioms or usages. International English is a culture free language, it’s a chameleon language: an African can use it to express their Africanness, etc. Awareness of cultures—intercultural competence “The question of whether a teacher is a native speaker is increasingly irrelevant. What matters is that they speak good English and that they are good teachers.” MATERIALS: more international situations, characters, more acknowledgement and use of the learners’ first language. A change in the goals (in ELT): a fully competent speaker rather than a native speaker imitations. 1 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 MYERS-SCOTTON, 2006—THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH (PPT) 1) The spread of English a consequence of the British colonial rule in the 19th century? 🡪 NO a. “What the British empire did spread, we suggest is the prestige of English” (p. 406) b. “The majority of people colonized in Africa and Asia were not given opportunities to acquire English, Wright states.” (p. 406) c. Most scientific advances and technological inventions in Britain and the US. d. American mass cultural products (films, pop music) e. American idea of capitalism f. American dominance in industry, commerce and finance. 2) Is English the result of linguistic imperialism as Philipson, 2003 said? 🡪 NO, languages in competition: a. Cambodia, a former French colony, accelerates the demand of English b. From a Cambodian economist: “Language choice is market driven, and the market favours English” 3) At management meetings in many European businesses (like Deutsche Bank in Germany, Crédit Suisse in Switzerland) the language used is English, the new Latin, the new lingua franca. 4) House (2003) distinguishes between language for identification and for communication 🡪 Can they coexist? 5) Are people dropping their L1s as a consequence of this global spread of English ? Is English a killer language? 🡪 NOT AT ALL, it may even accentuate the need for ethnic identity (through symbolic value of the national language) 6) The European Union: English has become the medium of international communication, but what happens with the rise of English here in Europe? a. The major European languages are very robust (German, French, Spanish, Italian) and their speakers are not willing to see their language set aside. 7) “Aiding scientists who are not native speakers of English to participate in this global undertaking (of publishing in scientific journals) by teaching scientific English is not so much ‘exerting power and domination’ (Seidhofer, 2001: 141) as empowerment.” (p. 61) 8) FROM KIRKPATRICK (2007): Philipson’s (1992) elegant argument for the linguistic imperialism thesis has won many followers. Needless to say, however, there are many who disagree with his analysis and who argue that, far from being forced upon people unwillingly, English has been actively sought out by people throughout the world (Conrad, 1996; Davies, 1996; Li, 2002b; Brutt-Griffler, 2002). WEEK 2—THE INITIAL SPREAD OF ENGLISH IN SINGAPOR Linguistic imperialism, globalism and the English language (PPT) 1. “A study of Singapore is a study of how English has edged its way to become the principal school language, a major workplace language, the language of government, and an ethnic-link language, as well as native language for an increasing number of children.” (p.40) 2. “it was a conscious choice on the part of the Singapore government (…) to concentrate on economic survival (…) linked with political survival. In 1959, at the point of independence, Singapore was segmented by deep ethnic and linguistic segmentation.” (p.40) 3. “English was seen as the language that would attract foreign investment, and give the society the leading edge in education, academic achievement, international trade, and business.” (p.40) 2  SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 4. “Linguistic capital (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977), for example, the ownership of the world's foremost auxiliary language, was widely viewed as easily convertible into other forms of capital, such as educational qualifications and higher incomes. This belief was apparent in the large sums of money parents were willing to spend on language tuition for their children and in their personal choice of enrolling their children in English-medium schools so as to give them a headstart.” (p.40) 5. “The choice of English over Mandarin, Tamil and Malay as the medium of instruction in schools was therefore a ‘bottom up’ decision by the populace, the ‘de facto’ but invisible planner. While there always have been fears that the widespread adoption of English will lead to a loss of ethnic identity are more importantly, a loss of ‘Asian values’, yet the populace voted with their feet where choice of language-stream schools for the children education was concerned.” (p.40) 6. “A language must be at the service of people who use it. There is a ‘pragmatic multilingualism’ in existence, a situation where the population has knowingly done a calculation and views the adoption of English not so much as a threat to their own languages, but as the key to share of the world's symbolic power: towards the accumulation of cultural political and economic capital.” (p.43) 7. “Since 1987, all schools are now English-medium with ‘mother tongue’ Chinese, Tamil or Malay) taught as second language.” 8. The Minister of the State outline 3 pragmatic functions for English. “English is the major international language for trade, science and technology, and proficiency in the language is essential as Singapore becomes a leading financial and banking centre.” At the individual level, “education in English is the key to the productivity concept. With increasing modernization, skilled workers who know English will be in great demand… it is the key to acquisition of skills and training and career advancement.” At the community level, “when English is the common language here, it will enable all Singaporeans—regardless of race—to communicate with one another.” (p.171-172) 9. “The three mother tongues are “languages of identity, of ethnicity and of culture.” (p.172) Lagastabaster, 2022: English-medium instruction in higher education. 1. The current role of English as the main academic lingua franca is beyond any doubt. The epitome of this linguistic hegemony can be seen in the increasing number of universities the world over that are offering English-medium instruction (EMI). Among these. The mushrooming of EMI inextricably linked to universities’ desire to attract international students, teaching staff and researchers, to increase mobility, to augment revenue, to climb up education ranking system, to improve English proficiency, and, last but not least, to enable graduate students to use English effectively in the workplace of the twenty-first century. (p.1) 2. In China, for example, Hu and Lei (2014: 564), claim that “it is no exaggeration to say that English proficiency has become a most coveted form of cultural capital in Chinese society.” (p.1) 3. EMI entails different challenges that need to be faced, but perhaps of greatest import is that teaching staff need to deliver, and students need to learn high-stakes content in an L2 (a second or additional language). But which contexts can be considered to be EMI? This acronym needs to be understood before we go any further. (p.2) 4. EMI can be defined as “the use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language of the majority of the population is not English” (Macaro et al., 2018: 37). This definition implies that countries included in the so-called inner circle (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom or the United States) wherein English is an official language, would be excluded from EMI. (p.2) 3  SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 5. In the case of the term CLIL, this is much more common at pre-university levels and refers to an approach with an explicit dual focus on language and content. Although the connections between CLIL and EMI are evident, the lack of integration between language and content on the part of EMI university lecturers had led many researchers to disregard the CLIL acronym and use the label EMI at tertiary level. (p.3) 6. In EMI programs, language is not assessed and the collaboration of content and language lecturers is conspicuous by its absence (unlike in CLIL, where such collaboration is not only advised but actually fostered). (p.3) 7. 3.1 The Spread of EMI: The main instigators of the Englishization of higher education have been politicians, educational institutions, and policymakers (Lanvers & Hultgren, 2018) in a top-down fashion easily recognizable in many contexts all over the world (Corrales, Rey & Escamilla, 2016; Dearden, 2015). (p.4) 8. China in 2011: the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a directive in which universities were urged to offer 5-10 percent of undergraduate courses in English (or other foreign languages) in three years (Peng & Xie, 2021) 9. The South Korean and Chinese cases bring to light that Asian countries adopting EMI are not constrained to those formerly colonized by English-speaking countries (e.g. Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, or Singapore), where EMI has been popular for decades now, but that this trend is much wider in scope. (p.4) 10. The impact of neoliberal global forces in the search for profit should also not be disregarded when talking about the spread of EMI, since English has become an indispensable part of the market, as it helps to make graduates more competitive and marketable. (p.5) 11. In the European context, the Erasmus exchange programme on the Bologna Process were originally designed to boost student mobility programmes and multilingualism among university stakeholders. However, reality has shown that English is becoming permanent in some specializations, especially in Northern Europe albeit not so much in southern on trees. The Netherlands and the Nordic countries were trailblazers in using EMI in Europe, but is a spread has nowadays reached even countries that in the past had little English as a foreign language learning traditions such as Italy, Greece and Spain. (Doiz, Lasagabaster & Sierra, 2013a). (p.6) 12. Common trends for EMI programmes: They are more commonplace at master's and doctorate levels, and are more likely to proliferate in some disciplines (business and management, social sciences, and engineering and technology) than other (law or medicine at bachelor’s level). (p.7) 13. The competition for international students in East Asia has exerted a knock-on effect and contributed to EMI being established in many universities. Taiwan is illustrative of this, as its government decided to boost EMI because its members were afraid of competition from neighbouring countries. (p.7) 14. In the Middle East, in countries such as the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, local universities are forging partnerships with universities from the United States and the United Kingdom to increase the presence of EMI in order to attract international students and investments. The so-called branch campus or satellite campus is becoming popular. (p.7) 15. This is an example of the internationalization-at-home programs mentioned earlier, as many of the students may never have been abroad. Although US universities are leading the way, UK, some continental European, and Australian universities are following suit and opening branch campuses throughout Asia. Thes can be found in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, India or China, to name but a few countries (Altbach & Knight, 2007). (p.8) WEEK 3—CLIL OR CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING Analysis of ‘Visit Jordania’ video: target audience (international audience), English is being used as a lingua franca, audience design (use of English as a lingua franca) Analysis of ‘Tai Chi for Beginners’ video: audience design (use of English subtitles with a narrator speaking Mandarin Chinese—purpose of this strategy 🡪 give authenticity, in order to attract international clients to 4 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 subscribe to their online course. Plus, the titles of their videos are as well on English, but then an American teaching in English). PPT ‘CLIL: Content and language integrated learning’ 1) CLIL is an approach that enhances the learning of languages and subject, and develops in youngsters a positive ‘can do’ attitude, pursuing a dual aim. 2) Is successful language learning possible 🡪 According to Marsh, it is if you have the opportunities to be instructed. 3) Who are the most suitable CLIL teachers, a native speaker or non-native speaker? 🡪 It has been found that some of the most suitable CLIL teachers are those who speak the majority language as their first language and the CLIL language as a second language. 4) Will the teacher use the youngster’s first language? 🡪 Most CLIL classes involve use of two languages, the majority language on the CLIL language. Switching from one language to another is expected when it is in the best interests of learning. 5) Which type of switching is described in the text? 🡪 Often the main issues are given in the first language and then learning activities are carried out in the additional language. When non-native teachers speak the majority language of their students, they will develop a sense of share. Nonetheless, students who don’t have English as their L1 are exposed to switching between language, which has a psychological impact. 6) Is the goal to encourage a multicultural policy? 🡪 No, the focus is on the CLIL language, which can nurture a ‘can do’ attitude to learn a language and an interest in other cultures. 7) Picking up/acquisition of a language is a natural process children absorb from the naturalness of the environment around them. Thus, learning grammar is the opposite of naturalness. 8) CLIL philosophy is to achieve a natural use of the target language, because it takes place at the same time as other forms of learning. o Effects on youngsters: a boost in their hunger for learning languages and other subject matters. o Time and effort are spent in learning a language subjects but, for the majority, this investment is worthless: they cannot use the target language as a tool for real-life communication. o Language is knowledge and skill, so learners need opportunities to practise. We use the language as soon as possible and use it as a tool for communication and as a tool for learning. In CLIL students learn to think in another language enhances their cognition, thus, accelerates learning. So far, only an elite have been provided a plurilingual education. ▪ Is CLIL only for an elite? 🡪 No, it offers opportunities for all youngsters to learn languages in a meaningful way. 9) Is success connected to with being gifted or with being enthusiastic? 🡪 There are gifted and non-gifted people in learning languages, but can’t it be connected with being enthusiastic or disinterested? 10) Where is the focus on CLIL? On the language or on the learning topic? 🡪 Types of CLIL: language shower (speaking for 30min in the target language), learning half of the session in the other language, etc. 11) Do children learn more with CLIL? 🡪 Yes, because the child works harder, the teacher uses another approach (more selective), and the learning environment is more motivating and more fun. 5 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 12) Will children face more stress in a CLIL class? 🡪 The workload can be more demanding but also more fun. Stress will be kept to an acceptable level. Moreover, parents should share success and concerns during the CLIL teaching process. 13) Does CLIL hurt the child’s L1? 🡪 No, because the child’s first language doesn’t get neglected. 14) CONCLUSION: CLIL improves a youngster’s hunger and capability to learn both other languages and other subject matter. Don't follow the old idea of ‘wait until I'm in good enough’. CLIL can nurture positive attitudes As they say that successes can be achieved. 15) Why CLIL now? 🡪 The impact of Internet is making the world a smaller place where to speak different languages is even more important. Now we understand better how language acquisition and learning take place. CLIL gives children and youngsters better opportunities to develop their language skills. DAVID MARSH CLIL—VIDEO How did you become involved in CLIL? 🡪 Used to work in Southeast Asia where the government decided they wanted to introduce teaching through the medium of English for half the school, which turn up in failure since they imported foreign staff/ideas/textbooks while believing children will learn through the first language using local textbooks. He wonders why that happened. Afterward, he went to Europe—mention of cases by which kids who learned a language for several years, and they can hardly construct a sentence—he started looking with a team ‘where does it really work/where methodologies enhance and accelerate the learning of content , of language, and having fun’. Because of that, he became interested in CLIL, viewing it as an exciting educational experience. In which situations have you seen CLIL working best? Have you ever seen it fail? 🡪 Across Europe specifically, exist small clusters of activity which tend to be fairly well financed by the educational administration and where is a diversity of teachers—subject and language teachers from different ages, being the youngest those who domain more technology, respond very well to the idea of integrating language into authentic content learning. Examples of failure: Often where there’s poor teaching through another language, they were teaching badly in the 1st language and then continue doing so in English. Bad teaching exists, but not bad CLIL. Will CLIL eventually replace other methods of language teaching? 🡪 While writing the book, they took into account the experiences of subject teachers and language teachers across the world, coming to the conclusion that language teaching is evolving, CLIL does not threaten language teaching, but helps to enhance it. What advice would you give to teachers who are concerned about the amount of work involved in setting up a CLIL programme? 🡪 Teachers must be supportive, they need to be looked after and to be managed properly, therefore, their workload needs to be reduced particularly at the beginning. CLIL need to be systemic, and we look at good CLIL practice, where the teacher is actively supported by the system. Are some personality types better suited to teaching CLIL than others? 🡪 The overall satisfaction level of people who get involved with CLIL is very high, thus, Marsh believes it may appeal to those teachers who 6 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 really do have a vocation for teaching and who want to remain energized during their career. Teaching is a tough job, and CLIL does seem a kind of rejuvenator. Which areas of CLIL research should researchers be prioritizing? 🡪 The recent studies on neurosciences are very exciting—the big power conglomerates are concerned with education since we are now in major competition with different parts of the world. The focus on the brain is a popular one, and nowadays interest is to look at language teaching and CLIL and to see if this tangible evidence of chemical changes, or plasticity. In the end is what methodologies fire the brain is the key area of research. STEPHEN KRASHEN ON LANGUAGE ACQUISITION—VIDEO 1) The most important issue in language education is ‘how do we acquire a language?’ 🡪 According to Krashen, we all acquire language the same way. Firstly, education focused on individual variation, divided into field dependent/independent learners, later on right/left hemisphere, cognitive style… He agrees that there is an individual variation, nevertheless there are things that we all do the same, for instance, digestion. 2) First hypothesis of language acquisition: COMPREHENSION INPUT & THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS ⇒ Writing, say it out loud, repetition, projecting on TV screen, read it out … DOES NOT WORK ⇒ We acquire language in one way and only one way: when we understand messages = COMPREHENSION INPUT, what NOT how people say ⇒ Comprehension input has been pushed away by grammar teaching, drill and exercises, which actually doesn’t help. ⇒ Something that helps make input comprehensible are pictures, knowledge of the world, realia, etc., helping language acquisition. ⇒ If comprehensible input is true, what we call the Input Hypothesis is true, other things follow from it. And a very important corollary to the Input Hypothesis is ‘talking is not practicing’, in the seen of speaking by yourself. We need to listen, to pick comprehensible input in order to improve our speaking abilities. But what counts in speaking is not what you say, but what the other person says to you. In other words when you get involved in conversation, what counts is the input that you can stimulate from other people. Learning in an indirect way. ⇒ He explains a personal experience with a Japanese kid whose process of second language acquisition was the same as her L1. The beginning of her language acquisition journey was when she started to listen. ⇒ Another case 🡪 Going to class to study another language where you don’t need to participate/speak, and the input is incomprehensible, results in FAILURE 3) Second hypothesis: AFFECTIVE FILTER HYPOTHESIS ⇒ There are several factors that influence on the success in language acquisition: motivation, self-esteem, anxiety (certain levels, not much) ▪ The lower the anxiety, the better the language acquisition. 🡪 In fact, Krashen’s hypothesis is for language acquisition to really succeed, anxiety should be zero. 7 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 E.g. to prove his hypothesis: Being in a situation where you don’t speak very well, but forgets temporarily you’re speaking another language 🡪 MOMENT WHEN YOU ACQUIRE—when your focus is completely on the message, what the other person is saying, and your anxiety is temporarily gone. Language acquisition though, is different. For language acquisition to succeed, anxiety has to be directed somewhere else, not at the language. Basing his statement on Frank Smith’s words, Krashen claims ‘if the student isn't motivated, if self-esteem is low, if anxiety is high, if the student is on the defensive and thinks the language class is a place where his weaknesses will be revealed, he may understand the input, but it won't penetrate’. Following Chomsky, there is a language acquisition device in the brain that enables us to acquire language, and that device (Affective Filter) is influenced by these three factors. Therefore, (low)motivation + (low)self-esteem + (+)anxiety = NO INPUT GETS INSIDE. THUS, if we are not open to speak the L2, we won’t get any input. 4) KEY IDEA: We acquire a language in only one way and that is when we get comprehensible input in a lower anxiety environment. KIRKPATRICK, 2014—PRINCIPLES OF THE LINGUA FRANCA APPROACH English has a symbolic capital, when you speak and write it correctly. 1) The lingua franca approach provides a radical departure from the traditional methods and tenets of English language teaching (ELT). 2) The lingua franca approach had been implemented in ASEAN countries 3) Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Malasia, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Birmania, Singapore, Thailand Filipinas, Papua Nueva, Guinea, Timor Oriental. 4) In 2009, the Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) made English the sole working language of the Association. 5) ASEAN’s language policy 🡪 Use English as the official means of communication. English- the sole working language 6) Notice that English is not the first language in any ASEAN country, no one is advantaged by speaking English as their first language. 7) ASEAN 🡪 International context which is both non Anglophone and non-Anglo-cultural but where English is routinely used. 8) There is no need for such people to ‘sound ‘ like native speakers of English. It is not sounding like a native speaker which it is important, it is mutual intelligibility. a. Mutual intelligibility is the goal, but not sounding like a native speaker or having an unintelligible accent also has its conundrum. 🡪 CONNECTED TO SLIDE 39 9) Adoption of a lingua franca core: Phonological feature essential for intelligibility. 10) Goal: intelligibility with their ASEAN counterparts. 11) “there is no linguistic reason why ASEAN speakers of English should sound like an Australian or American. Indeed, they can express their identity as Asian multilinguals in the way they speak English.” (p 27) 12) The native speaker’s culture is not the cultural target. Intercultural competence in relevant cultures is the goal. 8 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 13) Local literatures may also be written in English: English is used to reflect local cultural values. SLIDE 13 14) Local popular culture: often involves a hybrid mix of English and local languages (Lee and Moody 2012). 15) English: used in hybrid and multilingual/multicultural ways to reflect local and regional cultural experience. 16) Principle#3 Local multilinguals who are suitably trained provide the most appropriate English language teachers. 17) They provide the most appropriate linguistic models for their students. 18) “Being multilingual in at least one Asian language and English provides the teachers with obvious advantages as language teachers, especially if they also speak the language(s) of their students.” (p. 29) 19) “The students are becoming linguistically sophisticated multilinguals. They are not failed or deficient native speakers.” (p. 30) 20) The goal is to develop multilinguals. 21) “Multilinguals deserve respect, and the multilingual teacher can instil this sense of respect for multilinguals and multilingualism in the classroom. “ (p. 30) 22) “It is hard to justify a monolingual pedagogy when the aim of all language learning is, by definition, to create multilinguals. It is therefore hard to justify denying students and teachers the right to make use of their shared linguistic resources in language learning.” (p. 29) 23) Which are the target cultures? The British and American ‘Anglo’ cultures? 🡪 No. Sending them to places where English is naturally used as a lingua franca. Within ASEAN, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines provide examples of sites where English is regularly used as a lingua franca and as a language of inter-ethnic communication. a. “The great advantage of such sites for ASEAN learners of English is that the native speaker is absent.” (p. 30) 24) “Lingua franca environments within ASEAN are likely to provide more effective contexts for ASEAN learners of English to develop English proficiency than are native speaker environments such as Australia, Great Britain or the United States.” (p. 32) SLIDE 26 a. Students will improve their English language proficiency and ASEAN intercultural proficiency. 25) “In the ASEAN context, adopting a bi- or multilingual pedagogy can be more effective than adopting a strict monolingual pedagogy.” (p. 29) 26) “It is important to establish a classroom philosophy through which the English language learner is not judged against native speaker norms” (p. 30) SLIDE 29 27) The ASEAN cultural curriculum can be enhanced by including local literatures in English and popular culture. 28) English and local languages can combine to reflect local and regional cultural experience. 29) WRITTEN ENGLISH: written English has to be consciously learned by all, including native speaker. 30) WRITTEN SKILLS: disciplines and genres set the rhetorical structures and styles. Becoming an accomplished writer requires a great deal of practice and study. Writing about science may be less influenced by local cultural influences than is writing about philosophy. 31) “it is important to stress that intercultural competence requires an ability to write interculturally, as well as speak interculturally.” (p. 31) SLIDE 36 32) Assessment: students need to be assessed on how successfully they can use English in ASEAN settings. Assessment should measure the extend which learners are able to communicate successfully and accomplished certain tasks. 9 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 33) SPEAKING SKILLS: “a pronunciation benchmark that only awards the top level to speakers whose accent betrays no first language influence is precisely the type of benchmark that needs to be discarded.” (p. 31) “Every corner of the country demonstrates a wide range of grammatically non-standard forms, reminding us that such forms are the rule rather than the exception in spoken English” (p. 27) a. “In spoken English, an insistence on standard forms needs to be replaced by an insistence on mutual intelligibility.” 34) Other contexts for the lingua franca approach: a. ASEAN+3 comprises the ten nations of ASEAN, plus China, Japan and Korea. b. the BRICS group, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa c. the BRICS group comprise well over half of the world’s current population WEEK 5 & 6—MACKENZIE, 2014 (+ TRAINING YOUR ANALYTICAL SKILLS: IN CLASS) EIL: THE LINGUA FRANCA CORE—ENGLISH, A STRESS-TIMED LANGUAGE 1) Jenniger Jenkins, lecturer in Sociolinguistics and Phonology at King’s College, London 🡪 English as an international language 2) Which features are essential for intelligible pronunciation, and which are not? 🡪 The lingua franca core 3) CORE ITEMS: contrast between long and short vowels & nuclear (or tonic stress) is essential—this is the stress on the most important word in a group of words. 4) NON-CORE ITEMS: not essential (although taught on English pronunciation courses): a. Vowel quality (length is not involved) b. Weak forms (schwa in: to, of, from, etc.) c. Other features of connected speech (pronouncing ‘red paint’ more like ‘reb paint’) d. Word stress 5) English is a stress-timed language, meaning that, stress in a spoken sentence occurs at regular intervals. 6) A major influence upon the pronunciation of languages is whether they are stress-timed or syllable-timed. a. In syllable-timed languages, each syllable takes more or less the same amount of time to produce. b. In stress-timed languages, the number of stress points determines how long it will take to say something. c. Thus, in syllable-timed languages like French, the greeting ‘Comment-allez vous?’ will tend to apportion equal stress to each syllable. But in a stress-timed language like Australian, the equivalent greeting ‘How are you going?’ will stress the ‘go’ of ‘going’ and the other syllables will sound as though they have been swallowed by the speaker. d. This means that syllable-timed languages are often easier for learners of those languages to understand than stress-timed language, because each syllable gets an equal amount of time to be said, while in stress-timed languages, syllables between stress point get shortened and vowels are often sounded as ‘schwas’ in these contexts. e. It is important to stress, however, that these differences are not absolute, and it is safer to day that some languages are more stress-timed and some more syllable-timed than others. 7) Varieties of British and American English are more stress-timed than syllable-timed, although syllable-timing does occur in special circumstances in British English, for example, when people are using baby talk or showing irritation or sarcasm (Crystal, 1995). 10 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 8) The point to be made here is that speakers of syllable-timed languages will develop Englishes that are characterized by syllable-timing. Malaysian and Singaporean Englishes are good examples of this. MACKENZIE, 2014—ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA 1) To be highlighted: “Fluent ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) necessarily has many similarities with ENL (English as a Native Language).” (p. 6) 2) ELF has to be distinguished from World Englishes or New Englishes 🡪 the nativized or indigenized varieties used in former British colonial territories. (p. 2) a. Unlike nativized World Englishes, ELF is not, and will almost certainly never become, a stable variety, because of the range of participants in the international use of English. (p. 2) 3) “Today, the term ‘English as a lingua franca’ is used to refer to ‘any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option.’” (Seidlhofer 2011: 7) 4) ELF is an alternative term for English as an international/global/world language and internation English (see Seidlhofer 2004: 210). Of course, ELF is an applied linguistics’ term; most users probably just think they are speaking English. (p. 2) a. As well as being used—often in a very simple form—by tourists, ELF is prominent in: international politics and diplomacy, international law, business, the media, and in tertiary education and scientific research. (p. 2) 5) ELF usually differs from English as a native language (ENL), the language used by NESs. a. “Spoken ELF contains a huge amount of linguistic variation and non-standard forms.” b. “Although formal written ELF needs to resemble ENL to a much greater extent.” (p. 2) 6) As Seidlhofer (2011: 77) puts it, ELF should be ‘functionally not formally defined, it is not a variety of English but a variable way of using it.’ (p. 3) 7) Mauranen (2003: 517) offers what could almost be a manifesto for ELF: “It is important for people to feel comfortable and appreciated when speaking a foreign language. Speakers should feel they can express their indent identities and be themselves in L2 context without being marginalised on account of features like foreign accents, lack of idiom, or culture-specific communication styles as long as they can negotiate and manage communicative situations successfully and fluently.” a. Yet “Fluent ELF necessarily has many similarities with ENL.” (p. 6) b. “Even if fluent ELF speakers are not aspiring to ENL norms, proficient non-native English is necessarily similar and, hence, comparable to proficient native English.” (note 9, p. 16) 8) “Both ELF and postcolonial World Englishes have largely appropriated the grammatical core of ENL, at least in their written forms, and there is also a great deal of lexis common to all varieties.” (p. 6) 9) On the other hand, ELF speakers do not share a cultural background. Therefore, what do we need? 🡪 INTERNCULTURAL COMPETENCE 10) ELF speakers are users and not learners 🡪 implications: a. “It is important for people to feel comfortable and appreciated when speaking a foreign language.” (p. 5) b. “Deficiency models (that distinguish NNS—Non-native speakers—from NS) should be seen as inadequate for the description of fluent L2 speakers and discarded as the sole basis of language education in English.” (p. 5) 11 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 c. ELF users are described as ‘communities of practice’, as international discourse communities = professional communities of practice. E.g. the scientific community. 11) ELF in expanding circle countries: the use of English in universities and business. MACKENZIE, 2014—EXTRACTS 1. ELF has to be distinguished from World Englishes or New Englishes—the nativized or indigenized varieties used in former British colonial territories. (p. 2) 2. Unlike nativized World Englishes, ELF is not, and will almost certainly never become, a stable variety, because of the range of participants in the international use of English. (p. 2) 3. “Today, the term ‘English as a lingua franca’ is used to refer to ‘any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option.’” (Seidlhofer 2011: 7) ELF is an alternative term for English as an international/global/world language and internation English (see Seidlhofer 2004: 210). Of course, ELF is an applied linguistics’ term; most users probably just think they are speaking English. (p. 2) 4. As well as being used—often in a very simple form—by tourist, ELF is prominent in international politics and diplomacy, international law, business, the media, and in tertiary, education and scientific research—which Yamuna Kachru and Larry Smith (2008: 3) called ELF'S ‘mathematic function’, so it is clearly not a reduced lingua franca in the term’s original (Frankish) sense. Yet it usually differs from English as a native language (ENL), the language used by NESs. Spoken ELF contains a huge amount of linguistic variation and non-standard forms (although formal written ELF tends to resemble ENL to a much greater extent). (p. 2) 5. As Seidlhofer (2011: 77) puts it, ELF should be ‘functionally not formally defined, it is not a variety of English but a variable way of using it.’ (p. 3) 6. ELF researchers insist that ELF speakers are users and not learners. As Mauranen (2006: 147) put it, we need to stop considering 2nd and foreign language users as eternal ‘learners’ on an interminable journey toward profession in a target language. Speakers may opt out of the role of learning at any stage, and take on the identity of language users, who successfully managed demanding discourses despite imperfections in the code. (p. 5) 7. Mauranen (2003: 517) offers what could almost be a manifesto for ELF: It is important for people to feel comfortable and appreciated when speaking a foreign language. Speakers should feel they can express their indent identities and be themselves in L2 context without being marginalised on account of features like foreign accents, lack of idiom, or culture-specific communication styles as long as they can negotiate and manage communicative situations successfully and fluently. An international language can be seen as a legitimate learning target, of variety belonging to its speakers. Thus, deficiency models, that is, those stressing the gap that distinguishes NNSs from NSs, should be seen as inadequate for the description of fluent L2 speakers and discarded as the sole basis of language education in English. (p. 5) 8. Yet the gap that separates NNESs from NESs can be overstated. (p. 5) (…) as ELF corporate show, fluent ELF necessarily has many similarities with ENL. In a study of international university students in Britain, Christian Meierkord (2004) found that 94-95 per cent of utterances by NNESs were syntactically regular according to ENL forms. 12 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 (…) Jenkins (2007: 38) describes ELF as being ‘self-determining an independent of Anglo-American English’, as if there was no overlap with ENL, but both ELF and postcolonial World Englishes have largely appropriated the grammatical core of ENL, at least in the written forms, and there is also a great deal of lexis common to all varieties. (p. 6) 9. Seidlhofer also wrote (2001a: 43), in a splendidly hedged sentence, ‘I do not wish to deny that there may be learning purposes for which adhering to native speaker English models is a valid, or at least arguable, option’ (nota 6, p. 16) 10. In transcripts of academic users of English in VOICE (Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English), and ELFA (English as a Lingua Franca in Academia) (see chapters 2-6), you can find paragraphs or pages at a time which give no indication as to the speaker’s origin before you come to a minor non-standard (or ELF) use. Even if fluent ELF speakers are not aspirating to ENL norms, proficient non-native English is necessarily similar and hence comparable to proficient native English. 11. On the other hand, ELF speakers do not share a cultural background and what Seidlhofer (2001: 16) calls ‘conventions and markers of in-group membership’ such as ‘idiomatic phraseology’. (p. 6) 12. Thus Meierkord (2002: 128-29) describes ‘lingua franca communication’ as ‘both a linguistic masala’ of numerous codes’ and a language “stripped bare” of its cultural roots’. All this means that rather than being an easy option, communicating in ELF can be hard work; as Mauranen (2012: 7) says, “The cognitive load in ELF is unusually heavy on account of the variety and unpredictability of language parameters: interlocutors’ accents, transfer features, and proficiency levels.’ (p. 6) 13. As Trudgill (1995: 315) puts it, the concept of ‘native-speaker,’ like most sociolinguistic concepts, ‘is not a matter of either-or’ but ‘a concept which admits of degrees of more or less’, so that ‘some people are more native speakers than others’. (p. 8) 14. As David Graddol (2006: 83) puts it, ‘Within traditional EFL (English as a Foreign Language) methodology, there is an inbuilt ideological positioning of the students as outsider and failure—however proficient they become.’ EFL necessarily ‘can and does tolerate high levels of failure’ (p. 84); indeed, it might even be said to be ‘designed to produce failure.’ (p. 83) (p. 8) 15. An ENL speaker who thinks, as many do, that English is English, does not have to negotiate communicative norms when interacting with ELF speakers. More interculturally competent speakers of course do so, using the subconscious accommodation skills most speakers develop; ess interculturally competent speakers do not, or not so much. (p. 9) 16. There is little evidence that the majority of users of English in political, economic or academic settings around the world (e.g. the UN, the EU, the G8, the G20, the OECD, OPEC, the IMF, the WTO, the Davos forum, multinational companies, CERN, the Max Planck Institute, etc.) think of themselves as speaking ELF. For the moment, it is largely applied linguistic who talk about ELF. (p. 9) 17. Following Julian House (2003), it has become conventional to describe ELF users in terms of Etienne Wenger’s (1998) concept of ‘communities of practice’. These are often not (local) ‘speech communities’ but international ‘discourse communities’ (Swales 1990) with a common communicative purpose, possibly communicating by email and Skype rather than face-to-face. Communities of practice are, however, real communities, unlike what Benedict Anderson (1983/1991) called ‘imagined communities’ of people who may never meet but who have presumed or imagined affinities. Yet such communities of practise frequently include both NESs and NNESs. Karlfried Knapp (2002: 221) argues that ignoring the existence of NESs in ELF (and their sometimes uncooperative and non-consensual style) ‘would simply mean ignoring the reality.’ More recently (2009: 137), he has suggested that NESs ‘will be present in most professional communities of practice,’ and determine what counts as the norm.’ (p. 9) 13 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 18. Following Kachru (1985: 12), it has become conventional to talk about the three circles of English. In the inner circle countries, English is used (by native speakers) as a primary language. In the outer circle countries, mostly former British colonies in Africa and Asia, English has an official second-language role in a multilingual setting, and is often used by an economic elite as a lingua franca for major intranational functions (politics, administration, legislation, education, etc.). For many educated people in this country, even though English is not, chronologically, their first language, it is their primary or dominant language—'the one they use most, and perhaps our most comfortable and fluent in for many or even most purposes’ (Trudgill 1995: 314). But English speakers are still a minority in all the circle countries—'at least between 20% and 30% of the total population’ (Mufwene 2010: 57). In the expanding cycle—which is the rest of the world—English is learnt and used as a foreign (or additional) language, for communication with the speakers from all three circles. (p. 10) 19. Although Seidlhofer (2009b: 240) says that ‘obviously communication via ELF frequently happens in and across all three Kachru’s circle,’ the bulk of ELF research (as well as proposals to replace the EFL paradigm with EFL) has concerned speakers from expanding circle countries. (p. 10) 20. Phillipson (1992), describe English as an alien influence in postcolonial societies, the result of dominance, hegemony, subjugation, imposition, and so on. Other scholars (including Pennycook 1994, 1998, 2010a; Canagarajah 1999; and Brutt-Griffler 200) have argued for the agency of the speakers of World Englishes. Similarly, Suresh Canagarajah argues that post-colonial communities can ‘find ways to negotiate, alter and oppose political structure, and reconstruct their languages, cultures, an identity to their advantage. The intention is not to reject English, but to reconstitute it in a more inclusive, ethical and democratic terms.’ (p. 2). Speakers appropriate from English what is needed locally, so that indigenized varieties come to express the values and linguistic and sociolinguistic identities of post-colonial countries. (p. 10) 21. The Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe’s conclusion to his essay ‘The African Writer and the English Language’ (1975: 61-62) is widely quoted: I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suits its new African surroundings. (p. 11) 22. Pennycook want to give less importance to the ancestral home, but his focus on local practices, adaption, adoption, transformation, rearticulation, refashioning, resistance to homogenizing forces, etc., are a refreshing counterpoint to one-dimensional accounts of ‘linguistic imperialism.’ (p. 11) 23. (…) the extensive use of English in some expanding circle countries, particularly in higher education and business, e.g. in northern Europe and Central Asia. (p.11) 24. Kachru himself has proposed that the ‘inner circle’ should now be thought of as the group of highly proficient speakers of English (maybe half a billion strong) who have ‘functional nativeness’ regardless of which they come from. Around this circle are other concentric ones with speakers of lessening proficiency (see Graddol 2006: 110). (p. 12) 25. Jenkins (2009: 32) argues that Kachru’s revised himself model fits in well with the concept of ELF, as it uncouples proficiency from nativeness, and defines it in terms of international communication, which requires ‘an international intelligible accent and good accommodation skills.’ Consequently the new inner circle excludes ‘many NSs of English, who are not able to communicate successfully in international communication.’ (p. 12) 26. Seidlhofer (2009b: 237) describes ELF as ¡the most widespread contemporary use of English—that which from a global perspective actually constitutes the prevailing reality, with the largest number of speakers, in interactions in which more often than not no native speakers participate.’ But this is tendentious. The ‘prevailing reality of English’ also includes native speakers and speakers of World Englishes, and ‘a global perspective’ of the movie and music industries, among many others, 14 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 needs to make room for a lot of inner circles speakers and products. Even if the schools and other educational institutions turn their back on books and other teaching materials using ENL (which is unlikely), many English users in the outer and expanding circles would continue to ‘consume’ cultural offerings of some form or another produced by NESs according to inner circle norms (books, TV series, films, music, etc.), and many professional people would continue to need to read texts in native English. (p. 13-14) 30. (…) the heterogeneity of ELF speakers and the range of linguistic variation they produce require us to stretch many basic linguistic concepts, such as those concerning speech communities, linguistic identities shared internalized rules, shared lexis and phraseology, shared phonology, competence levels, etc. ELF does not show that languages do not exist, but that the notion of what constitutes a language probably need to be expanded. (p.15) GROUP PROJECT (40% OF THE FINAL GRADE) 5 groups of minimum 12 members (two spokesperson each group to present the 2 parts of the project—2 adverts) 2 tasks involved: LANGUAGE CHOICE PUBLICITY (English and another language) 🡪 Each group will choose two adverts o One advert where Translanguaging is used. Connect this with the specific Audience design it has. o Another advert where Translanguaging is not clear, in spite of having 2 languages (English one of them). Connect this with the specific Audience design it has. You will have ONLY 15 up to 20 min. for your oral presentation (plus 10’ for teachers question to any member of the group) RESPECT YOUR ALLOTTED TIME. DON’T DESCRIBE THE ADVERT 🡪 the focus in on Audience design and whether there is Translanguaging or not. o You will argue the concept of translanguaging can be applied in one advert, but it isn’t clear in the second advert. In both cases, connect the adverts with the concept of ‘audience design’. o Having awareness of these concepts (audience design & translanguaging) in publicity is the aim of this project. So, this is what will you have to show and argue. ONCE PRESENTED IN CLASS: only one member of the group would send the teacher to her email. o The PowerPoint (with the surnames and names of the group’s members on the 1st slide, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) o The link to the two chose adverts o The script in a Word document. o Your group reflection on the impact of this practice on you (in another Word document) During the oral presentation, I may ask questions to any member of the group (even though the project will be presented only by two spokepersons). This means that all members will have to engage in the project. Please, once you have presented your group project in class, please send to my usal email ([email protected]): - Your powerpoint (including the names of all group members (in alphabetical order, please). Also include the link to the advert. And the links to the discarded adverts. - Your script (in a single word document) 15 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 - A short reflection on the impact that this practice has had on you. CLASS DISCUSSION ON MACKENZIE, 2014 (EXTRACTS) IDEAS 1. We don’t have fixed boundaries on translanguaging (code-switching of two or more languages) 2. Translanguaging negotiate speakers’ hybrid codes: implies projecting a message, values, etc. reflecting own’s identity. 3. Translanguaging is a performance. 4. Fluid translingualism: we move fluidly from one language to another. 5. “Given that all ELF speakers are bi- or multilingual, ELF interactions are likely to include borrowing, code-switching , and other types of crosslinguistic interaction.” (Mackenzie, 2014) a. Code-switching and translanguaging are similar, BUT NOT THE SAME WEEK 6—TRAINING YOUR AWARENESS OF TRANSLANGUAGING 1. Translanguaging in pedagogy: “planned and systematic use of two languages for teaching and learning inside the same lesson.” (Conteh, 2018, p. 445) 2. Implied within translanguaging—whether considered as primarily as a form of interaction or as a pedagogy—is a model of language that contests some of the ways this has traditionally been conceptualized in ELT (English language teaching). Language is seen as an ongoing ‘process’, rather than a ‘thing’, a ‘verb’ rather than a ‘noun’ (Becker, 1988: 25), as in the notion of ‘languaging’. (p. 445) 3. Translanguaging ‘challenges the conventional understanding of language boundaries between… culturally and politically labelled languages’. (Conteh, 2018, p. 446) 4. Translanguaging 🡪 negotiating speakers’ hybrid codes (Canagarajah, 2011) o Translanguaging as a means for voice to represent values and identities (Canagarajah, 2011) o Translanguaging to renegotiate contexts for alternate identities and meanings (Canagarajah, 2011) ▪ With the app Babbel, the purpose of translanguaging (negotiating the users’ identities) is absent. The real aim is to adopt the target language’s cultural identity, to speak like a native speaker (this is its AUDIENCE DESIGN) 5. Translanguaging is a performative activity 6. Translanguaging adopt certain calculated strategies to gain uptake. 7. “Even that all ELF speakers are bi- or multilingual, ELF interaction are likely to include borrowing, code-switching, and other types of crosslinguistic interaction.” (Mackenzie, 2014) WEEK 8—TRANSLANGUAGING 1. “The origins of translanguaging lie in Welsh bilingual education in the 1980s (Lewis et al. 2012). ‘Trawsieithu’—a Welsh term coined by Cen Williams, and later translated into English as ‘translanguaging’—was constructed as a powerful cross-curricular strategy for ‘the planned and systematic use of two languages for teaching and learning inside the same lesson’ (p. 3).” (p. 445) 2. “Practitioners working in English as an Additional Language (EAL) contexts in the UK have begun to recognize the pedagogic potential of translanguaging (Li 2018a: 32) in ways that could also be beneficial 16 SOCIOLINGÜÍSTICA 2024-25 to other language education practitioners. Indeed, recent discussions of translanguaging tie in well with an ongoing present-day reappraisal within ELT of what Hall and Cook (2012) term ‘own-language use’ in language classroom.” (p. 445) 3. “Researchers working in multilingual classroom have begun to use the term ‘translanguaging’ to describe multilingual oral interaction (e.g. García, 2009; Blackledge and Creese, 2010) and the use of different languages in written texts (e.g. Canagarajah, 2011; García and Kano, 2014).” (p. 445) 4. “Recent work, such as that by Mertin (2018), shows the potential of opening spaces for teachers’ voices in research and academic discourses related to translanguaging. Her text contains 2 chapters within by teachers, one in Brussels and one in Johannesburg, which provide many examples of classroom activities that involves translanguaging, such as using video clips in students’ home languages and constructing translations collaboratively (p. 95).” (p. 445) 5. “Implied within translanguaging—whether considered as primarily as a form of interaction or as a pedagogy—is a model of language that contests some of the ways this has traditionally been conceptualized in ELT. Language is seen as an ongoing ‘process’ rather than a ‘thing’, a ‘verb’ rather than a ‘noun’ (Becker, 1988: 25), as in the notion of ‘languaging’. The focus moves from how many languages an individual may have at their disposal to how they use all their language resources to achieve their purposes.” (p. 445-446) 6. “Li (2018a: 24) argues that translanguaging ‘challenges the conventional understanding of language boundaries between… culturally and political labelled languages’. Blackledge and Creese (2010: 210-215), among others, link languages and identity, arguing that identity construction is an important factor in learning.” (p. 446) 7. “Blackledge et al. (2014) (…) they argue that translanguaging, among other countries, opens up important questions related to social justice in language education, uncovering ‘the ways in which linguistic resources are deployed in our societies and how this deployment of resources reproduces, negotiates and contests social difference and social inequality’ (p. 193).” (p. 446) 8. “The challenges to translanguaging in policy and practice in ELT come from what Hall and Cook (2012: 297) called the ‘entrenched monolingualism’ of these aspects. Despite rapid global increases in migration and mobility and the ensuing growth of multilingualism in the global north, in many languages classroom Cummins’s ‘two solitudes’ (Cummins 2008) still prevail—languages are kept separate and learner's home languages are ignored.” (p. 446) 9. “Language policies, curricula, and assessment practiced retain their preoccupation with national and standard languages. But they're hopeful signs. Teachers who recognize the importance of translanguaging in constructing relationships with their learners that nurture mutual empowerment, and researchers who recognize this power and are committed to acknowledging its important in the classroom-based investigations, together have the potential to develop translanguaging pedagogies in the future.” (p. 446) 17