1. 24/2/2014
Understanding the role of
English and English
language teaching in the
globalisation era
Nicos Sifakis
Assoc. P f
A
Professor
Hellenic Open University
Serres, 22.02.2014
sifakis@eap.gr
http://eap.academia.edu/NicosCSifakis
http://eap academia edu/NicosCSifakis
2
1
3. 24/2/2014
•
Shrinking of space: people’s lives (jobs,
salaries, health) are influenced by facts in other
parts of the planet, often by facts they are not
even aware of
•
Shrinking of time: f t development of
Sh i ki
f ti
fast d
l
t f
markets & technologies, decision-making &
action-taking achieved at a distance
•
Disappearing borders: influences markets,
movement of capital / information, ideas,
values, lifestyles
(UNDP, 1999)
What is globalisation?
5
New technologies
New ways of working
f
ki
New communities
Friedman’s 3 world “flatteners”
6
3
4. 24/2/2014
1. 1500-1800: European empires
(Spain, Portugal); globalisation of
peripheral commerce
2. 19th c: industrial revolution (UK,
Germany, Japan, USA); colonisation
3. 1945-: USA-USSR; technology
revolution
(Robertson, 2003)
Three “waves” of globalisation
7
“Without
US leadership, it would have been
difficult or impossible for other nations to
slash their barriers and open their
markets. Such widespread opening has
contributed to the best half-century of
world economic growth at least since the
time of Christ, and probably ever.”
(Bradford et al., 2006: 893)
“So just
“S j t as ‘th business of America is
‘the b i
fA
i i
business’, manifestly English for
business is business for English.”
(Phillipson, 2001: 190-1)
8
4
5. 24/2/2014
• Working language of international organisations and
conferences
• Scientific publications
• International banking, economic affairs and trade
• Advertising for global brands
• Audio-visual cultural products (e.g. film, TV, popular
music)
• International tourism
• Tertiary education
• International safety (e.g. airspeak, seaspeak)
• As a rela lang age in interpretation and translation
relay language,
• Technology transfer
• Internet communication
Major international domains of English
9
Quiz: Who is “worth” more?
10
5
6. 24/2/2014
...after McArthur (2005)
• Level 1: “English language complex”
• Level 2: Chinese, Spanish, Hindi-Urdu
• Level 3: Arabic, French, German, Japanese,
Malay
• Level 4: Portoguese, Swedish, Swahili, etc.
• Level 5: Greek, Icelandic, etc.
• Level 6: Welsh, Navaho, Maori, etc.
• L
Level 7 Ab
l 7: Abaga, A i D
Ari, Dengalu, etc.
l
t
Categorisations
11
...after de Swaan (2001)’s “global language
system”
• Hypercentral: English
• Supercentral: Arabic, Chinese, Hindi,
French, German, Portoguese, Spanish,
Swahili, etc.
• Central: widely spoken languages, about
100, used by 95% of world population
• P i h l th rest, about 6000 used by
Peripheral: the
t b t 6000,
db
10% of world population
Categorisations
12
6
7. 24/2/2014
•
•
D. Crystal video (link)
Ostler (2005):
– “Global powers make global languages”
but German speaking conquerors (Vandals,
Goths) learned Latin-based Romance
languages
– Turkish/Mongol conquerors of China learned
Chinese/Persian
– Phoenicians dominated during 1 millenium
BC but Greek was the lingua franca of the
Mediterranean
What makes a language global?
13
The “special” role
of English
7
8. 24/2/2014
World English
World Englishes
Global English
English as an International Language
English as an Intercultural Language
English as a Lingua Franca
Lingua franca: “languages usually used by people
g
whose mother tongues are different with a
purpose of simplifying communication between
them”
(UNESCO, 1953)
Terminology
15
WHOSE English we teach
defines
WHAT English we teach
•
Native Speaker
Standard English
ESL, EFL
•
p
English as Lingua Franca
g
g
Non-Native Speaker
EIL, ELF
Combinations of the above?
Implications
16
8
9. 24/2/2014
• Vowel quantity: the distinction between long and short
vowels is more important than exact vowel quality, and should
be our main concern with diphthongs, too
• Consonant conflations: the substitution of one consonant
for another can cause serious confusion for both NS and NNS
listeners
• Phonetic realisations: some such approximations may lead
to unintelligibility
• Prominence and weak forms: in terms of NNS production,
teaching should focus on achieving correct prominence on
stressed syllables, rather than on weak forms or schwa
• Nuclear/contrastive stress but not tone: putting nuclear
stress on the wrong word in an utterance, will direct the
listener’s attention to the wrong place, leading to confusion
Lingua Franca Core: a model for
pronunciation instruction
•
•
•
17
50+% of 20 y.o. in tertiary education
At least 50% of student population learns 2 or more
FLs
20% increase of English language learning (20022008)
• 7.025 Foreign Language Centres
• 23.720 teachers
• 558.099 learners
English: 478.423
German: 32.508
French: 24.922
Spanish: 12 274
12.274
Italian: 8.128
Some other language: 1.844
In Greece,
we adore education…
18
9
10. 24/2/2014
German
6%
Italian
Spanish
1%
2%
French
5%
English
E li h
86%
19
The broader context
Greece:
• Traditionally viewed as a societal context
y
characterised by a linguistically & culturally
homogeneous narrative
• Today, transformation from a migrantsending to a migrant-receiving country
• Significant numbers of newly arrived
immigrant and Greek-born children of
immigrant parents in mainstream schools
20
10
11. 24/2/2014
The broader context
Greek TESOL:
• … seen as an Expanding Circle (EFL)
context
• … in which the traditional TESOL approach
has been underpinned by the TEFL paradigm
However:
• Awareness of a new international function of
English
• Awareness of a new intranational function of
English
21
• 91%: E. the most useful language after MT
(Eurobarometer 2001)
• 42%: self-acknowledged sufficient
knowledge of E
E.
• Cambridge ESOL Exams (2006):
– FCE: Greece 50th (out of 67 countries), 57%
success rate
– CPE: 31st (out of 31 countries), 46% success
rate
t
How do we “feel” about
English?
22
11
12. 24/2/2014
• How well do we believe we know E? 24%
“very well” (Eurobarometer, 2001)
Confidence vs. Competence:
mismatch?
How do we “feel” about
English?
23
Characterising TESOL practice
Traditionally:
• (1) FOREIGN LANGUAGE
• (2) EXAM-ORIENTED
Another possibility:
• (3) INTERNATIONAL (ELF/EIL)
• (4) MULTICULTURAL (MATE)
orientation: Multicultural awareness
through English
24
12
13. 24/2/2014
Question: Which of the
following descriptions best
suits your current (or most
recent) teaching situation?
(1) FOREIGN LANGUAGE
(2) EXAM-ORIENTED
(3) INTERNATIONAL (ELF/EIL)
(4) MULTICULTURAL (MATE) orientation:
Multicultural awareness through English
25
• “EFL”?
– “Standard English”, mid-Atlantic (NS)
– “the expression ‘foreign’ indicates ‘distance’”
(Ehlich,
(Ehlich 2009: 27); this has individual and
societal consequences
• “EIL”?
– One variety or many? Which variety (-ies)?
y
y
y(
)
What English do we teach?
26
13
14. 24/2/2014
• “ELF”?
– Intelligibility, comprehensibility (NNS-NNS)
– How?
• Exam-bound?
– Washforward? Washback?
• A hybrid?
“old-school”: correct-incorrect
new-school : appropriacy,
“new-school”: appropriacy purposedriven
What English do we teach?
27
Question:
Fluency / Accuracy:
Does this polarity belong to the “old” or
the “new” school?
And why?
What English do we teach?
28
14
15. 24/2/2014
• “We don’t have to teach each and every variety
of English in the world (or the standard
Englishes of Inner Circle communities); we
simply have to change our understanding of
language learning To begin with we have
learning.
with,
hitherto taught English in terms of a ‘target
language’. The target has been defined in terms
of a ‘native’ variety. […] Now we should teach in
terms of a repertoire of language
competence.’
p
(Canagarajah, 2005: 209-10)
What English do we teach?
29
• In the FL classroom
–
–
–
–
Curriculum
Coursebook
Additional material
Computer l b
C
t lab
• Outside the FL classroom
– Social media (e.g., Facebook)
– Gaming (online, offline)
– M bil t h l
Mobile technology (
(e.g., iPh
iPhone, iP d PSP etc)
iPod, PSP, t )
What English do we learn?
30
15
16. 24/2/2014
• Making learners aware of the fluidity of
language and communication:
– new means of communication emerge (Kress,
1996: 195)
)
– new linguistic forms arise
• Our learners already have access to most
of these forms and means (e.g., “digital
natives”)
i
”)
How do we teach English?
31
• “Previously learned languages can be
acknowledged and used within the
classroom context by students and
teachers alike as bridge languages. The
g
g g
explicit acknowledgement of the existence
of previous languages, plus recognition of
their status as useful pedagogical tools will
naturally ease the new language learning
process.
process ”
(Hufeisen & Jessner, 2009: 126)
Jessner
How do we teach English?
32
16
17. 24/2/2014
• Cultural authentication of the FL with
reference to learners’ ethnic cultures as
they emerge at the level of the classroom
culture (McKay & Bokhorst-Heng, 2008)
(
y
g,
)
• “small cultures” (Holliday, 1999)
• “MATE”: “multicultural awareness through
English” – FL as a “neutral” springboard
for communication (Fay et al, 2010)
How do we teach English?
33
A. E. as subject-matter:
School literacy
“Standard English”
B. E. as communication skills:
Successful usage in diverse communicative
domains (written, spoken)
Competent, autonomous intercultural “nonnative” user “
ti ”
“owning” th FL
i ” the
A two-tiered proposal
34
17
