US English is of course particularly influential, on account of America’s dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade, and technology, including the Internet. Many terms that enter an Oxford dictionary from the US quickly become established in British English: some examples from the last ten years or so are geek, nerd, school student, and 24/7. Many US equivalents for British terms are familiar: sidewalk for pavement, checkers for draughts, cookie for biscuit, and vest for waistcoat. Other differences are more subtle. Some words have a slightly different form, e.g. dollhouse (US)/doll’s house (Brit.), math (US)/maths (Brit.), tidbit (US)/titbit (Brit.), while American constructions that are strange to British ears include I just ate, teach school, and a quarter of ten (rather than a quarter to ten).

Canadian English

Canadian English is subject to the conflicting influences of British and American English. In vocabulary there is a lot of US influence: Canadians use billboard, gas, truck, and wrench rather than hoarding, lorry, petrol, and spanner; but on the other hand they agree with the British in saying blinds, braces, porridge, and tap rather than shades, suspenders, oatmeal, and faucet.

Australian and New Zealand English

The vocabularies of Australian and New Zealand English are very similar. Both have been enriched by words and concepts from the hundreds of indigenous languages that pre-dated European settlers, only about fifty of which continue as first languages. The line between formal and informal usage is perhaps less sharply drawn in Australasian English than it is elsewhere: suffixes such as -o and -ie, giving us expressions such as arvo (afternoon), reffo (refugee), and barbie (barbecue), are freely attached to words even in more formal contexts.

South African English

Since 1994 South Africa has had eleven official languages: English, Afrikaans (descended from Dutch), Zulu, Xhosa, and other largely regional African languages. English is the first language of only about 10 per cent of the population, but the second language of many others. The English of native Afrikaners has inevitably influenced the ‘standard’ English of white South Africans, examples being such informal usages as the affirmative no, as in ‘How are you? – No, I’m fine’ and the all-purpose response is it?, as in ‘She had a baby last week – is it?’

Indian English

The role of English within the complex multilingual society of India is far from straightforward: together with Hindi it is used across the country, but it can also be a speaker’s first, second, or third language, and its features may depend heavily on their ethnicity and caste. The grammar of Indian English has many distinguishing features, of which perhaps the best-known are the use of the present continuous tense, as in ‘He is having very much of property’, and the use of isn’t it as a ubiquitous question tag: ‘We are meeting tomorrow, isn”t it?’ The first example rejects another characteristic of the language, which is to include intrusive articles such as in or of in idiomatic phrases. Verbs are also used differently, with speakers often dropping a preposition or object altogether: ‘I insisted immediate payment’, while double possessives – ‘our these prices’ (instead of the British English ‘these prices of ours’) – are commonplace.

West Indian English

Standard British English has traditionally been the linguistic model for the Commonwealth Caribbean, although recently the import of US television, radio, and tourism has made American English an equally powerful influence. The many varieties of Creole, influenced by West African languages, are also productive. A characteristic usage is that of the objective pronoun where British English would use the subjective or possessive, as in me can come an go as me please or he clear he throat. Jamaican Creole is the most widely known, and has spread beyond the region, especially to the UK, where it influences the speech of black Britons.

The recent development of English as an international language has left many tasks for the English Language Teaching practitioners. One of those is that what variant should be taught and how the varieties of English across the globe can be incorporated in teaching and learning process in order to accommodate the learners’ need and curricular goal. Those are basics question that language teachers have to answer since this decision will affect the learning outcomes entirely. Matsuda’s paper is mainly presented to address this issue by seeing the fact that the current English teaching, especially in Japan, is too inner circle oriented. According to her, although the curriculum in Japan specifies that the target model for English learning should be intelligible for international communication, the choice of linguistics samples and the representation of English users and uses indicate a strong inner circle orientation (p. 720). Therefore, she offers suggestions to the curriculum developers and school administrators to deal with the challenge of providing the appropriate English to be presented in the classroom. In response to her paper, I would like to focus on the practicality and applicability of her ideas in the real context of English teaching and learning.

What is wrong with teaching only inner circle Englishes? Matsuda argues that the limited exposure to English varieties in classroom may lead to students’ confusion or resistance when they are confronted with other types of English in the real life (p. 721). As the matter of fact, the students should be exposed to multiple varieties of English. She suggests that the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) initiated by Japanese government to assist foreign language teaching at public school not only recruits the native speakers from inner circle, but also begins recruiting fluent speaker from other parts of the world. This idea is perfect and fruitful for the developed country in expanding circle like Japan.

However, this fails to solve the problem of English teaching in other countries which have relatively low education budget. Schools have already struggled hard to fund their daily operation in these countries, not to mention bringing in foreign teachers. Other solutions provided if face to face interactions are not possible like using internet, and movie clips are also problematic because of the limited access to information, and technology.

Matsuda considers interaction with EIL users as one of the important aspects in incorporating EIL in classroom. In the country like Indonesia, the fact shows that English teachers, as one of the vital components, often do not have sufficient experience in using English in real interaction with both inner and outer circle speakers. They come to class with limited English proficiency that they studied only from their college classrooms. Here, the issue of teacher competency becomes essential. Teaching EIL variety requires an ‘extraordinary’ teacher due to its broad repertoires. EIL is far from being coherent, and concise language variety (Llurda, 2004, p. 315), and still in the process of codification (Taylor, 2006, p. 58).

Incorporating EIL in classroom is an immense challenge in English teaching. Matsuda has successfully tried to map the underlying starting point of the importance of teaching English other than inner circle varieties. Another important endeavor that should be done is creating an established consensus among stakeholders in defining EIL. By doing so, EIL will have, borrowing Taylor term, a well-described model of language use (Taylor, 2006, p. 58).

References:
Llurda, Enric. (2004) Non-native-speaker teachers and English as an International Language. International Journal of Applied Linguistics Vol. 14 (3). Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 314-323
Matsuda, Aya. Incorporating Englishes in Teaching English as an International Language. TESOL Quarterly. 719-729
Taylor, Linda (2006). The changing landscape of English: implication for language assessment. ELT Journal 60 (1). Oxford University Press. 51-60
Inner circle varieties refers to English spoken by the speakers of English in three major English speaking countries, i.e. the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

source: http://notbraindamage.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/world-englishes-as-the-controversy-in-elt-teaching-practice/

• ISBN: 978-0-415-37497-2
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 5th December 2006
• Pages: 189

About the Book

The English language is spreading across the world, and so too is hip-hop culture: both are being altered, developed, reinterpreted, reclaimed. This timely book explores the relationship between global Englishes (the spread and use of diverse forms of English within processes of globalization) and transcultural flows (the movements, changes and reuses of cultural forms in disparate contexts).

This wide-ranging study focuses on the ways English is embedded in other linguistic contexts, including those of East Asia, Australia, West Africa and the Pacific Islands. Drawing on transgressive and performative theory, Pennycook looks at how global Englishes, transcultural flows and pedagogy are interconnected in ways that oblige us to rethink language and culture within the contemporary world.

Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows is a valuable resource to applied linguists, sociolinguists, and students on cultural studies, English language studies, TEFL and TESOL courses.

Table of Contents

1. Hip Hop Be Connectin 2. Other Englishes 3. Transgressive Theories 4. Performance and Performativity 5. Taking the Vernacular Voices of the Popular Seriously 6. English and the Global Spread of Authenticity 7. Language Flows, Language Mixes 8. Hip Hop Pedagogies and Local Knowledge References

When Indonesians start to learn English they will face two canonical forms of English: American English or British English. Although Australian English exists, the trend is more influenced by English on television or other media dominantly of American or British language and culture.

English courses with the platform of American and British English in Indonesia once mushroomed and became a commodity for foreign language education business. Until recently, many English learners have been obsessed with a model of American or British English.

Almost certainly, learners will fail to speak English like British or American English speakers reflecting on how hard it is to speak like other people and due to a hazy definition of what British or American English is today.

Indonesians reportedly have different length of tongue and other organs in oral cavities from other people in the UK or the US who speak English. This might be true, as well as hilarious, but the fact is that people coming to the US, for example, can communicate well without having to pronounce English like Sam in the Transformers movie or Mr. and Mrs. Smith. English is so unlimited that the definition of American English is becoming more ambivalent, but English remains English.

Recently, the meaning of the English language has been disrupted by migration and globalization. Easier access for people to move from one place to another has raised more difficulties in defining what American or British English is like.

The rapid change in information and technology has made print literacy culture more accessible. The age of Facebook-ing, emailing, texting, and other social networking brings us toward a print literacy culture that leaves us an indefinite standard of English, with the communicators having an ambivalent, virtual identity.

When you are making a call to a corporation in the United States, let’s say, a bank, you may encounter an English language speaker as if you were in India or China. Forms of African, Chinese, Korean, Hispanic, and Asian Indian English are now shaping what American English is like. And some speakers of English cannot be identified in terms of their geographical status. People’s English is getting more liquid, dynamic, mixed, and indefinable to a certain standard.

The way in which English has been spoken is mostly influenced by contemporary working life and changing public life, which constitutes people’s everyday life.

First, our working life has changed from a face-to-face and individual direct command and control to more communal relationships like monitoring, training, and collaboration. Therefore, memos, texting, letters of commands tend to establish relationships among colleagues or between employees and employers to achieve effective and efficient communication. Spoken language is not premium in our working life.

Second, public life has been changing due to local diversity and global connectedness. Diversity of English not only reflects that there is no standard but also means that speakers of English always need to negotiate their meaning in conversations with regard to regional, ethnic, or class-based discourses. Such variations are manifested in the choices of registers – lexical, grammatical, stylistic, and dialectic choices. Often, code-switching is found within a communicative event with different languages, dialects, or registers.

How should we learn English now?

The enforcement of American and British English standardization for communication no longer applies to the contemporary global context where migration and globalization have been part of our public life. Learning English that emphasizes British or American English has been recently obsolete and out of context. What seems to be best conducted as a strategy to teach English is providing students with a variety of contexts from which they can recognize different audiences and purposes of communication.

For example, when audiences are Indonesian, why are learners so bothered to speak like American or British people? Even those who are able to speak English do not always have a chance to meet an American or British person. Just let American or British people who visits Indonesia understand our typically good English. Through language, other people will recognize that we exist.

We cannot deny that we are both the inheritors of patterns and conventions from other cultures and at the same time designers of meanings. With the available resources on-and off-line, learning of English from samples of texts in oral and written communication is easier to manage to understand how people make meanings with English. Especially, if English is a second and foreign language, samples of conversations of any kinds of texts are real scaffolding.

However, they are not “God’s” models. Our surroundings such as workplace, public places, community, schools, local culture conventions, economic status, personal experience shape our ways of working with English, while being contextual is what language use is all about.

The writer is a Fulbright fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a lecturer at the Indonesia University of Education Bandung (UPI).

This could have a dramatic effect on the evolution of the language: in the process of being absorbed by new cultures, English develops to take account of local language needs, giving rise not just to new vocabulary but also to new forms of grammar and pronunciation.

At the same time, however, a standardized ‘global’ English is spread by the media and the Internet.

The main regional standards of English are British, US and Canadian, Australian and New Zealand, South African, Indian, and West Indian. Within each of these regional varieties a number of highly differentiated local dialects may be found.

Oxford dictionaries try to include many regionalisms encountered in different English-speaking areas of the world.

source: http://www.askoxford.com/globalenglish/?view=uk

Download Presentation Slides

Do the English in England speak the same English as the Americans, the Jamaicans, the South Africans, the
Australians, the Irish, and the Indians? Do they even speak the same English as they did 100 years ago before radio, television, and the internet? Should there be a global standard for all English speakers? Linguist Andy Kirkpatrick raises these and many other provocative questions in his exceptionally documented book “World Englishes: Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching” published by Cambridge
University Press. What does it mean if a majority of English speakers are actually English as a second language
speakers? Can we actually assert that one version of English is more correct, formal, or proper than other forms?
Are native speakers of English really the best English teachers for English language learners in developing
countries?

The enclosed audio CD might be the best, brief introduction to the subject as you hear a wide diversity of voices
and accents tell stories and read poems in …. English? Or is it Englishes? That’s the essential question that this
scholarly primer on sociolinguistics poses. For instance, as an American English teacher, I had little problem
understanding the woman from Charlotte, North Carolina who vividly described her childhood picking cotton or the
Downeast Maine woman who switches accents and vocabulary depending on her audience. Yet I struggled – really
struggled- to comprehend Africans, Caribbean Islanders, and Irish on this CD. If the goal is international
communication, than many folks on the CD fail to communicate with English as an International language standard.
Yet Kirkpatrick systematically argues that English is spoken in particular contexts to specific audiences. What is
proper, Kirkpatrick contends, depends more on circumstances and purposes than arbitrary absolute standards with
neo-colonial overtones. As a result Kirkpatrick, who teaches at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, finds notions
of “correctness” of pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, and even grammatical functions quite problematic and
limited.

Divided into three parts (Framework, Variation and Varieties, and Implications), World Englishes provides detailed
case studies of the spread and use of English in Britain, the United States, Australia, the Caribbean, Africa, and
South-East Asia. He also has a fascinating chapter titled “Emerging Englishes: Hong Kong and China” where he
speculates on possible future directions of the world’s latest lingua franca. Often surprising, these concise
historical overviews highlight the political aspects of speaking English. As a result, Kirkpatrick suggests that
English be looked from an “identity-communication continuum.” The author emphatically places greater importance on the right of individuals to speak their own version of English over the communication needs of listeners.

“English operates as a lingua franca at a number of different level, including local, national, regional, and
internationally” notes Kirkpatrick. When second language speakers focus on their audiences, the author convincingly
demonstrates many speakers often change their register, grammar, and cultural references (code-switching) for
international audiences (rather than fellow nationals in English). They speak, the author contends, a different
English – and that’s okay. Further, Kirkpatrick examines the evidence that English is a language killer, worries
about the prioritizing of English over local languages, and notes that non-native English speakers face additional
hurdles to publishing scholarly articles in English. Yet Kirkpatrick eventually concludes that “local demand for
English is at least as powerful a cause for its spread any imperial or post-imperial imposition on its unwilling
speakers.” (p.183)

What are the classroom applications of this Global Englishes analysis? First, the author notes that the vast
majority of English language learners will never actually work or live in an English speaking country. Therefore,
he finds the advantages of upholding an “impossible” ideal of standardized English to be limited and a challenge to
local, well-trained teachers. Further, he favors the hiring and promotion of local English teachers over native
speaking English teachers. “Bilingual students benefit from and respect bilingual teachers” (p.187) to counter the
prejudice against local model of World English. International English teachers from Australia, the United States,
Canada, and the United Kingdom need not apply!

Was I persuaded that World Englishes is a healthier concept than International English for an emerging 21st global culture? No, not really. But I’m grateful that I had the chance to read this scholarly work, learn about many social environments where English is taught, and reflect on the needs of English teachers working in developing nations.

For better or for worse, World Englishes makes a powerful case for a politically correct, and increasingly
influential, perspective. English language teachers, immigration activists, linguistics, and standardized test
creators will certainly find the 257-page book fascinating. English teachers fond of grammar exercises, however,
might well be offended- perhaps even horrified- by his tolerance for alternative word order. This critically
acclaimed book, however, deserves to be widely read and debated by both English teaching professionals and language policy experts.

Reviewed by Eric Roth | March 2009
Eric H. Roth teaches English at the University of Southern California to international students, and occasionally
writes book reviews and articles for TEFL.net. He is also the co-author of the ESL conversation textbook Compelling
Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics.

http://edition.tefl.net/reviews/applied-linguistics/world-englishes/

More downloadable resources on World Eglishes

• English as a Global Language
• World English vs. World Englishes
• Cultures, Context and World Englishes

“Instead of being limited by the old view of authentic English being entombed in a particular canon of literature, we now need to study English and how it works in film, music and other cultural forms, and across cultures,” he said.

Professor of Language
in Education in the Faculty of
Education, Alastair Pennycook




The growth of English in the elementary school curriculum in China and many other Asian countries has major cultural, educational and political implications, according to Professor Alastair Pennycook.

Alastair Pennycook, who is Professor of Language in Education in the Faculty of Education, says the spread of English in the region is closely linked to globalisation, the spread of computer technology and other cultural and economic processes.

“These have led to changes in local economies and patterns of living, language usage and the death of many languages. English language exams are sorting people out around the world to get into business, to get promotion or to immigrate – it’s like a global gatekeeper,” Professor Pennycook said.

“Now that English is taught in elementary schools around Asia, there are huge implications for education, culture and language,” he said.

After taking an Arts degree in French and German, Professor Pennycook taught English as a second language for many years in Germany, Japan, China, Canada and Hong Kong. This experience sparked his interest in the impact of English on other languages and cultures.

Since little had been written about the many issues arising from the spread of English, while studying for a PhD in Canada he developed a critically-applied linguistic view of the globalisation of English. His thesis was the basis of his book published in 1994, The cultural politics of English as an international language.

“I wanted to develop an understanding of English in the political context of colonialist and post-colonialist relations to explain how English operates, and to map different ways of understanding its spread,” Professor Pennycook said.

“There’s a conservative celebratory view that says the spread of English is inherently

good, while a more liberal view suggests that it’s good to have an international language while maintaining other languages.

“A more critical view holds that it’s a form of linguistic imperialism, which homogenises the world and destroys other languages and culture. Yet another position argues that the world is becoming more diversified and that English is dividing into separate World Englishes.

“World English is actually many varieties of English that have been indigenised in different parts of the world. Singapore English, Indian English and Hong Kong English are different types of English with their own rules, norms and literature.

“Instead of being limited by the old view of authentic English being entombed in a particular canon of literature, we now need to study English and how it works in film, music and other cultural forms, and across cultures,” he said.

Professor Pennycook’s interest is focused on developments in Asia including Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. When English takes root in various countries, he says there are mixed outcomes, and Singapore is a particularly interesting case in point. Founded as a British trading post in 1819, Singapore later became a colony, and in 1965 an independent nation.

The majority of the Singaporean population are ethnic Chinese, while 15 per cent are Malaysians and six per cent are Indians. Since 1965 the official languages have been Mandarin Chinese, Malay, Tamil and English.

“One of the complications arising out of the Government’s language policy is that there has been a shift from east-coast Chinese languages such as

Hokkien to Mandarin and English,” Professor Pennycook said.

“Few of the younger generations in Singapore still speak languages such as Hokkien and consequently many young English-speaking Singaporeans cannot communicate with their Hokkien-speaking grandparents.

“In the meantime Singaporean English, which is known as Singlish, has been so indigenised that there are fears it cannot be understood by other English-speaking people. Consequently the Government is discouraging its use and encouraging its people to use standard international English,” he said.

In his latest research Professor Pennycook looks at rap music in Southeast Asia and Australia, and particularly at how new forms of identity are articulated in English and other languages across different ethnic, linguistic and cultural boundaries.

By: By Suzanne McInerney
24 April 2003

http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/postgraduate/news-events/news-detail.cfm?ItemId=6477

Frenemy, locavore among new words in Webster’s By Russell Contreras, Associated Press Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.

– Do you use a sock puppet to secretly keep track of your frenemies?Plan to spend your staycation watching vlogs and webisodes? Or perhaps you plan to signal a flash mob for a quick bite of shawarma.

If you’re not entirely certain what all that means, turn to the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, which has added about 100 new words that largely reflect changing trends in American society.

John Morse, president and publisher of the Springfield-based dictionary publisher, said many of this year’s new words are tied to changes in technology, increasing environmental awareness and aging baby boomers’ concerns about their health and have become part of the general lexicon.

“These are not new words in the language, by any means,” Morse said.

“(But) when words like ‘neuroprotective’ and ‘cardioprotective’ show up in the Collegiate, it’s because we’ve made the judgment that these are not just words used by specialists. … These really are words now likely to show up in The New York Times, in The Wall Street Journal.”

There are words such as locavore (one who eats foods grown locally), frenemy (someone who acts like a friend but is really an enemy), waterboarding (an interrogation technique use to induce the sensation of drowning), vlogs (a blog that contains video material) and webisode (a TV show that can be viewed at a Web site).

There’s also flash mob (a group of people summoned electronically to a designated spot at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing) and green-collar (involving actions for protecting the natural environment).

Some words that just now made the cut have been around for generations. The term “sock puppet”

— a false online identity used for deceptive purposes — was tracked to 1959 but has taken on new popular use with people using fake IDs on social networking sites.Many words have cross-cultural roots, including shawarma (a sandwich especially of sliced lamb or chicken, vegetables, and often tahini wrapped in pita bread) and reggaeton (music of Puerto Rican origin that combines rap and Caribbean rhythms).

Once words like these become so common that they regularly pop up in conversations and published articles, Morse said they pass muster for being included in the dictionary.

Some words, such as “staycation,” have become so popular the dictionary could not ignore them, Morse said. Staycation refers to staying home for vacation and has gained popularity as the economy worsens.

But Morse said some words face years in limbo as wordsmiths wait to see if they are just fads.

Dave Wilton, author of “Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends,” said it’s difficult to draw conclusions about trends in society with just a handful of new words.

“It’s also an editorial decision and reflects what the (dictionary) editors deemed important that year,” Wilton said. “Most of these words have been around for a while but for some reason they grabbed the attention of editors this time.”

Researchers often keep track of words over many years. One to watch: prepone.

The word is commonly used in India among English-speaking Indians and refers to the act of arranging for an event to take place earlier than originally planned

— the opposite of postpone.”Prepone didn’t make it this time,” Morse said. “But we know about it.”

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There is much scientific research on how we learn languages, which now gives us greater understanding of the role of ‘acquiring language’ in relation to learning language.

Infants and young children can be very good at acquiring languages when they are used in the home, and this is one reason why people sometimes think that we learn languages best when we are very young.

Older children and adults tend to be taught languages, usually in language learning classrooms.

Successful language learning can be achieved when people have the opportunity to receive instruction, and at the same time experience real-life situations in which they can acquire the language.

Natural Ways of Picking up Languages

Even though there may be differences in how the brain works as a child grows older and becomes an adult, a key issue in ‘picking up’ languages relates to the opportunities we have for learning languages. This is where CLIL can be of interest. One reason why very young children seem so good at picking up language is often to do with the naturalness of the environment around them. A language classroom, where learners go through the often difficult process of sorting out sounds, structures, grammar or vocabulary is rarely natural.

The language classroom is essential for the learner to understand the ‘nuts and bolts’ of language – the architectural plans. But there is rarely enough time in the classroom for the language teacher to go beyond this essential part of the learning process. Learners need time to build things with the nuts and bolts – to build the house which they see in theory on paper.

What CLIL can offer to youngsters of any age, is a more natural situation for language development which builds on other forms of learning. This natural use of language can boost a youngster’s motivation and hunger towards learning languages. It is this naturalness which appears to be one of the major platforms for CLIL’s importance and success in relation to both language and other subject learning.

Derived: Marsh & Langé, Using Languages to Learn and Learning to Use Languages. TIE-CLIL:Milan

source: http://www.clilcompendium.com/clilcompendium.htm