1 the era of pragmatic english tesol 2011

The Era of Pragmatic International English

International English Revisited

EFL and Teacher Education IS InterSection

TESOL International Convention

Examining the “E” in TESOL

New Orleans, LA March, 2011

Dr. Jeremy Sykes, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology


1. The scale of expansion of pragmatic international English2. Many different perspectives on the spread

of English globally.3. What is “Pragmatic International English”?4. What is happening (and not happening)

in Taiwan.


1. The scale of expansion of pragmatic international

English

• “human global network” of people participating in free markets has expanded from 800 million people five years ago, to 3 billion people now: half the population of the planet.

The International Research Foundation for English Language Education

• President of TIRF, Reece Duca said that• the “threshold of expectation is going up.

There is and will be a huge growth in the need for local knowledge workers who have three critical skills: the knowledge of their domain of expertise, their ability to solve problems, and their ability to communicate in English.


• “In this expanding economic battle ground, there is no doubt that the global winners will be those which have work forces which can employ the English language efficiently.”


From 1950 to 2000 most international business was organized using local regional offices, where local languages dominated.

Advent of global communication browsers like Google

The importance of English for basic communicative purposes in business has exploded.

Even at the local level, employees find themselves needing to use functional business English.



2. Many different perspectives on the spread of English

globally.

Why global English may mean the end of “English as a Foreign Language”

English as an International

Language

A Global Response to Global English

Graddol:• “English learners are getting younger.

Across the world, from Chile to Mongolia, from China to Portugal, English is being introduced in primary schools, with greater compulsion, and at steadily lowering ages” (p.88).

Globish: Robert McCrumAccording to the British Council, one third of the world’s population will all be trying to learn English at the same time (p.276).

Microsoft + Dow Jones = Globish (p.281)

“In a Globish world, everyone has access to an unlimited supply of data which floats, detached from all cultural anchors, in the infinite reservoir of cyberspace” (p.286).

Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language. New York: Oxford University Press. *

Llurda, E. (2004). Non-native-speaker teachers and English as an international language. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(3), 314-323.

Seidlhofer, B. (2004). Research perspectives on teaching English as a lingua franca. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 209-239

McKay, S. (2003). Toward an appropriate EIL pedagogy: Re-examining common ELT assumptions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 1-22.

Research in the Realm of International English

Larry Smith (Smith, 1988; Smith and Nelson, 1985; Smith and Rafiqzad, 1983) proposes:

1. Intelligibility: word level recognition in context

2. Comprehensibility: assign accurate referential meaning:

“Non-Koundanya well qualified prospective bridegroom… for graduate Iyangar girl..Mirugaservsham No dosham..Average complexion. Reply with horoscope.” Madras The Hindu

3. Interpretability: apprehension of intent, purpose, and meaning behind an utterance.

English Standards for Non-Native Speaker to Non-Native Speaker of International English

EDMOND H. WEISS

I will never do anything consciously that damages the power and precision of the English language which I regard as a priceless legacy

1. Diane Larsen-Freeman: Research on the Grammar of Discourse

2.Marianne Celce-Murcia

AndElite Olshtain

Discourse and Context in Language Teaching

Cambridge University Press 2007

A New Approach to Second Language Acquisition


3. What is “Pragmatic International English”?

• 1950 to 2005: – most international business was organized using local

regional offices, where local languages dominated.

• 2005 to ~:

– Arrival of global communication browsers like Google

– The importance of English for basic communicative purposes in business has exploded.

– Even at the local level, employees find themselves needing to use

– Functional business English

Functional Business Language?

Functional Business English in the International Context

1. This is the English needed to explain ideas, communicate requests, convey information, and express needs.

2. It is a pragmatic English stripped largely stripped of Anglo-American similes and metaphors.

3. It is the practical language needed in report writing, e-mails, text messaging, and Skype.

Clear communication in a second language involves gaining progressive control over the systems of options in the new language…

The smaller the number of meaning distinctions a learner controls, the more dependent on context his or her language is likely to be, both in terms of understanding and in terms of being understood. (Lock, 2005)

The Issue of Grammar in EIL

Marianne Celce-Murcia identified four particular "discourse framing" patterns for discussion: one which sets up further elaboration; one which builds to a climax; one which sets up discussion; and one which relates episodes to one another. These patterns of grammar "set up discourse".

Many such patterns exist, and can be included in a communicative English language curriculum.

The Grammar of Discourse

Students are taught structures in writing and spoken presentation so that they can use these structures to accomplish particular purposes in active communicative engagement with others

Discourse Structures

Use of wh-questions to obtain different kinds of information.

Use of different moods and modalities to show the speakers relationship to addressee, strength of the request, nature of the service requested.

Use of Referrers to refer to entities not immediately obvious from the context.

Use of various forms of thematic organization(e.g. passive voice and clefts) to foreground and

background information. (Lock, 2005)

Gaining Control of Meaning


4. What is happening (and not happening)

in Taiwan.

2007~08 Graduate for Secondary Education & Higher Education

OfferedDegree

Type

Secondary Education Associate Bachelor Master Ph.D.

TotalCount

Graduated 269,431 43,803 228,645 49,976 2,850 594,705

Source: Department of Household Registration, Ministry of Education

594,705

88% of High school graduates went on to college & University

31% of University graduates went on to graduate school

272,448 52,826

Birth rate is on the decline

Inability to Communicate in English

The problem is that most young Taiwanese students who go on to college and then into the world of work, are not able to communicate with others in spoken English, despite all the years of English language instruction which they have received.

World Interaction in English

The upcoming generations of Taiwanese students will increasingly find that they need to be able to speak functional International English, so that they can engage with the Global English world around them.

If they are unable to raise to the challenge, Taiwan’s competitiveness in the world economy, and its future as an independent economy, will suffer.

University Sponsored InitiativesNational Taiwan University of Science and

Technology

* All students must take courses in communicative English to graduate.

* Language Professors are encouraged to use innovative teaching and assessment methods.

New Post Secondary Initiativesin Second Language Instruction

A QUESTION OF PHILOSOPHY:

Should we teach language as a prerequisite to using it?

OR

Learn it through communicative activity?

1. What is our philosophy of language learning?

How does language develop?

1. Language is not acquired well by attempting to learn a series of set language parts by accumulation.

2. Learners actually “construct a series of systems, known as interlanguages which are gradually grammaticized and restructured as learners incorporate new features.”

Ellis (2009)

How do you learn to converse?

If students are to develop stronger grammatical control over their expressive language, and incorporate new vocabulary, they have to first exercise their interlanguage.

It is pointless to wait for students to acquire “proper” structures first before offering them opportunities to converse.

Pedagogical Principle One for Communicative Language Learning: Create a Communicative Context

1. Communicative language skills can only be learned in an environment where active communication is taking place all the time.

Teachers should strive to create lesson plans where students spend at least 50% of their class time in active communication

2. Improvements in communicative language skills come AFTER people attempt to communicate with each other.

Pedagogical Principle Two for Communicative Language Learning: Teach Through Tasks

1. The most interesting things to communicate are things that relate to real tasks in the real world.

2. The focus of instruction should be on content not on language instruction itself.

Widdowson (1998) “there is a fundamental difference between ‘task’ and ‘exercise’ (depending) on whether

whether linguistic skills are viewed as developing through communicative activity or as a prerequisite for

engaging in it.”

What is a task?Ellis:

1. A work plan designed to precipitate leaner activity.

2. Seeks to engage learners in using language

pragmatically rather than just displaying language.

3. Involves real-world processes of language use.

4. A task can involve all four skills.

5. A task engages students in higher level cognitive processes.

6. A task has a clearly defined communicative

outcome.

What is task based learning?

“the real purpose of the task is … the cognitive and linguistic processes involved in reaching the outcome that matters”

Ellis (2009)


Task-based learning requires learners to use much more complex thinking processes than the exercises in most language text books,which mainly require knowledge and comprehension, with little application.


In Task-based learning, students have to

Synthesize what they have learned, in order to present their opinions.

They have to use the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: ANALYSIS, SYNTHESIS and EVALUATION, in order to complete their task


Research on second language acquisition favors learning a language through communicative activity:

Craik and Tulving (1975) showed that retention depends on “the elaborateness of the final encoding.”

Material is more likely to be remembered when “information is more deeply processed”

Ellis (2009)


In Task-Based learning students have to:

DEMONSTRATE comprehension by showing they can use the information they have learned in new situations.

Pedagogical Principle Three for Communicative Language Learning: The Only Mistake is a Failure to Be Understood

1. What matters is that students are understood and can successfully negotiate with non-native speakers of English from other cultures.2. Use every bit of English you know3 Do not worry about “incorrect” grammar4 It does not matter if your English has a

definite Chinese feel to it.

1. Using the TOEIC as an accepted assessment. This permits an increased focus in instruction on speaking and listening.

Example Aichi Shukutokyo University, Nagoya, Japan, now offers 442 English communication classes to its 7,800 undergraduates. Average progress on TOEIC scores has increased from 72.9 to 125+ since its new TOEIC program was introduced in 2004

Assessment for Communicative Language Learning: Use the TOEIC

Application of These Principles at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology

These principles are being applied in:* Daily Living English* Art and Design English* Hospitality English* Business English* English for Academic Purposes* Speech and Oral Presentation* Writing

Two Examples

Business EnglishEnglish Writing

New focus in International Publishing: EIL

Business Result: Oxford University Press

1. Focus on communication in English in real-life work situations.

2. Target language: workplace English for communication between non-native speakers of English

3. Focus on the use of language in meaningful and authentic ways.


CASE STUDIES Groups of Four: 1. Read a case situation 2. Review language 3. Study data individually relating to a new

case 4. Share data with each other 5. Discuss findings 6. Write a group report of findings 7. Make an oral presentation


CYCLE OF LANGUAGE LEARNING:1. Reading -> Vocabulary /Concepts -> 2. Reading Research -> Synthesis and presentation

of ideas orally in discussion -> 3. Discussion and Analysis -> 4. Written report -> Oral presentation

Students create a fictional Fantasy IslandThen they are taught the writing structures

to:Create listing order paragraphs (topic sentences, listing-order signals, concluding sentences, compound sentences, coordinating conjunctions.)

Create “How To” paragraphs (time order signals, independent and dependent clauses, adverb subordinators, complex sentences.)

Create descriptions (space order, specific details, adjectives.)

ALL THESE ARE COMPILED INTO A BOOK, AND A READING PRESENTATION

English Writing Skills


SEMESTER TEACHING STRUCTURE:1. 16 lessons with about 4 hours of

teaching material in each lesson.2. No long reading texts. 3. Emphasis on listening and speaking.4. Written exercises are kept at a

minimum.5. Focus on formal and informal

information exchange.

TESPA-IS

The English as an International LanguageInterest Section of

TESPA (The Taiwan English for Special

PurposesAssociation)

The EIL-IS TESPA Agenda

1. Research • Disseminating new research on the teaching of

EIL2. Teaching• Exploring new approaches to teaching EIL

3. Teaching materials• Searching for (and developing) new classroom

materials for teaching EIL

Thank You

The future is now.

1 the era of pragmatic english tesol 2011

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