Leseprobe aus: "The Globalisation of English and the English Language Classroom" von Claus...

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Claus Gnutzmann /Frauke Intemann(eds.)

The Globalisation of Englishand the EnglishLanguage ClassroomSecond edition

The Globalisation of Englishand the English Language Classroom

Claus Gnutzmann / Frauke Intemann(eds.)

The Globalisation of Englishand the EnglishLanguage Classroom

Second edition


Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen National-bibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über <http://dnb.d-nb.de>abrufbar.

2., durchgesehene Auflage 20081. Auflage 2005

© 2008 · Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KGDischingerweg 5 · D-72070 Tübingen

Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertungaußerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlagesunzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikro-verfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen.Gedruckt auf säurefreiem und alterungsbeständigem Werkdruckpapier.

Internet: http://www.narr.deE-Mail: [email protected]

Printed in Germany

ISSN 0949-409XISBN 978-3-8233-6388-0

The Globalisation of Englishand the English Language Classroom

Claus Gnutzmann / Frauke Intemann(eds.)

The Globalisation of Englishand the EnglishLanguage Classroom

Second edition


Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen National-bibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über <http://dnb.d-nb.de>abrufbar.

2., durchgesehene Auflage 20081. Auflage 2005

© 2008 · Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KGDischingerweg 5 · D-72070 Tübingen

Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertungaußerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlagesunzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikro-verfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen.Gedruckt auf säurefreiem und alterungsbeständigem Werkdruckpapier.

Internet: http://www.narr.deE-Mail: [email protected]

Printed in Germany

ISSN 0949-409XISBN 978-3-8233-6388-0

Contents

Preface..........................................................................................................................7

CLAUS GNUTZMANN AND FRAUKE INTEMANN Introduction: The Globalisation of English. Language, Politics, and the English Language Classroom..................................9

Section 1 Political and Sociocultural Dimensions ............................................... 25

JANINA BRUTT-GRIFFLER “Who do you think you are, where do you think you are?”: Language Policy and the Political Economy of English in South Africa .........27 MAHENDRA K. VERMA English as an Economic Investment: Who will Earn the Dividends? ..............41

Section 2 Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Exemplification ..................................55

ULRICH BUSSE The Impact of Lexical Borrowing from English on German: Facts, Figures, and Attitudes..................................................................................57 FRAUKE INTEMANN “Taipei ground, confirm your last transmission was in English ... ?” – An Analysis of Aviation English as a World Language.....................................71 CHRISTIANE MEIERKORD Interactions Across Englishes and their Lexicon.................................................89

Section 3 Teaching and Learning English in a Global Context: ’Old’ and ‘New’ Standards .................................................................... 105

CLAUS GNUTZMANN ‘Standard English’ and ‘World Standard English’. Linguistic and Pedagogical Considerations.......................................................107 SVENJA ADOLPHS “I don’t think I should learn all this” – A Longitudinal View of Attitudes Towards ‘Native Speaker’ English .........119

6

ALLAN JAMES The Challenges of the Lingua Franca: English in the World and Types of Variety........................................................133 JENNIFER JENKINS Teaching Pronunciation for English as a Lingua Franca: A Sociopolitical Perspective .................................................................................145 BARBARA SEIDLHOFER Standard Future or Half-Baked Quackery? Descriptive and Pedagogic Bearings on the Globalisation of English ...........159

Section 4 Learners in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education: Focus on Europe ...................................................................................... 175

JANET ENEVER Europeanisation or Globalisation in Early Start EFL Trends Across Europe? .........................................................177 MARGIE BERNS AND KEES DE BOT English Language Proficiency at the Secondary Level: A Comparative Study of Four European Countries .........................................193 ELIZABETH J. ERLING Who is the ‘Global English’ Speaker? A Profile of Students of English at the Freie Universität Berlin......................215 ULRIKE JESSNER Expanding Scopes and Building Bridges: Learning and Teaching English as a Third Language ......................................231 ANGELIKA KUBANEK-GERMAN Global English and Global Education.................................................................245

Section 5 Teacher Education ................................................................................... 259

MAIKE GRAU English as a Global Language – What do Future Teachers have to Say?...............................................................261 GEORGE BRAINE A Critical Review of the Research on Non-Native Speaker English Teachers ...............................................................275

Author Biographies................................................................................. 285

Preface to the First and to the Second Edition

Almost all of the contributions to this volume originate from papers pre-sented at the conference on “The globalisation of English and the English language classroom”, held from 16-18 June 2003 at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. The conference provided three days of rich, controversial and inspiring discussion. It brought together young researchers and well known colleagues in the field of the globalisation of English, non-native, ‘semi-native’, and native speakers of English from Asia, Europe, and the USA.

The conference, as well as the present volume, would have not been pos-sible without the help and support of many people and institutions. In par-ticular, we are grateful to the Technische Universität Braunschweig, and especially to its former President Professor Jochen Litterst. In his welcome address, Professor Litterst underlined the outstanding role of English in in-ternational scientific discourse and, consequently, the urgent need to under-take research into its communicative and pedagogical dimensions. We are also very grateful to the Braunschweigischer Hochschulbund, which gener-ously provided a beautiful location for the conference – the Gästehaus – and supported the preparation of the book manuscript. With their efficiency and friendliness, our student assistants Bettina Beinhoff, Monique Kleinschmidt, Nadine Salden and Christian Weiß contributed greatly to the success of the conference. Bettina Beinhoff also did an excellent job in proofreading and supporting the preparation of the book manuscript. Very many thanks to all of them. We would also like to thank our publisher Gunter Narr for the inter-est he has taken in the publication of this book.

We owe a particular debt to all our contributors for their patience in an-swering our ongoing queries and for their continuing support of the project.

The international attention which the first edition of this book received has led the editors and the publisher to prepare a second edition. Except for a revised introductory chapter, all other contributions remain unchanged. Braunschweig, January 2005 Claus Gnutzmann Braunschweig, July 2008 Frauke Intemann

Claus Gnutzmann and Frauke Intemann

Introduction: The Globalisation of English. Language, Politics, and the English Language Classroom

Globalisation

The world-wide spread of English is one of the many different developments which are subsumed under – and elements of – the general phenomenon of globalisation. As the term refers to various processes, a universal definition does not exist. The term did not appear before the 1970s, even though it can be argued that globalisation processes already started much earlier (cf. Block & Cameron, 2002: 2) and is generally connected to global economy, global communication systems – especially the Internet – and global mass culture (cf. Robinson, 2002: 9). Mass culture itself is economy: Disney, MTV, AOL Time Warner, Sony BMG, and other international companies provide enter-tainment (music, movies, TV shows) for a world-wide audience. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are other representations of a global mass culture as food habits are usually strongly connected with cultural traditions. Globalisation is furthermore associated with boundless mobility, world-wide travel and the transport of goods, and, of course, with English as the language of globalisa-tion.

From a critical perspective, globalisation stands for environmental threats like global warming, for the extinction of species, for the exploitation of peo-ple living in developing countries, for the spread of AIDS, for widening the gap between the first and the third world, for international terrorism, and as far as language is concerned, for a threat to smaller and endangered lan-guages because of the growing dominance of English.

Another striking feature of globalisation is a world-wide military net-work; this especially concerns the global presence of US military forces. The United States have troops in 47 countries – in addition to multinational mis-sions under the flags of NATO or the United Nations (UN) (cf. National Geo-graphic Magazine 5/2004). The United Nations lists a total of 119 countries that contribute to UN peacekeeping operations with military observers, po-lice or troops. With 258 people in the service of the UN, the United States are by far not the most active contributor (cf. http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/ dpko/contributors/2008/jun08_1.pdf, accessed July 18, 08).

Although no generally accepted definition of globalisation exists, there are a number of common characteristics which allow different interpretations depending on the attitude towards globalisation. Held and McGrew (2002:

Claus Gnutzmann and Frauke Intemann 10

37) speak of “sceptics” and “globalists” and list several characteristics from the views of both sides. Whereas globalists see a development towards “[o]ne world, shaped by highly extensive, intensive and rapid flows, movements and networks across regions and continents”, sceptics prefer to speak of in-ternationalisation than of globalisation, and they note a growing regionalisa-tion as well. Indeed, it seems paradoxical – at first sight, at least – that in an era of globalisation there are so many severe regional conflicts throughout the world.

This development is closely connected to another characteristic of global-isation: on the one hand, the “[e]rosion of state sovereignty, autonomy and legitimacy” (ibid.); on the other, however, a “[r]esurgence of nationalism and national identity” (ibid.), often accompanied by an increasing awareness of, and pride in, the region one comes from and belongs to. From a post-modern perspective, the growing uncertainty and the erosion of formerly stable con-cepts goes along with growing dichotomies, both seem to be defining fea-tures of globalisation. The development of English is no exception in this respect. The concept of the native speaker is under attack; the norms of writ-ten and spoken English for international purposes are not necessarily identi-cal with those of the British and American standard varieties of English any more; the concept of standard varieties itself is critically discussed. English is not only the language of globalisation, but it is itself deeply affected by it. What is more, and this again depends on the attitude of the analyst, English may be regarded as liberating and uniting the world and being the key to the benefits of globalisation, or it may be seen as a dangerous language, threaten-ing other languages and cultures, and as the language of oppression (Alex-ander, 2003).

Waswo (2002: 41) states that “[g]lobalization need not mean homogeniza-tion, uniformity, the eradication of all difference”. It does not, in itself, pro-mote the death of cultures; cultural identity can also be preserved in a global context, although the appearance of a global language might be seen as an indicator for a growing uniformity. On the other hand, the English language, as such, does not develop uniformly; and it is questionable if there ever will be something like a “World Standard Spoken English”, as Crystal (1997a: 137) predicts. However, following McArthur (2001: 14), “we have had for some time a World Standard English with a fair degree of standardization for print and writing”, predominantly based on American English usage.

A global language

English has become a world-wide language for several reasons.1 England started discovering new territories in the 16th century, established its first colonies in North America in the 17th century, claimed land on the Australian continent in the 18th century, and occupied the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope in 1795. The use of English grew rapidly when colonies were

Introduction: The Globalisation of English 11

conquered all over Africa and Asia on behalf of the British Empire in the 19th century. In the end, the language was present all over the globe; only South America remained nearly untouched. Nevertheless, the most important fac-tor for today’s situation is probably the military and economic dominance of the United States of America in the 20th century.

In continental Europe English became significant when the USA entered World War II and intervened in international politics (cf. Gnutzmann, 2000: 28). It was the military power of the British Empire and the USA that estab-lished English as an International Language, but the economic power of the USA managed to maintain its status and even expanded the use of English (cf. Crystal, 1997a: 110f.). Several developments shortly after World War II contributed to this: The Headquarters of the United Nations were located in New York, English was established as the lingua franca for international, i.e. world-wide, civil aviation (cf. Intemann, this volume), and the United States attracted many scientists from all over the world due to an undestroyed in-frastructure, which provided advantageous conditions for research and de-velopment. Further factors that contributed to the spread of English included the global success of American music and movies, as well as the develop-ment of computer technologies and the Internet, which are based on pro-gramming languages derived from English.

It is especially the factors of mass media, global trade and popular culture which are connected with the USA, and so the growing use of English is regarded as involving a “McDonaldization” or consumerism (Alexander, 1999: 33). On the other hand, English is a medium of a “Westernization” that has its origins in Atlantic Europe and that is “widely perceived as desirable” (McArthur, 2002: 18). All these factors support the development of a global lingua franca:

Apart from political relations, increasing global trade, travel, migration, mass me-dia, popular culture and the internet have provided additional factors that push forward the need for lingua francas as well as the spread of given languages as lingua francas, which at present is the case with English (Meierkord & Knapp, 2002: 12).

The spread of English has therefore an ambivalent character; it is a lingua franca necessary for international communication, and it is a vehicle for the spread of a culture influenced by the USA and, to a lesser extent, Western Europe. Dovring (1997: x) has researched into the “problems in understand-ing double talk in political English around the world” by analysing the mas-sive impact of electronic media on the spread of English as a global lingua franca. English is not only seen as a threat to other languages, but also to the cultures connected with these languages. When English is taught, it is seldom ever entirely separated from its cultural background, which is generally American and British. Non-native users of English may fear an ‘anglification’ of their own culture, or they may feel communicatively disadvantaged, be-cause native speakers of English can use their native language. On the other


hand, native speakers may fear that through the increasing use of English as a lingua franca, non-native speakers may have considerable impact on the English language and “take possession” (van Els, 2000: 22) of it.

According to Alexander (1999) the globalisation of English can signify lib-eration for those taking advantage of globalisation or a trap for those who feel threatened by this process. Undoubtedly, knowledge of the English lan-guage is a requirement to participate actively in the globalisation process. Chew (1999) reports on the linguistic development of Singapore, where the English language has been established as an official language, not as a result of natural development or because of historical reasons, but by law. The use of English has been enforced by the government and therefore it has become a dominant language, which has enabled the country to take part in the global economy and profit from globalisation. At the same time, English is seen as serving as “the courier of many cultures and sub-cultures” (Chew, 1999: 42) and the population of Singapore “views the adoption of English not so much as a threat to their own languages but as the key to a share of the world’s symbolic power” (Chew, 1999: 43).

The diversity of English and the diversity of its speakers

The major concept to categorise speakers of English is the distinction be-tween native speaker and non-native speaker. A native speaker is generally considered to be a person who has learned a language “in a natural setting from childhood as first or sole language” (Kachru & Nelson, 2001: 15), whereas the term non-native speaker generally refers to a person who learned English at school or at another institution as an additional language.

Authors argue about the identity of the native speaker, a fact which be-comes apparent in Paikeday’s radical title The Native Speaker is Dead! (1985). The native speaker used to be the point of reference when teaching English to non-natives, but in recent years this authority has been seriously questioned.2

When attempting to count the number of native speakers of English, the first task is to define the countries and territories where English is spoken. As it turns out, the number of those countries or territories is unclear. Whereas Graddol (1997: 11) speaks of “75 or so countries in which English has special status”, Ethnologue lists 106 countries and territories where English is spo-ken (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ENG, accessed July 18, 08). McArthur (2002: 3) is in-between with his statement that “Eng-lish is used in over 70 countries as an official or semi-official language and has a significant role in over 20 more”. Moreover, it is difficult to define what may be considered to be ‘English’, as some languages are called varieties of English, others are recognised as pidgins and creoles, but the boundary is not clear-cut.

Facing these uncertainties, it becomes obvious that counting speakers is nearly impossible and that all data available is largely, if not exclusively,


based on estimates. As a result, these estimates differ tremendously, and it is questionable as to whether the development of the estimated numbers really reflects reality. Crystal (1997a: 54) estimates the number between 320 and 380 million, whereas Crystal (2003: 109), somewhat surprisingly, counts 329,058,300 native speakers. If the number of speakers of English as a Native Language (ENL) is uncertain, then the estimates for speakers of English as a Second Language (ESL) are even more so. Crystal (1985: 7, referred to in Phil-lipson, 1992: 24) approximates the number of ESL speakers at 300 million, whereas Graddol (1997: 10) states a total number of 375 million. Crystal (2003: 109) counts 422,682,300 ESL speakers. The number has risen from 300 million to nearly 423 million within 18 years. A rise by 40% seems impres-sive, but doubtful at the same time. Perhaps the first estimates were based on insufficient data, but it may be that the estimates reflect the growing impor-tance of English around the world.

Estimating the number of speakers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) cannot be anything more than a good guess, the estimates range from 100 million to 1.000 million (Crystal, 1997a: 54; cf. also McArthur, 2002: 3). The numbers are bound to differ, especially for non-native speakers, because “everything depends on just how great a command of English is considered acceptable to count as a ‘speaker of English’” (Crystal, 1997a: 61). It is impos-sible to count the speakers of English, but the estimated numbers give an impression of the relevance of the language in today’s world.

ENL/ESL/EFL

The distinction between native and non-native speakers has been questioned, and so has the distinction between English as a Native Language, English as a Second Language, and English as a Foreign Language.

The general position is that in ENL countries people acquire English as their first language and are therefore native speakers of this language. In ESL countries (e.g. India, Nigeria, Singapore) English is used for a range of pur-poses or has an official status. As pointed out above, the estimated number of ESL speakers world-wide has risen by 40% within two decades. The main reason for this is the estimates on India. Following a statement from an article in India Today (18 August 1997) that “almost one in every three Indians claims to understand English although less than 20 percent are confident of speak-ing it”, Kachru (2005: 15) comes up with a far more optimistic figure: “The estimated population of India is now over one billion. The survey figures, then, add up to 333 million Indians who possess varying degrees of bilingual competence in Indian English and almost 200 million in China”.

Crystal (2003: 109) estimates 200 million ESL speakers in India, thus counting only the 20% of people who are “confident” speakers. Even though these numbers are estimates, it becomes clear that India almost equals the


United States in the number of speakers of English, including second lan-guage speakers, of course.

In EFL countries English is usually learned through education for inter-national and occupational purposes (cf. McArthur, 1992: 353). The distinction between ESL countries and EFL countries is questionable since 20% of the Indian population consider themselves to be confident speakers of English, whereas 38% of all non-native English speaking citizens of the European Union (aged fifteen years and over) claim to speak English well enough to hold a conversation. In Sweden the percentage is as high as 89% (http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf, accessed July 18, 08). As a result, it can be said that the categories ‘ESL country’ and ‘EFL country’ do not help to make qualitative statements on the English pro-ficiency the citizens generally have.

It is arguable whether the inhabitants of the Netherlands should be classi-fied as EFL speakers because English has no official status in that country, or as ESL speakers because of the enormous exposure to English through TV and radio (cf. Berns & de Bot, this volume) and increasingly in tertiary educa-tion, not only at postgraduate, but also at undergraduate level (Wilkinson, 2008). Furthermore, it is unknown how many citizens of Norway, for exam-ple, use English as a daily second language. English is widely used in Higher Education in Norway; many research groups have international teams, and many lectures are given in English.

English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)

English is increasingly used as a lingua franca in politics, trade, tourism, media and science and is therefore present in many people’s lives. This has not only influenced the development of the language, but the definition of the term lingua franca as well. Samarin (1987: 371) defined a lingua franca as a “medium of communication between people of different mother tongues for whom it is a second language”. This traditional definition excludes native speakers of English who contribute to a discussion with persons of different mother tongues in an EFL country. In order to include native speakers, McArthur (2002: 2) defines lingua franca as “a language common to, or shared by, many cultures and communities at any or all social and educa-tional levels, and used as an international tool”. The question of whether ELF can be assigned the status of a variety of its own has been widely discussed; as yet there is no conclusive answer (for a recent critique of the status of ELF as a variety of English see Prodromou, 2007). Linguistic varieties can be conceived as systems of linguistic expres-sion whose use is determined by extralinguistic, i.e., contextual variables. Varieties are usually described in terms of features which differ from the standard variety of a language, or in the case of English, from one or more of the standard varieties. One of the problems with ELF is that it develops faster


than established varieties of English spoken by native speakers, as the num-ber of speakers increases rapidly all over the world. Seidlhofer (2006: 46) states that “[i]t is likely that ELF, like any other natural language, will turn out to vary, and to change over time. It does not make much sense, therefore, to talk about a monolithic variety as such”. This statement implies that ELF is not a variety of English, but seen as a language on its own which will de-velop its own varieties.

Linguistic evidence for ELF as a variety or even as a language, seems, at least so far, to be very scarce. Research on ELF has changed over the past years. The linguistic description is still an important tool, but in addition, “common underlying processes of how speakers make use of ELF, and what they do to the code when using it” (Seidlhofer, 2006: 46f.) are under investi-gation. Native speakers could, or even should, adjust their language in order to meet the appropriate level for lingua franca communication, so there must be features beyond what has been described so far – native speakers and the majority of proficient non-native speakers will not stop inflecting 3rd person singular verbs.

Perhaps in the future there will be evidence for two different modes of in-teraction. It is difficult to imagine that native speakers of English will submit themselves to the ‘phonology’ of ELF (for example by substituting the inter-dental fricative by another sound, unless they are speakers of certain dia-lects). However, it can be envisaged that native speakers will make allow-ances on the pragmatic level of communication by adjusting their grammar and lexis as well as refraining from idioms and colloquial expressions, i.e., reducing and simplifying its complexity in ELF communication, in order to ensure communicative success. As long as there is no sufficient evidence for the existence of a new variety, there is no basis to identify ELF as phenome-non in its own right; in accordance with James (this volume) it would at pre-sent seem more appropriate to conceptualise ELF as a phenomenon that is “fragmented, contingent, marginal, transitional, indeterminate, ambivalent and hybrid in various ways.”

Jenkins (2000; see also this volume) lists a set of phonemes, the “Lingua Franca Core”, consisting of all phonemes necessary for intelligibility and therefore for successful lingua franca communication. All features which do not belong to the core are free for variation and can be considered variants of an ELF-accent. This model has, according to Jenkins (2007: 25), often been misinterpreted as a model for imitation. “This is not at all the case. It is, rather, a core of pronunciation features which occur in successful NNS-NNS communication and whose absence leads to miscommunication.” (ibid.).

For international communication, Crystal (1994: 113) stresses the rele-vance of an agreed standard:

If the reason for any nation wishing to promote English is to give it access to what the broader English-speaking world has to offer, then it is crucial for its people to be able to understand the English of that world, and to be understood in their turn.

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