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Understanding the role of English and English

language teaching in the globalisation era

Nicos SifakisA P fAssoc. Professor

Hellenic Open UniversitySerres, 22.02.2014

sifakis@eap.gr

http://eap academia edu/NicosCSifakis

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http://eap.academia.edu/NicosCSifakis

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• 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

Sh i ki f ti f t d l t f• Shrinking of time: fast development of markets & technologies, decision-making & action-taking achieved at a distance

• Disappearing borders: influences markets, movement of capital / information, ideas,

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What is globalisation?

values, lifestyles

(UNDP, 1999)

New technologies

f ki New ways of working

New communities

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Friedman’s 3 world “flatteners”

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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

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Three “waves” of globalisation

revolution(Robertson, 2003)

“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 ofcontributed to the best half-century of world economic growth at least since the time of Christ, and probably ever.”

(Bradford et al., 2006: 893)

“S j t ‘th b i f A i i

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“So just as ‘the business of America is business’, manifestly English for business is business for English.”

(Phillipson, 2001: 190-1)

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• 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

9Major international domains of English

• As a relay language, in interpretation and translation

• Technology transfer

• Internet communication

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Quiz: Who is “worth” more?

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...after McArthur (2005)

• Level 1: “English language complex”

• Level 2: Chinese, Spanish, Hindi-Urdu

• Level 3: Arabic, French, German, Japanese,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 l 7 Ab A i D l t

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Categorisations

• Level 7: Abaga, Ari, Dengalu, etc.

...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 t b t 6000 d b

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Categorisations

• Peripheral: the rest, about 6000, used by 10% of world population

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• 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

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What makes a language global?

BC but Greek was the lingua franca of the Mediterranean

The “special” roleof English

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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 whose mother tongues are different with a

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Terminology

gpurpose of simplifying communication between them” (UNESCO, 1953)

WHOSE English we teach

defines

WHAT English we teach

• Native Speaker Standard English

ESL, EFL

• Non-Native Speaker English as Lingua Franca

16Implications

p g g

EIL, ELF

Combinations of the above?

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• 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

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Lingua Franca Core: a model for pronunciation instruction

stress on the wrong word in an utterance, will direct the listener’s attention to the wrong place, leading to confusion

• 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 (2002-

2008)

• 7.025 Foreign Language Centres• 23.720 teachers

• 558.099 learnersEnglish: 478.423 German: 32.508 French: 24.922 Spanish: 12 274

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In Greece,we adore education…

Spanish: 12.274 Italian: 8.128 Some other language: 1.844

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German6%

Italian1%

Spanish2%

E li h

French5%

6% 2%

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English86%

The broader contextGreece:• Traditionally viewed as a societal context y

characterised by a linguistically & culturally homogeneous narrative

• Today, transformation from a migrant-sending to a migrant-receiving country

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• Significant numbers of newly arrived immigrant and Greek-born children of immigrant parents in mainstream schools

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The broader contextGreek TESOL:• … seen as an Expanding Circle (EFL)

context

• … in which the traditional TESOL approach has been underpinned by the TEFL paradigm

However:

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• Awareness of a new international function of English

• Awareness of a new intranational function of English

• 91%: E. the most useful language after MT (Eurobarometer 2001)

• 42%: self-acknowledged sufficient knowledge of Eknowledge of E.

• Cambridge ESOL Exams (2006):– FCE: Greece 50th (out of 67 countries), 57%

success rate

– CPE: 31st (out of 31 countries), 46% success t

How do we “feel” about English?

rate

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• How well do we believe we know E? 24% “very well” (Eurobarometer, 2001)

Confidence vs. Competence:

mismatch?

How do we “feel” about English?

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Characterising TESOL practice

Traditionally:

• (1) FOREIGN LANGUAGE(1) FOREIGN LANGUAGE

• (2) EXAM-ORIENTED

Another possibility:

• (3) INTERNATIONAL (ELF/EIL)

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(3) INTERNATIONAL (ELF/EIL)

• (4) MULTICULTURAL (MATE) orientation: Multicultural awareness through English

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Question: Which of the following descriptions best suits your current (or mostsuits your current (or most recent) teaching situation?

(1) FOREIGN LANGUAGE

(2) EXAM-ORIENTED

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(3) INTERNATIONAL (ELF/EIL)

(4) MULTICULTURAL (MATE) orientation: Multicultural awareness through English

• “EFL”?– “Standard English”, mid-Atlantic (NS)

– “the expression ‘foreign’ indicates ‘distance’” (Ehlich 2009: 27); this has individual and(Ehlich, 2009: 27); this has individual and societal consequences

• “EIL”?– One variety or many? Which variety (-ies)?

What English do we teach?

y y y ( )

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• “ELF”?– Intelligibility, comprehensibility (NNS-NNS)

– How?

• Exam-bound?• Exam-bound?– Washforward? Washback?

• A hybrid?

“old-school”: correct-incorrect

“new-school”: appropriacy purpose-

What English do we teach?

new-school : appropriacy, purpose-driven

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Question:

Fluency / Accuracy:Fluency / Accuracy:Does this polarity belong to the “old” or

the “new” school?

And why?

What English do we teach?28

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• “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 havelanguage learning. To begin with, we have 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.’

What English do we teach?

p

(Canagarajah, 2005: 209-10)

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• In the FL classroom– Curriculum

– Coursebook

– Additional material

C t l b– Computer lab

• Outside the FL classroom– Social media (e.g., Facebook)

– Gaming (online, offline)

M bil t h l ( iPh iP d PSP t )

What English do we learn?

– Mobile technology (e.g., iPhone, iPod, PSP, etc)

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• 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

i ”)

How do we teach English?

natives”)

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• “Previously learned languages can be acknowledged and used within the classroom context by students and teachers alike as bridge languages. The g g gexplicit acknowledgement of the existence of previous languages, plus recognition of their status as useful pedagogical tools will naturally ease the new language learning process ” (Hufeisen & Jessner 2009: 126)

How do we teach English?

process. (Hufeisen & Jessner, 2009: 126)

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• 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 “non-ti ” “ i ” th FL

A two-tiered proposal

native” user “owning” the FL

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Teacher preparation

Teacher autonomy

Teacher empowerment

Going beyond the coursebook35

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Thank you!

sifakis@eap.gr

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sifakis@eap.gr

http://eap.academia.edu/NicosCSifakis