Article Summary 2: World Englishes and English as a Lingua franca

I read this article “Current Perspectives on Teaching World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca”  by Jenkins (2006) in order to present the idea of this article in class. This article provides us with varieties of views on World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca, and I enjoyed reading it, so I put it here just to share with more people.

Summary

This article explores recent research in World Englishes (WEs) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), as well as examines the definitions of WEs and WLF, from the standpoint which equalize them with native speakers’ English, and accepts, rather than rejects, these new varieties of of English in the field of TESOL. This article is composed of four parts : definition of WEs and ELF, review of relevant research, implications for TESOL language standard, and assessment of consensus on WEs and ELF.

Firstly, it provides three definitions of WEs, asserting that there is little confusion among them. It defines ELF, on the other hand, with relevance to English as an International Language (EIL), and World Standard (Spoken) English (WS(S)E), with emphasis on its pluricentricity and intelligibility among non-native speakers. Secondly, it provides an overview of recent development in WEs and ELF with the views of corpus study, WEs variety, nativised and mother tongue English,  and anti-imperialism and anti-hegemony, concluding that WEs and ELF can no longer be considered as optional extras. It also pays close attention on some key research, which is about SLA, challenges against linguistic imperialism, and ELF lexicogrammar. Thirdly, it discusses  “ownership of English” (Widdowson, 1994), and concluded that teachers and students have to accommodate other varieties of English into their multilingual classroom, as well as the teachers have to construct appropriate methodology in different contexts of language learning and use. Finally, it assesses the consensus on intelligibility of WEs/ELF, as well as the ling between language and identity, awareness raising and testing of WEs/ELF, suggesting researcher to find ways of bringing WEs and ELF together in their interest.

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1. Definition of World Englishes (WEs) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)

   1.1. WEs   1: English as an “umbrella label” covering all varieties

                    2: The so-called new Englishes. Nativised, indigenised, institutionalized
                        Englishes.

                    3: English associated with Kachru’s pluricentric approach.

“pluricentric approach”: means that there are several global centers, native and non-native, each with
                                    its own standard variety of English. (Jenkins, 2009, p.70. Extracted from a blog)

“pluricentric language”: language with several standard versions, both in spoken and in written forms. (wikipedia)

   

   1.2. ELF = English as an International Language (EIL) / World Standard (Spoken) English 
                      (WS(S)E)?

        1.2.1. EIL: 1. “it suggests that there is one clearly distinguishable, codified, and unitary
                               variety called International English, which is certainly not the case”
                               -Seidlhofer (2004)

                          2. English which “refer[s] to the use of English as a means of
                              international communication across national and linguistic boundaries.

        1.2.1. WS(S)E: a hypothetical, monolithic form of English

                                “single monochrome standard form” - Quirk (1985)

        1.2.1. ELF: Pluricentric. English which is pluricentric in that it is based on local 
                           norms.

                           Use/intelligibility. English which are widely used and widely intelligible
                           across groups of English speakers from different first language
                           backgrounds.  
       

As far as ELF interactions are concerned, any participating mother tongue speakers will have to follow the speakers will have to follow the agenda set by ELF speakers, rather than vice versa.

2. Overview of relevant research

  2.1. General Overview

• Corpus studies including outer and expanding circles. cf. ICE, VOICE
• Dictionaries and grammars of different Englishes. cf. The Macquarie Dictionary (1997)
• A variety of WEs, such as Asian, China, Japanese, European, and Latin American English.
• Nativised and mother tongue Englishes
• Anti-imperialistic and anti-hegemonic view of WEs

      WEs and ELF can no longer be considered optional extras. 

 2.2. Key research and controversies

       2.2.1. Interlanguage (IL) v. WEs/ELF

                 IL theory claims that a second language speaker’s competence lie between L1
                 and L2. However, it ignores the local Englishes’ sociohistorical development
                 and sociocultural context, as well as their hybrid English speaker identities.

       2.2.2. Agains linguistic imperialism

                 Canagarajah (1999) challenged and resisted linguistic imperialism, claiming the 

                 importance of local use of English. “Native-speakerist” element. which was lead
                 from linguistic imperialism should be reduced from teaching materials.

       2.2.3. Lexicogrammar of ELF

                 Seidlhofer (2004) worked on the potential salient features of ELF lexicogrammar
                 and found nine features which are unproblematic to communicative success. On
                 the other hand, ELF writing features are highly controversial.

3. Implications for TESOL language standard

Standard English is extremely difficult to define. How teachers and students accommodate other varieties of English into their multilingual classroom is very important.

There is still heavy bias toward standard American or British English in terms of what Widdowson (1994) calls ownership of English. This challenge will be translated into appropriate methodology (Holliday, 1994) for learners in different contexts of language learning and use.

4. Assessment of consensus on WEs and ELF

Teachers and their learners need to learn not English, but about Englishes, their similarities and differences, issues involved in intelligibility, the strong ling between language and identity, and so on.

Pluricentric approach would enable each learner’s and speaker’s English to reflect his or her own sociolinguistic reality, and to raise awareness of the diversity of English. It is also important for  speakers of WEs and ELF to adjust their speech in order to be intelligible to interlocutors form a wide range of L1 backgrounds.

Testing of WEs/ELF will involve both devising the means to distinguish between learner error and local variety, and finding ways of identifying accommodation.

Researchers need to find ways of bringing WEs and ELF together in recognition of their shared interests, whatever their circle or research focus.