Varieties of Today’s English

1987 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 63-86
Author(s):  
Ali M. El-Sayed
Keyword(s):  
Effective Teachers ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Arab Students ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Arab Schools ◽  
Arabic Speaking

Today’s English refers to a state or states of the English language as used by its speakers. There are many varieties of English spoken throughout the world. Today’s English is a term that does not describe a single regional or national variety of English, but a language that extends beyond the national borders of native speakers to include second and foreign language speakers. Recent research focuses on the state of the language, the diversity of its users, the contexts of its use, and the effects on the communities using it. It has been the practice of those in authority in the Ministries of Education and universities in the Arab World in general and the Arabian Gulf in particular to hire many native speakers of English to teach English in schools and universities. The assumption was that natives with native speakers’ accent are more effective teachers than teachers of English whose native language is Arabic. Why should an Arab student learn, for instance RP and not any other variety? The writer advocates the practice of hiring a greater percentage of Arabic speaking teachers to teach English in Arab schools and universities. Hiring a particular native speaker of English to teach English to Arab students forces those students to listen and be exposed to a particular variety instead of an international variety that is intelligible and international enough to be accepted by every one. Besides, listening and speaking to a Britisher more an American are not of great importance to Arab students. What is more important are the two skills of reading and writing since they are the only two channels through which western science and technology could be transferred to Arabs. Because of the nature of Arab students’ motivation, the writer advocates the use of more suitable cultural materials.

scholarly journals Representation of the Characters in the Claimed English as an International Language-Targeted Coursebooks

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Solhi Andarab
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Materials Development ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
International Language ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Subject

<p><em>The cultural and linguistic hegemony of the native speakers of English over the non-native speakers in the process of language learning and teaching has paved the way for the stereotypical and biased representations of the non-native speakers of English in majority of the English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebooks. Actually, this essentialist approach in the process of materials development is likely to result in reductionist overgeneralization and otherization of foreign societies (Holliday, 1994). However, in recent years, with the advent of English as a International Language (EIL), the issue of native speakerism, the ownership of English, and consequently the cultural content of ELT coursebooks have been the subject of debates. Despite the dominance of native speaker varieties of English in ELT coursebooks, there has been a growing awareness among publishers over the past years and accordingly some EIL-based coursebooks targeted specifically at EIL learners have been published. In this study, a sample group of such coursebooks was subject to close scrutiny. In so doing, an attempt was made to examine the representation of the characters in the claimed EIL-targeted coursebooks. According to the results of the study, despite the claim to be based on EIL, the biased representation of the non-native speakers of English is observed throughout the entire series of the analyzed coursebooks and they superficially surface a stereotypical association of culture and location/country.</em><em></em></p>

scholarly journals Native-speakerism revisited: Global Englishes, ELT and intercultural communication

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-129
Author(s):  
Fan (Gabriel) Fang
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
English Speaking

The English language functions as a global lingua franca, and as the number of non-native speakers of English surpasses the number of native speakers of English, the ideology of native-speakerism is challenged. Viewing from the paradigm of Global Englishes (GE), English is no longer the sole property of its native speakers. This paper first discusses and presents a general picture regarding standard language ideology and the ideology of native-speakerism, and links the notion to how such ideas would exert an influence on teacher recruitment and intercultural communication in English language teaching (ELT). This paper then employs narrative inquiry from Chinese ELT professionals who have education experience abroad to reveal how they negotiate their professional identities in relation to privilege and marginalization when working with native English speaking colleagues. This paper argues for the importance of moving beyond the idealized native speaker model from the GE paradigm to challenge the ideology of native-speakerism in various aspects of ELT, in particular, in expanding circle contexts.

scholarly journals "To ELF or not to ELF?" (English as a Lingua Franca): that's the question for Applied Linguistics in a globalized world

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Robert Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Globalized World

The realization that there are today more nonnative speakers than native speakers of English in the world with institutionalized and nativized varieties as well as their own specific communicative, cultural and pragmatic competencies has led to the rethinking of present-day practices in teaching, teacher preparation, and the writing of textbooks. Jenkins' publications (2000, 2003) dealing with the phonology of English and material for teaching English as an international language along with her book English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) (2007) call for the disengagement of the language from Anglo-American native speaker norms. This line of research presents serious questions for Applied Linguistics (AL) and English Language Teaching (ELT) that will, if implemented, entail major changes in that endeavor. The winds of change may indeed be beneficial for some and a threat to others. I argue in this paper for an open mindset with respect to the issues and to the new state of affairs in this globalized world today.

Foreign accent in advanced learners

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 171-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Muñoz ◽  
David Singleton
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Language Background ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Oral Retelling ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

Research has generally found age of learning (AOL) (i.e., age of initial significant L2 exposure) to predict degree of foreign accent (FA), while length of residence (LOR) has sometimes been seen as simply a corollary of AOL. The subjects in the present study were twelve late L2 learners of English with an average AOL of 22.5 and an average LOR of 10, plus a native-speaker control group. All the English-L2 subjects had Spanish and/or Catalan as L1. Short extracts were taken from their oral retelling of a film narrative and judged for FA by four native speakers of English. Language background data were elicited by questionnaire and interview. A significant difference overall emerged between native speakers and non-natives in terms of FA ratings. However, two of the learners scored within the native-speaker range. The discussion examines the possible influence of an array of factors on degree of FA, and explores what might underlie the native-like performance of the two most successful learners.

scholarly journals Who are the non-native speakers of English? A critical discourse analysis of global ELT textbooks

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-296
Author(s):  
Zulma Xiomara Rueda García ◽  
Encarna Atienza Cerezo
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
World Market ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Sociocultural Characteristics ◽  
Critical Perspectives

As the demand for English language skills among non-native speakers globally has grown steadily so too has the number of ‘global textbooks’ for ELT aimed at a world market. Concurrently, critical perspectives of the expansion of English have begun to challenge the view that native speaker contexts ‘own’ English. Based on the aforementioned, and on reflective approaches to culture, our objective is to analyze critically the representations of speakers of English as a second or foreign language offered by two global ELT textbooks, to discuss the issues of essentialization and reproduction of stereotypes about the “non-native” speakers of English and their sociocultural characteristics in the constructed image. To achieve this purpose, we apply a methodology based on a sociocognitive approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Van Dijk, 2013), the concept of sociocultural knowledge as stated by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and critical perspectives of culture according to Holliday, Kullman, and Hyde (2004). Our findings indicate that, though the books include ‘non-native’ speakers in an attempt to address multiculturalism, their representation is generic, portraying a reified image of their sociocultural traits and presenting diversity mostly through national labels.

scholarly journals Predictive processes during simultaneous interpreting from German into English

Interpreting ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ena Hodzik ◽  
John N. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Transitional Probability ◽  
Semantic Cues ◽  
Simultaneous Interpreting ◽  
Spoken Language Processing ◽  
Advanced Students ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Predictive Processes

We report a study on prediction in shadowing and simultaneous interpreting (SI), both considered as forms of real-time, ‘online’ spoken language processing. The study comprised two experiments, focusing on: (i) shadowing of German head-final sentences by 20 advanced students of German, all native speakers of English; (ii) SI of the same sentences into English head-initial sentences by 22 advanced students of German, again native English speakers, and also by 11 trainee and practising interpreters. Latency times for input and production of the target verbs were measured. Drawing on studies of prediction in English-language reading production, we examined two cues to prediction in both experiments: contextual constraints (semantic cues in the context) and transitional probability (the statistical likelihood of words occurring together in the language concerned). While context affected prediction during both shadowing and SI, transitional probability appeared to favour prediction during shadowing but not during SI. This suggests that the two cues operate on different levels of language processing in SI.

English language schooling, linguistic realities, and the native speaker of English in Hong Kong

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jette G. Hansen Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Government School ◽  
The Impact ◽  
At Home

AbstractThe study employs a case study approach to examine the impact of educational backgrounds on nine Hong Kong tertiary students’ English and Cantonese language practices and identifications as native speakers of English and Cantonese. The study employed both survey and interview data to probe the participants’ English and Cantonese language use at home, school, and with peers/friends. Leung, Harris, and Rampton’s (1997, The idealized native speaker, reified ethnicities, and classroom realities.TESOL Quarterly 31(3). 543–560) framework of language affiliation, language expertise, and inheritance was used to examine the construction of a native language identity in a multilingual setting. The study found that educational background – and particularly international school experience in contrast to local government school education – had an impact on the participants’ English language usage at home and with peers, and also affected their language expertise in Cantonese. English language use at school also impacted their identifications as native speakers of both Cantonese and English, with Cantonese being viewed largely as native language based on inheritance while English was being defined as native based on their language expertise, affiliation and use, particularly in contrast to their expertise in, affiliation with, and use of Cantonese.

scholarly journals Proficiency Differences in Syntactic Processing of Monolingual Native Speakers Indexed by Event-related Potentials

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 2728-2744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Pakulak ◽  
Helen J. Neville
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Proficiency Scores

Although anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency, which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult monolingual native speakers of English using an ERP paradigm. ERPs were recorded to insertion phrase structure violations in naturally spoken English sentences. Participants recruited from a wide spectrum of society were given standardized measures of English language proficiency, and two complementary ERP analyses were performed. In between-groups analyses, participants were divided on the basis of standardized proficiency scores into lower proficiency and higher proficiency groups. Compared with lower proficiency participants, higher proficiency participants showed an early anterior negativity that was more focal, both spatially and temporally, and a larger and more widely distributed positivity (P600) to violations. In correlational analyses, we used a wide spectrum of proficiency scores to examine the degree to which individual proficiency scores correlated with individual neural responses to syntactic violations in regions and time windows identified in the between-groups analyses. This approach also used partial correlation analyses to control for possible confounding variables. These analyses provided evidence for the effects of proficiency that converged with the between-groups analyses. These results suggest that adult monolingual native speakers of English who vary in language proficiency differ in the recruitment of syntactic processes that are hypothesized to be at least in part automatic as well as of those thought to be more controlled. These results also suggest that to fully characterize neural organization for language in native speakers it is necessary to include participants of varying proficiency.

scholarly journals English as a Lingua Franca Approach: Implications and Limitations in Saudi English as a Foreign Language Classrooms

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 96-104
Author(s):  
Samar Alharbi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
English As Foreign Language ◽  
The World ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Foreign Language Classrooms ◽  
Global Language

English language considers a global language spoken by a majority of people around the world. It is a language used mainly for communication, trades and study purposes. This widespread of English language being wildly spoken lead to different varieties of English as a lingua franca (ELF) means that non native speakers of English still be able to communicate with each other. Using ELF as a legitimate variety of English in language classrooms is questioned by some researchers. This paper will provide an overview of the concept of ELF. It will also present implications and limitations of using ELF in Saudi English as foreign language classrooms.

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