MultiScience - XXXI. microCAD International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference University of Miskolc, Hungary, 20-21 April 2017
ISBN 978-963-358-132-2
Linguistic rights and language policy issues in relation to English as a Lingua Franca:
Introducing an innovative digital course for English majors Magnuczné Godó Ágnes
egyetemi docens
Modern Filológiai Intézet, BTK, Miskolci Egyetem
INTRODUCTION
The idea of the e-learning course material entitled Linguistic rights and language policy issues in relation to English as a Lingua Franca [1] has been inspired by the experience of a related seminar offered to English Studies BA and English Teacher Training MA students as well at the University of Miskolc. While most course titles create quite confident predictions about the nature of the issue at hand, my students are typically at a loss to interpret this one. Even though the idea is somewhat comprehensible, they do not see the reason why we should talk about it: English is all around, rather like air, it is also our main professional concern, so what rights should be demanded here? However, when we start talking about experiences of being taught or teaching English, about the norms we follow, the variety we choose to represent, the
"foreign language ego" we have developed in English, and how satisfied we are with it, almost invariably a heated discussion arises in a matter of minutes indicating the sensitive nature of the topic. If nothing more, the course has always forced the participants to reflect on their own non-native speaker selves and reconsider deep- lying beliefs that govern our teaching-learning practices. In the following I would like to outline the rationale underlying the course idea, and briefly introduce its conceptual framework.
RATIONALE
Although ranking only third with its 375 million native speakers, English is the world’s most widely spoken language with possibly more than a billion non-native speakers spread on all continents. It is the language of global communication, developing its unique varieties in international online chat rooms, video conferences, sports competitions, university classrooms, business meetings and interactive media shows. English seems to offer a convenient alternative for international communication, and a luring opportunity to become global citizens by sharing a language with about 25% of the world's population according to British Council estimates [2]. At the same time, there have always been concerns as to the price we pay for this: English might represent a linguistic and cultural threat to other languages and cultures [3] [4], promoting, for instance, ethnocentric ideals of valued knowledge [5] [6] and effective English language speakers [7].As Seidlhofer [8] points out, now there is "an inverse relationship between perceived significance and relevance of English in the world at large and linguistic descriptions focusing on the core native- speaker countries". However, compared to the native speaker norm in English Language Teaching (ELT) and international communication, non-native speakers are
DOI: 10.26649/musci.2017.129
inevitably seen as defective communicators. It seems that while Global English provides a medium of communication to connect people all over the world, it is accompanied by underlying cultural and intellectual values as well as linguistic expectations that might, at the same time, discriminate non-native speakers of English in certain language use contexts.
Appreciating the central role of English in accessing information, knowledge and working-learning opportunities worldwide, future language experts and teachers of English face the challenge of defining their non-native speaker self as well. For a devoted professional, language learning remains a life-long project, but as recent studies [9] [10] show, holding up the unattainable ideal of reaching native-like competence is a source of frustration for many non-native teachers and learners of English. Others opt for a different path of development: they recognise that however competent users of their foreign language they might become, their mother tongue and native culture will always shine through, so they turn it into an advantage, and set the more rewarding aim of becoming skilled intercultural mediators. The course intends to provide an opportunity for students to reconsider their language learning experiences and non-native speaker selves from different perspectives, raise their awareness of the political, cultural and educational underpinnings of Global English, and enable them to make informed decisions in their professional lives.
THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE COURSE
The course aims to focus on the linguistic rights and language policy issues related to Global English and ELT. After setting the ground by defining the criteria for a global language and examining the aspects of the evolution of English into one, students are encouraged to consider the advantages and disadvantages of both having a single world language/European contact language and the EU’s plurilingualism policy. The debate is then refocused from a language policy viewpoint contrasting the Linguistic Imperialism and Linguistic Ecology Paradigms, and showing how Global English has been accompanied by various pedagogical and language use norms that might disadvantage non-native language users. As a solution for this problem, an attempt is now being made to democratise English language use and rehabilitate the non-native speaker by reconceptualising Global English as English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). The course discusses the features of ELF and how moving the focus from English as a Foreign Language to English as a Lingua Franca might change language teaching perspectives. Finally, teachers' and learners' voices are introduced as they talk about their attitude to ELF, the norms they follow, the aims they hold and the difficulties they have in attaining them. Students are encouraged to draw their own conclusions about the new language skills and communicative competences, as well as new ways of conceptualising themselves as non-native speakers that might facilitate language learning success.
The course consists of 8 modules, each of which focuses on a specific thematic area.
Each module contains four lessons, the last one of which is always a revision.
Module 1 offers a quiz and background information about Global English and its evolution into a lingua franca, followed by module 2, which defines the concept of
world language and considers different candidates for this position. To be able to appreciate the current position of English, it is of key importance to trace its road to success, to highlight the role of political, economic and cultural factors as well as historical incidents that create the world-conquering image of a language. Although the term Global English is a relatively new one, having first appeared in the 1980s, the idea of a lingua franca, a contact language to facilitate communication regionally or worldwide among people with different first language backgrounds has long standing historical traditions. Latin, which evolved in Latinum, Italy, became the language of the Roman Empire and remained the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until the 18th century, when it began to be replaced by local languages. Even today several lingua francas continue to be used in particular regions, such as French, Spanish, Urdu, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic or Chinese without intending to or having a chance to achieve worldwide recognition similar to that of English. What does international linguistic prestige depend on? Why is English the world's lingua franca if it has 100 million fewer speakers than Mandarin Chinese [11]?
What are the "pull" factors of English that have traditionally been stronger than the
"push" factors? Is learning English different for the younger generations today than learning Russian for their parents' and grandparents’ generation? Students are asked to explore the reasons by looking at the "lingua franca recipe", comparing the potential of languages based on these and involving their own experiences.
Module 3 takes a synchronic perspective on World Englishes, and guides the reader through the terminological maze that characterises the field. For reasons of simplicity, public discourse uses the term Global English to refer to the English language and its varied representations spoken by non-native speakers around the world. However, this approach is, indeed, too simplistic as it covers a host of problem issues, such as, for instance, what we mean by "the" English language, or why we use the singular form when we speak about varied representations. Uncovering the connotations of varied terms offers a fascinating view of the complexity of the issue and raises awareness of the difficulties of finding non-discriminative terms for different English speaking groups. This module also introduces [12] classical circles of English speakers, which categorise and assign labels such as "norm providing", "norm developing" and "norm- dependent" to them based on their country of origin. Listening to a variety of speech samples, students are encouraged to assess the effectiveness of various native and non- native speakers from the point of view of international communication and consider alternative classifications of English speakers. As an example of a recent reconceptualisation, Emmerson's alternative circles [7] are offered for comparison to highlight that different communicative skills and language competences make an effective foreign language speaker in target language and international contexts.
Although the advantages of using English as a Lingua Franca for communicating in international contexts, disseminating scientific knowledge and enjoying the benefits of IT are unquestionable, there are still voices expressing concerns about the overwhelming transformative power of English. Module 4 examines the claim stating that English is a cultural and linguistic threat and introduces the major linguistic rights and language policy issues connected to it. Language teaching is a highly ideology- laden area. Besides linguistic forms, it involves conveying ways of expression, cultural
values and expectations related to the target culture, and in an ideal case, to the L1 culture and the relationship of the two. Today learners of English are made to believe they will belong to a global culture through this medium. However, it is still uncertain how speakers of the outer and expanding circles can actually handle their differences to integrate as fully-fledged members into this club. Can they reflect their own selves through the patterns shaped by their native tongue and culture, or should they accept the forms and norms of thinking and communication that this new "liberating medium of communication" [13] offers and slowly assimilate? Can they have equal opportunities in higher education and on the job market when their non-native English communication has often been labelled as "deviant" or "problematic", and their idiosyncratic way of thinking "illogical" or "hazy" by Anglo-American contrastive rhetorical research? While Global English is promoted as a deculturised medium of intercultural communication, experts warn that English can never become fully neutral, and the gate-keeping practices in education and business reflect a strong ethnocentric bias [3]. The module offers insight into this often criticised aspect of Global English and encourages learners to reflect on their own learning and consider specific aspects of ELT methodology that serve business interests of language promotion rather than learners’ aims.
Modules 5-6 offer alternatives for what many see as cultural and linguistic imperialism promoted by Global English: European plurilingualism and reconceptualising English as a Lingua Franca. The economic, cultural and linguistic changes involved in globalisation have generated a lot of concerns in the last 30-40 years. Parallel with the enthusiasm with which English was embraced worldwide "as the royal road to democracy, a market economy, and human rights" [4], experts increasingly raised their voice against "MacDonaldization" [4] and uniformisation. Taking an ideological perspective, Tsuda (as cited in [4]) suggested the diffusion of the English paradigm and the related focus on capitalism, modernisation, monolingualism, internationalization and homogenisation of world culture should be replaced by the language ecology paradigm, which foregrounds biocultural and linguistic diversity, equality in communication, multilingualism, protection of national sovereignties and the promotion of foreign language education. Language ecology itself can be defined as a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the complex interaction between the environment, the language and its speakers. This is a powerful alternative to globalisation and internationalisation emphasising the need to cultivate and preserve native languages as the sources of local knowledge and social practices that facilitate the survival of small communities in their indigenous environment. The European Union’s plurilinguistic language policy [14] is clearly based on these considerations emphasising the need for every EU citizen to speak minimally two foreign languages, one of which is a personally adopted language learnt out of interest or enthusiasm rather than for profit. It also underlines the idea that not only advanced level knowledge of a L2 matters: even lower-level competence can enable speakers to communicate in international contexts and thus raise interest in other people and cultures.
Along the same lines, a paradigm shift can be observed in positioning Global English as well. In recent years speakers of English as a foreign language have by far outnumbered native speakers [15]. The nature of English language communication in international contexts has been changing: it increasingly requires high-level intercultural sensitivity and advanced negotiation skills rather than native-like language competence. As a result the overall relevance of native speaker standards in ELT has been questioned by many [16] [17], and it has been emphasised that learners of English should be prepared for real language use, which is most likely to take place among non-native speakers in international contexts. All these considerations have led to the recognition that a new variety of English termed English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has evolved in international communication, which is a contact language chosen by people with different L1 backgrounds for shared communication [18]. As "in lack of a shared linguistic and cultural background, the ELF context is an ever-changing, dynamic process created by the active involvement of the participants" (p. 505) [16], ELF necessarily sets different standards of effectiveness and necessitates new competences such as cooperation and negotiating meaning, or using compensatory strategies [18]. While such a widespread context of communication demands adjustments in determining the aims of ELT as well, the ELF phenomenon is unquestionably a counter reaction to English linguistic imperialism, rehabilitating non- native speakers and giving credit to bilingual and multilingual mediators.
Module 7 introduces the teachers' and learners' perspectives on English as a Lingua Franca, and how they see the transition from EFL to ELF. Although the ELF approach could help narrow the gap between educational practices and real-life language use, and focus attention on key skills (e.g. handling variety, adjusting speech to partner’s capacity, negotiating ideas in different ways, activating cultural background knowledge to read between the lines, etc.) that are often neglected within the current framework, the participants of ELT seem to have reservations about the new idea.
Teachers complain that course materials still promote the ideal of successful communication with native speakers, which serves business interests pointing far beyond the concerns of language learners [19]. Having learnt RP in formal education, they also seem to consider ELF as a kind of pidgin, an incorrect, broken form of the language – even if this is what they themselves actually speak [9]. This clearly makes it difficult to form a confident teacher and L2 user ego, and prevents teachers from enjoying the confidence that the role of the competent intercultural mediator could offer instead. Students, influenced by English language exam requirements all over the world (serving huge commercial interests), also define language competence on the basis of native English norms and are reluctant to accept a concept of linguistic correctness differing from these. The materials in this module provide an impetus for course participants to examine their own deep-lying beliefs and motivations related to the usefulness and best methods of learning English as well as the kind of English they believe they want to represent and for what purposes. Awareness raising is of key importance in this area as research shows that the more information teachers and learners have about the ELF phenomenon, the more realistic aims they can set, and the more confident bilingual speakers they will be.
The course provides a balanced overview of the key language policy and ELT concerns having surfaced in connection with the global use of English, representing different viewpoints that can be compared and contrasted. The aim is not to convince students of the validity of specific opinions but to provide information, offer opportunities to reflect on personal learning experiences and encourage students to form an informed opinion about the phenomenon. This in turn might help them clarify their own professional developmental objectives and form a more confident self-image as non-native language users. The ideas are presented by a rich collection of varied resources including book chapters, research papers, international surveys as well as newspaper reports, blogs, online opinion polls, TV interviews, YouTube videos and TED talks. These sources demonstrate different approaches to Global English including academic, pedagogical, "men-of-the-street", personal teacher/learner and even literary perspectives, and, in line with the principles of ELF, native as well as non-native viewpoints. The audiovisual materials also offer a broad spectrum of Englishes illustrating in practice the linguistic variety speakers of English should cope with in international contexts. The related tasks encourage a critical analysis of key issues and the expression of personal opinions.
As the course is designed for English majors up to MA level, whose learning objectives include moving towards C1 level of language proficiency according to CEFR, an important aim is to develop academic reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in English and a broad field-specific vocabulary through a variety of different task types. Screenager, hosting the material, offers an innovative, user- friendly digital educational platform with 15 task types to process the material, including multiple choice questions, matching tasks, guided writing, open ended compositions and self-recorded video responses/short talks. The closed task types are complemented with a self-check option to foster autonomous learning as well.
CONCLUSION
The course material satisfies a need to incorporate more systematic awareness raising into English Studies BA and English Teacher Training MA programmes related to the language policy issues and pedagogical principles promoting the exclusive global dominance of English. Recent studies have shown that non-native teachers and learners of English often have controversial and unrealistic language learning aims, which tends to result in frustration, a feeling of incompetence and demotivation, and eventually might act against life-long learning objectives and seeking opportunities for active language use. Information and explicit training related to the changing position of English, and thus the changing competences defining effective English speakers in global communication might help non-native speakers of English redefine their foreign language ego and, instead of working hopelessly for the largely unattainable aim of achieving native-like, develop a more confident and rewarding identity as intercultural mediators.
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