... View full textDownload full text Full access. DOI: 10.1080/15348450903476857 Breda O'Har... more ... View full textDownload full text Full access. DOI: 10.1080/15348450903476857 Breda O'Hara-Davies a * ... In Chapter 8, Anna Wierzbicka alludes to her inability to sound true to herself emotionally in English, which does not carry the same emotional charge as her mother tongue ...
We live in an era of accelerated change and innovation which demands that we adapt and evolve or ... more We live in an era of accelerated change and innovation which demands that we adapt and evolve or risk obsolescence and exclusion. This paper traces the path of English language teaching (ELT) since its inception. It examines some of the underlying theories that have guided its policies and practices at classroom level. It also questions whether ELT has kept pace with linguistic and other developments on a wider societal scale. Using an autoethnographic approach, the paper traces the parallel journey of the author in her role as an English language teacher in Brunei Darussalam. It aims at providing a reflexive account of the ways in which critical engagement with theory have impacted her attitudes, practices and ongoing evolution as a professional.
Applied Linguistics, Global and Local: Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics 9-11 September 2010 University of Aberdeen, 2011
We live in a "liquid modern world" (Bauman, 2004:26) where globalising forces are in the ascendan... more We live in a "liquid modern world" (Bauman, 2004:26) where globalising forces are in the ascendant. Yet countries whose nationalism was interrupted by imperialism find themselves in the quandary of seeking to assert national identities at a juncture when that very construct is subject to challenge by the oft-invoked notion of a ‘borderless' world.
This paper explores the mixing of identities involved in the lives of a group of sixteen young people in one such country, Brunei Darussalam, as they endeavour to embrace the world of today whilst retaining the essences of self that enable them to be true to their ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. Set amid many paradoxes and contradictory influences, these individuals are involved in the "local take-up" (Pennycook, 2007:7) of aspects of dominant cultures that appeal to them on their own terms. Data generated from informal interviews conducted in English, their L2, reveal the struggles involved in the negotiation and concurrent ‘living out' of these local and global selves within the self.
References: Bauman, Z. (2004). Identity: Conversations with Benedetto Vecchi. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and transcultural flows. London: Routledge.
A considerable amount of time has elapsed since the existence of a distinct variety of English, B... more A considerable amount of time has elapsed since the existence of a distinct variety of English, Brunei English (BNE), was mooted in the early 1990s. A subsequent study conducted by Svalberg in 1998 suggested that BNE was then in its infancy and that its speakers were largely unaware of the differences between it and Standard British English (STE). However, it was predicted that BNE would, in all likelihood, expand and stabilise over time. This paper seeks to explore how BNE has evolved and is developing in a contemporary context. An adapted and extended version of Svalberg’s original Grammaticality Judgement Test was given to a class of 29 Lower Sixth Form students aged 16-17 at D.P.M.A.M.B. College. The participants involved had relatively high proficiency levels in STE, having all achieved credit grades in the Brunei-Cambridge GCE O Level English Language examination the previous year. The original test had focused solely on the grammatical acceptability of featured items. In extending it I added a number of lexical items commonly heard in everyday conversations and exchanges and some that emerge consistently in both student and public texts. It was considered that having participants assess both lexicality and grammaticality would yield a wider-ranging picture of the forms and functions characteristic of BNE today and a greater illumination of its role in meeting the expressive needs of Bruneians.
This paper summarises the results of a qualitative study which focused on 60 Malay students aged ... more This paper summarises the results of a qualitative study which focused on 60 Malay students aged 17–19 years in Brunei Darussalam. It explored the interplay of factors that colour the participants' attitude to the English language and its role in their education as well as in their lives. Brunei's status as a former British protectorate was taken into account with particular emphasis on its continuing choice of a dated qualifying examination that enshrines exonormative (British) standards. Participants' difficulties in this high stakes examination were set against a backdrop of their acceptance of the reality of the hegemonic nature of the English language in today's world. Optimal levels of corroboration of data were sought with data generated through observation, a brief historical study, participant journal writing, semi-structured interviews, two attitudinal tests and a short questionnaire survey. The diverse range of emergent themes that resulted point to the complexity of the participants' relationship with English and illuminate their efforts to resolve ambivalences through their own agency. These efforts have served to move them closer to the polarity representing the active appropriation of English rather than remaining at the linguistic imperialism extreme of the English language continuum.
This paper explores the interplay of factors that colour the attitudes of 60 Malay Muslim student... more This paper explores the interplay of factors that colour the attitudes of 60 Malay Muslim students aged 17-19 in a Bruneian sixth-form college to the English language. Essentially it seeks to discover how they feel English impacts their education, through its role in a bilingual system, and their lives in general. In particular, it attempts to determine whether or not the participants have a lingering sense of being colonised by their use of this language given its association with the former imperial power and how they reconcile ambivalences they encounter on a day-to-day basis. Optimal levels of corroboration of data were sought in its generation through observation, a brief historical study, participant journal writing, eight semi-structured interviews, two attitudinal tests and a short questionnaire survey. The diverse range of emergent themes is testament to the complexity of the participants’ relationship with English and its associated cultural connotations. Among these are issues relating to religion and national cultural identity. The study illuminates participants’ efforts to resolve ambivalences associated with these beliefs and values through their own agency.
... [JLIE_551BR]Review of Translating Lives: Living with two languages and cultures. Mary Besemer... more ... [JLIE_551BR]Review of Translating Lives: Living with two languages and cultures. Mary Besemeres & Anna Wierzbicka,. Breda O'Hara-Davies.
... View full textDownload full text Full access. DOI: 10.1080/15348450903476857 Breda O'Har... more ... View full textDownload full text Full access. DOI: 10.1080/15348450903476857 Breda O'Hara-Davies a * ... In Chapter 8, Anna Wierzbicka alludes to her inability to sound true to herself emotionally in English, which does not carry the same emotional charge as her mother tongue ...
We live in an era of accelerated change and innovation which demands that we adapt and evolve or ... more We live in an era of accelerated change and innovation which demands that we adapt and evolve or risk obsolescence and exclusion. This paper traces the path of English language teaching (ELT) since its inception. It examines some of the underlying theories that have guided its policies and practices at classroom level. It also questions whether ELT has kept pace with linguistic and other developments on a wider societal scale. Using an autoethnographic approach, the paper traces the parallel journey of the author in her role as an English language teacher in Brunei Darussalam. It aims at providing a reflexive account of the ways in which critical engagement with theory have impacted her attitudes, practices and ongoing evolution as a professional.
Applied Linguistics, Global and Local: Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics 9-11 September 2010 University of Aberdeen, 2011
We live in a "liquid modern world" (Bauman, 2004:26) where globalising forces are in the ascendan... more We live in a "liquid modern world" (Bauman, 2004:26) where globalising forces are in the ascendant. Yet countries whose nationalism was interrupted by imperialism find themselves in the quandary of seeking to assert national identities at a juncture when that very construct is subject to challenge by the oft-invoked notion of a ‘borderless' world.
This paper explores the mixing of identities involved in the lives of a group of sixteen young people in one such country, Brunei Darussalam, as they endeavour to embrace the world of today whilst retaining the essences of self that enable them to be true to their ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. Set amid many paradoxes and contradictory influences, these individuals are involved in the "local take-up" (Pennycook, 2007:7) of aspects of dominant cultures that appeal to them on their own terms. Data generated from informal interviews conducted in English, their L2, reveal the struggles involved in the negotiation and concurrent ‘living out' of these local and global selves within the self.
References: Bauman, Z. (2004). Identity: Conversations with Benedetto Vecchi. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and transcultural flows. London: Routledge.
A considerable amount of time has elapsed since the existence of a distinct variety of English, B... more A considerable amount of time has elapsed since the existence of a distinct variety of English, Brunei English (BNE), was mooted in the early 1990s. A subsequent study conducted by Svalberg in 1998 suggested that BNE was then in its infancy and that its speakers were largely unaware of the differences between it and Standard British English (STE). However, it was predicted that BNE would, in all likelihood, expand and stabilise over time. This paper seeks to explore how BNE has evolved and is developing in a contemporary context. An adapted and extended version of Svalberg’s original Grammaticality Judgement Test was given to a class of 29 Lower Sixth Form students aged 16-17 at D.P.M.A.M.B. College. The participants involved had relatively high proficiency levels in STE, having all achieved credit grades in the Brunei-Cambridge GCE O Level English Language examination the previous year. The original test had focused solely on the grammatical acceptability of featured items. In extending it I added a number of lexical items commonly heard in everyday conversations and exchanges and some that emerge consistently in both student and public texts. It was considered that having participants assess both lexicality and grammaticality would yield a wider-ranging picture of the forms and functions characteristic of BNE today and a greater illumination of its role in meeting the expressive needs of Bruneians.
This paper summarises the results of a qualitative study which focused on 60 Malay students aged ... more This paper summarises the results of a qualitative study which focused on 60 Malay students aged 17–19 years in Brunei Darussalam. It explored the interplay of factors that colour the participants' attitude to the English language and its role in their education as well as in their lives. Brunei's status as a former British protectorate was taken into account with particular emphasis on its continuing choice of a dated qualifying examination that enshrines exonormative (British) standards. Participants' difficulties in this high stakes examination were set against a backdrop of their acceptance of the reality of the hegemonic nature of the English language in today's world. Optimal levels of corroboration of data were sought with data generated through observation, a brief historical study, participant journal writing, semi-structured interviews, two attitudinal tests and a short questionnaire survey. The diverse range of emergent themes that resulted point to the complexity of the participants' relationship with English and illuminate their efforts to resolve ambivalences through their own agency. These efforts have served to move them closer to the polarity representing the active appropriation of English rather than remaining at the linguistic imperialism extreme of the English language continuum.
This paper explores the interplay of factors that colour the attitudes of 60 Malay Muslim student... more This paper explores the interplay of factors that colour the attitudes of 60 Malay Muslim students aged 17-19 in a Bruneian sixth-form college to the English language. Essentially it seeks to discover how they feel English impacts their education, through its role in a bilingual system, and their lives in general. In particular, it attempts to determine whether or not the participants have a lingering sense of being colonised by their use of this language given its association with the former imperial power and how they reconcile ambivalences they encounter on a day-to-day basis. Optimal levels of corroboration of data were sought in its generation through observation, a brief historical study, participant journal writing, eight semi-structured interviews, two attitudinal tests and a short questionnaire survey. The diverse range of emergent themes is testament to the complexity of the participants’ relationship with English and its associated cultural connotations. Among these are issues relating to religion and national cultural identity. The study illuminates participants’ efforts to resolve ambivalences associated with these beliefs and values through their own agency.
... [JLIE_551BR]Review of Translating Lives: Living with two languages and cultures. Mary Besemer... more ... [JLIE_551BR]Review of Translating Lives: Living with two languages and cultures. Mary Besemeres & Anna Wierzbicka,. Breda O'Hara-Davies.
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This paper explores the mixing of identities involved in the lives of a group of sixteen young people in one such country, Brunei Darussalam, as they endeavour to embrace the world of today whilst retaining the essences of self that enable them to be true to their ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. Set amid many paradoxes and contradictory influences, these individuals are involved in the "local take-up" (Pennycook, 2007:7) of aspects of dominant cultures that appeal to them on their own terms. Data generated from informal interviews conducted in English, their L2, reveal the struggles involved in the negotiation and concurrent ‘living out' of these local and global selves within the self.
References:
Bauman, Z. (2004). Identity: Conversations with Benedetto Vecchi. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and transcultural flows. London: Routledge.
This paper explores the mixing of identities involved in the lives of a group of sixteen young people in one such country, Brunei Darussalam, as they endeavour to embrace the world of today whilst retaining the essences of self that enable them to be true to their ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. Set amid many paradoxes and contradictory influences, these individuals are involved in the "local take-up" (Pennycook, 2007:7) of aspects of dominant cultures that appeal to them on their own terms. Data generated from informal interviews conducted in English, their L2, reveal the struggles involved in the negotiation and concurrent ‘living out' of these local and global selves within the self.
References:
Bauman, Z. (2004). Identity: Conversations with Benedetto Vecchi. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and transcultural flows. London: Routledge.