Assignment - EIC

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
ENGLISH IN THE COMMUNITY

Essay: The internationalization of English and how it should be taught

Students’ full names:

Rosario Jackeline Alegría Toscano

Yuri Paola Infante Tejada

Group: 2017-06
Date: June 3rd/2018

Subject: FP013 – English in the Community

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Table of Contents

The internationalization of English and how it should be taught

1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………page 3
2. English as a lingua Franca…………………………………………..……....page 4
2.1 English and teachers identity in ELT………..………………….…..…..page 5
2.2 Teachers’ accent perceptions…………………………………..….…...page 8
3. Conclusions and recommendations …………….………….…..…………..page 10
4. Bibliography ………………………………………….…………………….....page 11

The internationalization of English and how it should be taught

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1. Introduction.

In recent years, there has been a quick evolution in the demographics of English
speaking communities and individuals around the world, with an unparalleled growth in
the number of users and learners of English who in the majority are non-native
speakers. This trend and evolution of English in this context of globalisation has urged
to reconsider number of key issues especially in the field of education and applied
linguistic studies of English.

Academic debates have appeared among these issues including the validity of the
distinction between English native speakers and English non-native speakers, the
internalisation of English, what form of it should be taught and imitated by teachers as
well by students in this new scenario .This essay tries to deal with these fundamental
and controversial topics.

English as International Language is acknowledged. According to Crystal (2003),

more people use English today than have used any other language in the history of the
world. English is the international language par excellence due to its number of users
and not because of the number of their native speakers. (Ibid) One factor
undoubtedly is globalisation which has had an impact on it and is profoundly affected
by all of its concomitant processes. As Graddol (2006) puts it:

The English language finds itself at the centre of the paradoxes which arise
from globalisation. It provides the lingua franca essential to the deepening
integration of global service-based economies. It facilitates transnational
encounters and allows nations, institutions, and individuals in any part of the
world, to communicate their world view and identities. Yet it is also the national
language of some of the most free market economies driving economic
globalisation, and is often seen as representing particular cultural, economic, and
even religious values (p.66)

Graddol (2006) also states the importance to the role of the native speakers of the
Second language learnt. As English is becoming a global language that is primarily
spoken by non-native users, the education system also requires these users as
teachers. This non-native teachers are in charge of their teaching practices all over the
world in places that demands a high level of English in the economic market (Robson,
2013). This could result in a fierce completion among native and non-native teachers,

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demanding native speakers to recognize their language from a traditional language to a

Global one.

On the other hand Seidlhofer (2003) behave towards to English massive demand in
today society as a matter that affects its teaching policy on schools curricula. EIL –
English as an international Language- assumptions in education contexts need to be
specified and clarified since it is seemed as an International language. Consequently,
this considerations have to take part from the language functionality, conceptuality,
linguistically and pedagogically. Nonetheless, these EIL impact is practically non-
existence in education field curricula, being sometimes unidimensional and not
contextualized to its demand; leading the language to be perceived as problematic to
the users’ identity and culture.

Regarding the discussed above and going back to this essay purpose, three main
subjects will be considered to talk about EIL and its impact on school’s context and how
it could be taught bearing in mind its status as a global language: Firstly, English
shifting from being a foreign language to becoming a Lingua Franca. Secondly, based
on this shifting consequences how they affect non-native speaker’s teachers’ language
identity and finally regarding that what are the perceptions on their accents in ELT.

2. English as a lingua Franca.

The internationalization of English language has leaded to a booming on its demand

by countries that are considered world-wide economic powers. Due to this
phenomenon English language has been considered as many forms such as: global,
international, world language and so forth (Seidlhofer, 2003; p.09).

This economic expansion brought a new need to today’s society, the one of being
able to express oneself and to understand each other. English as a lingua franca –ELF-
responds not only to British military and economic power in the past, but also to the
United States today (British Council, 2015). English also responds to what it is: A
language that due to its simplicity to pronounce, learn and its little grammatical difficulty
has come across from rural to urban areas to modify their schools’ curricula and a
massive hiring of English teachers.

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Based on the above, English as a lingua franca and its relationship with
Globalization Graddol (2006) explains how this expansion may affect communication
field when stating the importance of economic globalization with English language, and
how each other has encouraged each one’s growth. Owing this matter, communication
between different types of population has been affected. The active proliferation of
foreign students and the way they interact with each other has caused the use of
English as a mutually intelligible language, which permits inter-understanding among
individuals that are speaking dissimilar to their L1. Since the goal of communication is
the urge to understand and be understood by conveying one’s messages (Brown,
2004); English stands as the current lingua Franca in our society for making this
possible among nations.

Regarding English role nowadays, scholars have also been aware of how this
language is a mean of communication among speakers of different L1 (Seidlhofer,
2003; p.15). Now that has been recognized how ELF influences different domains in
society –e.g. Linguistic variation, cultural factors, economic backgrounds, etc- scholars
pay special attention to the language identity ELF causes to non-native teachers. For
instance, different from native-speakers who have learn and communicate throughout
the same language academically and professionally, non-native speakers have the
urge to learn a L2 in order to be considered “Competitive” in today’s world. Based on
that, foreign language teachers may experience an identity crisis, affecting them
culturally, pedagogically and linguistically.

2.1 English and teachers’ identity in ELT

Now that English identity as a lingua franca has been mentioned and treated here, it
is time to discuss how it has affected English language teaching and non-native
teachers’ identity.

First of all, the term of identity according to Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, &.
Johnson (2005) includes three predominant themes: 1. Identity as multiple, shifting and
in conflict, 2. Related to social, cultural and political context, and 3, identity as a
construction on the discourse (p.35)
On the one hand, non-native teachers’ identity as multiple, is taken as a hybrid one.
That means that when the non-native is teaching a L2 it may find conflicts between his
individual identity and his group one, since his culture and social identity tries to keep
the balance with the L1 and L2 matters (Varghese et al., 2005). On the other hand,

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Teacher could also struggle with this multiple cultures conflict at the point of what type
of English one should teach. Since English language vocabulary, social expressions
and use may vary to the culture. Although education tries to standardize this subject by
treating English as international so it involves the cultures in an overall way; language
teachers still battle to teach the right accent and pronunciation based on it.

From this point of view, Teachers’ language identity should not depend that much
on which accent or culture they are going to based their classes on, because that also
will depend on what type of English specialized form is being taught. For instance
vocational English. Teachers can settle their language identity based on the standards
and program that a certain language institution or school are focused on.

According to Robson (2013) Vocational English products include aviation, business,

hospitality, finance, law, medical, transportation, tourism, oil, information technologies,
and engineering English. The demand for particular forms of vocational English varies
by country. Also we can relate its influence with education when talking about
standardized language exams. Its global growth rate has been so relevant recent years
that products like international exams preparation books and e-Textbooks are being
sold to accommodate digitization efforts in the school systems that represent a very
high demand in this context. With that, it can be concluded that when thinking whose
English should be taught, teachers first need to focus about the competence each
student is working on, if it is English for certain courses in school, if it is based on a
communicative approach, if it is focused on specialized forms and so forth. Additionally,
context and Englishes variations also need to be taken into account at this point.

Englishes and language use, entered to the second identity crisis category through
cultural, social and political context on the L2. As it was mentioned before language is
a communication tool (brown, 2004) and its constant use and acculturalization will
create more and more variations on it. Consequently, owing to the fact that this
variations and changes in new Englishes occur rapidly and their use demands depends
differently. New methodologies on TESOL has to be put into practice in order to
accomplish current language needs. So that, instead of thinking about whose English
should be taught and accent variations, communication needs to be the key factor on
ELT. Hence, CLIL could be considered as a pertinent methodology to boost this cultural
crisis and combine vocabulary, language context, linguistic factors and communicative
purposes into the classroom (Ball, 2012). CLIL involves content, culture,
communication, cognitive and even now cooperation among the teaching-learning

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context and with this approach, students are provided with tools to learn certain
meaningful topics using language as means of communication and not as the target
language only.

All in all, this identity problem on culture can be shrunk by understanding the
language used and its purpose. More than a concern about accents and specific words
that are only used in certain accents and English, English should be taken as a
language with its variations and L2 speakers should concern in learning it based on
their communicational needs and interests. Because it does not matter even if one is a
native speaker English language may be forced to change its use and accent
depending on the communication objective as Skapinker (2017) stated:

When native speakers work in an international organization, some report

their language changing. (…) On several occasions, I have encountered English-
as-a-first-language politicians, diplomats and civil servants working in Brussels
commenting on how they have felt their own English being pulled in the direction
of these foreign-language patterns (…) These people are not ‘talking down’ to
their colleagues or consciously adopting simpler expressions, for the English of
their interlocutors may be as fluent as their own. It is a natural process of
accommodation, which in due course could lead to new standardized forms. (p.1)

Last but not least, there is the teacher’s identity being constructed, maintained and
negotiated primarily through discourse (Varghese et al., 2005; 35). In which identity
seems to be constructed by discourse as an uppermost factor. Joseph (2004) states
that while language is one of the most relevant factors in determining one’s identity, it is
a powerful factor in group identities as well –e.g. National or ethnic identities.
Professional identities-. Leading this to say that every individual whether it is in a group
or by themselves possess different knowledges in the same language treated. So that,
teacher’s identity must regard this matter not only as an individual but as part of a
social group, in which knowledge on a language helps to growth professionally, socially
and discursively regardless the teacher’s L1 or accent in L2.

2.2 Teachers’ accent perceptions.

When discussing whose English we should use as non-native teachers, the question
about which accent also we should use and we should teach to our students for them

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to whether create their own accent or imitate a native one. All this discussion on accent
has emerged due to the constant debate on the so called “strong accents” or
unpleasant accents on foreign teachers and the resistant to it from certain learners
(Fishman, Cooper, and Conrad; 1975)

In the teaching context, accent should be regarded as a tool that raise students’
awareness on detecting different English accents from native and non-natives equally.
As Jenkins (2006) points out depending on the country’s education system and policies
a framework is develop to standardize the English language as international, unifying
different language structure models and realistic pronunciation target programs. For
example, in Colombia there’s the National Bilingual Program NBP (2004) in which
European framework is the guide on the level, but things such as neutral accents are
not as relevant as the language level proficiency. Although the NBP (2004) relates on
American pronunciation it also refers on British and international English accentuation.

In other words, English accents should be taught based on purposed and also target
language context. Teachers rather than focusing in accent, they should center on a
pertinent phonetical pronunciation teaching process. In addition to it also when
teaching listening or writing different accents could be regarded as key tools for
students to be able to understand and get familiarized with the use of different
Englishes, not just American or British. This also would help them to develop Sub-skills
of listening such as note-taking, predicting, extracting specific/detailed information,
guessing meaning from context, and getting the gist; phonetics; aural authentic
listening materials such as interviews, movies, songs, lectures, TV shows and news
broadcasts of different accents of English (Coskun, 2010; p. 10).

When teaching and expanding students’ knowledge in different accents, teacher’s

whether they are native or non—native open different paths for students to be self-
aware of their own accent and English proficiency. Learner’s would be ready to face
new job opportunities in different countries in where English may not be the native
language but the market language, so that they have to cope with different peoples,
cultures, accents and discourses. Also, with reference to international exams which
also represent a very important factor to show how competitive a person is in today’s
market; a wide knowledge of different English accents such as Australian-English,
Turkish-English, and Indian-English need to be recognized since they also appeared in
the listening section of these exams. Plus, when evaluation students speaking
proficiency, accent is not a relevant point in either of the two important international

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exams –IELTS & TOEFL ibt- What is important and teachers and students need to
focus on is; accuracy, use of language, linkers, avoiding unnatural fillers and a clear
and consistent answer related to what is asked on this section.

Also, with reference to international exams which also represent a very important
factor to show how competitive a person is in today’s market; a wide knowledge of
different English accents such as Australian-English, Turkish-English, and Indian-
English need to be recognized since they also appeared in the listening section of
these exams. Plus, when evaluation students speaking proficiency, accent is not a
relevant point in either of the two important international exams –IELTS & TOEFL ibt-
What is important and teachers and students need to focus on is; accuracy, use of
language, linkers, avoiding unnatural fillers and a clear and consistent answer related
to what is asked on this section. Furthermore, according to Jenkins (2006) various
substitutions, such as /f, v/ or /s, z/ or /t, d/ for the ‘th-sounds’ and the ‘dark l’ are
permissible, therefore designated ‘non-core’. The same happens with vowel quality
,weak forms, connected speech such as assimilation , pitch direction to signal attitude
or grammatical meaning ,word stress placement and stress-timing .On the other hand,
there were features which proved decisive for EIL intelligibility and which therefore
constitute the phonological Lingua Franca Core. They are:

The consonant inventory with the exception of the ‘th-sounds’ and of ‘dark l’.
[2] Additional phonetic requirements: aspiration of word-initial /p/, /t/, and /k/,
which were otherwise frequently heard as their lenis counterparts /b/, /d/, and /g/
and the maintenance of length before lenis consonants, e.g. the longer /æ/ in the
word sad contrasted with the phonetically shorter one in the word sat.[3]
Consonant clusters: no omission of sounds in word-initial clusters, e.g. in proper
and strap; omission of sounds in word-medial and word-final clusters only
permissible according to L1 English rules of syllable structure so that, for
example, the word friendship can become frienship but not friendip . [4]Vowel
sounds: maintenance of the contrast between long and short vowels, such as the
long and short i-sounds in the words leave and live ; L2 regional vowel qualities
otherwise intelligible provided they are used consistently, with the exception of
the substitution of the sound /:/ (as in bird) especially with /:/ (as in bard) [5]
Production and placement of nuclear (tonic) stress, especially when used
contrastively. (e.g. He came by TRAIN vs. He CAME by train).”(Jenkins, 2006;
p.30)

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Lastly, when referring to perception on teachers’ accent, students’ opinion may vary.
Some of them may call it useful since they can learn and understand different accents,
and others may seek native-teachers because they want to neutralize their accent in
order to sound native-like. Nevertheless, students recognize that a language intonation
and pronunciation varies inside different countries and that there’s never a correct or
proper accent to communicate, there may be accents considered as unpleasant, but
yet most of them are still the same language and are useful on the learning of different
Englishes (Derwing, 2003).

3. Conclusions and recommendations

This essay discussed the impact of English in today’s civilization and market. After
this discussion and analysing the consequences of this booming on language
education and teachers identity. The idea of teaching a foreign language such as
English with equality, regardless the teacher’s L1 is still shows how far this goal is on
education. However, English language teachers should consider all varieties of English,
not just British Standard English or American Standard English. In order to better
prepare students for the global world, and to show them that their own English is
valued, teachers can implement a balanced approach that incorporates the teaching
and learning context as well as the learners’ values. It also helps to prepare learners for
future interactions with speakers of different varieties of English achieving the ease to
communicate in this language regarding their professional objectives.

Teachers’ identity may be affected by cultural and discourse factors but standardized
policies and a pertinent curricula based on a language approach that is contextualized
to what today’s society asks could be a solution on deciding which accent should be
generally taught. Secondly, teachers attitudes towards ELT with English as a lingua
franca, accent attitudes, and related identities may seem as a general attitude and
preference for native accents, and that some teachers may try to “neutralize it” by
imitating major accents
4. Bibliography.

Ball, P. (2012).Content and Language Integrated Learning. FUNIBER

Brown, D. (2004).Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New

York: Pearson Education Limited

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Coskun, A. (2010). Whose English should we teach? Reflections from Turkey. Abant
Izzet Baysal University, Turkey.

Crystal, D. (2003) English as a Global Language. Second Edition. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press. Taken from: http://baileyk.ism-
online.org/files/2011/06/English_as_a_grobal_lang_sample_ch.pdf

Derwing, T. M. (2003). What do ESL students say about their accents? The
Canadian Modern Language Review 59/4: 547-566.

Fishman, J.; Cooper, R.; Conrad, A. (1975). The Spread of English. Rowley, Mass.,
USA: Newbury House.

Graddol, D. (2006). English next. December 12, 2006,

from:www.britishcouncil.org/files/documents/learning-research-english-
next.pdf

Jenkins, J. (2006). Current perspectives on teaching World Englishes and English

as a Lingua Franca. TESOL Quarterly.

Joseph, J. (2004). Language and Identity: National, Ethnic, Religious. Houndmills,

Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Robson, M. (2013). The English Effect: The impact of English, what it’s worth to the
UK and why it matters to the world.
https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/english-effect-report-
v2.pdf

Seidlhofer, B. (2001). A concept of international English and related issues: From

'real English' to 'realistic English'? University of Vienna; Strasbourg

Skapinker, M. Whose language? Online article published on

November 8, 2007. Retrieved from: https://www.ft.com/content/e621ff38-8e1c-
11dc-8591-0000779fd2ac

Varghese, M., B. Morgan, B. Johnston, and K. A. Johnson. (2005). Theorizing

Language Teacher Identity: Three Perspectives and Beyond. Journal of
Language, Identity, and Education.

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