Transcript ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIOANAL LANGUAGE

ENGLISH AS AN
INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
Part 2
CULTURE IN TEACHING/LEARNING
ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL
LANGUAGE
Sandra Lee McKay: Teaching English as an International Language
Susie Dent: Words of the Year
INTRODUCTION
The use of cultural content in EIL teaching is problematic
regarding the characteristics of an international
language.
In the case of English, these are that:
a) …as it is an international language, the use of E is no
longer connected to the culture of Inner Circle
countries.
b) ..one of the primary functions of E, as is the case with
any international language, is to enable speakers to
share their ideas and cultures.
Culture learning
Culture learning is a social process and, in
reference to EIL, understanding one’s own
culture in relation to that of others is
paramount.
THE ROLE OF CULTURE
Culture in language teaching/learning has traditionally
provided cultural information. Such information tipically
includes:
- “the aesthetic sense” in which the literature film, and
music of a target language country are examined;
- “the sociological sense” in which the customs and
institutions of this country are ecplained;
- “the semantic sense” in which how a culture’s
conceptual system is embodied in a languge is
investigated;
- “the pragmatic sense” in which how cultural norms
influence what language is appropirate for which context
is examined.
A SPHERE OF
INTERCULTURALITY
This line of thought promotes the idea that
the learning of culture is more than just the
transfer of information btw cultures.
Rather learning about a culture requires that
an individual CONSIDERS his or her OWN
CULTURE in RELATION TO ANOTHER.
Hence, th process of learning about another
culture entails a reflection on one’s own
culture as well as the target culture.
TO ESTABLISH A SPHERE OF
INTERCULTURALITY
This rquires 2 essential steps.
First, learners need to acquire knowledge
about another culture
and
Second, then they need to reflect on how their
own culture contrasts with it.
.
Acquiring knowledge about and
reflecting on another culture
In trying to understand another culture, one of first things
an individual must do is to put aside what is called
NAIVE REALISM - the idea that all people define the real
world in pretty much the same way, that love, worship,
food, death, and so on all have similar meanings for
everyone. In line with this assumption, one goal that
should be encouraged when reflecting on another culture
is to consider what meaning particular behavior might
have for members of that culture, and not to assume that
it is the same as the one we have.
Teaching culture as difference
Teaching culture as difference is also
important because of the common use of
EIL in cross-cultural encounters.
The goal of EIL teaching should not be for
students to accept the standards of Inner
Circle countries, but rather to recognze
how particular pragmatic differences might
affect their own cross-cultural encounters.
Why is culture necessary?
Brown, for instance, points out that within scientific writing there are many
cultural assumptions and presumpositions regarding the nature of
objectivity, the importance of truthfulness in scientific endeavors, and
what is appropirate to include or exclude in a scientific report.
In all uses of EIL, including ESP (English for Special Purposes), entail some
culutral dimension, it would appear that one cannot avoid the issue of
culture in the teaching of English.
So if culture is essential to the teaching of a language, the question is in what
ways is it essential?
1)
In order to use E for special purposes, an individual needs to acquire the
culturally influenced ways of using particular discourse.
2)
Culture is necessary because it is really an integral part of the interaction
btw language and thought. Culutral patterns, customs, and ways of life
are expressed in language: culture-specific world views are reflected in
language.
LEXICAL INNOVATIONS
The question in relation to ELT is which particular culturally
influenced uses o E do learners need to acquire?
Lexical innovations are occuring in the development of
many nativized varieties of E.
These innovations often provide a means to describe a
cultural aspect of local life.
For example:
- “luki-luki” in Tunisia (“Would you like to go on a
sightseeing tour?)
- “misi, misi, kopi, kopi” in Hong Kong (“Miss, would you
like to buy a copy of a designer bag?”)
Lexical items
If an international language is one that is de-nationalized, then there is no
reason why bilingual users of E need to acquire the localized lexical items of
any country other than their own.
Lexical items that include cultural knowledge exist on a continuum.
Some need to be acquired because of their frequent use in international
context ,
Others are more restircted to use in a particular locality or country.
E.g. the USA :
Term such as “yellow journalism” have emerged from the historical and political
development of the country, but because of its local meaning, it is not
central to the learning of EIL.
On the other hand, there are terms that have emerged from more general
western traditions such as “Pandora’s box” and “the good Samaritan” and
are perhaps more relevant to EIL.
CULTURAL CONTENT IN WORDS
I remember once hearing a statistic that only 1% of all new words ever make it
into a dictionary, and wondering what on earth happened to the rest.
Many of the new words of a particular time can express often highly complex
events and reactions with as much eloquence as any visual representation.
The prominent themes of these past years include ethical living, a global
financial and economic insecurity and the entrenchment of online social
networking. All are rapidly generating their own vocabularies.
Exposure for a new word takes today just a fraction of the time, thanks to the
vast possibilities of the Internet and of blogs, chatrooms, texts, and emails.
The English language is being opened up beyond all recognition.
Here are some of the new coins…
A MODERN-DAY ENGLISH
VOCABULARY
The majority of words used in English today are of
foreign origin, historically from Latin and Greek
and in more recent centuries from almost all the
languages of Europe.
Approximately 5% of all new words in the 20th
century came from abroad, and many were from
far and exotic countires of the world.
In total, over 120 languages are on record as
sources of modern-day English vocuabulary.
“LOAN WORDS”
The majority of so-called “loan words” come about as a result of CULTURAL
INFLUENCE, and lifestyle terms are paritcularly likely to be picked up.
Food, sports, fashion, fitness regimes, and health remedies and therapies are
all areas where English is currently hoovering up foreign ters most rapidly.
Recent food imports, for example, include
the acai ( a fruit from the Amazon region),
the kaiseki (a traditional multi-course Japanese meal),
ristretto (a very short shot of espresso coffee).
When a foreign word comes out of a prominent event its exposure is
guaranteed. As a result, it stands an excellent chance of becoming
absorbed into our language and “naturalized”.
For example arguido/argida and tsunami.
ARGUIDO/ARGUIDA
M/F
It is a Portugese term usually translated as “named
suspect” or “formal suspect”.
The term has become naturalized in English as a
result of the investigation by Portugese police
into the disappearance of a 3-year old
Madeleine McCann while on holiday in the
Algarve, during which the status was invoked
upon three people, including hr parents.
Words of the year 2008
• KNORK (bled of knife + fork)
In late 2007 the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s
announced the result of a survey into British
eating habits. Our modern lifestyle, apparently, is
now so busy that the traditional family meal at
the table is all but extinct. Not only that, but
because most meals are being consumed on a
sofa as a TV meal, our traditional cutlery is no
longer cutting the mustard. We are using a fork
to do everything on a plate, even if cutting power
is clearly lacking. The real knork was invented in
2003 by the American enterpreneour.
MOOFER
• Moofing was coined by a Microsoft worker.
He describes moofers, and those who
have the courage to employ them as
people who understand that work is
something you do, not somewhere you go.
• A moofer is one of the new generation of
office workers who are given the flexibility
to choose where, when, and how they
want to work according to the task in hand.
LATTE LIBERAL
• Barak Obama was called a latte liberal
because of his perceived attempts to
charm the coffee-drinking, left-leaning
liberals. This was as opposed to his rival
Senator Clinton.
• The insult came after one union leader
called Obama supporters latte-drinking,
trust-fund babies.
PICNIC
• PICNIC is a term used by IT support
personnel to describe someone who calls
them to fix a problem with their hard or
software, when the problem is in fact due
to their inexperience or incompetence:
Perhaps the computer was not switched
on in the first place?
• Acronym:Problem In Chair Not In
Computer
CLEGGOVER
• The nickname given to the new Liberal
Democrat leader Nick Clegg following an
intervju in GQ magazine, in which he
revealed that he had slept with up to 30
women.
BOYTOX
According to statistics published in March 2008, a
fifth of all Britons who undergo Botox treatments
as an anti-ageing measure are men.
Boytox joins other terms in the new male grooming
lexicon including the back, sack, and crack: a
waxing procedure by which a man’s body hair is
removed from his back, genitals, and between
his buttocks, alternatively known as the
boyzilian.
CHURNALISM
A category of journalism in which stories are repeated
second-hand without primary research.
It is Nick Davies in his book Flat Earth whom we can thank
for the term churnalism, coined a s a result of the falling
standards he perceives in today’s journalism. Davies, a
reporter for The Guardian, led a survey of some 2000
news stories conducted by Cardiff University’s journalism
department.
The result: 80% of home news stories in the main “quality”
newspapers are either paritally or entirely made up of
recycled material.
KINNEAR
To surreptitiusly take a photograph of someone.
It was invented on her personal blog by Stephanie
Pearl-McPhee, who tried and failed to
photograph the actor Greg Kinnear unawares
when she spotted him at an airport. The
resultant shots show only the lower legs of
several passengers which really could have
belonged to anyone.
FREEMALE
An unmarried woman.
The term first appeared in Australia in the spring of 2008. It
followed a survey the outcome of which was the statistic
that unmarried women now outnumber married women
down under for the first time since WW II.
The report, entitled “Bridget Jones meets Sex and the
City”, invented the even clumsier acronym SPUD, for a
“single person urban dwelling.
However, a columnist for the Australian Daily Telegraph
responded with her own creation: AOBWRTASIALB:
Angry Old Bag Who Refuses To Accept She Is
Anything Like Bridget Jones.
ETHICUREAN
A person who eats and drinks according to their moral and ethical
principles.
The ethicurean’s choices are informed by a complex set of concerns,
not all of which are compatible: should, for example, third-world
workers be supported even if many food-miles are covered in order
to bring the results of their efforts to our plates?
Navigating the modern food landscape is a challenge: one The Sydney
Morning Herald recently described as a “moral minefield of complex
issues centred on the size of our foodie footprint.”
Even The Simpsons have been doing some soul-searching. In the
episode “Apocalypse Cow” Burt unexpectedly (for someone who
can’t become a vegetarian because he “loves the tast of dath” too
much) feels sympathy for a cow he names Lou….
Check your understanding
• As it is an international language, is the use of E is connected to the
culture of Inner Circle countries?
• What is one of the primary functions of E, as is the case with any
international language?
• Culture in language teaching/learning has traditionally provided
“aesthetic sense”, as is the case in your presentation task. What is it
exactly?
• What is the sphere of interculturality?
• If culture is essential to the teaching of a language, the question is in
what ways is it essential?
• Exposure for a new word takes today just a fraction of the time –
why?