Questions Chapter 1 and 2 Flashcards
a) Some academics consider the name ‘English’ inappropriate for the subject you are studying. Why?
b) What is your view?
c) In making a judgement about what counts as English and what doesn’t, what do you think needs to be considered in doing so?
a.)
English is used all around the world (business, discussions, politics, science) and so culturally removed from the traditional language of England, thus it’s no linger appropriate and no longer reflects the identity it has in the modern world. The proposes we call it “Global”.
Also some argue that “Englishes” should be uses, because English does not capture the sociolinguistic reality and it not possible to speak of a single English.
b.)
My view:
c.)
Definitions in dotionaries often include the communities with wich the language is associated (Britain, USA), its history (germanic origin), and the way it’s no used in various places around the world. These are social definitions. Describing it not in struture.
Is it understood by many people?
Where does the language come from? (native / colonisation)
How is the language used?
Who uses the language?
a) In terms of language, explain in your own words what the following mean and provide some examples for English.
- variety
- dialect
- accent
b) Why are the variety, dialect and accent of importance when attempting to account for how English has developed?
c) How do these relate to your job of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL)? Explain.
variety:
More general term to refer to a distinct form of a language. Neutral, there are various Englishes (dialects and accents) around the world.
British English, American English, Indian English, differences in lexis, grammar e.g. fall - autumn
Dialect:
Refers specifically to a language variety in which aspects of vocabulary and grammar indivate a person’s regional or social background.
Accent:
Specifically refert to differences in pronounciation. A New York accent refers to the distinctive and systematic pronunciation which is associated with the population of NYC.
a) What do the four Bible extracts reveal in terms of how language changes?
b) Why is the Bible used to study change?
a)
In old English there are only few words which have a form which is the same as modern standard British English. Few words look familiar.
There used to be different letters, which are no longer part of the alphabet. It has changed in lexis, orthography, semantics and syntax.
Middle English is much closer to modern-day English. But there are still a few features, like som characters, that are no longer used today.
Spelling of many words is different.
Early Modern English is much closer. Few features, such as ye for you are no longer used in standard.
We can see that there is a amount of continuity between Old English and Modern English.
Language hase changed considerably in lexis, orthograpfy and semantics and syntax.
B)
There wasn’t much written text around at that time and the bible was on of the first books that was widely spreak and followed the changes of the language. It allows the analysis in a synchronus mode, which means we can analyze language in a certain time but from different places. Or it allows the analysis in a asynchronous or vertical mode with which we can analyse the change of language of a certain area. The meaning of the bible always stayed the same, thus allowing a comparison.
a) How Do Borrowings Or Loanwords Enter Language?
b) Which of the following words sound naturalised to you?
freckle (viking) steak (North influence) bamboo
barbecue ketchup (Asian) ghoul
dinghy pyjamas cafeteria
tycoon(Asia) rucksack (German) bistro
English has always been in contact with other languages. Thus English is full of loanwords or borrowings. The are used to refert to an item of vocabulary from one language which has been adopted into the vocabulary of another. In this language contagt, wehre 2 languages exist in close geographical and social proximity, the dominant language absorbs new items. This is eihter due to cover concepts for which it has no specific word or to generate a slightly different function or nuance.
borrow: I borrow books → loan: Library loans books
Woman from Birmingham – Iranian in Canada – Taiwanese woman living in London
a) What do the extracts illustrate about people and language?
b) How does your experience of English, German, French or other language relate to the examples outlined?
individual answer
Woman from Birmingham
People made assumptions about socio-economic background purely on her accent.
Iranian in Canada
Grew up in mixed English and Farsi Education. He went to England to study where he learnt more and specific engineering English. Later he went back to Tehran where he had to learn the engineering terms in Farsi; some of which were taken from English.
Taiwanese women in London
….
Different people can have different experiences of the same language and these experiences have a formative influence of how they perceive their own identity.
○ different origin, different stories
○ different connection to the language
○ if studying the language competencies can change
(Reading; might not be important)
First example
Kenya: Speaking the African languages may be pubished and is considered a sin after the independence.
Before independence there was a peacful co-existence in classrooms.
The young speaker was confuesd by this ambivalence.
Explain in your own words, what the terms mother tongue, native speaker and non-native speaker mean.
Are native speakers more competent non-native speakers? Explain.
○ not necessarily
Native speaker
One’s native language is the language one aquires from birth. These speakers are called native speakers.
A NS is someone ho had leant a language since early childhood.
Antoher term is mother tongue, wich refers to the language of one’s early childhood. People can have more than one mother tongue.
Non-native
People aquire a language in a different manner depending on the age at which they learn it. Learning a second or additional language.
A NNS ma possibly have a wider vocabulary than a NS, simply because his or her job requires an expert use of language in the way that someone else’s does not.
What is the difference between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL)?
EFL:
English hase no special official status but is taught in schools as something specifically associatet with the UK and USA. Children will learn the language not expecting to use it in their everyday life but as a usefull too should they travel or want to learn about cultures of other countries.
ESL:
Refers to the use of English in countries where it has some official or legal status. Mostly through Colonisation (India). It is used in administative and deucational contexts - although it’s not the mother tongue for the majority of the population.
Explain how English as an International Language (EIL) and lingua franca relate to your use of English.
English is not useful because it allows communicaktion with people from the UK or USA but because it allows communication with people from an increasingly wide range of places. Thus it becomes a lingua franca.
it is increasingly used for international communication (less foreign, more international) → e.g. if a French and a Norwegian want to negotiate they will do it in English.
For each of Kachru’s Three Circles of English:
Describe the historical spread of English.
The circles represent the types of spread, the patterns of acquisition and the functional allocation of English.
Inner Circle
Composed of those places where the language is the mother tongue for the vast majority of the population and where it operates as default language for alsmost all domains of society. It also includes countries where English has replaced indigenous languages and is embedded as the majority language (USA, Canada, Australia, new Zealand).
These countries are norm-providing; English serves as the model for type of English that is taught around the world.
Outer Circle comprises of countries in which the current status of English is the result of colonisation, but it did not displace the inigenous languages but is used alongside them for certain specific roles. English is not the first language for the majority but an additional language in contexts of bureaucracy and education.
These countries are norm-developing, in that the varieties of English spoken is rooted in the cultur - they are indigenised varieties.
The Expanding Circle refers to the rest of the world where English is taught and viewed as a foreign language. They have no significant number of first or second language speakers.
They are norm-dependent. They don’t have enough first-language speakers which would allow them to develop their own norms and so they follow a UK or US standard.
For each of Kachru’s Three Circles of English:
Explain why people acquired English.
They had to: through colonisation. Mostly in the outer circle.
They want to: in order to be able to negotiate. Happend in some inner circle countries (mostly after independence or if they saw any value in it) or outer circle countries.
For each of Kachru’s Three Circles of English:
List the functions for which English is employed.
education communication work administration travelling
For each of Kachru’s Three Circles of English:
List some countries belonging to each circle.
○ Inner: NZ, AUS, UK, USA
○ Outer: India, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Bangladesh
○ Expanding: RU, CH, D, NOR
For each of Kachru’s Three Circles of English:
Do you think this is a useful model? Does it have any particular strengths or weaknesses?
One of its strengts is that it has advocated the need to see the presence of the language around the globe consisting of several world Englishes rather than a single monolithic entity.
The model also draws attention to the impoertance of historical and political processes in a state and in the world.
But it is a generalisation and simplifies the phenomena.
It only deals at the level of the nation state and overlooks tha variety within countries.
Some say that the focus on varieties is itself limiting and that people often use a mix of varieties.
The model also fails to take account of countries which doo not fit neatly into the scheme, like in South Africa, where tere are 11 official languages.
It is also unable to accomodate countries whose status is shifting. For example in Scandinavia whee English is such an integral part of everyday life where it almost has the status as a second language.
+ good starting point
+ draws attention to the importance of historical and political processes
- generalisation, there is a great variety within the countries
- there are countries in which more than one official language is spoken (bi- and multilingual) → don’t fit neatly into the scheme
Using examples, explain what is meant by the following terms:
- variety
- dialect
- accent
Are any the be avoided when teaching English?
Variety
More general, general term for any distinctive form of a language
Dialect
Refers specifically to a language variety (vocabulary and grammar indicate a person’s regional or socal background)
Accent
Just one part of a dialect (only the pronunciaton).
No the opposite, modern teaching wants us to include aspects of “language awareness” as well as “language and culture” in our teaching. It is not our job to teach the students how to speak a perfect Cambridge English but to enable them to understand and functionally use English as an international language with all its regional varieties.
What is meant by codification of a language? Explain by making reference to English.
Codification, by which norms are elucidated and capured in dictionaries or grammars.
Codification is the act of putting the language in some sort of system to record it (norms are captured).
At first it was meant to help to understand the different varieties of English (guidance book, more descriptive). It was a guide to the “hard words” which had been brought in from Latin and other languages in the process of elaboration of function. It was also a means of aids for teaching.
Only later it was meant to provide a prescriptive guide for correct usage.
