English in English Languge Teaching: Shifting Values and Assumptions in Changing Circumstances

Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL) Volume 25 Number 1 Spring 2010 4-1-2010 English in English Languge Teaching: Shifting Values and Assumptions in Changing Circumstances Martin Dewey Kings' College London Constant Leung King's College London This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/wpel/vol25/iss1/1 For more information, please contact . Article 1 English in English Languge Teaching: Shifting Values and Assumptions in Changing Circumstances This article is available in Working Papers in Educational Linguistics (WPEL): http://repository.upenn.edu/wpel/vol25/iss1/1 English in English Language Teaching: Shifting Values and Assumptions in Changing Circumstances Martin Dewey King’s College London Constant Leung King’s College London English Language Teaching (ELT) is a major international enterprise. This theoretical paper suggests that a number of ideological assumptions underpin some aspects of its curricular and pedagogic thinking. Specifically we will look at (a) the ways in which ownership and use of a language has been built around the idea of a homogeneous community or nation with shared and unchanging social values and language practices (leading to the notion of an idealized “native-speaker competence”), and (b) the conception of language (and what language learning comprises) in terms of the features of “standard” varieties. Drawing on the work in the fields of World Englishes and English as a lingua franca, this discussion will explore some of the issues that have emerged in contemporary conditions where neither native-speaker competence nor the norms of standard varieties are central to using English for communication. We argue that a more empiricially grounded view of English would begin to enable us to enrich our description and analysis for curriculum and pedagogic purposes. I Changing Circumstances n this paper we focus on how English is currently conceptualized in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). Given the continuing spread of English around the world, ELT is a major international “industry.” We examine the changing circumstances in which the English language is learned and used, especially as brought about as a result of globalization; we also reflect on what implications these changes have in relation to the existing values and assumptions of language pedagogic practices. In particular, we provide an account of recent developments in the fields of World Englishes and English as a lingua franca (ELF), and consider these in light of the challenges they represent to the conventionally established notion of English in ELT. Hall and Eggington (2000), in the introduction to their edited volume The Sociopolitics of English Language Teaching, comment that for the most part public Working Papers in Educational Linguistics 25/1: 1-15, 2010 WPEL Volume 25, Number 1 debate about the teaching of English had tended, up to that point at least, to focus primarily on the more practical (and “mundane”) classroom-based aspects of language pedagogy, such as developments in methods, materials, classroom management, and so on. They point out that there is a dearth of interest in the more “macro aspects of English language teaching” (p. 1), including the many wider social, political, cultural concerns surrounding the teaching of English, which they argue should constitute central aspects of language teacher expertise. Since the publication of Hall and Eggington’s text, debate surrounding the conceptualization and norms of English has grown exponentially. There has been considerable empirical and theoretical investigation into the linguistic nature, social standing, as well as attitudinal responses towards the many diverse manifestations of English in the world. This has in turn given rise to a substantial body of discussion addressing the pedagogical impact of the diversification of English (see, inter alia, Canagarajah, 2005; Jenkins, 2006; Seidlhofer 2004). What scholars in World Englishes (e.g., Kachru, Kachru & Nelson, 2006) and in ELF (e.g., Mauranen & Ranta, 2009) have so substantially demonstrated is that “English” cannot in any meaningful way be regarded as a unitary entity. Although we may well be accustomed to thinking of languages as bounded linguistic phenomena (e.g., the claim that the English language has a single well-defined lexis and syntax), as soon as we take a close-up look at language in use, its complex nature becomes apparent. In fact English, just like practically all natural languages, comprises a large number of social varieties and regional dialects (for a discussion, see Wardhaugh, 2006, chapter 2). This makes it very difficult to sustain the notion of language as a unified body beyond a very abstract level. In turn, this leads us to question the way in which different contexts of English language learning and use have until now been categorized. It is difficult to identify language boundaries, or to reliably and accurately describe what English at any given moment in fact is; it is equally difficult to prescriptively assign English to different categories (or maybe “classes”) of use in particular contexts. Given that English is so globally spread, and there is so much political, financial, emotional investment in its teaching and learning, it is essential that this issue be given careful consideration. Categories and Labels in ELT Conventionally, the distribution of English around the world is described in relation to three main groups of users: (1) those who speak English as a native language (ENL); (2) speakers of English as a second language (ESL); and (3) speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL). A further means of classification is Kachru’s well-known concentric circles model (e.g., Kachru, 1992), according to which countries are classified as “Inner Circle,” “Outer Circle,” or “Expanding Circle,” which largely correspond respectively to the ENL/ESL/EFL distinction. Kachru’s model in particular has been influential in terms of how the debate about English worldwide has been framed. However, it seems that such tripartite systems of categorization are progressively proving to be ill suited to the contemporary circumstances surrounding the use of English, and it is arguably becoming an outmoded way of looking at the language. Indeed, as Jenkins (2009) comments “the categories have become fuzzy at the edges… it is increas2 English in English Language Teaching ingly difficult to classify speakers of English as belonging purely to one of the three” (p. 15) This has particular resonance in contexts customarily associated with EFL, contexts defined as those in which English serves neither as the first language of the majority population nor to fulfill official intranational functions. A key assumption traditionally underlying the EFL label is the notion that English is “simply” a subject in the school curriculum, but usually not a medium of education. Richards, Platt and Pl (...truncated)