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Post by catmom101 on Jun 18, 2020 12:38:06 GMT
Hi Would you expand on the idea of passing a test as a system of oppression? I think I might be missing something Thanks - Inner Circle Varieties of English:The more I reflect on the highly numerous varieties of English in the Inner Circle alone, the more illogical it feels to teach one variety (what is considered Standard US or UK English). What even is American English? Learners coming to study English in the US expect to be taught American English and American pronunciation, but how can we define these and place them in one neat box? Across the US alone there are multitudes of varieties and accents, not even counting "non-native" speaker varieties and accents, of which there is an abundance in the United States. So, yes, I believe we should be exposing learners to different varieties and these should be acknowledged. I used to have flatmate whose accent was very similar to Bernadette's and who, on many occasions, I had a very hard time understating and had to embarrassingly ask her to repeat things a few times. She was speaking English, I was an English teacher, so what was the issue? Well, I had never been exposed to her variety before. Maybe it's difficult to expose everyone to every variety, but certainly there are major ones like Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Australian, Indian, Asian varieties, Spanish varieties etc. that ELT textbooks could easily incorporate? - British English What struck me from the former PM's address was the idea that English belonged exclusively to the British Isles and that they were generously offering to loan some of it to India. This seems to promote the idea of linguistic imperialism even more so when one considers that Indian English IS already a variety of English. - Standard English in ELF usageAs a teacher, I don;t think I have ever heard my international students communicate with each other in "Standard" English, so I think it is not important, because they negotiate meaning and are able to communicate effectively using their idiolets to form ELF. On that note, a friend and fellow English teacher told me once that American English was the real lingua franca. What are your thoughts on this view? I am honestly questioning if earning a salary as a teacher of a “standard” English can be justified. Does teaching language users to pass a test to a certain standard just perpetuate privilege? This is a huge area to consider as we examine inequalities in society. I’m taking this course at the same time that I am becoming increasingly exposed to the my role in maintaining systems of oppression so it is definitely food for thought.
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Post by TeacherBB on Jun 24, 2020 15:38:18 GMT
I found the concept of translanguaging fascinating as it speaks to my own experience in a bilingual household.
In terms of teaching practice and how translanguaging can boost self-esteem, I would totally agree that, at least when used effectively, translanguaging can have a positive emotional effect for learners. In my experience it gives people the opportunity to be their full selves for a moment in class and for a less-hierarchical situation. It can help lower learner's 'affective filters' (Krashen), and feel more comfortable when moving back to the target language.
As others have commented though, it can certainly at times be overused and create problems, so must be used reflectively.
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Post by evarojo on Jun 26, 2020 17:04:13 GMT
Varieties of English in the Inner, Outer and Expanding Circles are infinite. English learners will be influenced by their teachers' Englishes, the Englishes from the materials they are learning through, the Englishes from the social media they choose, from the songs they like, from the films they watch, from the colleagues they work with, from the friends they choose, etc. I have realized that, my English or idiolect, has been influenced by all these factors, they have made my English the way it is. From my formal learning of English at school and university to my personal relationships with native and non-native speakers of English. Though I find this subject fascinating, I do not think many people would agree with me. Someone above has noticed it before, parents in European countries want their children to speak the best English, the native English from England. Last year one of the language assistants was from the Philippines and even some of my colleagues, again, pointed out that her English was not good enough, not real English. This is the kind of thoughts instilled on European minds, the superior English from the metropolis versus the inferior English from the colonized. And that is what former Prime Minister obviously thinks. I am a native speaker of Spanish and have never thought that my Spanish was better than the one spoken in Cuba, Puerto Rico or anywhere in South America. But, unfortunately, there are people who believe so and that their Spanish is of lower quality than the one from the Castillian Spanish. As a teacher of EFL in a secondary school in Spain I try to offer my students exposure to different Englishes from around the world, and whenever they ask me for the best one I answer the one they choose, it is their individual choice(like boyfriends and girlfriends as a joke)
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tony
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Post by tony on Jun 30, 2020 4:55:11 GMT
I suppose that ‘Standard English’ plays a major role in intercultural communication in that it shapes the repertoire of a speaker and lays a foundation for negotiation of meaning. In essence, ‘Standard English’ is a model, or a starting point, which subsequently evolves into one of the World Englishes, i.e. a unique version of English spoken by an individual. It is important to note that such a form of target language is by no means rigid, it may change over time as it is affected by micro-contextual factors such as the immediate surroundings of a speaker, say when an individual spends much time in a company of certain people who speak English in their distinctive way, in due course he or she might accommodate their language to converge with their group.
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Post by marian on Jul 1, 2020 22:19:32 GMT
- Inner Circle Varieties of English:The more I reflect on the highly numerous varieties of English in the Inner Circle alone, the more illogical it feels to teach one variety (what is considered Standard US or UK English). What even is American English? Learners coming to study English in the US expect to be taught American English and American pronunciation, but how can we define these and place them in one neat box? Across the US alone there are multitudes of varieties and accents, not even counting "non-native" speaker varieties and accents, of which there is an abundance in the United States. So, yes, I believe we should be exposing learners to different varieties and these should be acknowledged. I used to have flatmate whose accent was very similar to Bernadette's and who, on many occasions, I had a very hard time understating and had to embarrassingly ask her to repeat things a few times. She was speaking English, I was an English teacher, so what was the issue? Well, I had never been exposed to her variety before. Maybe it's difficult to expose everyone to every variety, but certainly there are major ones like Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Australian, Indian, Asian varieties, Spanish varieties etc. that ELT textbooks could easily incorporate? - British English What struck me from the former PM's address was the idea that English belonged exclusively to the British Isles and that they were generously offering to loan some of it to India. This seems to promote the idea of linguistic imperialism even more so when one considers that Indian English IS already a variety of English. - Standard English in ELF usageAs a teacher, I don;t think I have ever heard my international students communicate with each other in "Standard" English, so I think it is not important, because they negotiate meaning and are able to communicate effectively using their idiolets to form ELF. On that note, a friend and fellow English teacher told me once that American English was the real lingua franca. What are your thoughts on this view? I would like to answer this last question. I wouldn't be able to say wherher American English is the real lingua franca. But what I see is that due to the influence brought by series and films most students (at least in Latin America) tend to be much more familiar with their expressions than with British English. Perhaps in Europe this is not the case since they are much closer to the UK than us. As I see it, the English we use as a lingua franca is a mix of our L1 and all the varieties of English we are exposed to.
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jake
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Post by jake on Jul 2, 2020 15:26:58 GMT
Varieties of English in the Inner, Outer and Expanding Circles are infinite. English learners will be influenced by their teachers' Englishes, the Englishes from the materials they are learning through, the Englishes from the social media they choose, from the songs they like, from the films they watch, from the colleagues they work with, from the friends they choose, etc. I have realized that, my English or idiolect, has been influenced by all these factors, they have made my English the way it is. From my formal learning of English at school and university to my personal relationships with native and non-native speakers of English. Though I find this subject fascinating, I do not think many people would agree with me. Someone above has noticed it before, parents in European countries want their children to speak the best English, the native English from England. Last year one of the language assistants was from the Philippines and even some of my colleagues, again, pointed out that her English was not good enough, not real English. This is the kind of thoughts instilled on European minds, the superior English from the metropolis versus the inferior English from the colonized. And that is what former Prime Minister obviously thinks. I am a native speaker of Spanish and have never thought that my Spanish was better than the one spoken in Cuba, Puerto Rico or anywhere in South America. But, unfortunately, there are people who believe so and that their Spanish is of lower quality than the one from the Castillian Spanish. As a teacher of EFL in a secondary school in Spain I try to offer my students exposure to different Englishes from around the world, and whenever they ask me for the best one I answer the one they choose, it is their individual choice(like boyfriends and girlfriends as a joke) I think you’re right that a big part of the battle is changing the way people see different varieties and the attitudes they have towards them being good or bad, right or wrong etc. I agree with you that everyone is entitled to make their own choice about which is the “best” English for them, even if their own variety ends up being totally unique to them as an individual. I think it’s a shame that a lot of parents or employers see Standard forms as superior. In my opinion, knowledge of different varieties shows that a person has real life experiences, is familiar with different places or contexts, and is able to communicate in real-life situations, which is surely valuable to whichever school/university/job they might be applying to, despite it holding a ‘standard’ form as somehow more desirable.
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jake
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Post by jake on Jul 2, 2020 15:28:00 GMT
Even though the term ‘Standard English’ is such a known concept, I think it is hard to define exactly what that is, even within the Inner Circle. I’m sure that upon close assessment of a group of ‘Standard English’ speakers we would find countless differences in their language use due to individual factors, idiolects, social and employment factors etc. Every English teacher has their own variety, and I imagine everybody probably has a slightly different idea of what ‘Standard English’ actually is, and consequently probably teaches a slightly different version of that Standard English. (so… is it standard at all?!)
If even our standard includes and allows variation, why do we need the ‘standard’ label at all? I think there is an argument that the Inner Circle offers no more of a consistent standard than Englishes from the Outer or Expanding Circles.
Reflecting on how students communicate with users of other languages, I again struggle to see the importance of using Standard English. My setting is an international language college in a tourist city in England. Students come from all over the world, mix with classmates from various different countries, live with host families, interact with shop workers and tourist guides, etc. None of these people (students or not) speak Standard English, yet the communication between them is nearly always entirely successful both socially and functionally. The way I see it, perfect communicative effectiveness can be achieved without a standard.
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Post by Amaryllis on Jul 2, 2020 16:34:21 GMT
Translanguaging
After reading ‘A Translanguaging Pedagogy for Writing: A CUNY-NYSIEB Guide for Educators’ by Espinosa, Ascenzi-Moreno & Vogel (2016), I realise now that my attempts so far to incorporate different linguistic backgrounds into class have been limited. This guide can be found in the Translanguaging Resources listed in the Resources section for Unit 2. When I let go of the notion that my students are ‘language learners’, and instead see them as ‘emergent bilinguals’, I feel that I have turned a very big corner! I am especially interested in writing at the B2-C1 levels. Although most of the ideas in the guide are more suitable for children and teens in primary and secondary schools, these are a few that I could use with adults to support them and provide scaffolding for their journey as emergent bilinguals:
1) Allow them to perform as many of the pre-writing activities as they wish in their L1. For example, if they are preparing a writing topic at home, they could brainstorm, plan and share ideas with other persons in their L1 before completing the written text in English. If they are writing in class, then they could still brainstorm and plan in their L1, why not? As class time is often limited, I would probably still want them to share ideas with their classmates in English before writing in English.
2) Encourage them to explore the topic through multimedia (eg. music, art, documentaries, digital stories, podcasts, drama) in their L1 outside of class before writing in English. If we view writing as a process, then they can access their ideas through whichever form they wish before expressing these ideas in writing.
3) Give them the choice as to how they use translanguaging in writing . 4) Set students a daily writing task at home that encourages free writing so that they can choose how much of each language they use and when. The teacher doesn’t need to see the written work so there is no marking of errors, simply an exploration of a difficult topic.
There are many, many more ideas in this guide and on the website. This particular Guide for Educators has helped me gain a better idea of how I can achieve my goal of seeing emergent bilinguals become confident writers – knowing that each person’s unique perspective is important; that they can build on the resources of their L1 and that the teacher is a guide to help them develop their own voice.
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Post by Amaryllis on Jul 2, 2020 16:36:23 GMT
On a previous point: I agree with others that speaking students’ L1 doesn’t encourage them to speak English. In fact, I’ve found that the majority would revert to their L1 more often than not. With adult students, I think I still wouldn’t speak their L1 in class, but I’m also really happy to have learnt of other ways of building on their L1 as a resource for learning
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Post by Amaryllis on Jul 2, 2020 16:38:32 GMT
I found the concept of translanguaging fascinating as it speaks to my own experience in a bilingual household. In terms of teaching practice and how translanguaging can boost self-esteem, I would totally agree that, at least when used effectively, translanguaging can have a positive emotional effect for learners. In my experience it gives people the opportunity to be their full selves for a moment in class and for a less-hierarchical situation. It can help lower learner's 'affective filters' (Krashen), and feel more comfortable when moving back to the target language. As others have commented though, it can certainly at times be overused and create problems, so must be used reflectively. I agree that translanguaging has a huge positive emotional effect on students. Even though I was using the concept in very limited ways before starting this course, I saw a significant improvement in writing when I experimented with more inclusive genres and feedback methods. Once students feel ‘safe’ emotionally, their academic performance often improves dramatically.
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mkhan
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Post by mkhan on Jul 13, 2020 9:14:11 GMT
Exposure to different territorial forms of Englishes is a necessity to do away with the concept of standard English.
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Post by Ulla on Jul 24, 2020 15:06:57 GMT
The variety of English I teach / model: I am always amazed when teachers confidently proclaim that they teach a specific variety of English. Like evarojo said above, my English has been influenced by the English speaking countries I have lived in and by the English speakers I have interacted with over the years. I would never claim to teach British English - not only because I am not a native speaker, but also because while BE may have been the earliest influence on my English, I have been exposed to many other varieties over the years.
In the area of EAP, students are often told to use one standard (usually either American or British) consistently. If I am honest, I have to admit that I have trouble with consistency myself, so I wonder how realistic it is to expect students to be aware of the conventions of one standard at all times when they are writing. I also wonder how necessary it really is - when you write for publication, you can take care of inconsistencies in the editing process. Other aspects are far more important when teaching EAP writing.
Expanding Circle language use: I have been wondering about Austria's expanding circle status for a while. It seems to me that English is an organic part of young people's linguistic repertoire these days, far more so than when I was growing up (1990s). I don't think young people, educated young people especially, think of English as a 'foreign' language anymore - due to its global status, English is not a 'foreign' language in the same way that, say, French is a foreign language. Maybe the English we teach in school will diverge from the English we use in our everyday lives in the sense that in school English lessons, we will continue to analyse the language and its rules, whereas in our everyday lives, we will use it as a tool for all kinds of communication.
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Post by Ulla on Jul 24, 2020 15:13:43 GMT
My problem with Standard English is that nobody seems to use it. Within Standard English too, there is written English and spoken English which follow different rules. To exemplify, written English grammar rules suggest that you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. When it comes to spoken English, how common are sentences like, ' I ain't quite sure what I am up to.' Moreover, native speakers themselves don't know all the grammar rules. With all the varieties that are there, I think the best thing to do would be combine things as they are convenient. Every country has as such mingled English with their native tongue. Why run away from it? I totally agree with this. It makes me reflect on some friends from overseas who came and learned Indonesian in formal education and the teachers taught them 'standard Indonesian'. I could not help but felt strange to talk in standard Indonesian with them. I am just wondering if native English speakers feel the same talking to international students in standard English. I have Arabic speaking friends here in Austria who are always complaining about having to study standard German in their German classes instead of the regional variety they have to deal with outside the classroom. I have no problem using standard German when I speak to them, but not everybody is willing to make the effort, which is very frustrating for them. In an expanding circle country where English is taught as a foreign language, the best you can do is expose learners to a wide range of varieties of English, I think. As teachers, we can't know what varieties they will encounter outside the classroom, so it's probably best to help them to develop some flexibility.
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Post by beatrizguerra on Aug 3, 2020 21:32:12 GMT
I do not agree with the common practice of standardizing languages to the extent that since no one stays the same, why would language? People do not stay the same, neither does language. Therefore, when I am teaching, I tend to prioritize the function of the language, which is communication, and I try not to place a high value on forms, which Standard English prizes. For me, I do not see how using Standard English with speakers of other languages is the only way to achieve comprehensibility between speakers. I witnessed a lot of grammatical 'errors', according to Standard English norms, not hinder communication, since there is the constant negotiation of meaning throughout the communication. Some features that are common between Brazilian speakers of English is the pluralization of nouns and the non-use of the third person present tense, but this features never led problems to the communication.
Translanguaging in Brazil is quite common on social media and on music. However, is not as much as in some other countries since there is no investment in education.
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Post by miabae on Aug 7, 2020 18:48:40 GMT
I consider myself lucky as I taught English Lexicology for several years, and the English language varieties were part of the course. Now that I think of it, that was probably my favourite module. My students and I compared the way different English speakers sound, what words, expressions and syntax they use. Now that I'm back teaching General English, we mostly stick to 'standard' English - as our coursebooks are by Oxford/Cambridge University Press.
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