ELF, aca:Demic writing, and the semanticization of thought

Peter Grundy, Durham University, UK

English as a lingua franca is a language of secondary socialization, a means of wider communication to conduct transactions

outside one’s primary social space and speech community.

Seidlhofer (2011) Understanding

English as a Lingua Franca, p.86

Even though many Chinese spoke English with ease and fluency, they would not negotiate in it, believing that it put them at a disadvantage in relation to Europeans. In pidgin they reposed far greater trust, for the grammar was the same as that of Cantonese, while the words were mainly English, Portuguese and Hindustani – andsuch being the case, everyone who spoke thejargon was at an equal disadvantage, which was considered a great benefit to all.

Amitav Ghosh (2011)

River of Smoke, p.183

ELF, aca:Demic writing, and the semanticization of thought

Peter Grundy, Durham University, UK

Sie sprechen aber sehr

gut Deutsch

He spoke very good Czech

English: I don’t drink

or smoke Language use, just like other forms

of social behaviour, is interpreted by the actors involved. In the realm of social life in general, more or less coherent patterns of meaning which are felt to be so commonsensical that they are no longer questioned, thus feeding into taken-for-granted interpretations of activities and events, are usually called ideologies. (Verscheuren, 2000:450).

MSC: Do not smoke,

do not drink alcohol

Utterance-type-meaning .. is a level of systematic pragmatic inference based not on direct computations about speaker-intentions but rather on general expectations about how language is normally used. These expectations give rise to presumptions, default inferences, about both content and force. (Levinson, 2000:22).

I don’t drink or smoke

Do not smoke, do not drink

alcohol

I-inference (Br. Eng.): the speaker

doesn’t drink alcohol

M-inference: (Br. Eng.) the speaker

thinks well of them-selves in this

regard

pragmatics has been something of a poor relation in the literature

H: no (.) that's Newton Hall

C: Newton Hall (.) yeahH: that's Jean BellC: Jean <Bell >H: <but the> old

lady at Chester-le-Street (..) I think I said to you bad chest (.) uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh=

C: =oh yes=J: =yes @laughs@C: <ah>H: -think-she-will-

go- to-herC: ah

This despite the indexical reflection of context together with the way in which this is signalled metapragma-tically being notable properties of spoken language and despite the fact that it’s relatively easy to demonstrate that ELF interactions construct contexts that reflect the nature of the intercultural communication events that constitute them.

go- to-herC: ah

metalinguistic no;

distal that; ?

metonymy?

go- to-herC: ah

echo +

metalinguistic

C: Newton Hall (.) yeah

H: that's Jean BellC: Jean <Bell >H: <but the> old

go- to-herC: ah

distal that with

contrastive

effect; elliptical

go- to-herC: ah

metasequential

but re-establishing

relevant topic;

C: Newton Hall (.) yeahH: that's Jean BellC: Jean <Bell >H: <but the>

old lady at Chester-le-Street (..) I think I said to you bad chest (.) uh-huh uh-huh

uh-huh=C: =oh yes=J: =yes @laughs@C: <ah>H: -think-she-will-

go- to-herC: ah

topic marker (..) +

hedged evidential

I think I said to

you;pidgin register:

elliptical;

reference modifier;

(hence the)

demonstration

?response to

evidential

go- to-herC: ah

?response to

demonstration (as

@inappropriate@)?

C: =oh yes=J: =yes

@laughs@C: <ah>H: -think-she-will-

go- to-herC: ah

marks recognition

of topic completion

go- to-herC: ah

hedged comment

oriented to J's

NNS status

C: =oh yes=J: =yes <laughs>C: <ah>H: -think-she-

will-go- to-herC: ah

marks recognition

of comment

completion

C: =oh yes=J: =yes <laughs>C: <ah>H: -think-she-will-

go- to-herC: ah

I .. prefer to think of ELF as any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option.

Although the metapragmatic and metasequential features of writing resemble those of spoken interaction and, as in talk, function as constraints on interpretation, writing is not interactive in the way that talk is.

Their (sociolinguists’) identification of varietiesis also inevitably based to some extent on idealization and the assumption of homogeneity. There are no varieties until linguists circumscribe them as ideal stable entities.. This convenient fiction divides up the language continuum and reifies languages and language varieties as separate entities or bounded units.

•which is codified and standardized •about the effective doing of which there is

broad agreement•which may be 'corrected' by others when

deficient•which involves a process of recursive drafting

as writers attempt to satisfy standard ways of conveying the meanings they have in mind

Writing is a public

representation

But it is not a matter of native speakers generously conceding the right of non-native speakers to use and adapt the language as they think fit. Adaptation naturally happens as a consequence of the very process of appropriation. So English could not actually function as an international language at all if it were simply adopted rather than adapted.

•which presupposes agreed ways of putting things across a wide community of language users

• in which it is expected that expert writers will set out to teach apprentice writers to understand genres, the institutional nature of writing and the power of the discourse community which determines whether a written text has readers

Writing is a public

representation

We need to be able to refer to a construct that can accommodate the dynamic and fluid character of ELF while also accounting for what its realizations across the globe, despite all their diversity, have in common: the underlyingencoding possibilities that speakers make use of. It is these possibilities that we can (speculatively) call virtual language.

ELF users exploit the possibilities of the virtual language to their own ends.. What we see in

ELFusage is the exploitation of encoding possibilities to produce linguistic forms that are functionally appropriate and effective.

The crucial point is that classrooms have to provide opportunities for learners to

develop a capability in English that will enable them to make adaptive and actual use of the virtual language.

The expression of experience in linguistic termsconstitutes thinking for speaking – a special form of thought that is mobilized for communication.. “Thinking for speaking” involves picking those characteristics of objects and events that (a) fit some conceptualization of the event, and (b) are readily encodable in the language.

Slobin (1996) From “thought and

language” to “thinking for

speaking”, p.76

Distinctions of aspect, definiteness, voice, and the like, are, par excellence, distinctions that can only be learned through language, and have no other use except to be expressed in language. They are not categories of thought in general, but categories of thinking for speaking.

Slobin (1996) From “thought and

language” to “thinking for

speaking”, p.91

Seidlhofer and SlobinVirtual language Thinking for speakingthe underlyingencoding possibilities that speakers make use of .. that will enable them to make adaptive and actual use of the virtual language.

picking those characteristics of objects and events

that(a) fit some conceptualization of the event, and (b)

are readily encodable in the language.

The notion of adaptation is also problematic since varieties of writing represent agreed and, therefore, reified, and to some degree decontextualized, ways of mediating content that are recognized by discourse communities such as the academy who constitute their expectablereaderships.

These mediations make use of language specific default affordances that are not only syntactic but also pragmatic and represent ‘thinking for speaking’ categories (Slobin 1996) rather than the abstract concept of ‘virtual English’ (Seidlhofer 2011:120) that ELF users appropriate for their own purposes.

Slobin and virtual languageAny utterance is a selective

schematization of a concept – a schematization that is,

in some way, dependent

on the grammaticalized meanings of the speaker’s particular language (1996:75-6)

The ‘bare past’ inHong Kong English:• Last bus had

departed• This section of

the platform had been cordoned off• Sorry we were

closed(Grundy & Jiang,

Thinking for speaking and thinking for writingIf an utterance is ‘a selective

schematization of a concept – a schematization that is, in some

way, dependent on the grammaticalized

meanings of the speaker’s particular language’, is a

written text constrained to the extent that some

thoughtsare more readily expressed in the written

code? And do different cultural groups favour

different pragmatic modulations?

Selective schematizations in a letter to bank customersEnglish MSCTo enable the Bank to implement this initiative, the standard terms and conditions of the

accounts you hold with ___ Bank or its subsidiaries will be changed accordingly.

To go hand in hand with our

Bank’s implementation of

the above measure, thestandard terms and regulations of the

different accounts of the

respected customer with the ___

Bank or our Bank’s subsidiary organizations will need

to be slightly revised.

• Small PD• More direct mode of communication (positive politeness)(Grundy, 1998)

• Large PD• More indirect mode of communication (negative politeness)•Nominalization

Selective schematizations in a letter to academicsEnglish MSCAs you are aware, two recent disasters in China

– the terrifying blast in Hunan and the

disastrous earthquake in Yunnan – have claimed the lives of hundreds, leaving tens of thousands of victims desperately in need of help.

I think you all know that recently Chinese compatriots in Hunan province and Shaoyang municipality of Yunnan province have suffered severe casualties as a

result of the earthquake and

blast accidents respectively.

MSC text encodes larger P in being more indirectly directive and smaller D in being more verbal

(Grundy, 1998)

Selective schematizations in an advertisement for life insurance

Cheng and Grundy, 2007

Prediction Effect DataInstitutional writing will encode default assumptions about power / distance differentials

MSC texts will exhibit greater encoding of power / distance than E texts

MSC: Perhaps you-polite poss. son daughter still young even you-polite pl. have just small baby (Perhaps your children are still young, or you’ve even just had a baby)

E: Perhaps your children are still very young or you’ve just had your first baby

Confirmed

Prediction Effect DataIndividualistic cultures will favour implicature because the hearer is free to interpret the form that serves as input

E texts will be positioned nearer the implicature pole: MSC texts nearer the propositional meaning pole

MSC: but household-thing price continuous up-rise / save money for small child provide book teach knowledge / really burden not light (but the cost of living is continually rising and saving money for the education of your child is certainly not a light burden)

E: But with rising costs, saving for that education can also be one of your greatest responsibilities

Broadly confirmed

Prediction Effect DataMore hierarchically ordered societies will favour negative politeness

MSC texts will favour negative politeness; E texts will favour positive politeness

MSC: if have doubt-question (If you have any doubts)

E: Not sure?

MSC: Manulife happy-willing for you-polite serve (Manulife will be happy to serve you)

E: We can help…Broadly confirmed

Prediction EffectCultures will show their orientation to ingroup/outgroup distinctions through direct encoding and in the use of person deixis

Exclusive deictics will be relatively favoured in MSC texts and inclusive deictics relatively favoured in E texts

Possibly confirmed but

unsuitable data

Prediction EffectOrderly and hierarchical cultures will favour presupposition since it reflects the extent to which mutually held beliefs are shared

Presupposition will be relatively favoured in MSC texts

No significant difference

between texts

Prediction EffectOrderly cultures will favour in-text references to other parts of the text

Discourse deixis will be relatively favoured in MSC texts

Not confirmed: if anything, the

opposite is the case

Prediction EffectOrderly cultures will favour nominal style

Nominal style will be relatively favoured in MSC texts; verbal style in English texts

Not confirmed: English texts are

more nominal

Broad results:

the deictic (indexical) and inferential

affordances of the of the two languages

appear to differ

the propositional and discourse deictic

affordances are not significantly different

But does this demonstrate..

only that different social contexts are

encoded in the texts?or that different

characteristics of the social event can be more

readily encoded in the different pragmatic

affordances of the two languages?

Academic writing: selective schematizations or adaptation?

Cheng and Grundy, 2007

Two questions that arise in the context of academia is whether literacy-oriented native authored and Chinese authored English parallel texts replicate this finding and whether they also differ in other pragmatic respects.

The issue of ownership: Between the poles of Quotation and Plagiarism, we have to bear in mind the question of

Voice / Footing: e.g., ‘What are we to say to the teacher who says, I have that many years of teaching experience and I don’t need no development?’

Participants: two native Chinese writers and one native English writer faced with the same academic writing task in English who chose the same two topics, followed broadly similar rhetorical strategies and whose work was graded in the same band.

The task: Imagine you have been asked to put together a guide for newly qualified teachers. Formulate 4 or 5 methodology statements, such as Language is more learnable than teachable, and provide an explanation for each of them addressed to your apprentice teacher audience. (1,000 words).

The data: the recommendation sentences in the four selected texts

The participants’ rhetorical strategiesC1 E

t1C2 E

t2The existing situation explained

general particular/present

developing + exemplification +evaluation

The resulting argument Existing solutions

New recommendation(s)

own other provided

Outcome(s)

The participants’ methodology statement headingsC1 Pay more attention to L2 users rather than

the native speakers in the process of language teaching

Native speaker pronunciation is not a valid aim

C2 Teachers shouldn’t be limited by unique method, but to overlap dynamic methods and apply proper methods in particular situation in their English teaching classroom

Do not be afraid to experiment with or vary your teaching methods

The participants’ recommendationsC1 Heading: Pay more attention to L2 users

rather than the native speakers in the process of language teaching

Therefore more attention should be paid to L2 users rather than native speakers in the process of language teaching. It should be noticed that even the native speakers have various accents, why are non-native speakers’ accents unacceptable? .. Based on these reasons, it can be seen that more dialogues between non-native speakers should be presented in the ELT classroom.

The participants’ recommendationsE t1 Heading: Native speaker pronunciation is

not a valid aimHowever, the most important point for teachers is to focus more on fluency when teaching the language to the students, rather than aiming for them to pronounce their words like a native speaker. If the student has a desire to pronounce like a native speaker, then perhaps this is something they can work on in their own time. For the most part, the role of the teacher is to facilitate the student’s language learning and ensure that they are intelligible, before attempting to make the L2 student ‘sound’ like an L1 speaker.

The participants’ recommendationsC2 Heading: Teachers shouldn’t be limited by

unique method, but to overlap dynamic methods and apply proper methods in particular situation in their English teaching classroom

In conclusion, due to the complexity of the language teaching classroom and teacher’s own concept and experience, only one method would fail to deal with every situation, so, teachers should learn to use different methods in different particular teaching context.

The participants’ recommendationsE t2 Heading: Do not be afraid to experiment

with or vary your teaching methodsSo exactly what changes can be made to the curriculum and what is to be done? Over 20 years ago David Nunan himself noticed how the search for one right method ought to be discarded and that teachers be supported to ‘Develop, select or adapt tasks which are appropriate in terms of goals, input, activities, roles and settings, and difficulty’ (1987:2, quoted in Kumaravadivelu, 2002). Alterations to a syllabus or task should be made in the best interests of the student, not the teacher.

indexicality

C1Therefore more attention should be paid to L2 users rather than [the] native speakers in the process of language teaching. It should be noticed that even the native speakers have various accents, why are non-native speakers’ accents unacceptable? .. Based on these reasons, it can be seen that more dialogues between non-native speakers should be presented in the ELT classroom.

more attn should be paid to x

rather than y

deferencenegative

politeness

explicit

implicitGenitive

C1Therefore more attention should be paid to L2 users rather than [the] native speakers in the process of language teaching. It should be noticed that even the native speakers have various accents, why are non-native speakers’ accents unacceptable? .. Based on these reasons, it can be seen that more dialogues between non-native speakers should be presented in the ELT classroom.

more attn should be paid to x

rather than y

Pay more attn to x than y – invites I-inference

Pay attn to x rather than y – invites I-inferencePay more attn to x (rather) than (to) y

– invites M-inference

E t1However, the most important point for teachers is to focus more on fluency when teaching the language to the students, rather than aiming for them to pronounce their words like a native speaker. If the student has a desire to pronounce like a native speaker, then perhaps this is something they can work on in their own time. For the most part, the role of the teacher is to facilitate the student’s language learning and ensure that they are intelligible, before attempting to make the L2 student ‘sound’ like an L1 speaker.

indexicality

hedge explicit

implicit

presupposition

the role of the

teacher is to (a) and

focus more on fluency

rather than

aiming forGenitive

the role of the

teacher is to (a) and

the role of the teacher is to (a) and (b)the role/s of the teacher is/are to (a) and to (b)

- I-inferences: (a) and (b) are /

aren’t same category concepts

focus more on fluency

rather than

aiming for

is to focus (vb) on fluency rather than aim (vb) for is to focus more on fluency (n) than aiming (n) for - I-inference: there is 1 / are 2 focus(es)

C2In conclusion, due to the complexity of the language teaching classroom and [ ___ ] teacher’s own concept and experience, [ ___ ] only one method would fail to deal with every situation, so, teachers should learn to use different methods in different particular teaching context.

indexicalitynegative

politeness explicit

implicit

Genitive

E t2So exactly what changes can be made to the curriculum and what is to be done? Over 20 years ago David Nunan himself noticed how the search for one right method ought to be discarded and that teachers be supported to ‘Develop, select or adapt tasks which are appropriate in terms of goals, input, activities, roles and settings, and difficulty’ (1987:2, quoted in Kumaravadivelu, 2002). Alterations to a syllabus or task should be made in the best interests of the student, not the teacher.indexicalit

ynegative

politeness explicit

implicit

presupposition

noticed how ..

ought to be .. and that be

Genitive

E t2So exactly what changes can be made to the curriculum and what is to be done? Over 20 years ago David Nunan himself noticed how the search for one right method ought to be discarded and that teachers be supported to ‘Develop, select or adapt tasks which are appropriate in terms of goals, input, activities, roles and settings, and difficulty’ (1987:2, quoted in Kumaravadivelu, 2002). Alterations to a syllabus or task should be made in the best interests of the student, not the teacher.

noticed how (subj) ought to be and

that (subj) be

Defaults: - Noticed how (subj) ought to be (vb) and (vb)- Noticed how (subj) ought to be (vb) and that (subj) ought to be (vb)

I will .. make some observations about (the teaching of) academic writing in an ELF environment.

Teaching the pragmatics of academic writing•The literature on the teachability of

pragmatics•Constraints on interpretation and

indexicality•Default inference: I- and M-inferences•Explicit encoding and implicit meaning –

‘the more explicit I try to be, the more unintended implicatures I will generate’ (Levinson, 1997:18).

•Nominal and verbal effects•Readership and indexicality

English as a lingua franca is a language of secondary socialization, a means of wider communication to conduct transactions

outside one’s primary social space and speech community.

Their (sociolinguists’) identification of varietiesis also inevitably based to some extent on idealization and the assumption of homogeneity. There are no varieties until linguists circumscribe them as ideal stable entities.. This convenient fiction divides up the language continuum and reifies languages and language varieties as separate entities or bounded units.

ReferencesCheng, W. and P. Grundy. (2007). Thinking for writing. In Blitvich, P. G-C., Cruz, M.P.,

Moron, R.G. and L.F. Amaya (eds) Studies in Intercultural, Cognitive and Social Pragmatics. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2-36.

Grundy, P. (1998). Parallel texts and diverging cultures in Hong Kong. In Niemeier, A, Campell, C.P, and R. Dirven (eds) The Cultural Context in Business Communication. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 167-183.

Grundy, P. and Y. Jiang (2001) The bare past as an ideological construction in Hong Kong discourse. In Dirven, R., Frank, R. and C. Ilie (eds) Language and Ideology: Vol II Descriptive Cognitive Approaches Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 117-134.

Levinson, S.C. (1997). From outer to inner space: Linguistic categories and non-linguistic thinking. In Pederson, E. and J. Nuyts. (eds) With Language in Mind: The Relationship between Linguistic and Conceptual Representation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 13-45.

Levinson, S.C. (2000). Presumptive Meanings. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.Slobin, D.I. (1996). From “thought and language” to “thinking for speaking”. In

Gumperz, J.J. and S.C. Levinson (eds) Rethinking Linguistic Relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 70-96.

Thanks for inviting me

and thanks for listening

grundypeter@btinternet.com

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