ENGLISH 540 SEMINAR IN LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE STUDY:

Intercultural Rhetoric and Discourse:

Issues and Perspectives

1. Welcome Back!

2. Who are we? Six Word Memoir

3. Goal of the class: Rationale, course materials

4. Introduction of Modules

5. Description of Course Projects

6. Key concepts : Standard English, Standard English Ideology and World Englishes

7. In-class reading and discussion:

Pennycook, A. (2008). Translingual English. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 31/2.

AGENDA

For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.—Hemingway

Lost voice. Gone to find it.

Suddenly everyone seems younger than me.

Mother, teacher, writer. In this order.

My resolutions melted faster than snow.

Well, I am still here, are you?

SIX WORD MEMOIR

Source: http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

This course provides an introduction to cross-cultural approaches to rhetoric, language and literacy. Examining the effects of globalization on the use of English, we will discuss various questions such as: How do people construct written and spoken texts across linguistic, cultural and disciplinary boundaries? How do our literacy practices (both first and second language) shape, and are shaped by the discourse communities in which we participate? What are some of the complex politics surrounding contrastive rhetoric? Understanding language and rhetoric in terms of performativity and transculturation, the main goal of this course is to construct a strong understanding of cross-language and cross-cultural relations and promote more equitable discourses and access to knowledge and knowledge construction. The approaches covered in this course are grounded in the works of scholars in the areas of critical applied linguistics (e.g., Canagarajah, Kachru, Matsuda, McKay, Pennycook,), intercultural rhetoric (e.g., Atkinson, Connor, Kubota, Yu) educational ethnography (e.g, Heath, Street, Bloome), and theories of critical literacy as social justice (e.g., Street, Gee, Labov, Smitherman).

COURSE RATIONALE

MODULE # 1: Translingualism and global Englishes.

Week 1-4

MODULE # 2: From contrastive rhetoric to intercultural rhetoric.

Week 4-9

MODULE # 3: Ethnographic approaches to cross-cultural literacy practices.

Week 11-15

INTRODUCTION OF MODULES

1. Diversity among language varieties: English versus Englishes How do certain discourses denigrate vernacular varieties? How are the “acts of identities” (LaPage, 1985) affirmed or marginalized? What are the educational implications of privileging Standard American English over other vernacular varieties (even languages)?

2. Language as performance: how do postcolonial speakers of English shuttle between communities? What’s the politics of English as a global language? What’s the role of popular culture in language change?

MODULE # 1: TRANSLINGUALISM AND

GLOBAL ENGLISHES

1. Cross-cultural issues in second language writing: How does culture matter in writing? How can we balance the complexity of vernacular culture with the expectations of the target audience (e.g. Standard Academic Writing) What are the implications of world Englishes on writing? How can we see language difference as a resource rather than a deficit?

2. Methods in cross-cultural analysis: Text analysis, genre analysis, ethnographic approaches to text and context analysis.

MODULE # 2: FROM CONTRASTIVE TO INTERCULTURAL RHETORIC

1. Literacy, discourse and politics: Debunking the myth that literacy as a mental phenomenon: What does the

word literacy mean?

2. Discourse Analysis and Ethnography: how do we make sense of social languages and literacy practices in cross-

cultural settings? How does ethnography help researchers understand complex issues around literacy and language? What are the difficulties of conducting

ethnographic and discourse analytic approaches?

MODULE # 3: ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACHES TO CROSS-CULTURAL

LITERACY PRACTICES.

Discussion Facilitation

Reading Responses

Book Club Activity

Intercultural analysis of spoken or written discourse

Final Project

COURSE PROJECTS

KEY CONCEPTS FOR MODULE # 1

Share your defi nition of Standard English.

ISSUES REVOLVING AROUND “STANDARD ENGLISH”

The English with respect to spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary is substantially uniform though not devoid of regional differences, that is well

established by usage in the formal and informal speech and writing of the educated, and that is widely recognized as

acceptable wherever English is spoken and written-Merriam Webster

THE MYTH OF STANDARD ENGLISH

Carries the most prestige

The dialect of the educated

Variety of English that is employed in written discourse

Grammar and lexical forms typically used by educated Native Speakers

DEFINITIONS BEAR SIMILARITIES…

“ a picture begins to emerge, Standard US English is the language spoken and written by persons:

• With no regional accents;• Who reside in Midwest

• With more than average or superior education;• Who pay attention to speech; and are not sloppy in terms of

pronunciation or grammar• Who are easily understood by all.” (p. Green, 1997. 58)

• “Standard and non-standard dichotomy is firmly entrenched both in literature and in the minds of the speakers, it is not possible to simply replace it. Mainstream English, as it is defined here, is an abstraction.

It is an attempt to isolate from the full set of all varieties of US English those varieties which are not overtly stigmatized.” (p. 62)

LIPPI GREEN SAYS…

A bias toward an abstracted, idealized, homogenous spoken language which is imposed and maintained by

dominant institutions.

Day-to-day devaluation of non-standard Englishes as “illogical”, “ugly”, “unacceptable”, “incoherent”

How is this ideology maintained and promoted?

See the handout for Lippie Green’s language subordination process

STANDARD LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY

Different varieties of Englishes around the globe--Linguistic diversity in present-day English use.

There are 350 million native English speakers living in the inner circle countries

There are 700 million non-native English speakers in the expanding and outer circle countries.

More non-native speakers than native speakers: About 80% of the English speakers of the world are non-native

speakers (Braine, 2006)

The concept of WE allows for varieties in English usage. It allows us to pluralize English--Englishes

WORLD ENGLISHES

WORLD ENGLISHES

The Expanding Circle

ChinChina, Egypt, Indonesia,

Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Saudi Arabia,

China, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Saudi Arabia,

Taiwan, Russia, Zimbabwe, South Africa,

Caribbean Islands(EFL)

Taiwan, Russia, Zimbabwe, South Africa,

Caribbean Islands(EFL)

a, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Saudi Arabia,

Taiwan, Russia, Zimbabwe, South Africa,

Caribbean Islands(EFL)

The Outer CircleBangladesh, India

Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia,

Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka,

Tanzania, Zambia

The Inner CircleUSAUK

CanadaAustralia

New Zealand

“ Knowing English is like possessing the Aladdin’s lamp, which permits one to open, as it were, the linguistic gates to

international business, technology, service, science and travel”

(Kachru, 1986; p.1)

KACHRU (1986). THE ALCHEMY OF ENGLISH

How many Englishes are there?

MacArthur’s circle of English

HOW ABOUT PIDGINS AND CREOLES?

God, you our Fadda. You stay inside da sky. We like all da peopo know fo shua how you stay, An dat you stay good an spesho, An we like dem give you plenny respeck. We like

you come King fo everybody now. We like everybody make jalike you like, Ova hea inside da world, Jalike da angel

guys up inside da sky make jalike you like. Give us da food we need fo today an every day. Hemmo our shame, an let us go Fo all da kine bad stuff we do to you, Jalike us guys let

da odda guys go awready, And we no stay huhu wit dem Fo all da kine bad stuff dey do to us. No let us get chance fo do bad kine stuff, But take us outa dea, so da Bad Guy no can hurt us. Cuz you our King. You get da real power, An you

stay awesome foeva. Dass it!”

Check out the speech archive:

http://accent.gmu.edu/browse.php

EXAMPLE FROM HAWAIIAN PIDGIN (A PRAYER)

Read & Discuss Pennycook’s Translingualism article

(American Tongues—if time allows… if the majority did not see the documentary before…)

PENNYCOOK ARTICLE ON TRANSLINGUALISM