Seminar: Sprachen lernen und lehren in EuropaPädagogische Hochschule Wien

Silvia Jindra / Thomas Strasser

The changing world of English

www.phwien.ac.at

1. A colonial history: Pilgrim Fathers landed on Massachusetts coast in 1620 after their journey from Plymouth

The leading role of English

www.phwien.ac.at

On January 26th, 1788 Commander Phillip raised the British flag at Sydney Cove / Australia.

Sydney Cove, 1788Sydney Cove, 2007

In other parts of the British Empire English became a unifying language, e.g. in India

www.phwien.ac.at

2. Economics:

The spread of global commerce pushed on by the dominant position of the United States.

English has become mediating language of international business (example)

www.phwien.ac.at

3. Information exchange

A great deal of academic discourse around the world takes place in English

The internet has a marked predominence of English

www.phwien.ac.at

4. Travel and tourism:e.g. airports (announcements and signs), museums ….(example)

Santiago de Chile Antalya / Turkey

www.phwien.ac.at

5. Popular culture

Pop musicFilms ( in English with subtitles)Slogans / music in advertisementsBrand names ('Red Bull')

www.phwien.ac.at

The attraction of English and the worldwide motivation for learning English

• its marketplace value• its simplicity in grammatical structure• its status

www.phwien.ac.at

English as a global language

• International language ( used by United Nations)• Most often taught as a foreign language• Newspapers , magazines in English available in

many countries• Most commonly used language in science• No longer the exclusive cultural property of "native

English speakers"

www.phwien.ac.at

Inner (320 -380). Britain, USA, Australia ….

Outer (India, Nigeria, Singapore ..)

Expanding (100 –1000)Poland, Mexico, Austria ….

B. Kachru, 1985

www.phwien.ac.at

Latest developments

Inner circle has lost much of its lingusitic

power

Less educated native speakers versus highly

competent second language English users

Nobody owns English any more – 'world English' belongs to

everyone who speaks it

Speakers of 'world English' at an

advantage as they are not stuck with

native speaker attitudes

www.phwien.ac.at

Inner circle

High proficiency

Low proficiency

www.phwien.ac.at

English as a lingua franca

Lingua franca = used between two people who do not share the same language and for whom English is not their mother tongue

www.phwien.ac.at

English as lingua franca

• It is spoken more among non-native speakers than among native speakers or between native and non-native speakers

• It is not directly associated with a country where it is spoken by native speakers

• Norms of correct pronunciation , grammar and the meaning of words vary and new varieties of English are appearing

www.phwien.ac.at

Some characteristics:

• Non-use of third person present simple tense -s (She look very sad)

• Interchangeable use of the relative pronouns who and which (a book who, a person which)

• Increasing of redundancy by adding prepositions (We have to study about …/ Can we discuss about ….?

Barbara Seidlhofer, 2004. University of Vienna

www.phwien.ac.at

Teaching English in the age of ELF

Should we conform to a native standard such as British English

orShould we stop correcting language in the

classroom and concentrate on helping students to accommodate more ?

www.phwien.ac.at

Native speaker varieties and other Englishes

British English American English

• I've got a book.

• Have you read your latest book yet ?

• flat / lift

• analyse / colour

• I have a book.

• Did you read her latest book yet ?

• apartment / elevator

• analyze / color

www.phwien.ac.at

Variety also exists within a country : regional variety

A Londoner would say 'take away meal'A Scottish person would say 'a carry-out'

www.phwien.ac.at

Social class, ethnic groupings and sex affect the

language They influence the way in which listeners judge speakers

Some accents are admired such as 'BBC English' – some have a low status ( e. g. Cockney) (example)

www.phwien.ac.at

The role of English in the European context

• There is a basic demand for a language which can be used for everyday exchanges among Europeans

• A mere lingua franca approach to the teaching of English in Europe does not correspond to the European language policy.There are countries whose native language is English consequently the socio cultural background must be included when offering English in Europe.

www.phwien.ac.at

The teaching of English in Europe at the level of compulsory education should aim at

• Offering "English for all", i.e. developing pragmatic-functional skills that are useful in everyday communication - "communicative approach"

• Offering information about socio-cultural aspects of the English-speaking countries (inside and outside Europe)

www.phwien.ac.at

Areas of linguistic transfer between English and German

• In the field of grammatical structure especially at elementary level:

English: "My father is fifty years old." "What is that?" German: "Mein Vater ist 50 Jahre alt." "Was ist das?"

www.phwien.ac.at

• In everyday vocabulary there are more than 1000 words with identical or similar meaning

Examples: Similarities in word field "parts of the body"

nose, hair, ear, shoulder, elbow, hand, finger

www.phwien.ac.at

• Internationalisms :

taxi, police, meter, computer, telephone,

• Anglicisms:

pop group, jeans, t-shirt, e-mail, hamburger,

www.phwien.ac.at