Yassir Nasanius Program in Applied English Linguistics Atma Jaya Catholic University

Yassir Nasanius Program in Applied English Linguistics Atma Jaya Catholic University

Brutt-Griffler, J. (2002). World English: A study of its developments. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Kachru, Y. & Smith, L. E. (2008). Cultures, contexts, and world Englishes. New York: Routledge. Kachru, Y. & Nelson, C. L. (2008). World Englishes in Asian contexts. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Mesthrie, R. & Bhatt, R. M. (2008). World Englishes: The study of new linguistic varieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations TKT tests knowledge about the teaching of English, which includes concepts related to language, language use, and the background to and practice of language teaching and learning.

English originated from England and during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I merely had 5 to 7 million speakers. Nowadays, It is used on all continents (more than 100 countries with speakers reaching 2 billion, according to recent estimates).

First Diaspora: English in England Second Diaspora: The migration of thousands of people from England to America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand resulted in new varieties of English Third Diaspora: The colonization of Asia and Africa led to the development of second language varieties, often referred to as New Englishes (such as Indian English) Fourth Diaspora: English spoken throughout the world

What were the factors responsible for the global spread of English?

First Diaspora & Second Diaspora: English as a Native Language or English as a Mother Tongue (350-400 million speakers) Third Diaspora: English as a Second Language (400 million speakers) Fourth Diaspora: English as a Foreign Language (more than 1 billion speakers)

British English, Australian English, New Zealand English, American English, Canadian English Indian English, Singaporean English, Malaysian English, Nigerian English, African English Euro English, Chinese English, Brunei English

Oohhh... Guess what?! I accompanied Angie to this air-stewardess walk-in interview two days ago, and guess who I saw? Suraya! You still remember-kah which one? The long hair one, the one yang looks okay. So, I saw herlah, plus her 1-inci tebal punya make-up! I guess she saw me too, tapi tak tegur pun. Well, not that I care anyway!

A: Hey, you know that Razid in Pizza Hut, right? B: Which one? A: Razid ah, Razid... Razali s friend... You know what he was doing or not? B: The one who always like to kow peh, is it? The botak fella. I don t like him, you know. A: He kena play out. B: By who? A: They send him to Brunei, you know, instead of Taiwan.

British English, Australian English, New Zealand English, American English, Canadian English Indian English, Singaporean English, Malaysian English, Nigerian English, African English Euro English, Chinese English, Brunei English, Manglish, Singlish

Which variety of English should we, teachers of English, adopt for pedagogical purposes?

Two prominent scholars of English, Braj B. Kachru and Randolph Quirk, have come to opposed conclusions about which English should be adopted in ELT.

Quirk (1985, 1990) argues for a global standard (Inner Circle English) to maintain comprehensibility among different nations.

For Quirk, Standard British or American English should be the norm for international communication and hence the ones to be inculcated in Outer Circle classrooms.

What do you think? Do you share the ideas proposed by Quirk? That is, Inner Circle English (such as American or British English) should be more appropriately adopted for the ELT context in Indonesia.

Kachru insists on allowing non-native teachers to develop their own models using local communicative, pragmatic and pedagogic competence. Using local linguistic resources is seen as more authentic and appropriate.

As the status of English as a world language changes, and as the number of users of English grows, it is important to move beyond the traditional limits of language pedagogy and the assumption that all learners of English desire to speak one variety of English. (Brown, 1995, p. 233)

Do you support the ideas proposed by Kachru? That is, we do not have to adopt Inner Circle English (such as American or British English) for the ELT context in Indonesia.

The debate has the following implications: (i) issues concerning the most appropriate qualifications of teachers (ii) issues concerning teaching materials

Who are the best teachers of English? Monolingual speakers of Inner Circle English vs. Bilingual teachers who might not always command the Inner Circle English but who are familiar with the pupils mother tongues

Quirk was in favor of the native speakers, stressing the inadequacies of non-native teachers. He stated that the English of the non-native teachers bears the stamp of locally acquired deviation from the standard language.

What do you think? Do you agree with Quirk s view which stressed the inadequacies of non-native teachers of English?

Kachru points out that the resources needed to promulgate the British or American norm are unlikely to be fulfilled in the vast territories of Expanding Circle countries.

That is, it makes more sense to train local teachers to become successful English users. Such teachers are much more available than native-speaker teachers.

What do you think? Do you support Kachru s view which is in favor of locally-trained teachers who are successful users of English?

Should ELT materials be based on American or British English?

Christophersen (1992, p.16) recounted his experience teaching English in Nigeria: After giving a lecture on the phonetics of English to students at Ibadan, Nigeria, I was consulted by one of them who said, If I try outside the College to use the kind of English you teach us, people will ask, Why do you speak English in the white man s way? Why don t you speak it like an African?

Kachru (1976) reported in the 1970s that a majority of Indian graduate students surveyed expressed a preference for a British model of English as a medium of instruction. By the 1990s Sahgal (1991) suggests a growing preference for Ordinary Indian English as exemplified by the English of Indian film stars and other prestigious role models.

Recently there is movement of students from South-East Asia to India in search of access to English in an environment deemed less costly and more in tune with their cultural values.

Should educational materials be imported from the West? In other words, should educational materials be based on the English from Inner Circle countries?

Promoting the idea of World Englishes as a medium of worldwide communication.

The standard for World Englishes should not come from just one hegemonic variety of English (Inner Circle countries) nor solely from the local variety (Outer Circle countries).

That is, teachers of English should be familiar with a wide range of World Englishes from the three circles so that they are able to expose various types of English to their students. What do you think of this view? If you agree with this view, how would you train your students?

Why do our students need to be familiar with a wide range of Englishes instead of just one variety?

The analyses of major airline accidents showed that they might have been caused by communication failures in English between pilots and air-traffic controllers (although most accidents probably occurred because of some technological and environmental difficulty).

The accident happened partly due to the lack of intermediate to advanced English proficiency of the Columbian air-traffic controller to whom the content of the radio transmission from the American pilots did not make much sense to him.

Indian air-traffic controllers complained that pilots from the former Soviet Union had a poor command of English, whilst the Kazakhstan pilots might not have understood the instructions given by the Indian controller.

Experiencing difficulty on a foggy runway, a pilot from Holland had a discussion with the ATC and said: Ah, roger sir, we are cleared to Papa Beacon, flight level niner zero... We are at takeoff. The controller responds OK, standby for take-off. I call you, but is then interrupted by another radio transmission. By this time, however, the plane is already in motion for takeoff and a serious accident ensues.

An experienced US airline captain shared his view why being familiar with a wide range of Englishes is important: When I started flying to Japan and China, I had experienced many difficulties and problems in my ATC communication with Japanese and Chinese controllers. However, I now experience almost no problem in communicating with them.

Because of the global spread of English which results in a wide variety of English (World Englishes), it makes sense if we expose our students with different types of English if we want them to be able to communicate with people who speak World Englishes around the globe.