Understanding English Spread: EFL vs. ESL Classrooms and L1/L2 Role - Prof. Braga Riera, Apuntes de Idioma Inglés

¡Descarga Understanding English Spread: EFL vs. ESL Classrooms and L1/L2 Role - Prof. Braga Riera y más Apuntes en PDF de Idioma Inglés solo en Docsity! UNIT 8: THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH 1. GLOBAL LANGUAGE 2. INTERNATIONAL AND OFFICIAL LANGUAGE A WORLD OR INTERNATIONAL language is a language spoken internationally which is learned by many people as a second language. A world language is not only characterized by the number of its speakers (native or second language speakers), but also by its geographical distribution, international organizations and in diplomatic relations. In this respect, major world languages are dominated by languages of European origin. The historical reason for this is the period of expansionist European imperialism and colonialism. An OFFICIAL LANGUAGE is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a country's official language refers to the language used within its government - its courts, parliament, administration, etc. - to run its operations and conduct its business. Since "the means of expression of a people cannot be changed by any law", the term "official language" does not typically refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government. Some institutions may have official languages. For example, the official languages of the United Nations are the six languages that are used in UN meetings, and in which all official UN documents are written. In alphabetical order they are: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. 3. AN ARRAY OF ACRONYMS. The world of teaching English is a world of acronyms. People often assume that EFL (English as a foreign language) students are basically the same as ESL (English as a second language) students. But there are obvious differences. • The EFL student learns English in the classroom, mentally puts it on a shelf, and brings it out to use as a tool, when necessary. The EFL student has less exposure to the language and may use ‘textbook’ or formulaic phrases in conversation. In many cases, even though the student has learned English at school for many years, this may not seem to be reflected in their ability. • The ESL student uses English as a second language. For example, in many families in the US, Spanish is spoken at home while English is spoken at work. It may be that the student has never formally studied English, but has picked it up from being ‘thrown in the deep end’, or forced to use it in the workplace. The ESL student has probably picked up slang and has been forced to speak English without paying attention to accuracy. They have great comprehension skills (listening, reading), but weaker production skills (speaking, writing) and much weaker core language skills (grammar) but excellent vocabulary in their field of work or study. Other common terms are ESOL (English for speakers of other languages), ESL (English as an additional language), ELT (English language teaching), a widely used teacher-centred term, as in the English language teaching divisions of large publishing houses, ELT training, etc. Teaching English as a second language (TESL), teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) are also used. Other terms used in this field include English as an international language (EIL), English as a lingua franca (ELF), English for special or specific purposes (ESP) or English for academic purposes (EAP). 4. HOW “EFL” and “ESL” CLASSROOMS DIFFER You may think that teaching English is teaching English, whether you’re doing it in a Thai village or a suburban California school. And you’d be right, sort of. Many of the same textbooks, lesson plans, and online resources serve in both cases. Many English teachers go from one type of teaching position to the other, and back again. But there are fundamental differences between EFL and ESL classrooms. Understanding them will make you a more effective teacher. • An EFL classroom is in a country where English is not the dominant language. Students share the same language and culture. The teacher may be the only native English speaker they have exposure to. Outside of the classroom students have very few opportunities to use English. For some, learning English may not have any obvious practical benefit. Students have limited exposure to English- speaking culture, most often through a distorted lens like TV or music. languages and obtain better proficiency than those who learn the second language as an adult. However, when it comes to the relationship between age and rate SLA, “Adults proceed through early stages of syntactic and morphological development faster than children (where time and exposure are held constant) ” ( Krashen, Long, Scarcella 573). Also, “older children acquire faster than younger children do (again, in early stages of morphological and syntactic development where time and exposure are held constant) ” (573). In other words, adults and older children are fast learners when it comes to the initial stage of foreign language education. 6. LINGUA FRANCA A lingua franca (or working language, bridge language, vehicular language, unifying language) is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues. Lingua francas have arisen around the globe throughout human history, sometimes for commercial reasons (so-called "trade languages") but also for diplomatic and administrative convenience, and as a means of exchanging information between scientists and other scholars of different nationalities Whereas a “vernacular” language is used as a native language in a single speaker community, a lingua franca goes beyond the boundaries of its original community, and is used as a second language for communication between groups. For example, English is a vernacular in the United Kingdom, but is used as a vehicular language (i.e., a lingua franca) in the Philippines. 7. MULTICULTURAL AND IMMIGRANT SOCIETIES • Multiculturalism exists when people accept and encourage many cultures to thrive in a society. Multiculturalism can lead to many great outcomes, including racial and ethnic harmony, which simply means that people from different backgrounds get along well together. Living with and accepting different cultures helps us understand each other and discourage hatred and violence. • Immigration is the movement of people into a country or region to which they are not native in order to settle there. Immigration is made for many reasons, including temperature, breeding, economic, political, family re-unification, natural disaster, poverty or the wish to change one's surroundings voluntarily. In 2011, the United Nations reported that there were nearly 191 million international migrants worldwide, about 3 percent of the world population. Europe hosted the largest number of immigrants, with 70 million people in 2005. North America with over 45 million immigrants, is second, followed by Asia, which hosts nearly 25 million. 8. BILINGUALISM Bilingualism is the ability to use two languages. However, defining bilingualism is problematic since individuals with varying bilingual characteristics may be classified as bilingual. Definitions of bilingualism range from a minimal proficiency in two languages, to an advanced level of proficiency which allows the speaker to function and appear as a native-like speaker of two languages. A person may describe themselves as bilingual but may mean only the ability to converse and communicate orally. Others may be proficient in reading in two or more languages (or bi-literate). A person may be bilingual by virtue of having grown up learning and using two languages simultaneously (simultaneous bilingualism). Or they may become bilingual by learning a second language sometime after their first language (sequential bilingualism). 9. KACHRU’S THREE CIRCLES OF ENGLISH To better understand the use of English in different countries, Kachru1 conceived the idea of three concentric circles of the language. 1 Braj Kachru (born 1932 in Srinagar, Kashmir, India) is Jubilee Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He coined the term World English. • The inner circle represents the traditional bases of English: the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, anglophone Canada, and some of the Caribbean territories. The total number of English speakers in the inner circle is as high as 380 million, of whom some 120 million are outside the United States. • Next comes the outer circle, which includes countries where English is not the native tongue, but is important for historical reasons and plays a part in the nation's institutions, either as an official language or otherwise. This circle includes South Africa, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kenya, non-Anglophone South Africa and Canada, etc. The total number of English speakers in the outer circle is estimated to range from 150 million to 300 million. • Finally, the expanding circle encompasses those countries where English plays no historical or governmental role, but where it is nevertheless widely used as a foreign language or lingua franca. This includes much of the rest of the world's population: China, Russia, Japan, most of Europe, Korea, Egypt, Indonesia, etc. The total in this expanding circle is the most difficult to estimate, especially because English may be employed for specific, limited purposes, usually business English. The estimates of these users range from 100 million to one billion. The inner circle (UK, US,etc.) is 'norm-providing'. That means that English language norms are developed in these countries - English is the first language there. The outer circle (mainly New Commonwealth countries) is 'norm-developing'. The expanding circle (much of the rest of the world) is 'norm-dependent', because it relies on the standards set by native speakers in the inner circle. 10. LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE AND LINGUISTIC PERFORMANCE In Chomsky's theory, our linguistic competence is our unconscious knowledge of languages and is similar in some ways to Ferdinand de Saussure's concept of langue, the organizing principles of a language. What we actually produce as utterances is similar to Saussure's parole, and is called linguistic performance.