scholarly journals A Showcase Study on ELF-oriented Classroom Practices in a General English Course

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. p61
Author(s):  
Shahinaz Abdullah Bukhari
Keyword(s):  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
English Language ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Global Dimension ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
The Relationship

The lingua franca status of English in transcultural settings questions the orthodox pedagogical principles and mainstream approaches of English language teaching. To mirror the relationship between English as a subject matter and English as a globalised sociolinguistic phenomenon, some scholars call for revisiting the conventional approaches of pedagogy. Still, the response to the call for a transition from the monocentric methods of English language teaching is slow. Teachers have multiple concerns about how to incorporate a global dimension into a general English language course for undergraduates. The present study aims to address this gap by offering a practical example of how to address English as a lingua franca phenomenon in a general English language course. The study showcases classroom practices for raising awareness of today’s complexity of English use as a worldwide lingua franca. Ten Saudi undergraduates at a Saudi university participated in the study. The study shares the participants’ critical reflections on what they have learned from the course. Analysis of the participants’ reflections reveal that approaches based on complexity theory increased their familiarity with English linguistic diversities, developed their transcultural awareness and improved their ability to cope with English functional and contextual diversities. It is hoped that this showcase study can provide some guidance for the further implementation of a global dimension in other contexts.

scholarly journals Culture and complexity through English as a lingua franca: rethinking competences and pedagogy in ELT

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Baker
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Meaningful Category

AbstractEnglish as a lingua franca (ELF) research highlights the complexity and fluidity of culture in intercultural communication through English. ELF users draw on, construct, and move between global, national, and local orientations towards cultural characterisations. Thus, the relationship between language and culture is best approached as situated and emergent. However, this has challenged previous representations of culture, particularly those centred predominantly on nation states, which are prevalent in English language teaching (ELT) practices and the associated conceptions of communicative and intercultural communicative competence. Two key questions which are then brought to the fore are: how are we to best understand such multifarious characterisations of culture in intercultural communication through ELF and what implications, if any, does this have for ELT and the teaching of culture in language teaching? In relation to the first question, this paper will discuss how complexity theory offers a framework for understanding culture as a constantly changing but nonetheless meaningful category in ELF research, whilst avoiding essentialism and reductionism. This underpins the response to the second question, whereby any formulations of intercultural competence offered as an aim in language pedagogy must also eschew these simplistic and essentialist cultural characterisations. Furthermore, the manner of simplification prevalent in approaches to culture in the ELT language classroom will be critically questioned. It will be argued that such simplification easily leads into essentialist representations of language and culture in ELT and an over representation of “Anglophone cultures.” The paper will conclude with a number of suggestions and examples for how such complex understandings of culture and language through ELF can be meaningfully incorporated into pedagogic practice.

Teaching oral requests

Pragmatics ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Petraki ◽  
Sarah Bayes
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Cultural Appropriateness ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Everyday Communication

Research in English language teaching has highlighted the importance of teaching communication skills in the language classroom. Against the backdrop of extensive research in everyday communication, the goal of this research was to explore whether current discourse analytic research is reflected in the lessons and communication examples of five English language teaching textbooks, by using spoken requests as the subject of investigation. The textbooks were evaluated on five criteria deriving from research on politeness, speech act theory and conversation analysis. These included whether and the extent to which the textbooks discussed the cultural appropriateness of requests, discussed the relationship of requests and other contextual factors, explained pre-sequences and re-requests and provided adequate practice activities. This study found that none of the coursebooks covered all of the criteria and that some coursebooks actually had very inadequate lessons. The results of the textbook analysis demonstrate that teachers using these five coursebooks and designers of future coursebooks must improve their lessons on requests by using pragmatics research and authentic examples as a guide.

English Language Teaching and Intercultural Communication Competence

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Xiaochi Zhang ◽  
Jinjing ZHANG
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Communication Competence ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Intercultural Communication Competence ◽  
The Relationship

This article discusses about the relationship between linguistic competence and intercultural communication competence, and then about the functions of English language teaching in improving students’ intercultural communication competence. Finally, it explores how to develop English language learners’ intercultural communication competence in English language teaching and gives some useful suggestions, so as to really realize the final objective of English language teaching.

Rheme and reason: Why is English always the Theme rather than the Rheme in our acronyms?

English Today ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan James Runcieman
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Native English Speaker ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Leading Role

The position of ‘E’, for English, has always been at the forefront of all the acronyms of language learning and descriptions of world trends in English language teaching and acquisition, EFL, ESL, ELT, ESP, EIL, ELF, or second only to ‘T’ for teaching, TEFL and TESOL. We have become so used to seeing the letter ‘E’ out there in front, the Theme rather than the Rheme, that we do not even seem to question that position anymore. Despite developments in the study of World Englishes (Kachru, 1985, 1990, 1991, 2005; Jenkins, 2003; Bolton, 2005, 2006; Canagarajah, 2006, 2007, 2009) and a supposedly secondary role for so-called Native English and the Native English speaker, we continue to place the ‘E’ at the front, as though we have no option but to accept its primacy in every concept. If we always place ‘E’ at the beginning though, as the defining Theme, surely we are giving both it and its origin England a leading role in all conceptual beginnings. The Theme after all is always the principal actor, the familiar, whilst the Rheme is the unfamiliar and undefined object (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), but what English is now, in its global context, is exactly that, the unfamiliar and undefined object. In the following article I will argue for a rethinking of our terminology, particularly regarding the use of the acronym ELF (English as a Lingua Franca), and how perhaps we should be thinking more carefully about our choice of acronyms in order to be more precise about our approach to the study of English in the changing world.

scholarly journals REPENSANDO O ENSINO DE LÍNGUA INGLESA NO BRASIL: POR UMA PERSPECTIVA TRANSLÍNGUE | RETHINKING ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN BRAZIL: TOWARDS A TRANSLINGUAL PERSPECTIVE

2017 ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Diogo Oliveira do Espírito Santo ◽  
Robson Ribeiro da Silva
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Lingua Franca

<p>Este artigo discute pressupostos e implicações dos termos translingualimo ou práticas translíngues (CANAGARAJAH, 2011, 2013; GARCÍA, 2009, 2014) e ensino bilíngue (GARCÍA, 2014; WEI, 2013) em contextos de ensino de língua inglesa no Brasil. Na primeira parte, serão discutidas algumas nomenclaturas conferidas ao <em>status</em> do inglês ao redor do mundo, como World Englishes (WE), Inglês como Língua Internacional (ILI) e Inglês como Língua Franca (ILF). Em seguida, serão tecidas considerações sobre as definições de sujeitos bilíngues que mais se adéquam aos objetivos deste artigo. A discussão será finalizada com o debate sobre os desdobramentos da perspectiva translíngue no ensino, como forma de problematizar as relações linguístico-culturais que os sujeitos aprendizes de língua inglesa desenvolvem em cenários cada vez mais multilíngues.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract:</strong> <em>This article discusses the premises and implications of translingualism (translingual practices) (CANAGARAJAH, 2011, 2013; GARCÍA, 2009, 2014) and bilingual education (GARCÍA, 2014; WEI, 2013) concepts in English Language Teaching (ELT) contexts in Brazil. In the first section, we will review some of the labels that have been attributed to the current status of the English language worldwide, such as World Englishes (WE), English as an International Language (EIL) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Moreover, we will approach different definitions of bilingual subjects. Finally, we will consider the debate about the unfolding of the translingual perspective in order to reflect on the linguistic and cultural relations that English language learners develop in ever more multilingual settings</em><em>. </em></p><pre><em> </em></pre><p>Keywords<em>: English; </em>Translanguaging<em>; Bilingual Education. </em></p><p> </p><p>Palavras-Chave: Língua inglesa; Translingualismo; Práticas translíngues; Ensino bilíngue.</p>

scholarly journals Deconstruction of Method-postmethod Dialectics in English Language Teaching

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 539
Author(s):  
A B M Shafiqul Islam ◽  
Israt Jahan Shuchi
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Established Method ◽  
To Come ◽  
Language Teaching Methods ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Traditional Roles

After a widespread dissatisfaction with the prescriptive nature of language teaching methods and approaches, the notion of postmethod emerged with an aim to providing possible solutions to the problems that both language teachers and learners face while using methods. But the transition from a long established method-based pedagogy to an emerging postmethod pedagogy could not altogether meet the expectations rather gave birth to new confusions and challenges. Therefore, this article describes the concept of method briefly and then outlines the shift from method to postmethod. This paper brings new insights into method- postmethod dichotomy particularly by discussing the areas where the relationship between them becomes dialectical on some occasions. It also addresses the limitations of postmethod by identifying the factors where postmethod pedagogy gets entangled in a newer type of method though it emerged with the promise to come out of the stranglehold of method. Finally, it shows how postmethod redefines the traditional roles of teachers where they not only act as practitioners but also as theorizers, evaluators, observers, facilitators, innovators, and planners.

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