Standard language ideology in an English-medium Irish secondary school

The current paper aims to address how one English-medium school functions from the different perspectives within the school: the principal, student/teacher classroom interaction and the students. This approach allows us to see the power differential of the different stakeholders in a school and how iconisation, fractal recursivity, and erasure affect teenagers in Dublin. This paper presents interview data with a principal and the students in a secondary school. Taking a qualitative approach to these data, I show that standard language ideology is linked with economic disadvantage. The school principal’s approach to identifying, problematising and seeking to eliminate certain types of nonstandard language in the school reflects a standard language ideology and is consistent with a raciolinguistic approach to linguistic discrimination. The data suggest that the students themselves take a more nuanced approach.

English phonology in a globalized world: Challenging native speakerism through listener training in universities in Sweden and the US

English phonetics and phonology often focus on improving learners’ pronunciation. However, phonological processing is ‘a two-way street’ involving both speaker and listener. Thus, pronunciation instruction in this globalized time needs to be complemented with ways to help listeners understand a wide range of accents, thereby challenging the native speakerism and standard language ideology of more traditional English teaching. In this paper, we share our experiences of promoting listener abilities in university courses in Sweden and the US, two very different teaching contexts. In Sweden, Jeong takes a truly phonetic approach, starting from students’ own pronunciations rather than a ‘standard’ model, and focuses on ability to comprehend diverse accents. In the US, Lindemann uses native-speaking students’ complaints about supposedly incomprehensible instructors, not as justification for further training of instructors who are already proficient English users, but as an opportunity to offer listener training to the students. Put together, these experiences provide a basis for reflection on the teaching of L2 phonetics and pronunciation in other languages such as Swedish, and the benefits of shifting some of the focus from speaker to listener in order to begin to overcome native speakerism and standard language ideology.

Social meaning and the obsolescence of traditional local structures

This paper discusses the obsolescence of h-dropping as a local feature in Maryport, West Cumbria. Using sociolinguistic interview data, a quantitative approach and mixed-effects modelling is used to explain the linguistic changes in the community. Sociolinguistic accounts of h-dropping always state that the feature is and has been stigmatised in England since the 18th century. However, the oldest speakers in the sample do not change their level of h-dropping in more formal speech styles, which indicates that the standard language ideology of “proper” English might not be pervasive for them. However, for speakers born after 1960 the use of h-dropping is decreasing in apparent time. From the 1960s onwards, Maryport has seen social change as the strong neighbourhood ties broke up and from the 1980s experienced strong job losses. I argue that these social changes are correlated with the decline and eventual obsolescence of h-dropping in the community.

Sociolinguistic perspective on varieties of English: implications for teaching

The article explores the issue of language standardisation and sociolinguistic roots of varieties of English. It answers the question why some varieties of the English language become recognised as „standard” whereas other varieties are regarded as less prestigious or inferior and advocates the importance of sociolinguistic competence for teachers. Two models of language standardisation (the „popular” and the „expert” model) are critically discussed, providing a detailed explanation of the process of language standardisation and the formation of standard language ideology. The most frequently described variety of English in the UK, the Received Pronunciation, is described in greater detail, tracking down the reason why it has become recognised as the "standard" variety. A strong standard ideology with World Englishes and the current position of regional variations of English as its „deficient” or „fossilized” versions is discussed. The notions of language system and language use are considered in relation to the superiority or inferiority of different varieties. It has been shown that the social component is pivotal in understanding why certain varieties are regarded as less prestigious or inferior despite having equally rich and complex language systems. Such factors as stereotypes and ownership have an impact on their status too. The article proceeds to the discussion of implications of these sociolinguistic aspects for teaching. The importance of teachers' critical awareness of sociolinguistic realities is emphasised. Such benefits of raising students' awareness of varieties of English are presented: avoiding or reducing misunderstandings and misinterpretations in foreign language communication, recognising linguistic and cultural diversity, demonstrating relevance to real-life situations. Specific examples of practising language varieties are given.

Discriminatory Writing Assessment Practices in First-Year Composition

Discriminatory writing assessment practices in first-year composition are rampant across academic institutions in the U.S. These practices have helped perpetuate standard language ideology that serves the interests of the institutionalized racism and done a disservice to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), whose writing practices fail to abide by the conventions of standard English. This chapter holds implicit biases and stereotypical perceptions engendered by instructors and academia chiefly responsible for these discriminatory assessment practices and argues that these go against the spirit of social justice in writing classrooms, particularly impacting academic trajectories and other life chances of BIPOC students. Finally, it offers some recommendations on how these unfair assessment practices that rest on implicit biases can be checked using culturally relevant pedagogy, which incorporates translingualism and multimodality, and the roles different stakeholders can play in this process.

Language Ideologies of Nepali People in YouTube Interactions

This chapter investigates how Nepali people demonstrate colonized thinking in their responses to a speech by a former Minister of State for Health and Population. Nepali people seem to be influenced by standard language ideology. Therefore, this chapter argues that Nepali people should come out of their colonized thinking, which adheres to standard language ideology. They should rather embrace translingualism in order to appreciate their own cultural and linguistic heritage when communicating in English.

Nations and Numbers: Elementary Mathematics Education as a Nationalizing Tool

One of the central elements of the nation-building process in the 19th century wasthe attempt to homogenize the citizenry, i.e. to fabricate national citizens. Besidesthe military and church, schools were considered to be the main agencies capable ofachieving this national homogenization. In this paper, focusing on the education inSwitzerland and France, I argue that elementary mathematics education was alsoused for this particular purpose. I make the case that throughout the 19th centurymathematics education became a way to familiarize the people with a standardizedlanguage – a language that was supposed to help them master their specific social,cultural and political realities.Key words: mathematics education; nation building; Standard Language Ideology;state formation.