Attitudes to English varieties and English as a lingua franca.ppt

1、Attitudes to English varieties and English as a lingua franca,For use with Chapter 8 of:Galloway, N. and Rose, H. (2015). Introducing Global Englishes. Routledge. Dr. Heath Rose and Dr. Nicola Galloway,Review of Lecture 7,English in expanding global contexts: Europe dominant role, irrespective of th

2、e multilingual policy of the EU. East Asia and ASEAN great emphasis put on English education. More than a foreign language. ELF rapidly growing field of study. Shift in ELF research from the identification of surface-level features to an exploration of the processes giving rise to such features, fur

3、ther emphasizing the flexibility and hybridity inherent in ELF talk. Many criticisms suggesting that Seidlhofers conceptual gap may still be present. Overall, ELF research is showing how being a NNES does not make them incompetent, but in fact, when it comes to ELF communication, being a NNES can ac

4、tually be a useful asset.,Overview,Introductory activities,Look at the quote from McArthur (1998, p. 3) in the introduction to Chapter 8 (p. 173), then discuss the questions below.While we may not always be consciously aware of them, language attitudes permeate our daily lives (Garrett, 2010, p. 2).

5、 To what extent is this true? Are you familiar with any negative language attitudes expressed through the media?The attitudes expressed in the quote from McArthur may make some speakers feel that their English is inferior. How do you think Scottish or Jamaican speakers would react to these comments?

6、 Have you heard similar remarks in your own context?,Attitudes towards the use of English as an official working language,Look at this commercial that jokes about the possible attitudes of a typical worker in a Japanese company. Why are attitudes worth researching? Are there any factors that influen

7、ce attitudes? How could you research the attitudes of such employees? Would your results have any implications for teaching English?,The importance of language attitudes and factors influencing attitudes,Part 1,Defining attitudes,One of the most distinctive and indispensable concepts in social psych

8、ology. No single definition. Sarnoff (1970, p. 279) describes an attitude as a disposition to react favourably or unfavourably to a class of objects. They are also mental constructs acquired through a variety of factors, including experience.,Attitudes toward language in society (1),People make infe

9、rences about each other based on accents: I wonder where she comes from. I think is the appropriate I love/hate Because they can bias social interaction, language attitudes represent important communicative phenomena worth understanding (Cargile et al., 2006, p. 443). Life opportunities A Pakistani

10、immigrant who moved to Seattle: Most folks just couldnt understand the way my learned British accent commingled with my native Pashtun accent. “Oh, okay! You mean blah blah,” some folks would respond. Others would say, “This guy is not from here.” It embarrassed me (Ismail, 2012). He advocates that

11、immigrants to the USA try to imitate American English.,Attitudes toward language in society (2),Accent reduction classes. Today, more cases of discrimination over English-speaking ability or foreign accents (The Insurance Journal, 2012), e.g. an Indian-born UK customer adviser working in New Delhi w

12、as dismissed for his Indian accent, which wasnt English enough (OMara, 2007, cited in Garrett, 2010). 2. Political level Prestige varieties receive institutional support, e.g. standard American English.,Accent reduction classes,Learn how to lose your accent and speak like an American: TestDEN Accent

13、 Reduction Course YouTube video But even Americans have negative attitudes towards some American varieties: The Boston Globe Class helps locals lose their Boston accent,Attitude change,Subject to change shaped: By their own use (Brumfit, 2001). As contact opportunities increase. Example RP: Changeab

14、le (Lectures 2 and 3). More popular with 1.5 billion speakers outside England than within the country (Morrish, 1999, cited in Garrett, 2010, p.14). The sacking of Zenab Ahmed, a BBC news presenter, who wrote the following to the Daily Telegraph (30 October 2003, cited in Garrett, 2010, p. 14): The

15、BBC has sacked me for sounding too posh. At the moment, the World Service is on a mission to sound classless hence the proliferation of Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Australasian voices. BBC News website (8 October, 1999) Boris Johnson claimed he was sacked as a presenter on BBC Radio 4 because his acc

16、ent was too posh. Cheryl Coles accent is not worth the risk for X Factor, Fox decides Guardian headline, 26 May, 2011). Beal (2010, p. 1) public interest in regional dialects, discussing the BBC Voices project. Do you know of any similar reports in your own context?,Research methods used to investig

17、ate attitudes,Language attitude studies date back to the 1930s (Pear, 1931). Societal treatment. Direct measures. Indirect measures. What methods do you think these approaches use?,1. Societal treatment,Gain insights into the relative status of language varieties. Analyses the treatment given to the

18、m and to their speakers. Tools: Content analysis. Observation. Ethnography. Government policies, job advertisements, and media output. Bookshop analysis (e.g. Lecture 4)? Linguistic landscape studies The language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial sho

19、p signs, and public signs on government buildings combines to form the linguistic landscape of a given territory, region, or urban agglomeration (Landry and Bourhis, 1997, p. 25). Highlights attitudes as well as power relations between linguistics groups. Books and websites: Sign Language: Travels i

20、n Unfortunate English from the Readers of The Telegraph (Aurum Press, 2011). The Lonely Planets Signspotting: Funny signs from around the world.,2. Direct measures,Direct questions: Questionnaires. Interviews. Focus groups. Diaries. Perceptual dialectology: A branch of folk linguistics, designed to

21、fill in the missing parts of the language-attitude puzzle (Kuiper, 2005, p. 29) rating languages without exposure to them. Examines peoples (more conscious) beliefs about language use (Jenkins, 2007, p. 75). Drawing speech zones on a blank (or minimally detailed) map, ranking accents (correct/incorr

22、ect; pleasant/unpleasant), and interviewing respondents about the tasks. Useful in explaining attitudes particularly useful in the context of GE, where it is necessary to investigate attitudes towards often unfamiliar varieties of English.,3. Indirect measures,Matched guise technique (MGT) Evaluate

23、audio-taped speakers Told that they are listening to a number of different speakers, although it is one speaker in different guises Attitude-rating scale friendliness, sociability, intelligence, etc. Lambert et al. (1960). Criticisms: Deceptive. Ability to keep vocal characteristics constant. Inabil

24、ity to measure other important variables. Acontextual. Verbal guise technique (VGT) Speech samples provided by authentic speakers of each variety. Participants still think they are rating people rather than language. However, when this method is not contextualised or supported with other more qualit

25、ative methods, it is difficult to see how rating language varieties based on adjectives such as intelligent can really tell us what people think.,Research studies: attitudes towards native and non-native English,Part 2,Attitudes of NESs towards NE,Conclusions,High vitality of both standard American

26、and RP within and outside of the IC. Lecture 2 and 3 hinted at moves away from standard language ideology in the IC, yet attitude studies show that these two varieties are still held in high regard. Huygens and Vaughans (1983) and Bayards (2001) studies indicate that international standard Englishes

27、 are regarded more highly than their own locally spoken Englishes? Bayards (2001) study suggests a movement away from British English toward American English. Attitudes are subject to change, even within the IC.,Attitudes of NNESs towards NE,Attitudes of NNESs towards NE (IC and acknowledgment of va

28、riation),Didnt group IC English as one single variety often ignored. Highlight the tendency to judge language varieties hierarchically. But VGT and MGT tell us little about attitudes, or what factors serve to explain these attitudes. Adolphs (2005) longitudinal study: 24 pre-sessional international

29、(one year study at UK-based uni.); interviews at two-monthly intervals. Results: simplistic notion of the NES, and familiarity led to more negative attitudes; became increasingly aware of the need to understand English in international communication. Does the fact that when students encountered Engl

30、ishes that didnt fit their preconceived notion of standard English have implications for GE?,Attitudes of NNESs towards NE and NNE,Conclusions,Preference for NE. Rejection of NNE (including own variety). Implications for GE? Related to the use of the NES model in ELT and the high vitality of NE?,Att

31、itude studies related to the pedagogical context of ELT,Part 3,ELT related studies,Why is it important to investigate learners attitudes? Awareness of learners beliefs: Make both learners and teachers aware of their needs increased autonomy and self-awareness. Help them evaluate their own stereotype

32、s. More effective lesson planning and satisfaction. Language planning and the elaboration of pedagogical objectives.,Research studies on attitudes towards English in relation to ELT,ELT-related studies,Greece,Prodromous (1992) survey-based study investigated 300 English students attitudes on the con

33、tent of language teaching, including attitudes towards bilingual, bicultural teachers, NES models, and the cultural content of lessons. Just over half thought that NESTs should know the learners mother tongue and the local culture. The popularity of British English compared to American English is re

34、lated to the “bad-press” the Americans have had in post-war Greece (the presence of US bases on Greek soil, a history of interference in internal affairs, etc.) as well as the widespread feeling amongst Greeks that British English is a “purer”, more “refined” form of English (pp. 4445). Only 62% of

35、students overall said they would like to speak English like a native speaker, and a strong interest in British life and institutions (60%) was found. The author also discusses the predominance of British-based Cambridge examinations in Greece, which is a valuable discussion. However, this rather des

36、criptive study only utilized questionnaires, and the attitudes of these Greek students are not explored in any depth.,Austria,Dalton-Puffer et al. (1997) conducted an Austrian-based modified MGT study involving 132 students (two thirds planned to become English teachers) of EFL, in a provided contex

37、t (listeners thought the purpose of the study was to choose voices for an upcoming audio-book). The Austrian accent received the most negative response and the majority favoured RP as a model of pronunciation and familiarity was listed as a reason. In this study, personal experience was found to be

38、much more important in choosing General American English over RP. Almost half of the respondents had not experienced English in a NES country and, of those who chose RP as a model, even more students (55%), had not spent more than one month in a NES country. However, of those who preferred an Americ

39、an model, only 34 per cent had not been on an extended stay abroad.,America,In Rubin and Smiths (1990) matched guise study, two native speakers of Cantonese recorded highly accented and moderately accented versions of simulated classroom lectures. Similarly, McKays (1995) study (cited in Bamgbose, 1

40、998) of 15 international students taking ESL courses at the University of Illinois involved listening to recordings of two groups of teaching assistants. Kelch and Santana-Williamsons study (2002) asked 56 ESL students to listen to and rate three NESs and three NNESs of different varieties who read

41、the same script.,Korea and Japan,Butlers matched guise (2007) study on the effects of Korean elementary teachers oral proficiencies and pronunciation on 312 grade 6 students listening comprehension examined students attitudes towards teachers with American-accented English and Korean-accented Englis

42、h. The results failed to find any difference in comprehension, although students who thought the American English guise had better pronunciation were more confident in using English, focused more on fluency than on accuracy, and used less Korean in the English class. A further verbal guise study tha

43、t related the findings to the pedagogical context of ELT is McKenzies (2008a and 2008b) study of 558 Japanese university students towards six varieties of English. Once more, the results suggest a favourable attitude towards standard and non-standard varieties of UK and US English in terms of status

44、.,Conclusions (1),Positive attitudes towards NE are also present in the ELT context. English learners have a strong attachment to NES norms. Many researchers advocate curriculum and educational change in order to shift attitudes of students in the EC but can their results support calls for change? I

45、t seems unreasonable to impose a single, or, indeed, a restricted range of pedagogical models for English language classrooms (McKenzie, 2008a, p. 79). MGT and VGT studies reveal just a little about attitudes or in-depth information about students orientations. Many factors influence these attitudes

46、: Predominance of the NES episteme in ELT. Familiarity. Stereotypes. Proficiency. Gender.,Conclusions (2),Students continue to favour NESs, but more research is required. But: Only a few studies. Are they students making decisions based on the availability of sound information (e.g. dominance of NE)

47、? Studies conducted in relation to the pedagogical context of ELT highlight a strong attachment to NES norms. However, there is also a suggestion that many factors influence these attitudes, including the predominance of the NES episteme in ELT. Learners need more choice and the choice needs to be m

48、ade in full knowledge of the sociolinguistic facts and without pressure from the dominant NS community (Jenkins, 2006, p. 155).,Attitudes towards English as a lingua franca,Part 4,Research studies related to English as a lingua franca Details of the findings of each of these studies are discussed at

49、 length in the book,Research studies related to English as a lingua franca Details of the findings of each of these studies are discussed at length in the book,Studies in Global Englishes,There have been only a few studies conducted in the field that have investigated students attitudes towards Glob

50、al Englishes. The main conclusions to be drawn are that, while students continue to favour NESs, more research is required to support proposals for Global Englishes. However, Galloways (2011) study presented a thorough examination of attitude formation, particularly the influence of NES norms in ELT

51、. It also investigated the possible influence of new approaches to ELT on attitudes towards English. With limited experience with and exposure to NNES, as well as a lack of awareness of the role of English today and the changing representations of speakers of the language, students are not making decisions based on the availability of sound information.,