English as an International Language

Introduction: This week we are reviewing content from the article English as an International Language (EIL) by Sandra Lee McKay from the book "Teaching English Grammar to Speakers of Other Languages" by Eli Hinkel. Complete the tasks below with your group members.

Task 1: Initial Discussion

Discuss the following questions with your partners.

• Imagine you overhear a student commit a grammatical error in class and you correct him or her. However, instead of accepting the feedback, your student says, "But, I heard it on TV. How can it be wrong if a native speaker said it?" 
• How would you react?
• Does the student have a point?
• What makes someone's grammar right or wrong and who gets to decide this?

Task 2: World English

Think about the people you know who speak English. 

• How many of them are native speakers, people for whom English is their first language (L1)? 
• How many of them learned English as a second or additional language (L2)?
• The Indian linguist Baj Kachru created the Circles of English model to describe the demographics of English speakers around the world. Look at the graphic below.

• The Inner Circle represents countries where English is spoken as a first language. The Outer Circle represents countries that have English as (one of) their official languages although it is not the first language of the majority of their citizens. The Expanding Circle represents all of the other countries around the world where people are learning English for a variety of purposes. 

• Take a moment to do a Google search to find the following information:
• Inner Circle: What countries have a majority English speaking population?
• Outer Circle: What countries have English as an official language? How many are not traditionally thought of as native English speaking countries?
• Expanding Circle: Look at images of Kachru's Circles model, what countries are in the expanding circle? What are some of the reasons that people in these countries need English? 

• Which circle is Costa Rica in? How do you know?

Task 3: English Models

In Sandra Lee McKay's article (Hinkel, 2016, p. 20) we learn that there are around 375,000,000 English native speakers but over 1,000,000,000 people around the world speak English as a second or foreign language. That means that non-native speakers outnumber native speakers of English by a factor of three. Discuss the questions below:

• With that fact in mind, who can we say "owns" English?
• Whose grammar is the right grammar? Whose pronunciation?
• What variety (or varieties) of English should we teach?
• Should native speakers be the model that English learners try to emulate?
• Are there any alternatives?  

Task 4: Teaching Implications

You are a non-native English speaking teacher who teaches English in a country in the Expanding Circle. Some of your students will need English to interact with native speakers while others will use their English to consume English media and interact in English with other non-native speakers for a variety of personal, professional, and academic purposes. 

• What are some of the reasons that non-native speakers need to interact with each other in English for personal, professional, and academic purposes?
• Most English speakers around the world are non-natives and they use their English more often to interact with other non-natives. What immplications could this fact have for the way that English should be taught? 
• How can you better prepare your students to be competent users of English as an International Language?
• How can you help raise students' awareness about different language varieties and make choices about which varieties are appropriate in a given context?

 

Activities

Instructions: In this activity, you will listen to the song "Computer" by Walter Ferguson, a Costa Rican calypso artist, cacao farmer, and native English speaker born in 1919.  Walter was born on the Panama border near Sixaola but has lived his entire life in Cahuita. His first language is Limón Creole English, a variety of English that is similar to other varieties spoken in the Caribbean basin.

CLICK HERE to access the worksheet.   

Focus on Pronunciation

• Listen to the above video. How does Walter pronounce words that begin with a voiced "th" sound (the, this, that)? This is a characteristic of Caribbean Englishes. Think of some other words that begin with a voiced "th" sound. How do you think a Caribbean English speaker would pronounce them?

• Play this video. How does Walter pronounce the word computer? How is it different from the standard North American pronunciation? This characteristic is typical of Caribbean and British English varieties. Think of other words that finish with an "r" sound. How would a British or Caribbean English speaker probably pronounce them?

• Listen to the three video clips above. What similarity do you notice about the way Walter pronounces the words understand, all, and executer?
• This is another typical characteristic of some Caribbean and British Englishes. H-adding occurs when speakers add an "h" sound at the beginning of words that starts with a vowel. They might say "h-ignorant" instead of "ignorant" or "h-understand" instead of "understand". The opposite phenomenon, H-dropping,  is more common. This occurs when speakers do not pronounce the "h" at the benning of a wold and say "ospital" or "elp" instead of "hospital" or "help". 

• Finally, listen to Walter's pronunciation of the word "going". He says it twice in this clip. Reducing this two syllable word into a single syllable is common in Caribbean Englishes and also some older varieties of African American English from the southern United States.

Focus on Grammar

Now, CLICK HERE to read the lyrics of the song again with your partners. Imagine you wanted to use this text to raise your students' awareness about some of the grammatical features of Walter's variety of English. What are some aspects that you could focus on?

Additional Resources

If you are interested in learning more about Walter Ferguson's life and hearing him speak, CLICK HERE to watch the documentary "Ferguson: El Último Trovador de Cahuita". It has interviews with him in English with subtitles in Spanish. 

Bibliography

Hinkel, E. (2016) Teaching English Grammar to Speakers of Other Languages. New York: Taylor & Francis.