Chapter 5- Week 14

I thought that chapter Five of McKay & Bokhorts-Heng was very stimulating. This chapter dealt with the linguistic diversity of present-day English use and the debate regarding the teaching of standard English and weather or not there should be a standard way of English language. The beginning of the chapter started off by discussing language variation and how macroaquisition has resulted in language hybridization. “These processes of hybridization have resulted in not just the development of different varieties of Standard English between countries, but also varieties of English within countries, (McKay 1125). Three different models were given to explain the various forms of language in variation. Bickerton’s model was the first defined, followed by the diglossic model, and finally the expanding triangles model. All of these models had the intent to describe a pluricentric view of English. Their purpose is to show that there should not just be one Standard form of English against which all others are measured.

     The chapter also touched on why it is important to call of these variations of English, “World Englishes” rather than “New Englishes.” Reason being is because calling variations of English “New Englishes” in comparison to “Old Englishes” can give way to unintentionally giving distinctions between power. The term “Word Englishes” is better because it tries to encompass all languages as equal without any of them being the specific reference point.

     “Nonnative English speakers created new cultural-sensitive and socially appropriate meanings-expressions of the bilinguals creativity-by altering and manipulating the structure and functions of English it its new ecology. As a result, English underwent a process of acculturation,” (128). This process of acculturations brought upon variations in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary/idiom, and discourse style. There were issues with the idea of variations of English. Some people were against it because they believed that it would lead to a lack of intelligibility among speakers. Randolph Quirk was against the idea of variations of an English language and said that it could be educationally damaging. Braj Kachru, on the other hand didn’t believe that variation would allow a lack of intelligibility, rather would promote an educated variety of English in which people that speak various varieties of English would be able to understand each other.

     Overall I think that it is very important to take all forms and variations of language into account. I do not think that there is or will be a specific standard English that people from all parts of the world will use. I really liked the following quote because ultimately it is true. It states, “Acknowledging language variation, understanding the processes of language variation, and accepting a pluralistic model of English language norms are thus key to effective EIL pedagogy,” (McKAy146). As a future teacher, I think that it is essential to be respectful to all students, regardless of how well or different their English is.  I agree that there should be a pluralistic model of English norms. Furthermore, I agree with Kachru and think that allowing a variety of linguistic norms would lead to an educated variety of English that would be intelligible across the many varieties of English.

Week 13

Chapter four talked about the importance of lesson planning and how it affects the notion of language politicking within historical and social circumstances. It is important to understand the dynamics of language planning because it affects all of us in several ways. The government is involved in the decision-making when it comes to deciding on the variety of a language and also when choosing the national and official language. Once a language is chosen, it goes through corpus planning, which is the script, grammar, spelling, and so forth, of a language. Regardless of which form of English is adopted, the government is involved in the language planning and policy activity of it all. As future educators we should be aware of their decisions because they have a direct implications for education. 

Chapter Four also talked gave various terms such as the difference between national language and official language. A national language represents the national identity of a country. The official language is a language that is given unique legal status in the country. For example, it used for government administration and law, media, and as a language of education. 

Furthermore, it introduced us to language planning and language policy.

It is important to understand the differences between the two terms.

Language policy “refers to the more general linguistic, political, and social goals underlying the actual language planning process,” (Deumert, 2000, p. 2000) whereas Language planning “refers to all conscious effort that aim at changing the linguistic behavior or a speech community,” (Huagen, 1987, p. 627 in Deumert, 200, p. 384).

Within language planning, there are various distinctions that have to be made such as making “decisions about the status of the language, determining a new language-in-education policy, and coining a new word.”

Furthermore, language planning goes far beyond these points and “has a direct bearing on matters of identity, economic opportunity and social status power, human rights, and so forth,” (91)

Language politicking captures the worldliness of language in the context of language planning and policy activity, it displays how both language and power are intertwined. The chapter gave to examples, which were Singapore and United States. Singapore is very multilingual. They have multilingualism at the national level and “English-knowing” bilingualism at the individual level. Higher levels of government control the language in education planning. On the other hand, the United States has no centrally controlled language policies. Its dominant language is English. One of the debates that has been an issue lately has been bilingualism. Discussions pertaining to the question of what form of bilingual education is adequate and what the role of languages other than English should take in education and society.

As a future bilingual elementary education teacher, I think that bilingualism is important and necessary for various reasons. It is very beneficial for the students because they are perfecting their first language while also learning English at the same time. Research shows that the more a student knows in their first language the more that he/she will succeed in their second language. Reason being is that they have the concepts of the words down in the L1 so it will make it easier for them to understand it in their L2. Furthermore, bilingualism will not hinder, or “impede” the students’ proficiency in English. 

Week 12

For this blog, we read CH 2 and 3 of McKay. There were a lot of important terms and practices used throughout these two chapters. I was very interested in Kachru’s model of concentric circles of English speakers. There were three concentric circles, which were, the inner, the outer, and the expanding circles. The inner circle focuses on English as the primary language. Places such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany are considered Inner Circle. Within this inner circle, “individuals that do not speak English are referred to as language minority students,” or “English Learners,” furthermore, “ these students include immigrants, refugees, and long term residents who come from non-English speaking homes.”(McKay 31). Within the inner circle, the Swann Report by the Department of Education and Sciences strongly encouraged mainstreaming, meaning only focusing on learning English and not learning other languages. They believe that learning other languages, other than English, will hinder learning English.

The outer circle is when English serves as a second language in a multilingual country and one in which English is one of the officially recognized languages of the country. In these countries, people frequently use English mostly in social contexts outside the homes. Some of these places include, India, the Philippines, and Singapore.

Finally, the Expanding Circle is the last circle of Krachu’s model of concentric circles. This circle is when English is studied widely as a foreign language. It is more of a want rather than a necessity to continue studying English. There are a lot of problems motivating the learners. Furthermore, many teachers lack English proficiency and lack confidence in the language and teaching. Some places that would be examples of Expanding Circles are China, Germany and Korea.

These differentiations between the uses of English languages are very interesting to me. I think that these circles are good representations of the various uses of English. Both Chapter 2 and 3 show how multilingual speakers use English for specific purposes. Various factors influence how much of a second language that an English as a Second Language Learner learns or cares for learning. Some examples of these factors are seen as domains, such as the family itself, religion, location, education, government, etc.  I do also believe that economic status is another factor that ties in with the willingness to learn English as a second language. In chapter three we see that English is seen as a dominant language and one that is associated with making money, having better paying jobs, which results in a higher overall income.

I liked how the chapter also went over how it was unconstitutional to place English as a Second Language learners or English Language Learners in classrooms that have teachers that only speak English. As a future bilingual teacher I have read about the negative affects that can contribute from situations such as these. It is important for there to be bilingual programs. It not only can benefit the ELL students but also any monolingual student can also learn a second language as well. Furthermore, it will make all students aware of the fact that there are other ways of speaking and although English is the dominant language, it will also make them aware that it is important to take other languages in account because eventually in their future they will come across paths with someone that does not speak their language.