UPCEL 2017
English as an International Language in Bilingual Education The Intelligibility of Spanish University Students
Mateusz Pietraszek
[email protected]
About Academic: PhD Candidate in English Linguistics – ongoing (UCM) MA in Spanish Linguistics 2009 (UAM) BA+MA in Spanish Studies 2007 (UJ) Teaching qualification 2007 (UJ) Professional: Teaching Spanish & English (Poland) prior to 2008 Teaching English (Spain) 2008-now
? “The English language is perhaps the United Kingdom’s greatest and yet leastrecognised international asset. It is a cornerstone of our identity and it keeps us in the mind of hundreds of millions of people around the world, even when they are not talking to us.” (British Council 2013)
SOME DATA 1.75 people worldwide. 1. English is used by _________ (British Council 2013) 2.
25 of English speakers are native speakers. ________% (Crystal 2003a)
90 of European secondary pupils studied English. 3. In 2004, _______% (Modiano 2006)
80 of interaction in English happens amongst non-native speakers. 4. ________% (Beneke 1991)
88 countries. 5. English is official (in a way) in ________ (Galloway 2015)
ENGLISH CAN GET YOU PLACES
What? 1. ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE>ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF) 2. ELF AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION 3. STUDENT ATTITUDES TO ELF 4. INTELLIGIBILITY OF SPANISH ELF – AN EMI STUDY (RESEARCH PROJECT) SELECTED REFERENCES
MANY DIFFERENT MODELS OF EIL 2. DIASPORAS: 1st (Inner Circle) and 2nd (colonies) And the rest of the world?
3. DYNAMIC MODEL of POSTCOLONIAL ENGLISHES (Schneider 2007)
1. Kachruvian model of concentric circles
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Foundation Exonormative Nativised Endonormative Differentiated
TRADITIONAL TRICHOTOMY* ENL (Inner Circle) ESL (Outer Circle) EFL (Expanding Circle) Are there no native speakers in the Outer Circle? What is even a native speaker? Is Caribbean English native or second? Does history reflect today’s reality? What about highly proficient non-native Englishes (Sweden)? (see Galloway 2015 for criticism)
ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF) OWNERSHIP and NORM: WHY Y, WHEN X? X
Y
SI PL US
US
D
US
UK
ES PT
US
FR
CN
RU J
US
US US
ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF) “a vehicular language which allows intercomprehension among people speaking different mother tongues, as a neutral language or jargon of which nobody can claim ownership, but also the mother tongue of one of the parties of the exchange.” (European Commission 2011: 8)
“any use of English for communication among speakers of different languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice.” (Seidlhofer 2011:7)
ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF) “a vehicular language which allows intercomprehension among people speaking different mother tongues, as a neutral language or jargon of which nobody can claim ownership, but also the mother tongue of one of the parties of the exchange.” (European Commission 2011: 8)
“any use of English for communication among speakers of different languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice.” (Seidlhofer 2011:7)
BILINGUAL EDUCATION > ELF CLIL/EMI = ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA SETTING
CLIL/EMI = ELF
BILINGUAL OR INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS = ELF SETTINGS
INTERNATIONAL UNI > ELF INTERNATIONAL CAMPUS = ELF SETTING
INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES IN ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES = ELF SETTINGS
EMI ENGLISH = ELF
WHY ELF AND NOT JUST EFL? 1.Research in a setting different to EFL 2.Complementary to EFL, drawing on it; additive; prioritising 3.Most interaction in English amongst NNSs 4.Realistic; not excessive; fair
EFL (RESEARCH) >> ELF (RESEARCH) EFL
ELF
to speak to NS (e.g. immersion)
to speak to NNSs and NSs
deficit/error
difference/variety
transfer/interference/fossilization
contact/evolution/creativity
code-mixing seen as interference
code-mixing seen as a strategy natural in multilingual settings
BENEFITS OF ELF 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
ELF IS REALISTIC/ACHIEVABLE/PROGRESSIVE ELF GIVES STUDENTS A SENSE OF IDENTITY ACCENT ADDITION VS. ACCENT REDUCTION MOTHER TONGUE AS A FRIEND NON-NATIVE INSTRUCTORS FULLY COMPETENT EQUALITY & FAIRNESS ENG IS NOT USED FOR JUDGMENT (background, education)
8. CHOICE VS. FAILURE (“I choose to speak the way I do not because I can’t speak they way they do, but because my way is good”) (Walker 2010, Seidlhofer 2011, Jenkins 2014)
ELF FATURES PROFICIENT USERS 1. dropping third person ending ‘s’ 2. confusing ‘who’ and ‘which’ 3. omission of articles or redundant articles 4. differences in using questions tags (generalised use of ‘isn’t it’ or ‘no’) 5. overusing certain verbs and structures (do/get/put) (Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English / https://www.univie.ac.at/voice/ , etc.)
ASPECTS TO DEFINE for ELF in EMI/CLIL
INTELLIGIBILITY ACCURACY PRAGMATICS
ASPECTS TO DEFINE for ELF in EMI
INTELLIGIBILITY ACCURACY PRAGMATICS
LINGUA FRANCA CORE (PHONOLOGY) CATEGORY
description
CONSONANTS
all voicing and aspiration retained except for /θ/ and /ð/*
CONSONANT CLUSTERS
deletion is worth than insertion; deletion is not allowed word initially /espeɪn/ is fine /(e)peɪn/ /is not
VOWELS
length is key, as quality varies hugely; including pre-fortis clipping consonants /ɜː/
NUCLEAR STRESS
not word stress I’ve rented a FLAT / I’VE rented a flat I HAVE rented a flat / I’ve RENTED a flat
not word stress
(Jenkins 2000, Walker 2010; *'Th' sound to vanish from English language by 2066 because of multiculturalism, say linguists, www.telegraph.co.uk, 29 sept 2016)
MY STUDY AIM to determine the linguistic (phonological) and extralinguistic (attitudinal) factors affecting the intelligibility of the language used by students in English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) courses at Spanish universities (when listened to by Polish EMI students) to determine if EMI prepares students to be intelligible in international communication
METHOD 1: QUESTIONNAIRES
Likert-type scales 5 – completely agree 4 – agree 3 – neither agree nor disagree 2 – disagree 1 – completely disagree (Dörnyei 2007)
STUDENT ATTITUDES (ENGLAND) - UNI • For most: NE = correct and fluent • Differences between statements and practice; ambivalence – nativeness vs. identity • Affected by "right/wrong“ native approach = inferiority • Many were surprised that language change or language contact exists and is OK (Jenkins 2014)
STUDENT ATTITUDES (SPAIN)
STUDENT ATTITUDES (SPAIN)
STUDENT ATTITUDES (SPAIN)
STUDENT ATTITUDES (SPAIN)
STUDENT ATTITUDES (SPAIN)
STUDENT ATTITUDES (SPAIN)
METHOD 2: RECORDING
SOME PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES TO BE TESTED
LFC and non-LFC
POLISH VS.SPANISH PHONOLOGY BOTH POLISH AND SPANISH • similar number of vowels (5 vs. 6) – all short – no length differences - no vowel reduction • fairly transparent spelling (spelling>pronunciation, not always the other way round) • no aspiration • no voiced consonants in final position (unless through assimilation) • have tapped ´r´
POLISH VS. SPANISH PHONOLOGY POLISH
SPANISH
• a vowel fairly similar to /ɪ/
• Approximant voiced stops
• A wider range of palatal, retroflex and dental consonants – voiced and voiceless: /s//z//ʂ/ /ʐ/ /ʑ/ /ɕ/ /tʂ/ /dʐ/ /dʑ/ /tɕ/
• Limited range of alveolar, post-alveolar and palatal consonants – mostly voiceless
• High tolerance of consonant clusters (up to 5 consonants)
• Limitied clusters (3 consonants) • Prosthetic /e/ (addition is no threat to INTLY in ELF) • Only /s/ and [z] as an allophone
POLISH VS.SPANISH PHONOLOGY Selected research questions:
Are the features shared by Polish and Spanish but absent from English a threat to intelligibility? (e.g. lack of aspiration which is part of the LFC) Which features present in Spanish but absent from both English and Polish are a threat to intelligibility? (e.g. cluster reduction) (when present in recorded files)
TYPES OF INTELLIGIBILITY TESTS a) elicitation paragraphs – overall intelligibility and specific features; b) elicitation questions – overall intelligibility and specific features; c) isolated words and phrases – specific features; d) semantically unpredictable sentences (SUS) – specific features. (Walker 2010, Gooskens 2013)
INTELLIGIBILITY THREATS VS. LFC
phonological intelligibility threats ≠ lack of understanding
AND A QUOTE English is: “only international to the extent that it is not their [the native speakers'] language” (Widdowson 1994)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
Dziękuję za uwagę! Gracias por vuestra atención! Gràcies per la vostra atenció! Gracias pola vosa atención! Eskerrik asko zuen arretagatik! Vielen Dank für Ihre Aufmerksamkeit! Merci de votre attention!
REFERENCES (selected) Björkman, B. (2011). English as a Lingua Franca in Higher Education: Kachru, B. B., Kachru, Y., & Nelson, C. L. (2006). The Handbook of World Implications for EAP. Ibérica: Revista De La Asociación Europea De Englishes. Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell Publishing. Lenguas Para Fines Específicos/Journal of the European Association of Languages for Specific Purposes (AELFE), 22(22), 79-100. Low, E. (2016). Pronunciation for English as an Intenational Language. London/New York: Routledge. British Council (2013). The English effect. London: British Council. Mauranen, A. (2012). Exploring ELF. Academic English Shaped by NonBrosch, C. (2015). On the Conceptual History of the Term Lingua Native Speakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Franca. Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies, 9(1), 71-85. doi:10.17011/apples/2015090104 Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte. (2014). Strategy for the Internationalisation of Spanish Universities 2015-2020. Madrid: Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language (2. ed. ed.). Cambridge: Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte. Cambridge University Press. Prodromou, L. (2008). English as a Lingua Franca: A Corpus-Based European Commision. (2011). Lingua franca, chimera or reality?. Analysis. London/New York: Continuum. Luxembourg: Publ. Office of the Europ. Union. Schneider, E. W. (2001). English Around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge European Commission. (2005). A New Framework Strategy for University Press. Multilingualism . Brussels: European Commission. Seidlhofer, B. (2001). Closing a Conceptual Gap: The Case for a Description European Language Council. (2006). Nancy Declaration. Multilingual of English as a Lingua Franca. International Journal of Applied Universities for a Multilingual Europe Open to the World. Berlin: Linguistics, 11(2), 133-158. Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding European Language Council. English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Galloway, N., & Rose, H. (2015). Introducing Global Englishes. London/New York: Routledge.
VOICE. 2013. The Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (version 2.0 online). (2013). Retrieved from http://voice.univie.ac.at
Jenkins, J. (2000). The Phonology of English as an International Language. Wächter, B., & Maiworm, F. (2014). English-Taught Programmes in Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press. European Higher Education. The State of Play in 2014. Bonn: Lemmens. Jenkins, J. (2009a). English as a Lingua Franca: Interpretations and Attitudes. World Englishes: Journal of English as an International Walker, R. (2010). Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua and Intranational Language, 28(2), 200-207. Franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jenkins, J. (2009b). World Englishes: a resource book for students. London/New York: Routledge. Jenkins, J. (2013). English as a Lingua Franca in the International University. London: Routledge. Jenkins, J. (2015). Global Englishes: A resource book for students (3. ed. ed.). London: Routledge.
Widdowswon, H. G. (1994). The Ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly, 28(2), 377-389.
