Transcript The Cultural Politics of English as an international language

Introduction
The cultural politics of
English as an
international language
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-1
Is the spread of English
‘natural’?
 700 million – 1 billion English speakers
worldwide.
 Prevailing view: ‘The world has opted for
English, and the world knows what it wants,
what will satisfy its needs.’ (Hindmarsh 1978,
p. 42)
 Generally, the spread of English is considered
to be ‘natural, neutral and beneficial’
(Pennycook 1994, p. 9).
 English is seen to be the result of inevitable
global forces.
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-2
Is the spread of English
‘natural’? (cont.)
 Assumption: international communication
occurs on a cooperative and equitable footing.
 Little consideration has been given to the
inequities of colonialism and the imposition of
one language/culture onto another.
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-3
Social, cultural and political
contexts of English
 Q1 Do individuals and countries really have a
‘choice’ about using English?
 Q2 Can any language be free of cultural and
political influences?
 Q3 Why do many people argue that English is
somehow ‘neutral’?
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-4
Social, cultural and political
contexts of English (cont.)
 Widespread use of English potentially
threatens other languages.
 English has become the language of power
and prestige (effectively preventing many
people’s access to economic progress).
 English regulates the international flow of
people.
 English is bound up with the spread of
capitalism and cultural dominance (particularly
by the USA).
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-5
Social, cultural and political
contexts of English (cont.)
 English is the language of imperialism and
particular class interests.
 English causes ‘linguistic curtailment’. As the
first choice for students of a second language,
it pushes other languages out of the way.
(Pennycook 1994, p. 14)
 In some countries (e.g. USA and Australia)
‘language politics’ has replaced race politics
(e.g. migrants to Australia score higher if they
speak English).
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-6
Popular culture and academic
knowledge
 English is dominant in popular culture.




– Popular music, film, literature, sport
English is dominant in academic relations.
– Large proportion of textbooks, international journals
There is dependence on Western forms of
knowledge (which may not be relevant to local
contexts).
Many countries model their universities on
Western models (using English).
In many countries (e.g. India) the elite class is
English-educated.
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-7
Popular culture and academic
knowledge (cont.)
 In some countries English ‘stands as a barrier
between the student and a meaningful
education’. (90% of secondary education is in
English.)
 BUT, it is a passport to social and economic
privilege.
 The spread of English ‘has become part of the
process whereby one part of the world has
become politically, economically and culturally
dominated by another’ (Naysmith 1987, cited in
Pennycook 1994, p. 21).
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-8
‘English linguistic imperialism’
 ‘The dominance of English is asserted and
maintained by the establishment and
continuous reconstitution of structural and
cultural inequalities between English and other
languages.’ (Phillipson 1992, cited in
Pennycook 1994, p. 22)
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-9
English linguistic imperialism
(cont.)
 Some authors argue that the UK and the USA
have encouraged the spread of English
because it brings those countries economic
and political advantages (Skutnab-Kangas and
Phillipson 1989, in Pennycook 1994, p. 22).
 English dominates law (and therefore prevents
access to positions of influence).
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-10
English and Western models of
thinking
 Language is the carrier of a society’s
perceptions, attitudes, values, habits and
goals.
 Q What is the effect of educating one
(privileged) group of society in one language,
and other groups in another language?
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-11
‘Standards’ of English
 There is not one ‘correct’ or universal dialect of
English.
 There is no such thing as a ‘native speaker’ in
the sense of a person being able to claim an
inherent hold on the full extent of the language
(Paikeday 1985, cited in Willinsky 1998,
p. 194)
 However, in practice, there is the perception
that some people speak ‘better’ English than
others.
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-12
‘Standards’ of English (cont.)
 Native speakers of English often feel the need
to ‘maintain standards’, but those standards
coincide with the maintenance of privileges by
nation, race, gender and class (Willinsky 1998,
p. 197).
 It is important to consider English in its social,
cultural and political contexts.
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-13
Using English is more than
speaking English
 Using English implies relationships to:
– social and economic privilege
– certain forms of culture and knowledge
– global relations of capitalism
– ideas about democracy, economics, the
environment, popular culture, development,
education, etc. (Pennycook 1994, p. 34).
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-14
Using English critically
 ‘The very concept of an international or world
language was an invention of Western
imperialism.’ (Ndebele 1987, pp. 3–4, cited in
Pennycook 1994, p. 36)
 As speakers, learners (and teachers!) of
English, we all need to be critically aware of
the implications of the global spread of English.
 We can resist certain practices and create our
own meanings with the language.
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-15
Language and global
understanding
 ‘…unfortunately we know far more about how
to help the world learn English (little though
that may be) than we do about how to help
native speakers of English learn about the
world’ (Fishman 1977, p. 335, cited in Willinsky
1998, p. 194).
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-16
Questions to consider
1. How did you come to learn English? (e.g. at
home, primary/secondary school, private
classes, university, etc.)
2. What motivated you (or your parents) to learn
English?
3. How has being bilingual shaped your
experiences?
4. Do you think differently in English than you do
in your first language? How so?
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-17
Questions to consider (cont.)
5. What do you hope to achieve by gaining a
degree from an Australian university?
6. Do you consider your bilingualism an
advantage or a hindrance to your studies?
7. Will you use English in your future career?
Where? How?
8. Has learning English changed your
perceptions of your own culture?
Copyright  2007 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
PPTs t/a Communication Skills for International Students in Business, by Bretag, Crossman and Bordia
Intro-18