Standard English

1
Standard English

• What is it?

2
Standard English definition

• What, do you think, is standard English?
• Do you want to speak standard English?
• So what IS standard English?
• The proper definition is
• Written English accepted world-wide.

3
Features of Standard English

• Where is it used? Do you think standard English
  is used all over the world?
• Is it stable? Do you expect standard English to
  change quickly with time? Especially in
  comparison with spoken English?

4
Features continued

• Does it have a lot of variations? Would you
  expect to find any difference between an English
  newspaper produced in Singapore and one produced
  in Auckland (New Zealand)?

5
Received Pronunciation

• -BBC or VOA?

6
Warm-up discussion (3 minutes)

• Do you often speak English with your friends?
• Do you enjoy visiting English corner?
• Do people understand you well when you speak
  English, i.e., is your English pronunciation .
  well received ?

7
Two well-accepted varieties of spoken English

• Educated Southern British English
• - Received Pronunciation (RP)
• - BBC
• Educated American English
• - Network English
• - VOA CNN

8
Which to learn?

• Both of the above-mentioned varieties of English
  pronunciation are well received.
• As a learner, you can imitate either of them.

9
Features of spoken English

• Regional varieties
• We are going to play a few audio clips. Would
  you please distinguish which variety it is
  respectively? British, American, or Australia?
• Fast changing pace
• Could you cite some examples?

10
Summary

• Learners want to learn and write Standard English
  for international use. standard English
• Learners want to speak and understand English
  that approximates to Educated British of to
  Educated American English.-received pronunciation
  or network English
• There is no single authority for the use of the
  English.