Participating in seminars and discussions

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An Introduction to EAP Academic Skills in
EnglishLesson 4

• Participating in seminars and discussions

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Objective

• You will make use of a specific text and of a
  film to complete an assignment to support your
  ideas.
• You will practice some skills you will need to
  participate in seminars and discussions with
  groups of other students.

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Assignment

• Who owns the English language?
• Does only one original and authentic standard
  variety exist? Or are there several global
  centres, native or non-native, each with their
  own standard variety of English?

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English Today

• 3 groups of users
• Those who speak English respectively as
• a native language ENL
• a second language ESL
• a foreign language EFL
• ? Neat classifications become increasingly
  difficult

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Who speaks English today?

• English as a Native Language (ENL)
• Language of those born and raised in one of the
  countries where English is historically the first
  language to be spoken (i.e. mainly the UK, USA,
  Canada, Australia and New Zealand)
• 350 million speakers
• English as a Second Language (ESL)
• Language spoken in a large number of territories
  which were once colonized by the English (e.g.,
  India, Nigeria, Singapore)
• 350 million speakers

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Who speaks English today?

• English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
• Language of those for whom it serves no purposes
  within their own countries
• Historically, EFL was learned to use the language
  with its native speakers in the US and UK
• 1 billion speakers with reasonable competence

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Difficulties with the three-way categorization

• ENL is not a single variety of English
• There are large groups of ENL speakers in ESL
  territories and vice versa.
• It is based on the concept of monolingualism, but
  bi- or multilingualism is the norm.
• It is based on the basic distinction between
  native speakers and non-native speakers, with the
  first group being considered superior regardless
  of the quality of their language. (cf. McArthur
  1998)

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Three circle model of World Englishes

• Kachru (1992 356)
• Most useful and influential model
• World Englishes divided into 3 concentric
  circles
• 1. Inner Circle
• ENL countries, norm-providing
• 2. Outer Circle
• ESL countries, norm-developing
• 3. Expanding Circle
• EFL countries, norm-dependent

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The English Today debate

• Non-native Englishes as deficit (Randolph
  Quirk)
• Non-native Englishes are inadequately learned
  versions of correct native English forms
• Non-native Englishes are not valid as teaching
  models
• Non-native Englishes as difference (Braj
  Kachru)
• Native speakers of English seem to have lost
  the exclusive prerogative to control its
  standardisation
• What Quirk describes in terms of deficit is in
  the global context a matter of difference which
  is based on vital sociolinguistic realities of
  identity, creativity and linguistic and cultural
  contact.

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A successful participant in group discussions
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Different perspectives on an issue

• Look at the following statement on education and
  consider it from the different perspectives of
  the people involved
• A seriously disruptive child should be excluded
  permanently from school.

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Different perspectives on an issue
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Useful language comparing perspectives
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