Module 1: Background
Module 1: Background
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Please take a minute to answer these questions.
Please take a minute to answer these questions.
The answers that follow will provide some perspective for our discussion of English language learners.
The answers that follow will provide some perspective for our discussion of English language learners.
- T/F - There is an official body that regulates the rules of English.
FALSE
FALSE
Unlike many other languages, the English language does not have an official body to regulate the rules of the language.
The Académie Française, the government institution whose job it is to protect the French language, can declare that official government documents, schoolteachers, and the media must avoid using words like hashtag (the official recommendation is mot-dièse which is actually the musical symbol for a sharp note).
While there are similar institutions for Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and other languages, there is no such governing body for the English language. This means that English is quicker to adopt new words, while French speakers are forced to break linguistic law when they want to say email instead of adresse de courrier électronique.
2. T/F - Standard English is a distinct dialect of English, required to succeed in school and business.
2. T/F - Standard English is a distinct dialect of English, required to succeed in school and business.
False
False
While standard English is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as "The variety of English that is generally acknowledged as the model for the speech and writing of educated speakers," the usage note identifies a problem with the definition, saying that it is "the term is highly elastic and variable, since what counts as Standard English will depend on both the locality and the particular varieties that Standard English is being contrasted with."
This is important to consider because many of our international students will have exposure to other varieties of the English language.
3. T/F - English is the official language of the United States.
3. T/F - English is the official language of the United States.
False
False
While English is the de facto language in the United States, it is NOT the official language of the USA. When the founders met at the Continental Congress, there was debate over whether to declare English the official language. Dr. Wayne Wright, professor of language and literacy at Purdue, explains their reasoning for rejecting the proposal, “English was pretty much the dominant language of the United States at the time so there really wasn't a need to protect it. And they didn't want to offend their fellow Americans who helped fight for independence.”
4. What is English to you? What makes someone's English "good,” "bad," or "correct"?
4. What is English to you? What makes someone's English "good,” "bad," or "correct"?
English is much more than language. This is true with any language, but it is especially true because of the global nature of English, and its status as a lingua franca. With so many varieties of English co-existing and mixing, it becomes much more difficult to pin the language to any single place, culture, or group.
In the end, it basically belongs to everyone who uses it. Each group just gets to decide its own norms and standards. And those norms and standards are a reflection of culture, power, politics, economics, group dynamics, and ownership.
We don't need to take the global perspective of English to consider these issues. For the sake of our students, we can bring it home to Memphis. Ask yourself how English differs in your various social settings. Who uses what language and what does it say about what groups they belong to or are excluded from? Imagine navigating that while also dealing with English as a second or a third language.
Well-intentioned individuals who genuinely support immigrants and their children, may regard them as deficient linguistically and subsequently assume and judge them as inferior intellectually, professionally, morally, and/or spiritually
5. Of the 2.5 billion people in the world who speak English, what percentage are "native" English speakers?
5. Of the 2.5 billion people in the world who speak English, what percentage are "native" English speakers?
Sad news for the native speakers wanting to assert dominance, native English speakers are outnumbered 3 to 1. This calls into question what it means to be a "native" speaker and what it means to own a language. My own son first spoke Arabic and French to his mother, attended his first school in Chinese, and switched almost completely to English at 5 years old. Because of his whiteness, he will automatically be considered a native speaker, but his personal history says differently.
Our international students arrive in the US at various stages of their English language development, and some may never lose certain markers of their first languages, but they all become part owners of the language.
So What?
So What?
- What does it mean to us, as educators, that English doesn’t have a governing body?
- What does it mean that there is not a set standard English, but many varieties?
- What does it mean that there are more people speaking this language as non-native speakers than native speakers?
- What does it mean that multilingualism is the norm in the world?
- Does that mean we have to relax grammatical standards or that there are no absolute standards? That everything is correct?
What do y’all think? Please share your thoughts below.
What do y’all think? Please share your thoughts below.
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