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New Englishes and teaching models 177 uniform standard written print variety, the supplementation of which by some alternative written lingua franca norm would be of questionable utility. The greatest obstacle, however, to the promulgation of an ELF teaching model, exceeding by far the difficulties just mentioned, is acceptability. 12 As Timmis’s (2002: 244) data reveals, and as is corroborated by Wright’s (2004: 176) observations, there is still a considerable degree of attachment to standardised native speaker norms, the principal reason being the persistence of the traditional notion that native-speakerlike competence is the ultimate benchmark of learning achievement. Even Seidlhofer (2004: 244) herself, in her opposition to the hegemony of native speaker norms, does not entirely evade what she refers to as a ‘conceptual straightjacket’, for in outlining ‘unproblematic’ ELF features posing no obstacle to successful communication she employs negatively loaded vocabulary: for example, ‘confusing the relative pronouns who and which’ or ‘failing to use correct forms in tag questions’ (our italics); an oversight remedied by Jenkins (2004: 64) in a subsequent article where these terms are enclosed in inverted commas. Given the deep-rooted nature of these attitudes there is a risk, then, that an ELF model constructed on the lines indicated above will come, like other ‘reduced’ models before, to be perceived – however unjustifiably – as a second-rate English. It seems unlikely either that European or East Asian students will easily be persuaded that an ELF model is the most suitable one for them on the grounds that they will predominantly, or only, use English as an international lingua franca with other nonnatives. They may reason, on the contrary, that their future communication needs are unpredictable, and that, given the still impressive demographics and economic power of native-speaking communities, there is in fact some prospect of encountering native speakers at some future time, in which case a prestige variety of English of wide currency, internationally as well as in the inner circle, will be the best, most flexible bet for them. The conclusion we are driven to, then, is not that the pursuit of an ELF model is valueless or pointless. Far from it, despite the methodological and conceptual difficulties involved. But rather that gaining acceptance is a formidable obstacle that can probably only be overcome by convincing teachers, students and the wider public not just that English is sociolinguistically in a different position from all other languages, which is obvious, but that this sociolinguistic uniqueness justifies the abandonment of a popular assumption that by and large holds sway for most languages; the assumption, namely, that native-speaker-like proficiency, and conformity to native speaker norms, is the truest measure of achievement in second language learning. NOTES 1. The distinction between stress-timed and syllable-timed languages is an idealisation; many languages fall on a continuum between these two extremes. Stress-timing refers to a tendency by which stressed syllables occur at regular intervals of time, a characteristic known as ‘isochronism’. Syllable-timing refers to the tendency for all syllables in an utterance to receive equal prominence, a characteristic known as ‘isosyllablism’.
178 Language Planning and Education 2. The term ‘substrate’ is drawn from creole studies, and broadly refers to the input or influence of native L1 languages in the formation of a creole. 3. These Singapore English words are, in fact, borrowings from Malay and refer respectively to a guard, a playing field, food and village. The Indian English words denote a circular red mark placed on the forehead, small or junior, a stick or baton, native or home-grown, respectively. 4. Like ‘substrate’, the term ‘superstrate’ derives from creole studies and refers to the dominant language on which the creole is based and from which it usually derives much of its lexis. Mesthrie (2003) argues that the superstrate influence in the formation of New Englishes is both more complex and more substantial than sometimes thought. 5. Lexical innovation, one might add, largely reflects the transplantation of English to a new cultural milieu. It would be curious not to accept the resulting innovations as legitimate at a time when, in the wake of cultural and technological change, British English is itself adding to its lexical stock. 6. Words in square brackets are the author’s, not Joseph’s. 7. Relevant here is the Singapore government’s initiation in 1998 of a campaign to eradicate Singlish from public domains, promoting in its place what they referred to as ‘Good English’ (see Gupta 2001: 378). 8. A Geordie is a native of the north-east of England, of Newcastle and the surrounding area. 9. Political attitudes are fluid, however, and might well change over time, becoming more favourable to endormative standards. 10. For a certain, still small, sector of the population of outer circle societies, New Englishes are, in fact, acquired as a first, native language. 11. There are, of course, many users of English as an international lingua franca (ELF) resident in the outer circle, which is why ELF cuts across Kachru’s three circles of use. 12. Sceptics question the practicality as well as the political and sociolinguistic feasibility of an ELF norm. Görlach (1999: 16), for example, writes as follows: For a Euro-English to develop it would need to have prescriptive school norms discarded and to have a billion-fold increase of international communicative events conducted in English. However, it is not a realistic proposition to assume that the French will start talking to each other in English, nor even that they will use English with Germans in unimaginable numbers of speech acts necessary to justify the assumption that a common Continental norm different from BrE is (ever) to develop.
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Language Planning and Education GIB
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Edinburgh Textbooks in Applied Ling
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© Gibson Ferguson, 2006 Edinburgh
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vi Contents 5 The global spread of
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Acknowledgements Identifying and th
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