World Englishes Jennifer Jenkins

1. World EnglishesJennifer Jenkins A resource book for students

2. Strand 3: English Today • Three 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 A3

3. 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 colonised by the English (e.g., India, Nigeria, Singapore) • ~ 350 million speakers A3

4. 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’ A3

5. Difficulties with the three-way categorisation • ENL is not a single variety of English • Pidgins and creoles do not fit into the categorisation. • 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) A3

6. Models of the spread of English • Streven (1980): World map of English • Kachru (1985/1988): Three-circle model of World Englishes • McArthur (1987): Circle of World English • Görlach (1988): Circle model of English • Modiano (1999): The centripetal circles of international English A3

7. Three circle model of World Englishes Kachru (1992: 356) • Most useful and influential model • World Englishes divided into three concentric circles: 1 Inner Circle: ~ ENL countries, ‘norm-providing’ 2 Outer Circle: ~ ESL countries, ‘norm-developing’ 3 Expanding Circle: ~EFL countries, ‘norm-dependent’ A3

8. Limitations with Kachru’s model • Based on geography and history, rather than the speakers’ use of English. • Grey area between Inner and Outer Circles as well as Outer and Expanding Circles. • The world’s bilingual or multilingual speakers are not taken into account. • Difficulty of using the model to define speakers in terms of their proficiency in English. • Does not account for the linguistic diversity within and between countries of a particular circle. • The term Inner Circle implies that speakers from ENL countries are central, and may thus be interpreted as superior. A3

9. The English Today debate • English  Englishes • Outer Circle Englishes still regularly regarded as • Interlanguage: learner language which has not yet reached the target • Fossilised language: language used when learning has ceased short of native-like competence • Expanding Circle Englishes even less accepted B3

10. The English Today debate • Controversy between Randolph Quirk and Braij Kachru, English Today journal, early 1990s • Non-native Englishes as ‘deficit’: Quirk: ‘Language varieties and standard language’ • 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’: Kachru: ‘Liberation linguistics and the Quirk Concern’ • Criticises Quirk’s deficit linguistics position • Highlights four false assumptions of Quirk’s argument B3

11. Teaching English today Challenging the premise that NS is best teacher: • NS is expert informant, but not necessarily expert instructor (Widdowson 1994a) • NNS teachers and students have shared experience of learning English  asset (Seidlhofer 1999) but: Authority of NS teacher still upheld in teaching materials NS teachers still sought most C3