Teaching and Assessing EIL in Local Contexts Around the World

Sandra Lee Mckay, James Dean Brown

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317668404
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: English Language
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

English today is a global language embedded in a great variety of social contexts, resulting in linguistic and pedagogical variation. Taking a new look at the teaching and assessing of English as an international language (EIL), this text highlights overarching principles and provides specific strategies for responding to questions and challenges posed by the changing demographics of English language learners and users around the world.

Teaching and Assessment in EIL Classrooms

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• introduces an original, coherent framework in which needs analysis, pedagogical principles, and assessment are integrated

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• describes variables that influence effective teaching and assessment and the characteristics of various EIL teachers and learners

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• emphasizes that pedagogical and assessment decisions need to be based on the learning and teaching needs of each specific EIL context

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• includes specific principles and strategies for teaching and assessing grammar, oral language, and literacy skills in EIL classrooms

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• provides strategies for integrating computer-mediated language into EIL classrooms in ways that promote cross-cultural awareness, language development, and individualized learning

Timely, accessible, and practical, this text for graduate and pre- and in-service courses on language teaching and assessment is at the forefront in providing valuable information and guidance for enabling principled and context-sensitive praxis in EIL classrooms worldwide.

1
The Social and Educational Context of EIL Classrooms

Many of the factors that language teachers need to consider in making pedagogical decisions relate to the social and institutional context in which they teach. In terms of the social context, teachers need to consider questions such as the following: Is English widely used in the community where they live? Is English one of the home languages of the students? Does speaking English have social prestige, economic rewards, and educational value within the country? Furthermore, there are institutional factors to consider. Is English a required foreign language? At what age do students start learning English? What goals does the ministry of education have for the learning of English? The purpose of this chapter is to examine such questions in relation to the teaching of English as an international language (EIL). Specifically, we will focus on the following topics:

• The current status of English around the world;
• Typical features of English varieties, popular attitudes toward these varieties, and the issue of standards; and,
• Prevalent trends in English education.

The Current Status of English

Number of Speakers and Geographical Spread

Two salient facts about English that contribute to its being a global language are first, it is widely spoken as a second language; and second, it is spoken in many areas of the world. It is, of course, extremely difficult to determine how many people today speak English. First, one needs to determine what it means to speak a language. Is minimal conversational ability sufficient to be considered a speaker of the language or must one be able to speak the language fluently? Second, reliable statistics need to be gathered regarding the number of speakers. Such information could be gathered through a rigorous census process, but even if a country has census data that provide such information, how should one determine whether or not an individual speaks English and at what level? With this in mind, let us examine estimates of the current number of native speakers of English in relation to other languages with at least 50 million first-language speakers (www.ethnologue.com/statistics/size, retrieved, January 19, 2014).

Table 1.1 makes clear two important characteristics of English today. First, it is not the most widely spoken language in terms of the number of native speakers. Chinese and Spanish have more first-language speakers. Second, English is by far the most widely geographically distributed language since it is spoken in 101 countries. The only language that comes close to this number is Arabic, which is spoken in only 59 countries.

Table 1.1 Languages with at Least 50 Million First-Language Speakers

Rank	Language	Primary Country	Total Countries	Speakers (millions)
1	Chinese [zho]	China	33	1,197
	Chinese, Gan [gan]	China		20.6
	Chinese, Hakka [hak]	China		30.1
	Chinese, Huizhou [czh]	China		4.60
	Chinese, Jinyu [cjy]	China		45.0
	Chinese, Mandarin [cmn]	China		848
	Chinese, Min Bei [mnp]	China		10.3
	Chinese, Min Dong [cdo]	China		9.12
	Chinese, Min Nan [nan]	China		46.8
	Chinese, Min Zhong [czo]	China		3.10
	Chinese, Pu-Xian [cpx]	China		2.56
	Chinese, Wu [wuu]	China		77.2
	Chinese, Xiang [hsn]	China		36.0
	Chinese, Yue [yue]	China		62.2
2	Spanish [spa]	Spain	31	406
3	English [eng]	United	101	335
		Kingdom
4	Hindi [hin]	India	4	260
5	Arabic [ara]	Saudi Arabia	59	223
	Arabic, Algerian Spoken [arq]	Algeria		28.0
	Arabic, Chadian Spoken [shu]	Chad		1.14
	Arabic, Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Spoken [avl]	Egypt		1.69
	Arabic, Egyptian Spoken [arz]	Egypt		54.0
	Arabic, Gulf Spoken [afb]	Iraq		3.60
	Arabic, Hijazi Spoken [acw]	Saudi Arabia		6.02
	Arabic, Libyan Spoken [ayl]	Libya		4.32
	Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken [acm]	Iraq		15.1
	Arabic, Moroccan Spoken [ary]	MoroccanSpo		21.0
	Arabic, Najdi Spoken [ars]	Saudi Arabia		9.67
	Arabic, North Levantine Spoken [apc]	Syria		14.4
	Arabic, North Mesopotamian Spoken [ayp]	Iraq		6.30
	Arabic, Sa'idi Spoken [aec]	Egypt		19.0
	Arabic, Sanaani Spoken [ayn]	Yemen		7.60
	Arabic, South Levantine Spoken [ajp]	Jordan		6.20
	Arabic, Sudanese Spoken [apd]	Sudan		1.83
	Arabic, Ta'izzi-Adeni Spoken [acq]	Yemen		7.08
	Arabic, Tunisian Spoken [aeb]	Tunisia		9.41
6	Portuguese [por]	Portugal	11	202
7	Bengali [ben]	Bangladesh	4	193
8	Russian [rus]	Russian	16	162
		Federation
9	Japanese [jpn]	Japan	3	122
10	Javanese [jav]	Indonesia	3	84.3

Note: Table 1.1 lists the largest languages in the world in descending order of first-language speakers. The Primary Country column names the country in which the primary entry for the language is found. The Total Countries column gives the number of countries in the world in which the language is listed either with a full entry or as an immigrant language in the country header. The Speaker column gives the number of first-language speakers in millions. The table rows in italic type represent macrolanguages. ... In these cases, the Total Countries and speakers columns are totals for all the individual languages listed in the macrolanguage entry as members of the macrolanguage. It includes only those that have a least one million speakers.

If you are curious about where English is widely spoken, there are 60 sovereign states and 28 non-sovereign states where English is an official language. As you would imagine, the majority of these countries are former colonies of the United Kingdom or the United States.

Figure 1.1 provides detailed information on where English is a major language (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#Countries_where_English_is_a_major_language, retrieved January 19, 2014)

Figure 1.1 Countries Where English Is a Major Language

Countries Where English Is a Major Language

In the following countries, English is spoken natively by the majority of the population. English is the primary language in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Guyana, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In some countries where English is not the most commonly spoken language, it is an official language; these countries include Botswana, Cameroon, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines (Philippine English), Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Also there are countries where in a part of the territory English has become a co-official language, e.g., Colombia’s San Andrés y Providencia, and Nicaragua’s Mosquito Coast. This was a result of the influence of British colonization in the area.

English is one of the 11 official languages that are given equal status in South Africa (South African English). It is also the official language in current dependent territories of Australia (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, and Cocos Island) and of the United States (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico (in Puerto Rico, English is co-official with Spanish), and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the former British colony of Hong Kong.

Although the United States federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state governments. Although falling short of official status, English is also an important language in several former colonies and protectorates of the United Kingdom, such as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cyprus, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Number of L2 Speakers of English

One might ask why English, and not Mandarin or Spanish, is today considered an international language since they have far more native speakers. The answer to this puzzle rests in the current number of second-language speakers of English. The British Council (www.britishcouncil.org/learning-faq-the-english-language.htm, retrieved January 12, 2014) summarizes the following estimates of the relative numbers of first- and second-language speakers of English.

• English is spoken as a first language by around 375 million and as a second language by around 375 million speakers of the world.
• Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language.
• Speakers of English as a second or foreign language outnumber those who speak it as a first language.
• One out of four of the world’s population speaks English to some level of competence; demand from the other three-quarters is increasing.

These numbers demonstrate two facts: first, there are far more L2 speakers of English than L1 speakers of English; and second, if we consider the number of L2 speakers of English, the current number of speakers of English—both L1 and L2—far surpasses the number of people who speak Mandarin and Spanish.

Pedagogical Implications

So what does all this mean for the teaching of English? First, it is important to note that even though English has official status in many countries of the world today, this does not mean that everyone in the country speaks English well. For example, in Singapore, Singlish, or colloquial Singaporean English, is a variety of English that developed from the influence of Chinese, Tamil, and Malay on the use of English in the country. Most Singaporeans are familiar with this variety of English and with Standard Singapore English, but there are some Singaporeans, generally older and less educated Singaporeans, who speak only Singlish. Cases such as this demonstrate the need to localize all generalizations regarding current English use. One cannot assume that because English has official status in a country, all citizens of the country speak the language well. This is one value of local teachers of English. They are well aware of the range of English fluency in the country and of the varieties of English that are spoken in the local area.

Second, these statistics regarding the current use of English make it clear that the number of L2 speakers of English...