Round 2...Fight!

Phillipson's back with Lx Imp Cont'd. Suggested subtitle: How English Poisons Everything

Turning my SSLW Presentation into a paper

Supervisor says "explain how you have developed the questionnaire items, which should be connected to your lit review" which means that I have to now do what we talked about in class yesterday (a strategy a lot of writers, L1 and L2 use): go back to the literature and pretend I got my ideas from experts instead of just making them up off the top of my head. Luckily, you can always find a way to connect your ideas to others' if you have some rhetorical deftness.

I really think I've gotten this far in my academic career simply by knowing how to craft good sentences, not by having good ideas. But maybe those are more related than I give myself credit for.

Anyway, here comes Mohan and Lo 1985: "We suggest that if there are differences in the ability of Chinese and Western students to organize essays in English, the source of these differences does not lie in a preference for “indirectness” in the language and culture of Chinese. Rather, it lies in the emphasis of the English language instruction programs to which students are exposed."

That's what I'm sayin', bro.

Also potentially useful:

International students in English-speaking universities: Adjustment factors (Maureen Snow Andrade)

and more, I'm sure...加油

CP pro and con

...just off the top of my head...

pro:

recognize inequality and try to make it better

recognize "real life" outside the classroom

treat students like human beings

encourage students to question (unjust) behaviors and practices in society

emphasize agency in learning, transforming, and using knowledge

con:

assumes a certain political views untenable to most people

hegemony of hegemony (sort of), pessimism

students tend not to want teachers to talk about political issues

theory is distant from practice to a high degree

PS: According to Google no one has ever typed the phrase"I don't believe in hegemony" on the internet. Until now. I'm not saying I know enough about it, but it does seem to be at the heart of CP, and that heart could be the part I find unsatisfying. This book by a Canadian philosopher posits "affinity" as a construct for social change instead. Not totally sure what it is but I think I kind of get it.

TEIL

It seems to me that "teaching English as an international language" in the sense of teaching someone to use/master "English as an international language" is impossible. Canagarajah's idea of Lingua Franca English (is it even teachable?) makes more sense, because there are bazillions of possible contexts in which people use English internationally, and they call for very different things.

"Teachers have to develop in students a readiness to engage with a repertoire of codes in transnational contact situations"

"we now have to train students to shuttle between communities by negotiating the relevant codes"

"we have to focus more on communicative strategies rather than focusing only on mastering the grammar rules of a single variety"

"the relativity of norms"

this is hard!

EIL ≠ local variety

EFL ≠ EIL

No one variety of English = English as an international language

There is no international variety, there is only how people use language to communicate

Right?

Tentative list of China English researchers

List of people currently or recently (within the last 10 years) doing research (presenting/publishing) on China English, with links when applicable. Can't list everyone here, but trying to list those who have published in major int'l journals, major Chinese journals, or who have written prolifically in other places (and/or done MAs or PhDs on the subject)...

TO BE CONTINUED / UPDATED REGULARLY

( x = contacted for leads on AILA idea, o = not planning to contact for that)

Jiang Yajun (Donghua University - in Shanghai) where is this? X

Fan Fang (Shantou University) X

Xiaoye You (Penn State) X

Xu Zhichang (HKIED) O

David C.S. Li (HKIED) X

He Deyuan (CUHK - I think) X

Andy Kirkpatrick (HKIED)

Ming-zhan Lu & Bruce Horner (maybe?) O

Xiangping Du (University of Hertfordshire? not totally sure)

Mingjun Lu (University of Toronto? Not sure where she is now. Not focussed on ELT, more interested in philosophy) O

Hu Xiaoqiong (Three Gorges University)

Jin Huikang (only publishes in Chinese - he's at a university in Guangzhou, I forget which)

Olliver Lutz Radtke (Heidlberg - author of photobook "Chinglish") X

EFL/EIL/ELF/LFE/WEs & Pedagogy

Am interested in what people who look at globalization and/of English have to say about pedagogical implications -- looking for the best article from each of the following:

Kachru

Canagarajah

intro to "Reclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice" seems good but may not be focused enough on pedagogy. "The Place of WES in Composition" is good by focused on writing.

Seidlhofer

'Research perspectives on teaching English as a lingua franca'. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 24, Cambridge University Press 2004, 209-39.

Jenkins

Current Perspectives on Teaching World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca

J Jenkins - Tesol Quarterly, 2006 - ingentaconnect.com

Gorlach

Not necessarily interested in the allegedly "conservative" dudes: Crystal, Quirk, Trudgill (supposidely Gorlach also belongs there)...but that could be useful to.

Wondering about the "angry dudes" also - Phillipson & Pennycook.

David C.S. Li's article Teaching and Researching China English is good but I also want to get more general articles before I jump into the China English stuff -- I actually know of only about two articles that really directly address teaching.

Maybe will update this once I've got some good ideas for articles.

ALSO:

my man Holliday comes thru in a big way! His 2005 book the struggle to teach English as an international language. Not sure if there's a condensed argument someplace, an article or intro I can yoink.

English as an international language: perspectives and pedagogical issues

By Farzad Sharifian

Just realize I am writing this blog wiki-style and all my public idea snippets are thought up in twitter-speak. WRITING TECH RESTRUCTURES CONSCIOUSNESS YO!

Wordle Cloud for 8 articles on plagiarism

Does this cloud itself constitute plagiarism?

Sentence involving the biggest words:

Plagiarism: students writing English language

SSLW 2009 = a success

Schmoozin-a-plenty and some exciting news about the location of IAWE 2010. Let's just say that when Larry Smith told me the next conference would be "a little closer" to where I live, that was an understatement.

The 16th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes, Inc. (IAWE) will be held in Vancouver, Canada from 25 to 27 July, 2010. Members of the association are invited to propose papers for presentation or participate by attending the conference. Please visit the website for latest updates:

Seeking Same

Confused PhD student seeks viable post-critical theory and/or pedagogy for socially engaged language-teaching practice. Must incorporate valuable insights from critical theory with very little of the jargon or cynicism. Must not see interrogation of dominant discourses as the end of academic inquiry. Must lack even the appearance of being motivated by radical political beliefs. Must not assume that the definitions of words like "equity" and "freedom" and "liberation" and "democracy" and "possibility" are fixed and mean the same thing to everyone. Must clearly articulate the meaning and desirability of "transformation."

Must be rooted in one or more of the following: hope, love, desire, ethics, joy, curiosity, the Emic, the Local, the Personal, the Ineffable.

Must believe another world is possible but not for a minute presume to describe it to me until I have described it for myself.

Some data on my SSLW project (Part II)

Finally making good progress on my SSLW project. (presenting this Thursday!)

It's turning out pretty cool & interesting. Just trying to fine-tune some stuff and try to explain how the findings/implications should be described. So much of academic writing is creatively leaving things out -- I'm looking for the balance between describing all the data and actually giving it a shape that's interesting and useful.

Some interesting stuff came up -- and keep in mind I am, for the most part, no longer "leading the witness" the way I did during my MA research when I didn't know any better. Students said stuff about Chinglish and varieties of English totally independent of anything I thought.

Some student quotes:

1.

"I think teacher should know what the students really need. Then help them to write that things and judge. For example, many students want to learn how to write resume. The teacher should give suggestions on how to write and tell the students what the HR suppose in one’s resume. The teacher may get all the resumes, tell the students which students will he/she take if he/she is HR. I think people will be interested in what they need. Many useful English writings are not difficult, but Western people have different way to write it…Teachers should let students know it."

2.

"A teacher regard exams as the final aim of writing would never attract students. So his task is not only teaching how to use words or sentences but also the culture.”

Using Theories

Putting together a presentation - suddenly a theory/orientation I didn't really like a whole lot when I first heard about it popped into my head -- "hey, if you use this, it will help prove your point." Theoretical pragmatism: using what works without being religiously devoted to any particular theory.

Critical Pedagogy As Oppression

"I came to realize that my implementation of critical pedagogy without taking into consideration students' goals, needs, and expectations was an imposition of my belief and that it was antithetical to my goal of student empowerment. I recommend that when attempting to implement a pedagogy, teachers should understand the limitations of the pedagogy and adapt to unique implementation challenges each class presents."

Jungmi Kim, "Implementing Critical Pedagogy in an English as a Second Language Writing Classroom"

SEE ALSO:

"WHY DOESN'T THIS FEEL EMPOWERING? Working Through the Repressive Myths of Critical Pedagogy" Elisabeth Ellsworth, Harvard Educational Review, Fall 1989 (electronic version not available, but you can read the abstract)

Professor Tony's English Classroom

This site is really interesting. Honestly it looks like there is a ton of stuff here and this could be a really, really interesting site for research on English writing in China. Professor Tony's English Classroom is a site for Chinese students of English writing, and

"its purpose is to provide the best possible help to any and all people here in China that want to improve their English. And the best part of it all is that everything is FREE OF CHARGE!"

TESOL Islamia

I seem to recall this site being down for quite a while, but I stumbled across it again today: TESOL Islamia is a one of few resources that takes the relationship between ESL and religion seriously.

UPDATE: It's down again. Someone needs to get it up and running!

China Holistic English

Up late working on a couple papers due tomorrow -- I see that Niu and Wolff, whose aggressive articles on Chinese EFL teaching (esp. the plight of the native English speaking teacher) have been both enjoyable and upsetting to me over the past few years, are gearing up for a pretty huge push with their whole philosophy over at China Holistic English.

While I'm really happy to see that someone is publishing a desperately needed book -- their forthcoming Teaching EFL in China: What Every Foreign Teacher Should Know Before They Go -- I'm disappointed to see that a) it is not being published by a reputable academic publisher and b) at first glance it does not appear to be substantially revised from the previous articles they have put up on their website.

Niu and Wolff are saying some really important things about a really important sector of global ELT, but their work frequently comes off as recalcitrant and unrealistic. I don't mean to be harsh, but hope their new book(s) will prove to be otherwise.

Some data on my SSLW project (Part I)

Looking at the results of my survey "English Writing and Futher Study Abroad."

n = 76 Chinese university students, so this is by no means a huge sample. Also, note that these students are among the "best and brightest" in the entire country -- most of them either scored in the top 100 or so among millions of other students in their province taking the college entrance exam, or performed so well in high school that they were invited to join an honors program at a top university without taking the exam. These are the kinds of students who are almost inevitably going on to grad school.

75% are in their second year of university (although many of those identified this year as their "first" year, because they spent one year at a mainland university before beginning year 1 of a 3-year Bachelors' degree in Hong Kong).

25% currently attend one particular "top 3" university in China, and it is those 19 students I want to focus on in the follow-up interviews. 67% currently attend a university in Hong Kong, and the rest attend other universities in China.

Take a look at this (click for a closer look)

49% are seriously interested in attending grad school in North America, and 42% are "maybe" interested. Only 2 of the 76 students have no interest in studying in North America. (3 are already in grad school there.) Ambitions are high - 91% have some interest.

Surprisingly, 70% of these students had taken an English writing course in college or high school. I suspect this data is skewed by the high number of students in this special mainland-HK program. They are given lots of English instruction in preparation for entering an English-medium university. I don't think I want to emphasize this in my write-up; I will mention who the students are (as above), but this statistic doesn't really seem all that important. (Maybe it is?)

This is interesting, too - click for a closer view.

I asked the students what kind of writing they felt their English classes in the past had prepared them for. As I expected, the highest percentage (58.9%) said standardized English writing tests in China. I was kind of surprised that the next highest number (they could choose more than one) was English for "real-world" uses such as emails and letters -53.4% said that. Writing for foreign standardized tests wasn't too low (42.5%), and the lowest two were writing in English for academic purposes in university in either China or an English-speaking country. Only 34.2% of students felt their English classes had prepared them for the writing they need to do in Chinese universities, and only 32.9% felt prepared for writing in an English-medium university in an English-speaking country.

I'm now reading responses to the question:

In your opinion, is there a difference between the English writing you do (or have done) at your Chinese university and the English writing you would need to do in your future study at a North American University? What, if anything, is the difference?

We'll see what comes up!

A few links

Lots of laughs at The "Blog" of Unnecessary Quotation Marks and Apostrophe Abuse.

Also recently saw this site -- Chinglish.com -- actually it's mostly a translation service, but if you poke around you'll see some interesting stuff about issues of English in China.

---

Planning to submit an abstract to the EMP Pop Conference again this year (theme: music and technology) and feel better about this one than any others I have had rejected -- we'll see.

Getting Schooled

Lunch with students departing for the UK, June 2009

ME (sympathetically to student who isn't great at English): So, I guess English must be, like, your third language, right? (Since I figure she speaks a local dialect and Mandarin also)

STUDENT (pausing to count on fingers): I can speak....five languages.

ME: (shameful silence)

World Englishes vs Contrastive Rhetoric

Obvs, CR has moved beyond "Chinese people think in a circular way, whereas whiteys think in a logical way" (I mean, they call it intercultural rhetoric now), but the point, or a big point, I think, is this:

Written* "China English," whatever it is, does not exist only because of the Chinese language or even the "Chinese way of thinking" (once a common answer from Kaplan et al, now common answer from Chinese students/teachers/etc) -- it also exists because of language attitudes and ideology, educational policies, educational cultures, expressions of identity, the internet, internationalization of English, increased acceptance of language mixing in China, standardized tests, and idiosyncratic choices made by writers (professional or not). And probably a lot of other things.

(*I want to qualify these because I am not really looking at spoken CE, currently -- it is certainly a reality and in some ways a lot easier to identify in terms of pronunciation, intelligibility, unique phonology, etc)

"English Songs" as a Genre of Chinese Music?

Seriously, how does a list like this get created??? This is a list of "English Songs" by a blogger known as happyguy. What is going on here? How do these songs get so popular in China? Is it only marketing? Why do Chinese people love Richard Clayderman when no one else in the world has ever heard of him? Anyway, I might have an outlet to explore this sometime soon. Until then, puzzle over this list with me.

Country road, take me home
Song--Tell me why (Declan Galbraith)
Edelweiss
Auld Lang Syne
Big Big Girl
Smoke Rings In The Dark
La Isla Bonita(Alizee)
Scarborough Fair -Sarah Brightman
Bressanone
Somewhere Only We Know
Only Love
My love
Sailing
My heart will go on
You took my heart away　
When you love someone
Hero
Take Me To Your Heart
The day you went away (M2M )
Yesterday once more(昨日重现)
The Straw Hat
MY OH MY
Pretty Boy
Casablanca
Say you say me
Seasons In The Sun