How about just "English"?

Thought:

The best way to get at "China English" is not to call it that. Just call it English and see what happens.

IAWE 2010 = Success

Full recap coming soon -- notes:

- presented with my classmate Ai Mizuta on Chinese and English ed in Vancouver - well-received!

- Had a chance to chat with Fan Fang, Xing Fang, Xu Zhichang, Peter Sayer, & Kingsley Bolton (!) on China English stuff -- very stimulating, will definitely recap this!

- Bought Xu's new book "Chinese English," and Lo Bianco's "China and English" (to be shipped -- only $20, free shipping! Thanks Multilingual Matters!)

- A lot of fodder for thinking about how to approach my dissertation proposal

- Found out you can buy TEM transcripts from the Chinese MoE! Amazing! Can you get the writing test data? How freaking great would that be? Can get CET also, I wonder?

The Dilemma of the ESL Ghetto in Vancouver

"When entry into an English-speaking students’ peer group was not deemed feasible because they were taking ESL courses and English-speaking students were taking mainstream courses, they turned to students of the same ethnic origin for friendship. By the same token, once the high school Chinese immigrant students in this study decided to seek company of fellow compatriots and to continue being part of the Chinese-speaking community, learning English could become peripheral to them. They could minimize their investment in English and invest more in Chinese to keep the membership of a compatriot peer group."

- "Identity and Language Functions: High School Chinese Immigrant Studentsʼ Code-Switching Dilemmas in ESL Classes" by Liang Xiaoping

Textbooks for TESOL & Culture Class - ideas?

Re-opening comments for the first time in a couple of years for this question...

I'm teaching an "Intro to Teaching ESL" course later this summer as part of a sequence of classes. The first class will cover a lot of the "practical" aspects -- teaching the 4 skills, methods, materials, strategies, etc. -- and my portion will mostly cover "cultural" aspects of TESOL.

Question: what textbook should I use? The hope is something broad, not too theoretical, and cheap.

Ideas so far (with Canadian price):

Language and Culture by Claire Kramsch ($23) - short, many short collected readings, but not TESOL-or-teaching-focused per se

Teaching Culture: Perspectives in Practice by Patrick Moran ($40) - tons of exercises, examples, etc, but written by a foreign lg teacher (French) and focused on teaching culture rather than "cultural issues" in teaching

Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning by Eli Hinkel ($22) - I like this one, and I think even though it was written in 1999 it gets at a lot of issues (and has stuff by a lot of different authors)...leaning toward it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

From the new issue of World Englishes

Always a fascinating journal, but these articles particularly caught my eye. Hope to read soon:

Chinese perceptions of Inner Circle varieties of English

from World Englishes by BETSY E. EVANS

Research from populations around the world on attitudes to varieties of English is essential in order to have a better understanding of how the complexities of globalization play a role in the form of English as a world language. To that end, university students in China were asked to name countries around the world where they believe English is spoken and indicate what kind of impression they have of those varieties without the presentation of voice stimuli. This type of data elicitation enables the participants themselves to provide the researcher with evaluative categories and avoids problems associated with using voice stimuli. The results indicate that the effect of the cultural hegemony of US English as a variety is complex, and that, contrary to assumptions, US English is unlikely to be a model for a 'standard' variety of world English in the traditional sense.

Linguistically privileged and cursed? American university students and the global hegemony of English

from World Englishes by CHRISTOF DEMONT-HEINRICH

This paper analyzes written discourse generated in response to an open-ended questionnaire administered to 136 students at two different universities in the southwestern United States and to 15 non-American students at a large Danish university. The questionnaire aimed to inspire reflection about the impact of the global rise of English on American mother-tongue speakers of English as well as on those who do not have English as a mother tongue, especially with respect to the question of mono vs. multilingual practice. Most American and non-American respondents represented the learning of a foreign language as something American mother-tongue speakers should do but as something which is not necessary. There was widespread, though not unanimous, agreement that English is necessary for non-mother-tongue speakers. Responses are also grouped, discussed, and analyzed in terms of the instrumental, multicultural, or mix of multicultural and instrumental logic used. The author is especially concerned with the intersections between the global hegemony of English and the learning of foreign languages. The study and analysis conducted here offer insight into these intersections. Given that so much is at stake in terms of the relationship between the global expansion of English and foreign language learning, the author concludes that further research into this relationship is needed.

Ying Ge Li Shi

Is this racist? I got distracted by YouTube videos of people of Asian heritage showing "how to speak with a Chinese accent" (aka making fun?) a while back and Sarah told me to stop because she thought it was racist.

You can see that the person who made this video is using one of those books which purports to teach "English" by giving Chinese characters that are vague equivalents of English sounds. See if you can tell what she's saying. And whether you think it's mean.

Books for me to check out

keep this in mind for teaching this summer -

Writing across the curriculum in secondary classrooms : teaching from a diverse perspective

• Author: Harriet Arzu Scarborough
• Subjects: English language -- Composition and exercises -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- United States ; Interdisciplinary approach in education -- United States ; Multicultural education -- United States
• Description: Introduction / Promoting Literacy in Science Class / Math and Science in My English Class? Why Not? / Writing in a Law-Related English Class / Using Writing for Political Awareness / La Voz Liberada: Writing to Learn in a Sheltered English Class / Writing to Learn as a Way of Making Sense of the World / Real Live Audiences for Real Live Communication: Writing to Learn and the Possibilities of Technology / Writing Teacher Learns / "Forever on the Morning Wind": Expanding the Canon of American Literature / Place Poetry: A Form of Self-Expression / Perspectives on the Three-Voices Narrative / Bridging the Gaps and Spaces among Learners in a Writing-to-Learn Classroom / Making the Transition from High School to University Writing Across the Curriculum / Rearranging Desks /
  
• Publisher: Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Merrill
  
• Creation Date: c2001
  
• Language: English
  
• Format: vi, 218 p. ; 24 cm..
  
• ISBN: 0130224898
  
• Type: Book

ALSO THIS

Language and learning across the curriculum

• Author: Marion Crowhurst
• Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching (Elementary) ; English language -- Study andteaching (Secondary)
• Publisher: Scarborough, Ont. : Prentice-Hall Canada
  
• Creation Date: 1994 [i.e., 1993
  
• Language: English
  
• Format: xi, 311 p..
  
• ISBN: 0205161340
  
• Type: Book

"long time" and "no see" separately

This could be interesting, too.

for example, from the OED:

No-see-um

1842 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 100 In some parts of New England and Canada, is a kind of midge..which is sufficiently formidable to the feeling, though so minute to the eye that the Indians in Maine give it the name of No-see-'em.

---

"long time" in "standard English" has been around forever (like, "it took a long time for that egg to cook," or whatever), but look at these uses of "long time" in Jamaican English:

1961 F. G. CASSIDYJamaica Talk vi. 107 Long time means long ago (‘Him gone long time’). 1971 Jamaican Weekly Gleaner 3 Nov. 5/1 Tams are also in (well, we did have that long time).

Google as Corpus - "I took GRE" vs. "I took the GRE"

As a native speaker of English, for some reason I have this intuition that "I took the GRE" is preferable to "I took GRE."

However, "I took GRE" yields over 66,000 hits on Google, whereas "I took the GRE" only shows about 44,000.

So either I'm wrong (possible) or more non-native speakers take the GRE than native speakers (also quite possible).

It could also have something to do with "I took GRE classes" or sentences like that.

But still:

"I took GRE yesterday" - 587

"I took the GRE yesterday" - 241

However:

"I took SAT yesterday" - 2

"I took the SAT yesterday" 157

So...maybe more NNSs are taking the GRE and writing about it on the internet, while more NSs are taking the SAT and writing about it on the internet?

Long Time No See: Etymology

I'm now apparently obsessed with the etymology of "long time no see." I have a hunch that it is based on making fun of non-native English rather than a direct translation from Chinese, but I don't know how one might "prove" this. I'll let you know what I come up with. The earliest instance I can find it in written form is in Glenanaar: A Story of Irish Life from around 1895-1905 or so. That would certainly allow for contact with Chinese Pidgin English to make its way to England. But how trustworthy is early documentation of CPE? Then again, am I being unfair when I think it can't be "accurate" because it was so blatantly racist?

"Long Time No See" = "Chinglish" or not?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "long time no see" is an expression which originates from (American) Native speakers making fun of Non-native speakers of unspecified L1 background. The first recorded usage the OED has is a reference to Native American (not Chinese) speech.

While its similarity to 好久不見 (hao jiu bu jian)is notable, I haven't seen any proof that this is actually a "loan translation," and I'm not sure you could ever "prove" such a thing.

c. Colloq. phr. (orig. U.S.) long time no see, a joc. imitation of broken English, used as a greeting after prolonged separation.

1900 W. F. DRANNAN 31 Yrs. on Plains (1901) xxxvii. 515 When we rode up to him [sc. an American Indian] he said: ‘Good mornin. Long time no see you.’1939 R. CHANDLER in Sat. Even. Post 14 Oct. 72/4 Hi, Tony. Long time no see. 1940 [see HIYA int.]. 1959 D. BEATY Cone of Silence viii. 105 ‘Hello, Clive.’ ‘Long time no see.’ 1959 C. MACINNES Absolute Beginners 68 Hail, squire... Long time no see. 1971 D. E. WESTLAKE I gave at the Office (1972) 164 ‘Hello, Arnold,’ I said... ‘Long time no see.’

Pidgin English Sing-Song by Charles Leland

Free on Google Books -- "China English" (supposedly) from 1887!

The way he writes about it is super racist, but it's amazing how similar it is to the way we talk about "Chinglish" today!

Language in, as, for, and of development

"English has already played and will continue to play a significant role in the Lao PDR’s present socio-economic development (language in development).

[In East Timor] English is perceived by many as playing an important role in the country’s development. And there is plenty of aid money to support ELT both as an end in itself (language as development) and as a tool for other domains of development (language for development).

In order to become a legitimate speaker in project management, far more is needed than language competence and the right to speak at meetings. In part, this raises the question of the language of development, or the discourses that construct the ways in which development happens."

quotes from Language in development constrained: Three contexts by Ros Appleby, Kath Copley, Sisamone Sithirajvongsa, Alastair Pennycook

Upcoming papers

Just turning a corner from 2 weeks of being sick and 5 days of being really, really sick. On track to do 3 papers in the next 3 weeks. Yeeks!

Paper #1 is going to be something about foreign teachers in China, but I also want to tie it to the idea of development. I guess I could see it going one of two ways:

A) Role of FTs in the discourse of "English for development/modernization"

B) FTs in China: new models (look at 3 things: Nottingham, Shantou, & Amity -- one prob is that Snow has already - ably - covered Amity quite well.) DUE APR 12

Not sure how both could be combined, but if it's possible, I'd like to do it that way. I could situate the whole thing within the idea of "the purpose of English" and then talk about which of the 4 models ("regular" plus the 3 others) comes closest to facilitating this purpose. Could be more like "the purpose of FTs in China: 4 models" - maybe that'd work.

Paper #2 has to do with a rationale for studying written forms of world Englishes -- esp. China English, of course. Why study writing (since a lot of stuff has focused on speaking); where to look for this writing (media, online, education, academic publishing, etc?); what actually makes it "authentic" CE (problematic, since the definition is loose/not agreed-upon), things like that. There's a lot out there for this but my ideas are still kind of amorphous. DUE APR 20

Paper #3 is on research methods but I'm unsure what exactly it'll be about. Need to figure it out pretty quick, though. Something about L2 writing would be good. DUE APR 16

Review

My review of Christian and Critical English Language Educators in Dialogue is in press with the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. I'm really happy to be publishing this!

Is the Answer in the Question?

Imagine the following two items on a survey.

A) Read this a text written by a Chinese person and published in China. Please identify any vocabulary, grammar, phrasing, sentence, word choice, etc. which strikes you as nonstandard, unusual, or unique in any way.

or

B) Read this text. Please identify any vocabulary, grammar, phrasing, sentence, word choice, etc. which strikes you as nonstandard, unusual, or unique in any way.

I'm beginning to think that you could do a study comparing the results of A and B. For my purposes, I may want to go with the wording for B...

I'm still thinking that Chinglish is in the eye of the beholder. A sign on the building I work in reads "WELCOME ANYTIME PARKING." In China, that would be Chinglish. In Vancouver, it's just a sign.

Employment

I got a job teaching a real live undergraduate course at UBC this summer - "Language Across the Curriculum in Multilingual Classrooms: Secondary." May 17-June 25. Yeah!

Remaking of Face

Ouyang, Huhua (2000) Remaking of face and community of practices: An ethnographic study of what ELT reform means to local and expatrate teachers in today's China. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.

Read it here.

Hugely eye-opening to anyone who is or is considering becoming a foreign teacher in China. I read chapter 3, which is about the students' and administrators' complaints about foreign teachers and how they go about voicing them. Another major part (which I didn't read) is an explanation that Chinese universities are based on the danwei ("work unit") system, which is a kind of Maoist/communist community, which doesn't necessarily hold as much currency in the job market in today's China.

It's stuff I didn't really know at all -- definitely worth a read as an explication of why the "foreign expert" system is deeply flawed, and (in my view) why other emerging models of NEST/NNEST integration (I promise to stop citing Ningbo and Shantou as soon as I learn about others) may be better.

Apparently was published as a book in 2004, but maybe in Chinese - I can't find any references.

Thinking about my possible role in the future as a teacher-trainer / someone with etic/emic knowledge of ELT in China. Don't want it to define my career, but I think it could be a rewarding part of my future work.

Chinglish debate is about what, exactly?

I feel like a debate on terminology (we should call it X vs Y) or even preferred terms (X is bad English, Y is good English) obscures the fact that a) English in China does have its own characteristics, b) People who think it's bad also think anything other than inner circle Englishes are bad, and c) It needs to be described if there is any chance of changing b. Then again, that whole Ebonics debate didn't turn out so well.

Books on China/English - to be contd

Bolton - Chinese Englishes (2003)

Adamson - China's English: A History of English in Chinese Education (2004)

Liu - English Language Teaching in China: New Approaches, Perspectives, and Standards (2008)

Lo Bianco - China and English: Globalization and the Dilemmas of Identity (2009)

You - Writing in the Devil's Tongue: A History of English Composition in China (2010)

Feng - English Language in Education and Societies Across Greater China (in press)