Projekt:European Sociolinguistics/International English
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[Bearbeiten] Which role does international English (aside from AmE and BrE) play in foreign language teaching?
[Bearbeiten] Andorra
[Bearbeiten] Austria
The Austrian curriculum offers no evidence for any compulsory contents concerning international English.
--KatiK 13:25, 19. Sep. 2007 (CEST)
[Bearbeiten] Belgium
In Belgium there are three different types and opinions about teaching English as a foreign language:
In the Flemish community English and French are obligatory to learn at school and German is sometimes voluntarily to choose, sometimes obligatory. In the French community pupils have to learn Dutch as first foreign language with English being less important. In the German community French speaking minority members have to learn German at first. (1)
But English is free to be offered at schools in the French community and in the German community. Have a look at the diagram above: http://www.eurydice.org/ressources/eurydice/pdf/049DE/006_chapB_049DE.pdf
To conclude, in the French community there does not exist any obligatory foreign language (except in Brussels, where pupils have to learn Dutch), in the German community French is the only obligatory foreign language and in the Flemish community French and English are obligatory.
(1) cf. http://www.eurydice.org/ressources/eurydice/pdf/049DE/006_chapB_049DE.pdf
Marion Abel
[Bearbeiten] Czech Republic
"International English is not often the aim of foreign language teaching -
especially at secondary level the aim is still British English"
quotation from:
"Mgr. Olga Dontcheva-Navratilova, Ph.D (Masaryk University Brno, Faculty of Education)"
[Bearbeiten] Denmark
In Denmark, it is obviously the key motivation for prioritizing English at all levels. Although British English and American English are the most common types of foreign language teaching, Danish schools try to teach the diversity of English by using texts (particularly at the upper secondary level) from India, South Africa etc.
Nevertheless, “International English” as a type of English which is associated with “lingua franca” functions does not play an important role in foreign language teaching.
Source: University professors from the universities Kopenhage and Roskilde
[Bearbeiten] Estonia
„Again, many textbooks present audio material explaining the basic differences in varieties of English. Nevertheless, the information is brief and does not really teach students to imitate accents, rather the focus is on comprehension- it can be seen as an attempt to help students cope with different speakers in the real world. At university level students take a course acquainting themselves with the most widespread varieties like accents of Britain, USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, wales, Scotland, Ireland and also pidgins of English. The course is both theoretical and practical.“
Quotation from: Head of the Department of Germanic and Romance Languages - Janika Johanna Marley, Tallinn Univesity http://www.tlu.ee/
Marina K 10:38, 5. Sep. 2007 (CEST)
[Bearbeiten] Finnland
[Bearbeiten] France
The French curriculum does not offer any information about International English in foreign language teaching in France.
--StefanB 13:01, 4. Okt. 2007 (CEST)
[Bearbeiten] Hungary
[Bearbeiten] Ireland
English as a Second Language, based on curriculum and school language needs, is delivered through a language support programme for non-English speaking students. This programme focuses specifically on the language that newcomer students require to engage fully with mainstream learning. It is not strictly International English. If you want to find out more information about this, see the website www.iilt.ie
sources: Professor from the Trinity College
[Bearbeiten] Italy
In Italy, at the moment International English plays a very small role in foreign language teaching. The idea of English as a Lingua Franca is just beginning to be discussed as a worthwhile issue, but mostly in university and not school contexts. Students studying Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics etc. may get some information on non-Standard UK/US varieties, but for schools there is not much learning material that makes use of non-native speakers or non-UK/US Standard varieties. As a consequence – taken into consideration that language lessons in Italy are often very textbook dependent – International English plays a quite unimportant role in Italian classrooms.
It should be mentioned here that there is still a wide misgiving among English teachers and learners in Italy that British English is THE English to be taught and learned, that American English is inferior and that there is only one correct pronunciation (RP). If teachers are at all aware of the existence and importance of other “Englishes” than the US/UK varieties, many of them believe that teaching them would “complicate” the learning process for the students.
Many Italians consider themselves poor listeners/understanders of English, find native speakers (both UK and US varieties and regional accents) hard to understand and think that problems in comprehension stem from their own inability to make themselves understood. Therefore the idea of an International English should be welcomed in Italy as it allows for less rigidly prescriptive rules on pronunciation and grammar and finally helps Italian learners realize that also English can be their language of communication.
Sources:
Professors from the Universities of Trento and Modena (especially from communication with Dott.ssa Maia Micaela Coppola and Dott. Glenn Alessi)
[Bearbeiten] Lithuania
[Bearbeiten] Luxemburg
[Bearbeiten] Malta
"English is an official language here so we learn English from early Primary years (i.e. from 4 years of age)... so you will understand that its role is central here in Malta. It is used regularly especially to read and to write. At higher level of education it is indispensable as many textbooks at Secondary level and practically all textbooks at tertiary level (including university) are in English." (Dr. Sandro Caruana, University of Malta)
[Bearbeiten] Netherlands
Most people dindn't know what was meant with the term International English.
Dr. Simone Sprenger wrote that English is the most important second language in the Netherlands and that pupils keep English till the end of their school education. Therefore, most students can read textbooks very well, without the need to follow additional English classes.
Another interesting issue is that Dutch television compared to German television does not 'dub' its English films and documentaries. The Dutch are provided with the original spoken texts and the Dutch translation is written beneath, thus confronting dutch children and adults with the spoken English and its Dutch translation at an early age already. (A. Ashworth-Kadwell)
Prof. Dr. Ann Marynissen says that International English doesn't play a role. She writes that every foreign language is taught in the language itself, in the courses French, German etc. the teachers only speak French, German etc.
--Marina Liebel 19:23, 9. Sep. 2007 (CEST)
[Bearbeiten] Norway
[Bearbeiten] Poland
"...English as the language of international communication are written down into most syllabi at the primary and secondary level." ²
" English still is the most important foreign language in Poland. It is offered in every school. Other world-wide foreign languages, like German, French, Russian, Spain, Italian, are not available as an alternative for English, but only as an additional language." ³
"The teaching materials are internationally produced. For example, very popular textbooks at the secondary level in the Poznan area are "Snapshot" (Longman, lower secondary) and "Enterprise" (Express Publishing, upper secondary)." ²
"One foreign language is obligatory at the final Matura exam and most students take English. The tests are communicatively oriented." ³
"So intercultural communication and English as the language of international communication are given priority by educators at the national level. What the classroom practices are is another story. However, communicative orientation of school teaching is to a large extent forced by the examination system." ³
² Anna Ewert, Assistant Professor at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland.
³ Dr. Marta Parulska, lecturer at the Catholic University of Eichstätt in Germany; the original German statement has been translated into English.
[Bearbeiten] Portugal
[Bearbeiten] Spain
[Bearbeiten] Sweden
We tend to focus on American and British English, and it is these varieties that are covered by course books. When teaching other languages (French, German, Spanish, etc) English of course matters very little, over all. (Mrs L.from uni-Uppsala)
Regarding International English: The awareness is not so big. Most teachers still concentrate on having US and UK English as a standard. Personally I have read some research articles regarding International English (I have also attended an IATEFL conference where one of the key-note speakers had this as his topic). They have made me think, and I personally feel attracted to the concept of the different variants of Englishes. However, students often react negatively to the message, often they strive to become little Brits or US cowboys. (Mr.A.from uni- Uppsala)
I would say that there is very little English in the departments that teach other European languages (German, French, Spanish, etc.). On the other hand, there is surely more English used in the teaching of non-European languages. One reason is that there are usually enough Swedish teachers to teach the European languages but fewer Swedish teachers of non-European languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, etc.). Of course most language departments use the target language as the medium of instruction as soon as the level is higher than beginner level.
More interesting is the use of English in the science and technical subjects. At university level in Sweden Swedish is used generally, but English is taking over more and more at graduate levels and in any course where there are exchange/foreign students. Many programs at the technical university (Tekniska högskolan) are run completely in English.
Since there is considerable change taking place in Sweden these days, generally in the direction of increased use of English, it is somewhat difficult to give a very precise answer. You might look at the web pages for the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education http://www.hsv.se/ or write to them about the use of English at Swedish universities. (Mr.A.McMillion from university Stockholm)
[Bearbeiten] Switzerland
The situation today: British and American English
According to Catting-Aellig, today, teachers are more British than American oriented. 96 % claim to use British English in the classroom. In contrast to that, American English is more influental outside school. Many fields such as technology, science and business have been Americanized.
Euro-English:
There are more non-native English speakers than native speakers in the world. As a consequence, English becomes a lingua franca in Europe. English has supplanted French and German as the first foreign language in almost every European school. According to Murray, this will lead to a new variety of English in Europe that can be compared to Hong-Kong English or Indian English. The term Euro-English is "used to denote the emerging variety of English spoken as a lingua franca by EU residents" (Murray, S. 4). In order to find out whether a Euro-English would be accepted by native and non-native English teachers in Switzerland, Murray carried out a study with 253 Swiss English teachers. One of the results of the survey is that non-native teachers of English show less enthusiasm for statements in favour of Euro-English than Native Englisch teachers.
English for Intranational Communication
In Switzerland, English is not only useful for international communication but also for intranational communication. It is, however, quite complicated to determine whether English already functions as a lingua franca in Switzerland. Andres and Watts, who did a study in that field, concluded that "it is [...] extremly difficult to prove or disprove claims to the effect that young people from the Romanic and the German-speaking parts of the country frequently talk to one another using English" (S.126). Further studies need to be carried out in order to present more facts about intranational communication in Switzerland.
Sources:
Andres, Franz & Richard J. Watts (1993): "English as a lingua franca in Switzerland: Myth or reality?", in Bulletin CILA 58, 109 -127.
Cattin-Aellig, Miriam (1996): "American and Brith English: A Conflict for the Young Swiss?", in: TRANEL 24, 65-78.
Swiss English teachers and Euro-English: Attitudes to a non-native variety (2003). In H. Murray (ed) anglais, Englisch, inglese, Englais ....English! Bulletin VALS/ASLA 77; 147-165.
Pan Swiss English Durham, Mercedes: Language Choice on a Swiss Mailing List. University of Fribourg http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/durham.html
[Bearbeiten] United Kingdom
According to Dr. Hyde, the native-speaker ideal has become obsolete in learning English as a foreign language. Therefore, I assume that native speakers in the UK have to learn about international English as well in order to ensure mutual understanding.
Source:
Hyde, Martin. "Intercultural competence in English language education", in: The Modern English Teacher 7, p. 7-11.
--SaskiaS 22:21, 19. Sep. 2007 (CEST)
