Calling for ELF in the International University

1. Calling for ELF in the International University Jill Doubleday CGE PGR Seminar Group 30 March 2011

2. Outline • UK as ‘international’ • Responses to internationalisation • ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) • ELF in Academic Settings (ELFA) • Teachers’ attitudes towards ELFA • Conclusions: Teachers’ roles

3. UK as ‘international’ (1) International students: 15% of UK student body • Business & Administrative Studies: 31% • Engineering & Technology: 31% • Computer Science: 23% • Law: 20% Post graduate: 68% (full-time, taught programmes) (UKCISA website; figures for 2008/09)

4. UK as ‘international’ (2) Drive to recruit more: • English universities: increase non-EU numbers some 20% between 2008/09 and 2012/13. (Acton, 2011) • University of Southampton: recruit 30% of students from outside UK over next 5 years. (University of Southampton website)

5. Branch campuses • 16 UK university branch campuses in 2009(UK HE International Unit) • University of Nottingham: Malaysia & China. • Middlesex University: Dubai & Mauritius. • University of Southampton: Malaysia 2012

6. UK ‘international’ universities “The University of Southampton is a truly international institution with a global reputation for excellence in leading-edge research. Students from more than 130 different nations study here and our network of university partnerships spans the globe.” (University of Southampton website; my emphasis)

7. ‘truly international’?

8. Responses (1): Research • power relations(Critical EAP e.g. Benesch, 2001; 2007) • staff & student experiences (Hyland et al, 2008) • intercultural perspective (e.g. Bash, 2009;Gu, Schweisfurth & Day, 2010) • first year transition (Beals, 2010) • wider socio-cultural context (Montgomery, 2010) • experiences of doctoral students (Trahar & ESCalate, 2010)

9. Responses (2): Initiatives Some examples from individual universities: • Leeds Metropolitan University: Centre for Academic Practice and Research in Internationalisation (CAPRI) • University of Southampton: Internationalisation Forum (USIF) - produced guides on teaching in an international context. Student Transition Project – includes a focus on ISs; First Student Transition Workshop 2010: session on culturally diverse student groups.

10. Responses (3) Initiatives • HEA/LLAS: staff development course 2009 ‘Supporting International Students in UK Higher Education’; Workshop 2010‘Preparing for success: supporting international students in the disciplines’. • Oxford Brookes University: online course 2011 ‘Teaching International Students’ • HEA/UKCISA Teaching International Students project

11. Progress… (1) Deficit view of international students gradually being replaced: • less emphasis on studentsassimilating, • more emphasison institutions accommodating.

12. HEA/UKCISA TIS Project Theoretical Framework: “It avoids ‘problematising’ international students by expecting them alone to change and adjust to fit the institution. Instead, it examines the teaching and learning context to see how it can better fit students’ learning needs, particularly in changing contexts.” (TIS Project website)

13. Progress.… (2) Awareness that languageaccommodation is needed by lecturers and staff: • Avoid culture-specific language, including metaphors and idioms • Speak clearly and slowly (See e.g., Hyland et al, 2008; Beals, 2009; TIS website)

14. However…. • Slow progress: 1995 BALEAP Conference (Gavriel, 1999) • Expectations of assimilation by International Students still the norm

15. Ill-informed advice • Use ‘plain English and straightforward sentence structure’ (TIS website) • ‘Speak and write clearly in good plain English’ • Conform to Plain English Campaign recommendations (for written library guides) (Killick, ‘Cross Cultural Capability and Global Perspectives: Guidelines for Curriculum Review’, Leeds Metropolitan University)

16. The missing linguistic link Not ‘plain English’ but English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)

17. What is ELF? English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is English as it is used as a contact language among speakers from different first languages. (Jenkins, 2009)

18. Why is it relevant? • Empirical evidence demonstrates that ELF users communicate effectively and efficiently, while not conforming to ENL (English as a Native Language) norms. (e.g. Breiteneder, 2009; Cogo, 2009; Hülmbauer, 2009)

19. Features of ELF lexico-grammar Empirical data showing regularities of use: • Uncountable nouns to countable: equipments, researches • Shift in preposition use: We need to discuss about our assignment • Increased explicitness: how long time; red colour • Zero marking of third person ‘s’: she live, he study

20. But aren’t these errors? Examples of language change and variation in English as a native language: • Uncountable to countable: a water, a tea, accommodations • Plural to singular: this data, an agenda

21. Whose language is it? “The very fact that English is an international language means that no nation can have custody over it. To grant such custody of the language, is necessarily to arrest its development and so undermine its international status.” (Widdowson, 1994 ‘The Ownership of English’, TESOL Quarterly, 82, 2: 385)

22. Statistically, native speakers are in a minority for [English] language use, and thus for language change, for language maintenance, and for the ideologies and beliefs associated with the language (Brumfit, 200. Individual Freedom in Language Teaching p16)

23. ELF Research: features • Phonology (e.g. Jenkins, 2000; Walker, 2010) • Lexico-grammar (e.g. Seidlhofer, 2004; Dewey, 2009; Ranta, 2009) • Pragmatics (e.g. House, 2003; Cogo, 2009; Björkman, 2011) VOICE (Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English): www.univie.ac.at/voice

24. ELF in Academic settings (ELFA) English is the world language of academia, but academic English is no-one’s native language. ELFA project, University of Helsinki: • ELFACorpus : www.eng.helsinki.fi/elfa/elfcorpus.htm • SELF (Studying in English as a Lingua Franca) • capturing participant experience (see Mauranen, Hynninen & Ranta, 2010)

25. ELFA Research: Attitudes • Students(e.g. Erling & Bartlett, 2006; Smit, 2009; Hynninen, 2010) • Teachers (e.g. Shim, 2002; Grau, 2005; Pilkington-Pihko, 2010)

26. EAP TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ELF Context: • British University Pre-sessional Course, 2008 Participants: • EAP Tutors Focus: • Spoken language Methodology: • Questionnaire (15 respondents) • Interview (4 participants)

27. Questionnaire themes (1) • Tutors’ perceptions of their role, i.e.: • To teach mainly presentation skills; • To teach classroom communication skills; • To enable students to communicate outside the classroom while in the UK; • To enable students to communicate outside the UK • Asked to rate importance of grammatical accuracy in each of the four contexts • Asked about their students’ current and future interlocutors

28. Questionnaire themes (2) Eight Likert scale statements, rating importance of: • Adherence to native English speaker norms compared with communicative effectiveness • Grammatical accuracy compared with communicative effectiveness • Aiming for ‘near-native’ pronunciation compared with international intelligibility • Making students aware of other varieties of English • Accepting other varieties of English from students

29. Findings (1): Questionnaire For 11 respondents not interviewed: • 3 positively oriented towards ELF, 2 negatively, remaining 6 inconclusive • Understanding of ELF communication limited: tendency to confuse it with ‘anything goes’ • Evidence that ‘native English speaker norms’ was being interpreted only in terms of pronunciation

30. Interview • Elaboration on questionnaire responses • Reaction to examples of ELF lexico-grammar: We need to discuss about our assignments. Could you send me some informations about that? How long time have you been studying here? She want to study in Southampton. I met the professor which my course mate had told me about.

31. Findings (2): Interviews All exhibited a mismatch between their beliefs and practice: • 2 portrayed awareness of English’s global lingua franca use, but showed no intention of changing their teaching • 2 showed greater uncertainty about their roles • Conflict between letting ‘errors’ pass and awareness of assessment requirements

32. Findings (3): lexico-grammar For example, for ‘discuss about’ and ‘she want’: “The only time when I would correct that or in any way point out to them that they’ve made, that’s a mistake, would be if I was teaching prepositions or present simple, or whatever. In my - I can’t imagine in any other situation worrying about it”.

33. “I mean the ‘who’ and the ‘which’ is the one that kind of went “ugh” but the rest, I don’t, I really don’tgive a damn. Er, things like ‘discuss about’, the number of English people now who say ‘meet with’ which is now perfectly acceptable, I mean Jon Snow says it. So, you know, I mean it could well be in a couple of years even we’ll be saying ‘discuss about’. So that doesn’t, that doesn’t, none of those bother meatall.”

34. The conflict for teachers “I think my, my instinctsare, as a sort of like traditionalteacher, is those, oh, they’re things to be corrected. Some of them really jar, it’s got to be said.” And after further discussion and reflection: “I just don’t really know about that, because as I say, my traditional instinct as a teacher is, well, what’s my job if it isn’t to correct these things?”

35. Conclusions What is our job as teachers? • Become better informed of how English is used today in academic environments- spoken and written, formally and informally - and what matters for effective communication • Use this knowledge to influence assessment criteria • Use this knowledge to work with content tutors

36. Conclusions Why? • Research shows that ELF communication is effective and increasingly accepted • Competition for international students is increasing, especially in Asia (branch campuses) and mainland Europe (English as a Medium of Instruction).

37. Germany top for foreign students Herbert Grieshop, Freie Universität Berlin, on why ‘international English might be more useful than some regional varieties.’ “I wonder whether a Chinese student can understand us better than someone with a Yorkshire accent or some strange American accent.” (BBC News, March 2011)

38. From a student Xi, a Chinese student: In my opinion, firstly, I suggest that lecturers speak ….. in a more compatible way so that we international students can follow the class more easily. (TIS Project website)

39. Thank you for listening. J.Doubleday@soton.ac.uk

40. This paper was given at the BALEAP Conference EAP within the HE Garden : Cross Pollination between Disciplines, Departments, Research and Teaching. Portsmouth, 12 April 2011

41. Selected references Beals, M H ( 2009) A Briefing Report on internationalisation from a panel session at the 11th Annual Conference on Teaching and Learning in History. Available at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/heahistory/elibrary/internal/br_beals_internationalisation_20090430/ Beals, M H (2010) International Students in History: A comparative study of first-year transition 2009-2010. Available at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/heahistory/elibrary/internal/br_beals_internationalfirstyear_20101015 Helsinki English Studies Journal ELF issue (2010) Available at: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/hes-eng/volumes/volume-6/ Jenkins, J (2000) The Phonology of English as an International Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mauranen, A & Ranta, E (eds) (2009)English as a Lingua Franca. Studies and Findings Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Montgomery, C (2010) Understanding the International Student Experience. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Walker, R (2010) Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

42. Useful websites HEA/UKCISA Teaching International Students Project available at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/teachingandlearning/internationalisation/internationalstudents HEA Language Linguistics Area Studies: http://www.llas.ac.uk/ University of Southampton Internationalisation Forum available at: http://www.soton.ac.uk/lateu/institutional_development/international_students/USIF.html University of Southampton Student Transition Project & Workshop available at: http://www.soton.ac.uk/lateu/strategic_themes/transition_project.html http://www.soton.ac.uk/lateu/strategic_themes/transition/workshop280610.html