{"id":444,"date":"2007-02-17T14:57:33","date_gmt":"2007-02-17T13:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jochenenglish.de\/wordpress\/?p=444"},"modified":"2007-09-03T17:57:37","modified_gmt":"2007-09-03T16:57:37","slug":"english-for-multicultural-purposes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jochenlueders.de\/?p=444","title":{"rendered":"English for Multicultural Purposes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026 ist ein Auf\u00adsatz von Ste\u00adphen Speight<\/strong>, den ich hier mit freund\u00adli\u00adcher Geneh\u00admi\u00adgung des Autors ver\u00ad\u00f6f\u00adfent\u00adli\u00adchen darf.<\/p>\n

English for Multicultural Purposes<\/h3>\n

by Ste\u00adphen Speight<\/strong><\/p>\n

Intro\u00adduc\u00adtion<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was recent\u00adly asked if I would like to talk about Eng\u00adlish cus\u00adtoms. My rep\u00adly included the words, \u201cI\u2019m not pre\u00adpared to talk about pan\u00adca\u00adke day\u201d which could ser\u00adve as a sub-title to the pre\u00adsent brief paper. Why was I so much against tal\u00adking about pan\u00adca\u00adke day, Eas\u00adter eggs, mor\u00adris dancing, diges\u00adti\u00adve bis\u00adcuits, mar\u00admi\u00adte etc.? The brief ans\u00adwer is that I do not belie\u00adve any of this is par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar\u00adly rele\u00advant for Ger\u00adman lear\u00adners of Eng\u00adlish. Less than 2% of Ger\u00adman holi\u00adday\u00admakers were plan\u00adning to spend their holi\u00addays in Bri\u00adtain last sum\u00admer. I suspect that the majo\u00adri\u00adty of Ger\u00adman Eng\u00adlish tea\u00adchers usual\u00adly head for some\u00adwhe\u00adre sun\u00adnier, too. Such topics can be lin\u00adked up with the idea that the lan\u00adguage and cul\u00adtu\u00adre should be taught tog\u00ade\u00adther, and that, in this case, the cul\u00adtu\u00adre is Eng\u00adlish or Bri\u00adtish (add kilts, moun\u00adta\u00adins and Nes\u00adsie for Scot\u00adland and sheep, ex-mining-val\u00adleys, Snow\u00addon and sin\u00adging for Wales). As far as Eng\u00adlish is con\u00adcer\u00adned, Eng\u00adland is not the point at all. If someone deci\u00addes to learn Danish, it\u2019s becau\u00adse he or she wants to talk to Danes and\/or under\u00adstand Danish cul\u00adtu\u00adre. This is even true of major lan\u00adguages such as Rus\u00adsi\u00adan, French or Ger\u00adman, but it isn\u2019t true of Eng\u00adlish. Peo\u00adp\u00adle learn a world lan\u00adguage becau\u00adse they need it for their own pur\u00adpo\u00adses, not, or not neces\u00ads\u00ada\u00adri\u00adly becau\u00adse they are inte\u00adres\u00adted in the cul\u00adtu\u00adre of the nati\u00adve speakers.<\/p>\n

A first reac\u00adtion might be: \u201cHow nice for the Brits, Ame\u00adri\u00adcans, Aus\u00adtra\u00adli\u00adans etc. They don\u2019t actual\u00adly need to learn anyo\u00adne else\u2019s lan\u00adguage\u201d \u2013 and that is what ple\u00adnty of nati\u00adve spea\u00adk\u00aders of Eng\u00adlish think, even if most of them don\u2019t actual\u00adly say it (child\u00adren in school don\u2019t feel the same need to be tactful, of cour\u00adse, hence a fair\u00adly dra\u00adma\u00adtic decli\u00adne in the num\u00adber of Bri\u00adtish stu\u00addents stu\u00addy\u00ading French and German).<\/p>\n

Whe\u00adre this atti\u00adtu\u00adde exists, it is, in my view, total\u00adly mista\u00adken. Being nati\u00adve spea\u00adk\u00aders of Eng\u00adlish is very likely to depri\u00adve most of us of the won\u00adderful oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to par\u00adti\u00adci\u00adpa\u00adte in two, even three cul\u00adtures. Ger\u00admans have their own cul\u00adtu\u00adre, and<\/em> the cul\u00adtures of the world lan\u00adguage. It\u2019s the same for the French. Fears in both count\u00adries of their own lan\u00adguage and cul\u00adtu\u00adre being ero\u00added away by McDonald\u2019s and Co. plus Deng\u00adlish and Fran\u00adg\u00adlais strike me as much exag\u00adge\u00adra\u00adted. How much Ame\u00adri\u00adcan influence is the\u00adre in Pro\u00advence or the Sau\u00ader\u00adland? The ans\u00adwer is: vir\u00adtual\u00adly none, and cer\u00adtain\u00adly not\u00adhing to cau\u00adse serious con\u00adcern. A thousand years from now France will still be French, and Ger\u00adma\u00adny will still be Ger\u00adman. The French often for\u00adget that about 40% of Eng\u00adlish words are of French ori\u00adgin, but they haven\u2019t yet adopted more than a tiny per\u00adcen\u00adta\u00adge of ours. In any case, as Peter Usti\u00adnov put it in a recent artic\u00adle in the Welt am Sonn\u00adtag: <\/em>\u201cDie Viel\u00adfalt der Spra\u00adchen bringt Far\u00adbe ins Leben, so wie die Natur es tut. Auf Rein\u00adheit der Spra\u00adche zu bestehen, is so wir\u00adkungs\u00adlos, as w\u00fcr\u00adde man den Wech\u00adsel der Jah\u00adres\u00adzei\u00adten anhal\u00adten wol\u00adlen. Unrein\u00adheit ist ein nat\u00fcr\u00adli\u00adcher Zustand, und die Luft hat einen hohen Anteil an sprach\u00adli\u00adchen Pol\u00adlen. \u00c4hn\u00adli\u00adches gilt f\u00fcr ande\u00adre Einfl\u00fcsse.\u201d<\/p>\n

If we accept, then, that major natio\u00adnal lan\u00adguages are not in real dan\u00adger of any kind, we can return to the ques\u00adti\u00adon of Eng\u00adlish as an inter\u00adna\u00adtio\u00adnal lan\u00adguage wit\u00adhout see\u00ading it as a thre\u00adat. What are its func\u00adtions, and how can lear\u00adners best be pre\u00adpared to ful\u00adfil them? At pre\u00adsent the sub\u00adject mat\u00adter of Eng\u00adlish tea\u00adching could be descri\u00adbed as Ang\u00adlo-Ame\u00adri\u00adcan tra\u00addi\u00adtio\u00adnal. We begin in Eng\u00adland, later cross the Atlan\u00adtic, take a look around the Eng\u00adlish-spea\u00adking world and then stu\u00addents at the Gym\u00adna\u00adsi\u00adum<\/em> move on to \u201cpro\u00adblems\u201d plus lite\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre cho\u00adsen from a rela\u00adtively limi\u00adt\u00aded canon. I think it is high time we ques\u00adtio\u00adned the assump\u00adti\u00adons which lie behind this choice of material.<\/p>\n

1. Ent\u00adry qualifications<\/strong><\/p>\n

If, ins\u00adtead of accep\u00adting that the way we have always done things must be more or less right, we ask ins\u00adtead what Ger\u00admans actual\u00adly need to know in order to use the world\u2019s second lan\u00adguage effec\u00adtively, we will come up with a quite dif\u00adfe\u00adrent list of requi\u00adre\u00adments, some gene\u00adral and nee\u00added by ever\u00adyo\u00adne, others much more spe\u00adci\u00adfic. In neither of the\u00adse are\u00adas are we doing par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar\u00adly well at pre\u00adsent, main\u00adly becau\u00adse we are busy doing quite dif\u00adfe\u00adrent, in my view not par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar\u00adly rele\u00advant things in many cases. Here are some sug\u00adges\u00adti\u00adons for the star\u00adter kit,<\/p>\n

1.1 The nuts and bolts of ever\u00ady\u00adday conversation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The kit must con\u00adtain the ele\u00adments of ordi\u00adna\u00adry ever\u00ady\u00adday con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon. I don\u2019t belie\u00adve it always does, and can give and exam\u00adp\u00adle from my per\u00adso\u00adnal expe\u00adri\u00adence. Last Febru\u00adary I visi\u00adted a stu\u00addent tea\u00adching in a Gym\u00adna\u00adsi\u00adum in Dort\u00admund. He told me later that he had obser\u00adved an angry con\u00adfron\u00adta\u00adti\u00adon in one of the seni\u00ador Eng\u00adlish clas\u00adses bet\u00adween the tea\u00adcher and the boys in the class. The reason for the dis\u00adagree\u00adment was the fact that every sin\u00adgle girl in the class had recei\u00adved a bet\u00adter gra\u00adde than any of the boys. The\u00adre was no over\u00adlap at all. The boys clai\u00admed, and the stu\u00addent was incli\u00adned to agree on the basis of obser\u00adving the class, that they gene\u00adral\u00adly made more and bet\u00adter oral con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adti\u00adons to the les\u00adson, while the girls quiet\u00adly made notes. We know, of cour\u00adse, that boys will com\u00adplain if the girls take up more than about one third of the tal\u00adking time, but here the case was dif\u00adfe\u00adrent. The gra\u00addes were cle\u00adar\u00adly based on writ\u00adten work, and the abili\u00adty to speak was being more or less igno\u00adred. I\u2019m sure this situa\u00adti\u00adon was not typi\u00adcal, but I belie\u00adve it is still the fact that writ\u00adten work is taken more serious\u00adly than spo\u00adken. It sim\u00adply does not make sen\u00adse for peo\u00adp\u00adle who\u00adse spo\u00adken Eng\u00adlish stop\u00adped deve\u00adlo\u00adping around class 6 to be wri\u00adting essays about Macbeth.<\/p>\n

Ever\u00adyo\u00adne needs to be able to use free\u00adly all the ele\u00adments of ordi\u00adna\u00adry spo\u00adken Eng\u00adlish, inclu\u00adding fil\u00adlers and lar\u00adge num\u00adbers of com\u00admon col\u00adlo\u00adca\u00adti\u00adons, plus the abili\u00adty to think on one\u2019s feet and react spon\u00adta\u00adneous\u00adly to a speech partner\u2019s remarks, befo\u00adre moving on to advan\u00adced writ\u00adten work of a kind which only a tiny mino\u00adri\u00adty will need in later life. Of cour\u00adse small talk is tri\u00advi\u00adal as far as the sub\u00adject mat\u00adter is con\u00adcer\u00adned, but its social func\u00adtion is bey\u00adond dis\u00adpu\u00adte. And under\u00adstan\u00adding the natu\u00adre of casu\u00adal con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon is a very sui\u00adta\u00adble topic for advan\u00adced lear\u00adners. Talk about more serious mat\u00adters is con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon too, and it is some\u00adthing rather dif\u00adfe\u00adrent from a typi\u00adcal class\u00adroom discussion.<\/p>\n

1.2 The rules of ever\u00ady\u00adday conversation<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is gene\u00adral\u00adly fair to cla\u00adim that the inter\u00adna\u00adtio\u00adnal rules for con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon in Eng\u00adlish are broad\u00adly based on Ang\u00adlo-Ame\u00adri\u00adcan norms. The\u00adre are things which lear\u00adners need to know in this area which are not at pre\u00adsent part of the syl\u00adlabus. If no one tells them the rules, the\u00adre are going to be pro\u00adblems not just with the nati\u00adves, but with other users of Eng\u00adlish as a second language.<\/p>\n

One Satur\u00adday in March my wife met someone in a flower shop in town who used to sing in the same choir about ten years ago, but whom she had not seen in the mean\u00adti\u00adme. My wife duly asked about the other woman\u2019s child\u00adren and was duly told how one was stu\u00addy\u00ading law very suc\u00adcessful\u00adly, and the other was about to get mar\u00adried and how exci\u00adting it all was. They then said their goodbyes.<\/p>\n

What was wrong with this con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon? Ans\u00adwer: it was not recipro\u00adcal. If someone asks you about your child\u00adren, you are sup\u00adpo\u00adsed to ask about theirs in return! We have adult child\u00adren too, and like to be asked about their achie\u00adve\u00adments. Who doesn\u2019t. It\u2019s only natu\u00adral. Obvious\u00adly a full tre\u00adat\u00adment of this topic would be a lec\u00adtu\u00adre in its own right., rele\u00advant for both first and second lan\u00adguage lear\u00adners. A num\u00adber of brief points are worth making here:<\/p>\n