Language learners? Language users?----Taking control of your English

Pre-sessional Support Group Week 4

Jiaoyue Chen Fan Fang11/07/2014

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Structure of the presentation1. English language learner vs. English language user

2. What is a ‘good’ English language user?

3. Sense of ownership of your own English

Think about the question:• Why did you learn English before coming to the

UK?

• Why do you learn English for now?

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You learn English because you want to…• Pass the exams

• Use English as a tool for communication

• Use English as a tool to acquire subject knowledge

• Others?

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Issues in the transitional phase• English becomes more important in achieving personal and

academic success.

• Even you passed English tests and got a high grade in English courses, you still have many difficulties in using English in communicative context.

(Li, 2014)

• ILETS had limited relevance to their subsequent university life in general and to their academic study more specifically.

(Jenkins, 2014, p.189)

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Assumptions vs. Reality 1• Assumption:

I am just a learner of English, of course, I know my English is poor and with deficit ---- I have many errors and mistakes in my English. Don’t worry, I have tutors and they can correct them for me.

• Reality:

Your tutors will not proofread for you. You won’t have many contact hours with tutors or lecturers.

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Assumptions vs. Reality 2• Assumption:

I am going to a British university, and everyone I meet there, will speak good English with pure British accent.

• Reality:

British or International?

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The truth is

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21615491

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Even you go here:

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/international/

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Assumption vs. Reality 3• Assumption:

As soon as I meet the required language proficiency level of the university, I can be successful living in the UK.

• Reality :

Even when I achieve high scores in my language assessments, I may still come across many language related issues in my daily life.

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Or sometimes, you may come across this

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2424791/Britains-food-waste-fifths-ugly-fruit-vegetable-crops-make-shelves.html

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Back to the three assumptions1. I am just a learner of English, of course, I know my

English is poor and with deficit ---- I have many errors and mistakes in my English. Don’t worry, I have tutors and they can correct them for me. Language learner identity

2. I am going to a British university, and everyone I meet there, will speak good English with pure British accent. Native speaker of English norm

3. As soon as I meet the requirement for language of the university, I can be successful in living there. Influenced by traditional EFL teaching

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1. Time for the change: learn English to use it.

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For a long time, you learn English like this(English learning as a foreign language, EFL)

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http://edwp.educ.msu.edu/dean/2012/visiting-a-chinese-high-school/

In last three weeks, you may be in a class like this(learning English as an international language, EIL)

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http://www.prepareforsuccess.org.uk/differences_in_university_study.html

EFL vs. EIL

EFL : learn language• You only learn/use

English in the class;

• You aim to learn native English: e.g. BrE or AmE;

• You are not confident when use English, since you may think you own English is poor;

EIL: learn to use• You learn/use English

beyond the class;

• Your English is assessed in terms of proficiency, intelligibility and communicative success with people from multi-lingual background, more than an English test;

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2. What is a ‘good’ English user?• A ‘good’ English user = A competent user of

English=A person successfully communicates with others in English.

1)About ‘others’

2)About ‘communication’

3)About ‘your English’

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1)About ‘Others’: British or International?Nearly a billion people around the world speak English,

which means that more people speak English as a second language than there are native speakers. In Asia, the number of English-users has surpassed 350 million, equal to the number of people who live in countries where English is the dominant language: the United States, Britain and Canada.

(Andrès, 2010)

http://newamericamedia.org/2010/07/non-native-english-speakers-setting-new-standard.php

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What does ‘international’ mean?• An international language is not just a language

that has a large number of native speakers. A language to be international means that the language has developed to where it is “no longer linked to a single culture or nation but serves both global and local needs as a language of wider communication.”

(McKay, 2002, p. 24)

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Language: freedom of choices • Example: accent

• You have own right to choose language to use and learn it, so do others.

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2) About ‘communication’• Example: English writing as written communication

• Think about your audience: The audience include the listeners, when you speak; and the readers when you write. Think about their expectation from your language, who they are.

• Language is dialogic: a conversation between writer and reader is an ongoing activity （ Bakhtin, 1986）

• Writing as social interaction: the process of writing is a matter of elaborating text in accord with what the writer can reasonably assume that the readers know and expect.

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Language production : editing and revising• Be careful and always go back and check your

language production, for example, always remember to edit your essay after finishing an essay.

• Purposes: for communication intelligibility

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3) About ‘your English’Language learning involves an alignment of one’s language resources to the needs of a situation, rather than reaching a target level of competence (Atkinson, et al, 2007).

•Intercultural communication awareness/skills

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3. You own your English and take good care of it.• Be a more confident learner: I use my English. I am

going to take control of my English language.

• Be a more patient user: tolerate English of OTHERS

• Be an open-minded language user, that’s why you choose to study abroad.

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Selected references

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