1. National Research Center for Foreign Language Education, BFSU
A pedagogical framework for teaching English as an international language(EIL)
WEN Qiufang
National Research Center for Foreign Language Education, BFSU

2. EIL, ELF and EFL EIL: English as an international language
ELF: English as a lingua franca
EIL=ELF
EFL: English as a foreign language
ELF≠ EFL

3. ELF and EFL Teaching objective Teaching focus EFL Native-like speakers
Imitation, adoption
ELF
Effective communicators
Adaptation,
Accommodation

4. The focus of my talk
A framework for teaching English as a lingua franca or an international language
From the teacher’s perspective

5. Topics to be addressed Motivation
Two proposed solutions and their problems
A pedagogical framework
Advantages of the proposed framework

6. 1. Motivation Who owns English?
Non-native speakers outnumber English native speakers
The total number of native speakers ?
The total number of non-native speakers?

7. 380 million
300 million
1 billion
Kachru’ three circles of English

8. Graddol (1997)
The center of authority regarding the language would shift from native speakers to nonnative speakers.

9. “English as a world language does not ‘belong’ to mother tongue speakers of English alone, but to all those who can make effective use of it.” (Lee, 1981: 1)

10. Conceptual and practical
Quite a number of scholars have made a strong argument against taking the native-speaker’s English as a norm for non-native speakers. In their view, we should teach English as a lingua franca rather than as a foreign language. We shoud promote ELF-oriented pedagogy.

11. Conceptual and practical
Many people think this kind of revolutionary idea cannot be refuted easily.
Practical
What to be taught in classroom?
How to evaluate our students’ performance?

12. Topics to be addressed Motivation
Two proposed solutions and their problems
A pedagogical framework
Its advantages

13. Proposal 1
L2 user model（Cook，1999）

14. Vivian Cook (1999)
The language used by successful L2 users can be a model for L2 learners.
Treat L2 users in their own right but not imitation of native speakers, deficient native speakers, failed natives.
Comparing the characteristics of native speakers and of L2 users is like comparing tomatoes and apples, useful only at a gross level.

15. Tough questions Howe to differentiate successful L2 users from
unsuccessful ones? What are the criteria?
How can we describe and define “successful”?
Success in using English can be found in various fields, such as business, diplomacy, journalism, and education.
Apart from the difficulty of identifying a viable non-native model, there is a strong doubt about the existence of essential differences between the English system used by successful L2 users and that used by native speakers (Gao 2008; Wen and Yu 2003; Yu 2006).

16. Divided views about the use of English in China
China English as an independent variety
Supporters, e.g. Jiang & Du, 2003；Li，1993）
Opponents, e.g. Gao，2008；Yu，2006；Wen & Yu，2003）
No empirical evidence

17. Empirical studies: Examples
A small-scale study of nativized features in China’s English newspapers (Wen & Yu, 2001)
The use of evaluative adjectives in China’s English newspapers (Yu, 2006)
The use of creation-and-transformation verbs in China’s English newspapers (Gao, 2007)

18. Empirical studies: Examples
Instead of identifying individual successful users for description, study the collective product, i.e. English used in the official media such as The 21st Century, China Daily, TV script
To what extent English has been nativized in Mainland China?

19. Develop，grow，make, change, produce, transform, create, build
Research questions
What are the linguistic features (semantic, lexical and grammatical features) of the top eight creation-and-transformation verbs (TECVs) in China’s English newspapers?
To what extent are the nativized features of TECVs intelligible and acceptable to native and non-native speakers of English?

20. Data-collection
An established corpus of China’s English newspapers (CCEN), composed of 1860 articles from three English newspapers (China Daily, Shanghai Star and Beijing Review
Published in 2002, with 1,058,961 tokens and 20,338 types.
Only comprises articles about domestic events from first-hand sources.

21. Questionnaire Intelligibility and acceptability
Five-point scale on intelligibility
Ask them to write down what they have understood
Five-point scale on acceptability

22. Major findings
The distribution of senses of some of the TECVs varied in CCEN and NBNC.
Semantic broadening and subtle semantic variations are found
In regards to semantic prosody, positive senses of the TECVs more frequently used in CCEN

23. Major findings Some collocations more frequent and a few unique
Grammatical features: intransitive use of TECVs more frequently, Verb + Noun + Preposition more frequently

24. Major findings
Most of nativized English in China’s context can be understood and accepted by both native and non-native speakers of English.
Native and non-native English speakers’ interpretations of the verb collocations varied.

25. Major findings
Native speakers tend to show higher degree of acceptability than non-native speakers.
The nativized features tend to be more intelligible to female respondents than to male respondents.

26. General conclusions
More quantitative differences than qualitative ones
Almost all the qualitative differences being lexical rather than grammatical

27. Proposal 2
….the result of the description of how English is being used in the international context could be potentially used as a model for L2 learners（Seidlhoufer,2001)
the assumption underlying this proposal has been challenged by several scholars (Alptekin 2010; Canagarajah 2007; Ferguson 2009).

28. Misconceptions Function ≠ Product
“LFE is intersubjectively constructed in each specific context of interaction. The form of this English is negotiated by each set of speakers for their purposes.” (Canagarajah, 2007: 925)
“ ELF is an international medium of communication. It has no native speakers and no proper culture of its own to speak of .” (Alptekin, 2010: 101)

29. Misconceptions
Impossible and unnecessary to codify an ELF but possible and necessary to research the use of ELF

30. Misconceptions
What to be learned ≠what to be achieved

31. Conceptual issues
There is a danger that the overemphasis on the nativized variety will move non-native variety further and further apart until a stage is reached where English can no longer be served as lingua franca

32. Many layers of English At the center On the periphery
The common core shared by all speakers of English
On the periphery
the nativized features from a variety of cultures which shadow on the first layer

33. Topics to be addressed Motivation
Two proposed solutions and their problems
A pedagogical framework
Its advantages

34. 3. A pedagogical framework

35. Three types of linguistic variety taught in relation to the learner’s proficiency

36. Common core and peripheral features of English
Native variety
Common core
Non-native varieties including the interlocutor’s own variety
Peripheral features

37. Requirements on L2 learners’ Output
Linguistically
On the phonological level: allow to have a foreign accent while emphasizing mutual intelligibility
On the morphological level: more tolerant of morphological errors but do not encourage
On the syntactic level: correct sentence structures (SVO)

38. Requirements on L2 learners’ Output
On the lexical level: more tolerant of mixed use of British and American words: expect to learn nativized lexical words and phrases

39. 3. A pedagogical framework

40. Cultural component Introduce the world to China
Introduce China to the world

41. Wen, 2004: 175

42. Intercultural competence
Speaking ability
Flexibility Clarifying/Negotiating
Willing to comprise
Tolerance Empathy
Egalitarian attitude
Listening ability
Sensitivity Multi-perspective
Knowledge of dif. cultures

43. A model of cross-cultural communicative competence (Wen, 1999)
In a book entitled “Spoken English Testing and teaching” in Chinese
Present a paper entitled “Globalization and intercultural competence” at a conference “English and globalization: Perspectives from Hong Kong and Mainland China by the Chinese University of HK in 2002
Paper published in English in 2004

44. 3. A pedagogical framework

45. Pragmatic Universal rules Target language rules
Rules of other non-natives

46. Pragmatic
What kind of English will be used here? What kind of pragmatic rules will be used?

47. Setting for ELF

48. Pragmatic
Open, dynamic, on-line generated

49. Pragmatic objective
Abilities to generate appropriate communicative rules and strategies

50. Topics to be addressed Motivation
Two proposed solutions and their problems
A pedagogical framework
Advantages of the proposed framework

51. Advantages Balancing globalization and localization
Unlike the traditional view that the native variety is the only norm
unlike the radical view that the model is that created by successful non-native speakers or the codified ELF
Making a clear distinction between what is to be taught and what is to be achieved
Specifying the three components of teaching: linguistic, cultural and pragmatic
All the objectives having the same focus, the successful accomplishment of communication in English

52. Thank you！