Page 34 - ELG1903 Mar-Apr Issue 464
P. 34

COMMENT                .




                                      Point


                                      of View


                                       Rakesh
                                       Bhanot


        ‘The English language



        has been creating new



        centres for centuries’




        What do we mean by ‘native speaker of English,’ and

        who should set the standards, asks Rakesh Bhanot

                                                              national language
                                                              natio
                  ithout thinking too hard,                     in former British
                                                                in
                  imagine a group of native                      colonies,
                  speakers of English. You will                   has further
        Whave your own picture, but it’s                           distorted the
        usually a bunch of adults. Look more closely               concentricity
        and see if the picture includes people from                of these     A 1794 map of the world. Today, the phrase ‘nativ
        different parts of the world, or are they all              circles.     different areas, not only the traditional Anglo-Saxo
        similar in appearance?                                      Today, not
          About 35 years ago, A C Gimson, Professor              only do we have   of the language does not conform to some
        of Phonetics at UCL, surmised in an interview           mo              stereotypical, light-skinned norm.
                                                                more speakers of
        that, “British English and Australian English        English as a second   It is appropriate to raise the issue of what
        would be mutually unintelligible in a hundred   language than native speakers, the very   some call ‘chromatism’ (prejudice based
        years’ time”. I am not sure that Gimson was   notion of who is a native speaker of English   on the shade of one’s skin) at a time when
        thinking of the idea of different Englishes   has rightly been called into question. This   IATEFL welcomes its first non-European
        (perhaps just different pronunciations), even   term needs to be re-examined, because in the   and black African President, Harry Kuchah
        though the idea of World Englishes has been   eyes of many, ‘a native speaker’ of English still   Kuchah, this month.
        with us for more than 50 years.     conjures up images of a fair-skinned person   I started teaching EFL in 1972 and have
          The concept of a standard English with its   with ‘European’ features.    witnessed many changes in our profession.
        own (received) pronunciation was abandoned,                             The late David Graddol recently pointed
        in some quarters, a long time ago. I once heard                         out that in South Korea, students and their
        David Crystal say that the first letter sent by   It is appropriate to raise   parents are no longer automatically choosing
        one of the Pilgrim Fathers would, in a very   the issue of what some    fair-skinned native-speaker teachers over
        stretched sense, have been written in American                          non-native, qualified/experienced teachers.
        English. So, what do we mean when we talk   call ‘chromatism’ ….        Indeed, South Korea and other countries
        of  “English”, and whose English is it anyway?                          are increasingly choosing to send students
          To misquote Yeats, it could be argued that   at a time when IATEFL    (and professionals) not to the US or the UK,
        the centre of the English language cannot   welcomes its fi rst non-    but to a major new player on the scene - the
        hold. It has been, drifting, shifting, creating                         Philippines.
        new ‘centres’ (‘centers?’) for centuries.  European and black            A former US colony with English as an
          Professor Braj Kachru divided Englishes                               official language, the Philippines claims to
        into three main types (see illustration):   African President.          be the ‘world’s third largest English-speaking
        Kachru’s circles of English were a useful                               country’. According to Dr Aiden Yeh from
        heuristic device to explain a very complex   ‘Native speakerism’ (Holliday) is alive and   Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages,
        phenomenon but have, perhaps, long outlived   well, partly because of naive assumptions on   Taiwan, “The Philippine Department of
        their sell-by date.                 the part of parents, providers, policy makers   Tourism is heavily tapping into the ELT market
          Some people argue the walls between   and learners from all over the world, that   and building the country’s niche as the place to
        Kachru’s circles have leaks. For example,   the phrase ‘native-speaker teacher’, the   go to for ESL”. The sales pitch relies on the low
        Kachru himself, a native from the outer circle,   words ‘native speaker’ carry more pedagogic   cost, warm tropical climate and fine beaches.
        was firmly rooted in what he called the inner,   status than ‘teacher’; more status even than   At the same time, this is a powerful
        ‘norm-giving’ circle. In recent years, increasing   ‘qualified non-native teacher’. The issue   assertion that the English language is
        migration, and the adoption of English as a   becomes more muddied when the speaker   “ours”! Philippine English is spoken

        34                                                                                         March/April 2019
   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39