Page 34 - ELG1903 Mar-Apr Issue 464

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