Having a nice accent, or being intelligible?

Having a nice accent, or being intelligible?

As English is used globally, the particular varieties of English emerge in different parts of the world (Bamgose, 2001).

Although American and British English are said to be the preferred standard varieties of English (Matsuda, 2002), a fact is that the international variety of English is actually non-existent (Kachru, 2012).

Accommodating "the localized form of English" (Bolton, 2012, p.1) is thus vital.

One major reason is because today, English is mostly learned (Kirkpatrick, 2003) and spoken (Kachru, 2012) by non-native speakers living either in the outer or expanding circles (for the concentric circle model of WE see Kachru, 1992).

With different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, they use their localized Englishes to communicate across countries, as an illustration, there are Indian farmers importing the harvesting machinery from Japan, German professors teaching at universities in Indonesia, Chinese football players attending football training in Brazil, and so forth.

Of course, this raises another concern. But attention is no longer focused exclusively on which accent is more superior, and the like. Instead, how and to what degree can they understand each other messages?

The issue of intelligibility is thus becoming evident (see Nelson, 2018; Smith & Nelson, 1985).

To your knowledge, what factors determine the intelligibility of the localized Englishes?

References

Bamgbose, A. (2001). World Englishes and globalization. World Englishes, 20(3), 357–363. doi:10.1111/1467-971x.t01-1-00220 

Bolton, K. (2012). Varieties of World Englishes. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. doi:10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1260

Kachru, B. B. (1992). World Englishes: Approaches, issues and resources. Language Teaching, 25(1). doi:10.1017/s0261444800006583

Kachru, B. B. (2012). World Englishes: Overview. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. doi:10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1349

Matsuda, A. (2002). "International understanding" through teaching world Englishes. World Englishes, 21(3), 436–440. doi:10.1111/1467-971x.00262

Kirkpatrick, A. (2003). English as an ASEAN Lingua Franca: Implications for Research and Language Teaching. Asian Englishes, 6(2), 82–91. doi:10.1080/13488678.2003.10801120

Nelson, C. L. (2012). Intelligibility in World Englishes. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. doi:10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0550

Smith, L. E., & Nelson, C. L. (1985). International intelligibility of English: directions and resources. World Englishes, 4(3), 333–342. doi:10.1111/j.1467-971x.1985.tb00423.x 

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Learner autonomy and the use of technology

Learner autonomy and the use of technology 

Learner autonomy has been widely discussed in the area of both second and language classroom (e.g., Thomson, 1998; Luke, 2006; Humphreys & Wyatt, 2013; Kormos & Csizer; 2013). Its positive advantages have been revealed by several recent studies. It is said that promoting learner autonomy could widen learners’ opportunities to learn beyond the classroom (Kormos & Csizer, 2013) and enhance their motivation (Dickinson, 1995).

Defined as "the ability to charge of one’s own learning" (Holec, 1981, p.3 cited in Benson, 2007), learner autonomy is not a novel concept in second and foreign language pedagogies. It is often described as a freedom (Benson, 2007) for learners to self-direct their learning (Trebbi, 2008) with an emphasis on their personal goals and strategies (Little, 1999). To be autonomous, learners should be able to recognize what they are doing, set their own goals of learning, employ their own strategies, monitor their progress, and self-assess their learning (Dickinson, 1995).

In today’s EFL classrooms, learner autonomy could be promoted through engaging the recent technology. Today’s technology enables learners to access resources easily wherever and whenever they want (Reinders, 2018). It also helps them in monitoring and supporting each other’s learning (Reinders, 2018). To see more on the benefits of using technology to promote learner autonomy, the following studies are worth of looking at (see Luke, 2006; Bhattacharya & Chauhan, 2010; Eneau & Develotte, 2012)

References

Benson, P. (2007). Autonomy in language teaching and learning. Language Teaching, 40, 21-40 doi:10.1017/S0261444806003958

Bhattacharya, A., & Chauhan, K. (2010). Augmenting learner autonomy through blogging. ELT Journal, 64(4), 376–384. doi:10.1093/elt/ccq002 

Dickinson, L. (1995). Autonomy and motivation a literature review. System, 23(2), 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/0346-251X(95)00005-5

Eneau, J., & Develotte, C. (2012). Working together online to enhance learner autonomy: Analysis of learners’ perceptions of their online learning experience. ReCALL, 24(01), 3–19.doi:10.1017/s0958344011000267

Humphreys, G., & Wyatt, M. (2013). Helping Vietnamese university learners to become more autonomous. ELT Journal, 68(1), 52–63. doi:10.1093/elt/cct056

Kormos, J., & Csizér, K. (2013). The interaction of motivation, self-regulatory strategies, and autonomous learning behavior in different learner groups. TESOL Quarterly, 48(2), 275–299.doi:10.1002/tesq.129

Little, D. (1999). Learner autonomy is more than a western cultural construct. In S. Cotterall & D. Crabbe (Eds.), Learner autonomy in language learning:  Defining the field and effecting change (pp. 11-18). Frankfrut, Germany: Peter Lang GmbH

Luke, C. L. (2006). Fostering learner autonomy in a technology-enhanced, inquiry-based foreign language classroom. Foreign Language Annals, 39(1), 71–86.doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720.2006.tb02250.x

Reinders, H. (2018). Technology and autonomy. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 1–5.doi:10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0433

Thomson, C. K. (1998). Junior teacher internship: Promoting cooperative interaction and learner autonomy in foreign language classrooms. Foreign Language Annals, 31(4), 569–583.doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720.1998.tb00600.x

Trebbi, T. (2008). Freedom – a prerequisite for learner autonomy?  Classroom innovation and language teacher education. In T. Lamb & H. Reinders (Eds.), Learner and teacher autonomy: Concepts, realities, and responses (pp. 33-46). Amsterdam: John Benjamins B.V.

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