Cultural Politics Of International English: Understanding The Challenges And Solutions

What is taking place in the account

Discuss About The Cultural Politics Of International English. 

English has risen as an international language that is used by both native and non-native speakers. Teachers need to be trained in crucial areas that are used in language acquisition.  Some of these areas are syntax, psychology, and morphology (Flowerdew, 2015). In most cases, when a person is a non-native speaker of English, the accent may be different regarding the words articulation, voice, intonation and the rhythm.  The case under study illustrated how variation in English could affect the teaching practice in schools. After moving from the United States, it is almost 20 years.  The analysis is an about 11-year old child who failed English, and the teacher wanted to take him to classes that study English as one of their second languages due to spelling mistakes.  It was also difficult for the child to differentiate between collective and singular nouns.  The other child is six years, and he also has a problem with the word phrase and could not pronounce some of the words as an Australian speaker. The issue of concern is the differences between various English speakers (Trudgill & Chambers, 2017).  The teaching staffs and the principals are expected to come up with ways to minimize accent, morphological differences that exist in the nations speaking English.

In the context, the study of English consists of identification of various English used.  The sociolinguistic is diverse context globally and involves the analysis multicultural background, function context and histories affect the use of English in various geographical location. In most regions, English is used in numerous dialects to communicate globally.  The parents of the two children are American native speakers and had moved from the United States about 20 years ago. At school, the children had a problem with the use of the collective nouns and the changing present tense into past. The sentence structure, spelling, and differentiation of the collective noun and singular were a challenge to an 11-year child who was born to American parents. The teacher wanted to take of the child to study English as one of the Second Language (ESL) because of the spelling and other grammatical errors (Bocanegra, 2014). Though the child had English as a home language, there was a variation between American and Australian English especially in the educational system. The teaching staffs seemed not to recognize how different cultural setting, the accent of different countries and the best ways to manage the differences that exist. Similarly, the other case was a child of the same parents who were in the kindergarten and had a problem with the cognitive ability. The teachers in the pronunciation perceived the cognitive challenge. There were some of the words which the child could not pronounce according to Australian English. The children were annoyed by the traumatic experience in an Australian school. It was hard for the children to understand Australian English and the teaching staffs did not have a mechanism to aid student who from other countries.  The usage of English differs depending on geographical locations, and this may affect the accent and pronunciation of the words. It can change educational systems as well as the societal and cultural setting of the people.

Use of linguistic terms

Furthermore, the syntax of Australia is different from that of America. The principles, processes, and rules that govern the use of sentence structure in a particular language show the differences in syntax. It was indicated by the six-year American child who could not pronounce ‘nosebleed’ instead she was saying it as a bloody nose. The management and construction of the sentences in the two countries differ and that is why the kids were frustrated while in Australian schools (Holmes & Wilson, 2017). English was one of the subjects that gave a challenge to children from other areas because the accent and the word phrase are different. Furthermore, the Phonics in the school does not encourage children to have the healthy development of the English despite the native language. They seem to frustrate kids because the six-year girl had annoying experience in the school. The ability to identify, manipulating and creating awareness in the sound correspondence and spelling patterns can be linked to the teaching methods. There should be established a technique that the teachers use to ensure that all the learners understand the grammar and sound pattern in English (Hung, 2015). Similarly, the lexical choice of the content of the words such as noun, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs is not the same. The spelling of various words differs, and that is why the 11 years son wanted to be put in the class of studying English as the secondary language due to spelling problems. Some of the words which are accepted in American English as the correct language are perceived as grammatical errors in Australian English. Generally, language variation is based on the syntax, pronunciation and the lexicon. The vocabulary and phonology, and the styles and standards of English used in America are not the same as that of Australia. The variation can be indicated when American speaker is giving a speech. Some of the people from Australia can be unimpressed due to change in the pronunciations, use of vocabulary or the methods used to deliver the address.

Some of the English speakers have learned about it but it is not a native language.  There are requirements and qualifications that need the person to be a native speaker of English and it becomes a challenge for teachers. In the institution, there are international students who speak different English, the population have mixed multicultural and have regional dialects. The rules, standards, and regulations governing the use of language in Australia are not the same as those in America. There are some circumstances where social and cultural activities influence the style of the people (Brannen, Piekkari & Tietze, 2014) .The culture can affect and the societal values can change how people will understand and appreciate the speakers from another part of the country. Speakers are in a dilemma as they move from one state to another. The situation is mainly due to accent due to pronunciation differences. Words which are not used in one country can be ubiquitous in another country.  Non-native English speakers find it hard to pronounce the word for the first time following the tone and right sound pattern. Another challenge of the speakers is vocabulary, colloquialism, and slang. There are many English vocabularies, and most of them vary.  Some of them have complicated and extensive which make it hard to maintain a smooth and consistent conversation when giving a speech (McKay, 2016). The slang words also pose a challenge to most of the English speakers. English variation and grammar can interfere with the concise and the clarity of the speech. The syntax is very crucial in proper pronunciation of the word and speakers are expected to master the existence of morphological differences keenly.  

Dilemma for English speakers

The education system should include a curriculum that appreciates the cultural diversity that exists when using English.  At this stage children will grow up appreciating different English and the variations. The society will be able to compare their English culture with other of other people and appreciate the differences. Globalization and modernization have increased migration and resettling in other countries. The schools are full of children from a different race, ethnic groups, and cultural backgrounds. If the teaching staffs appreciate and acknowledge cultural diversity, it will be easy to teach children from diverse backgrounds (Martín et al, 2014). marketing, the principals of various schools should make sure that the teaching staffs are conversant with these differences that exist in English. Teaching staffs should record the demographic information of the kids or students so that they can understand how to handle different students in the class. Some of the children can have an accent depending on their mother tongue, but they can pass the intended information. Teachers should learn to embrace cultural diversity. Every country has its values and moral principles.   Another solution to the existence of logistic dilemma is the creation of awareness of the different accent of the people. Most of the countries have a unique language, and English can be the second language. Those countries that speak English have variation in their pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and slangs used (Pennycook, 2017).There should community education on the existence of different language and acknowledgement of the kind of English spoken by different societies. Setting of prescriptive English rules that have the standards where all members of the common language are expected to adhere to them during education in spite of local variations.  

Conclusion

There is a dilemma as English speakers move from one place to another. The variations of the English are brought by the accent, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical differences.  The syntax, morphology, and phonology of the English can also vary depending on the multicultural population and the society using it. Though both United States and Australia use English as a native language, there are differences concerning accent, vocabulary, and syntax. Principals of the schools should make sure that the teaching staffs appreciate the existence of cultural diversity. They acknowledge the English accent used by different people and learn to embrace another language internationally. Awareness should also be created in the society of the existence of these differences and how to comfortably interact with people from another cultural setting. 

References

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Brannen, M. Y., Piekkari, R., & Tietze, S. (2014). The multifaceted role of language in international business: Unpacking the forms, functions, and features of a critical challenge to MNC theory and performance.

Davies, M., & Fuchs, R. (2015). Expanding horizons in the study of World Englishes with the 1.9 billion word Global Web-based English Corpus (GloWbE). English World-Wide, 36(1), 1-28.

Flowerdew, J. (2015). Some thoughts on English for research publication purposes (ERP) and related issues. Language Teaching, 48(2), 250-262.

Holmes, J., & Wilson, N. (2017). An introduction to sociolinguistics. Routledge.

Hung, H. T. (2015). Flipping the classroom for English language learners to foster active learning.      Computer Assisted Language Learning, 28(1), 81-96.

Martín, P., Rey-Rocha, J., Burgess, S., & Moreno, A. I. (2014). Publishing research in English-language journals: economics, strategies, and difficulties of multilingual scholars of medicine. Journal of      English for Academic Purposes, 16, 57-67.

McKay, S. L. (2016). Teaching grammar: English as an international language. In Teaching English grammar to speakers of other languages (pp. 33-51). Routledge.

Pennycook, A. (2017). The cultural politics of English as an international language. Taylor & Francis.

Trudgill, P., & Chambers, J. K. (2017). Dialects of English: Studies in grammatical variation.      Routledge.