World Englishes: Pluralizing Policy, Pedagogy, and Proficiency

Catalog description

This course explores the global spread of English, the diversification of its norms, and their pedagogical and policy implications. APLNG 574 World Englishes: Pluralizing Policy, Pedagogy, and Proficiency (3) This course analyzes how the English language aids globalization and how globalization changes English. English now features multiple grammatical systems and norms in diverse speech communities, adopts new modes of literacy and discourse practices, and enters into fluid relationships with other languages and cultures. These changes call for a reconceptualization of language standards, linguistic identities, literacy practices, and English language teaching. After studying the historical and geopolitical bases for the rise of English, the course explores the implications of contemporary forms of transnational relations, digital technology, and popular culture for diversifying the structure, norms, and usage of the English language. The course aims to develop in students a sensitivity to the changing norms in English, provide pedagogical resources for teaching English according to local repertoires, examine strategies for facilitating intercultural communication, and articulate policies on the role of English in a multilingual world. While students specializing in teaching English as a second language (TESL) will find this course useful to inform their teaching of English worldwide, doctoral candidates in applied linguistics will find it important to understand how the plural norms of English invite new research on issues such as language acquisition, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistic identities. The course will be of interest to students of English who are increasingly interested in the way World Englishes affect multilingual creative writing and composition practices. In addition, the course will be of interest to students in Education who have to address the diversification of English in the changing demography of students in national and international classrooms.