English as an Asian language

Introduction

As most Asian countries recognize English as an indispensable language for intranational or international communication, they are increasingly committed to strengthening and improving English language teaching (ELT). In parts of Asia where English serves as an official language and ELT expands and succeeds, people start speaking English among themselves. Wherever this happens, a set of indigenous patterns develop, the kind of patterns people find easier to handle. The same situation can develop in "English as an international language" countries, too. We need to fully understand these aspects of present-day English if we are to deal with their various ramifications. One important issue is diversity management. Based on the observation that a common language is not a uniform language but a diverse language, this paper argues that a plausible way of managing the multiculturalism of Asian English is not standardization but intercultural literacy.

English as an Asian language

English today is a unique language, functionally and structurally quite different from other languages of the world. Functionally speaking, English has conspicuously spread among non-native speakers as a sizable number of Asian, African, Pacific, and other countries designate it as their official, associate official, or working language.

In view of the situation, millions of students are learning English as a language for wider communication. According to a survey conducted by Japan's National Institute of Language in 1999, people of the world unanimously consider English as the most useful language for world-wide communication.

Thus, from a Japanese point of view, English is not the language for us to use only with Americans, the British, or any other native speakers of English. Rather, English is the language for us to use with Chinese, Koreans, Bruneians, Thais, Malaysians, Singaporeans, and other Asians. It is the language for us to use with Europeans, Africans, Arabians, South Americans, and many others. That English has become an international language means that it has become a language for multinational communication. It is impossible to identify and isolate an "English" culture that is common to all speakers of English. The cultures represented by Nigerian, Singaporean, Indian, Scottish, Filipino or Australian Aboriginal English are all very different. So, while a language must be linked to a culture, a language is not inextricably tied to one specific culture. Specific cultural identities can be represented by new varieties of English.

In East and Southeast Asia English plays a major role in the region as a lingua franca of the political elite and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is also used as a lingua franca between professionals and the business community.

But what variety of English will serve as the region's lingua franca? I suggest that a variety which reflects local cultural conventions and pragmatic norms is developing to serve this role. I further suggest that it is this regional variety that will be taught in schools, rather than an external "native speaker" variety.

The vast majority of people who are learning English are doing so to be able to use this lingua franca. They are not learning English with the express purpose of communicating with native speakers of English. English is being used by non-native speakers with other non-native speakers. The English that they use need not therefore reflect any "Anglo" cultural values. This emerging role of English was identified by Gordon Wu of Hong Kong's Hopewell Holdings, who told the Far Eastern Economic Review: "English is no longer some colonial language. It is the means that we in Asia communicate with the world and one another."

So regional users of English who are learning English in order to speak to Thais, Koreans, Vietnamese or Japanese do not need teaching materials that promote or discuss "Anglo" cultures. What they need are materials that provide some knowledge of the culture of the people they are dealing with. They also need to be aware of their own cultural norms. The cultural values and daily lives of the people in the region who are using English as a regional lingua franca become more important than the cultural values associated with native speakers.

This has important implications for English language teaching in the region's schools. It is a regional variety of English, not an external model, that needs to be promoted, because it is a regional variety of English that people in the region will want to use. People will be able to maintain their identity while speaking their variety of English. As Tommy Koh, a senior minister in the Singapore government, put it recently, "When I speak English I want the world to know I'm a Singaporean."

The curriculum of a new variety of English should reflect the lives, cultures and values of the learners. Speakers of this new variety will want to preserve their identity by reflecting that identity in the local variety of English they use.

English language teaching materials are needed that promote the local or regional variety and represent the cultures of the speakers of these newly developing varieties. These materials also need to contrast regional cultures, so making the English language curriculum more a curriculum of regional cultures.

This will not only liberate generations of Asian children who have had to learn how to ask what time the next train to Liverpool Street leaves, but will also alter the nature of what represents an authentic text. Japan's current English teaching goals are that learners should become American English speakers. This is unrealistic and damaging to the cause of ELT. Students are fearful of speaking, because they falsely consider themselves to be poor speakers unless they sound like Americans. However, if students were given a regional variety of English to learn, educated speakers of the regional variety could provide the models. Suitably qualified and trained speakers of the regional variety could be the teachers. External models could, of course, be introduced into the classroom, but as examples of external models, not as the model that the learners are expected to acquire. More research into the development of varieties of English is urgently needed. In particular we need to know what cultural and discourse conventions are being reflected in these new varieties. For example, are compliments being given and received, or requests made, following local cultural values, or following "Anglo" values? Are topics in conversation being broached directly or indirectly? The worldwide domination of an "Anglo" variety of English is not inevitable.

A regional variety of English can reflect local or regional cultures. Governments need not fear that the learning of English will necessarily imbue the learners with inappropriate cultural values or ways of thinking. The best option for regional governments is to promote local varieties of English. Instead of spending large sums of money on importing native-speaking teachers and externally developed materials, funding should be set aside for the professional development of local teachers and for the development of developing regionally appropriate ELT curricula.

English in Asia

The spread of English as a language for multinational and multicultural communication utilized by an enormous number of non-native speakers shows that English is becoming more and more de-Anglo-Americanized in many regions of the world. This creates a new role that English can play in the contemporary world. As a matter of fact, English has become a very important language in Asia. It is a working language for intranational and international communication in many parts of the region. According to a report, 350 million people speak English for various purposes in Asia, a number that is close to the combined populations of the United States and Great Britain, where English is a native tongue for most citizens. Home and abroad, indeed, many Japanese are finding themselves using English more frequently with other Asians than with people from the UK or the USA. As we are expected to have more and more contact with them in the fields of business, tourism, overseas studies, environmental protection, or regional cooperation, it is high time that we started exploring issues in English communication in Asia. Since we are all non-native speakers, we feel relaxed when we speak English with each other. Allowed to be less aware of the native-speaker standards, we find ourselves speaking English more flexibly and liberally. We should be more conscious of the significance of this fact in ELT. In much of Asia, English is no longer a colonial import. Throughout the region, English is the language of education, culture, business and, above all, regional cooperation. English-speaking Asians claim English as their own language. Filipino poet Gemino Abad once said, "The English language is now ours. We have colonized it, too." This is not a political statement. This is simply a descriptive remark concerning the current state of the English language in this part of the world. Thus, students are becoming more and more aware that English is an indispensable Asian language.

The likelihood of using English with other Asians motivates an increasing number of students to learn the language better. The U.S.A. and the U.K. used to be the places to go to in order to learn English. But now this urge has comparatively weakened. "The best way to learn English is to go to a country where English is spoken." This is an expression Japanese students learn in the classroom. Now some Asian countries are added to a list of their destinations. A Japanese university which started a new Department of World Englishes in 2002 decided to send all its 1st year students to Singapore's RELC (Regional Language Centre) for English language training in Asian contexts. College students in Japan are being informed of English as a multinational and multicultural language. High school teachers of English are showing positive attitudes toward the concept of English as such. Business people know that that is what English is all about, widely confronted with different varieties of English that are used in Asia and other parts of the world In this connection, I have a survey result to share with you. After a few lectures on World Englishes, I asked my students about their reactions to a story on a failure in communication between a British superintendent and a Chinese constable that had occurred in the police department in Hong Kong before its return to China. What is important in intercultural communication is one's capability and willingness to understand what the other has to say, not the disposition to impose one's values and norms upon the other. Actually, with some degree of intercultural awareness, one is capable of understanding the other even if the two persons' communication styles are different. In this regard, the students' reactions were a remarkable departure from the traditional assumption that normative speakers should conform to native speakers' communication styles by all means. This was a prominent change in attitude that was made possible by recognizing English as a multicultural language. Actually, Asian speakers of English would not have much difficulty handling a similar situation. In a Hong Kong branch of a Japanese company, an English-language conversation between a Chinese subordinate and a Japanese superordinate might run. Very often, Asian speakers of English deviate from American or British norms of communication and thereby understand each other and establish rapport. We could communicate with each other better when we did not follow the native speakers' norms than when we did.

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 74