ENGLE 372F

Book 3
Ch. 4 English the Industry
(Part 2)

(How language ideology about English

has helped create a new industry, the English Industry)

1
Book 3, Ch. 4 English the industry
In this chapter, we will look at:
A. The commodification of English
B. The emergence of English the industry
C. The three main components in the English Industry
1. Commercial English Language Teaching (ELT)
i. Commercial English teaching institutes
ii. Training English teachers
iii. Producing English teaching materials
2. English language testing
3. Academic publishing
D. Different opinions about the emergence of English as an industry
a force for good or a force for ill?
2
What are your views about English as an industry?
Book 3, Ch. 4 English the industry

In todays lecture, we will look at:

C. The three main components in the English Industry
1. Commercial English Language Teaching (ELT)
iii. Producing English teaching materials
2. English language testing
3. Academic publishing
D. Different opinions about the emergence of English as an industry
a force for good or a force for ill?
What are your views about English as an industry?

3
C. The three main
components in the
English Industry

4
C. The three main components in the English Industry

1. Commercial English Language Teaching (ELT)

i. English teaching (commercial)
ii. Training English teachers
iii. Producing English teaching materials

2. English language testing (IELTs, TOEFL, TOEIC)

3. Academic publishing (journal paper, textbooks for higher education)

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C1(iii) ELT publishing (textbooks, supplementary exercises)

A huge market (a multi-million pound business in the UK

or even around the world) although there are crisis:

Increase in production cost

Fluctuations in exchange rates
Global financial crisis
Emergence of e-books

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 Watch DVD Clip 19.2
An English Language School
Eckersley Language School is a commercial English language school in
Oxford. As you watch, pay attention to the following questions:

1. Why do students from different parts of world want to improve their

English?

2. What draws them to Oxford?

3. Which teaching approach is used in this school?

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 C2.
English Language Testing

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C2 High-stakes test IELTS, TOEFL & TOEIC

IELTS = (Anglo-Australian) International English

Language Testing System

TOEFL= (North American) Test of English as a Foreign

language

TOEIC= Test of English for International Communication

(Reading, writing, listening & speaking)

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C2. High-stakes tests - IELTS, TOEFL & TOEIC

A high-stakes test refers to an assessment instrument

which has serious educational and social consequences
for test takers, such as the citizenship tests.

There are two kinds of influences:

1. Washback: the effect of the test on teaching and
learning
2. Impact: the effect of the test on society in general

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C2 High-stakes tests - IELTS, TOEFL & TOEIC

The tests are popular because:

Population flow (immigration)
Internationalization of education (English as an MOI in
higher education, university entrance test for
overseas students)
English as a lingua franca

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C2 Advertising high stakes test TOEFL (passport to study abroad)

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C2 Advertising high stakes test IELT
(the test that sets the standard), (the world speaks IELT)

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C2 Advertising high stakes test - TOEIC
http://www.ets.org/toeic/succeed
https://www.ets.org/toeic/test_takers/speaking_writing/about

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C2 Advertising high stakes tests the metaphor

IELTS= journeys into international education

and employment
TOEFL = passport to study abroad

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C2 High-stakes test IELTS, TOEFL & TOEIC
English is a force for ill?
Problems: What people believe about the English language produces
the English industry and thus the above problems occur.
Fees are high!
May not reflect the reality of what people do with the language
e.g. Doctor-patient consultations
mono-dialectal, promoting RP over other dialects
Not multi-dialectal, not recognising English as a heterogeneous
language with multiple norms and diverse grammars (not
addressing sociolinguistic reality / diversity )!
Contradictory to the entailment of globalisation (embracing
different cultures / linguistic diversity)
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 C3.
Academic Publishing

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C3 Academic publishing
Demand for University textbooks (including digital books)
increases internationally because
more and more people have the opportunities to
further their studies (widespread of university
education); and
Higher Education is internationalised (what countries
and universities would students choose?)
English is the lingua franca

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C3 Academic publishing
many courses were first developed by English speaking countries
(other countries adapted their courses)
many famous universities are located in English speaking countries
(other countries adapted their courses)
Consequences:
more and more universities use English as an MOI
Homogenisation of curriculum content globally
e.g. 1 economics, engineering courses / programmes (US dominated)
-some people call it Americanisation of curriculum!
e.g. 2 the development of EHEA (European Higher Education Area)
-encouraged the use of English as an MOI

Is English a force for ill?

What people believe about the English university education 19

causes the homogenisation of courses in English.

C3 Academic publishing (university education is a business!)

University publishing houses (CUP, OUP, OUHK etc)

Commercial publishing (Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill)
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/tertiaryplace/
Some small university publishing houses cannot survive:
IT services
Needs to operate like a business
Needs to be subsidised by their universities.
Is English a force for ill?
What people believe about the English university education
causes the close down of small university publishing houses but
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big ones like OUP and CUP prospered!
D. Different opinions about
the emergence of
English as an industry

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D. Different opinions about the emergence of English as an
industry

After studying Book 3 Chapters 1-4:We know that some people

believe that

English is a symbol linguistic capital

English language is not just a linguistic capital
but a valuable linguistic capital,
a valuable international linguistic capital!

Discussion:
To what extent the language is a valuable international capital
from your own experience?
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D. Different opinions about the emergence of English as an industry

Ch. 4 Reading B Selling English (Advertising the English Industry)

How English is advertised as a commodity:

1.Nativeness
- Some promoting British English = native, original, the best
This triggers 2 issues about the language:
(i) Who owns English??;
(ii) Values of other Englishes and intercultural competence??
2.Modernity
- Reinforcing a link between English language and innovations

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D. Different opinions about the emergence of English as an industry

Ch. 4 Reading B Selling English (Advertising the English Industry)

3.Self-development
- Knowing English = improving oneself
4.Life
- English = enjoyment of life (a passport around the world)
5.Product (you can take away instantly!)
- English = a capital for success (in a short period of time!)
e.g. Grammar Express (textbook)
Like Pizza Express?

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 Key Questions to Reflect on:
1. Who owns English today: is it the exclusive
property of NSs?
2. If language reflects the speakers cultural values
and identity,
(a) Is it right to expect NNSs to speak English like
Americans or the British?
(b) Can English be the carrier of NNSs life
experiences?
3. Are deviations from NS norms and standards
(esp. assessment) errors or innovations?
What language is used
when these people meet?
Why?
Mexicans Koreans Chinese Brazilians
French Pakistanis Greeks Sri Lankans

2
 English is spoken around the world by
over one billion NNSs as
an international language
a lingua franca

3
 Key Questions to Reflect on:
1. Ownership
Who owns English today: is it
the exclusive property of NSs ?

4
5
 Key Questions to Reflect on:
2. Language and culture / identity
If language reflects the speakers cultural
values and identity,
(a) Is it right to expect NNSs to speak
English like Americans or the British ?
(b) Can English be the carrier of NNSs life
experiences ?
 Chinua Achebe
Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, & critic

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 Chinua Achebe
I feel that the English language will
be able to carry the weight of my
African experience. But it will have to
be a new English, still in full
communion with its ancestral home
but altered to suit its new African
surroundings.

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Key Questions to Reflect on:

3. Norms and standards

Deviations from NS norms and
standards (esp. assessment):
errors or innovations ?
10
Chinglish Oliver Lutz Radtke

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 Is there anything un-English in their
interaction?
Bingbing, have you Yes, Jaycee.
already eaten? Have you?

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 Linguistic Competence
This
has been the traditional focus of
second language teaching and learning.

It includes knowledge of
vocabulary, grammar, semantics
and phonology.
Linguistic competence is
insufficient!
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Communicative Competence
1. Linguistic competence
2. Sociolinguistic competence enables us to use
language appropriately in social situations
3. Sociocultural competence includes awareness that
affects intercultural communication.
4. Pragmatic competence enables us to use language
to get meanings across in situations and deal with any
problems due to gaps in knowledge.
5. Discourse competence enables us to link ideas, take
turns in interaction, open conversations and close
them.
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D. Different opinions about the emergence of English as an industry
Relationship between the Values of English language vs Value of the English Industry

+ve
Interesting phenomenon:
Values (ideologies) of English promotes English as an industry;

Then the English publishing industry/teaching industry/high-stakes tests further

promote the +ve values (ideologies) of English and therefore the language
continue to spread around the world!
1. Beliefs 1. Beliefs
2. Promote
(ideologies) (ideologies) 2. Spread
English
about English about Eng. of English
Industry
lang. language

3. Spread 3.
of English
25 Promote
English
industry
To conclude, in this chapter:
Weve looked at how the positive ideologies of English and the
spread of English is nurtured by an associated industry dedicated
to its promotion and vice versa.

1. Beliefs
(ideologies) 2. Spread
1. Beliefs
2. Promote about Eng. of English
(ideologies) about
English Industry Lang.
English lang.

3. Promote
English
3. Spread of industry
English 26