{"id":6379,"date":"2018-01-28T11:57:58","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T11:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/?p=6379"},"modified":"2018-01-28T11:57:58","modified_gmt":"2018-01-28T11:57:58","slug":"english-without-borders-communication-in-a-connected-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/2018\/01\/28\/english-without-borders-communication-in-a-connected-world\/","title":{"rendered":"English Without Borders: Communication in a Connected World"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"display:block;background-color:#3b95c1;width:100%;height:220px;\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Katy3WEB-300x300-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Katy Simpson\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-6384\" style=\"padding:5px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Katy3WEB-300x300-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Katy3WEB-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:15px;color:white;font-size:1.5em;\">\n<strong>English Without Borders: Communication in a Connected World<\/strong><br \/><em>by Katy Simpson.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In many ELT classrooms, learners have little intention of ever stepping foot in an English-speaking country. So why are they learning English? Whether they have heard of the term or not, an important motivation for many is that English is the world\u2019s Lingua Franca &#8211; a common language between people who do not share the same first language. So, how can we prepare our learners to communicate successfully in this way? In the following four videos (all filmed in Japan), we hear ideas and inspiration from teachers who believe in equipping learners with the tools to communicate clearly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Who are your learners using English with?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"width:560px;margin:0 auto;\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Who are your learners using English with? (video 1 of 4)\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dg8Wd_amb0Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before we can begin to help our learners communicate successfully, we need to find out who our learners use English with. There are many reasons they might be using ELF. English is not only used as a Lingua Franca in the commercial world; it\u2019s used to share ideas in academia, to enable sports teams to travel, to build bridges in the world of NGOs, to facilitate the meeting of minds between artists, and many more. Just this week, I watched Danish musicians perform at a concert in Kobe, Japan. At the end, they stayed around to chat to (Japanese) members of the audience &#8211; all in English. What does this mean for us as teachers? In this video, Anna and Nicky give us a flavour of an ELF-aware classroom: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anna mentions the importance of relevant role models. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do you think this is connected to ELF?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nicky explains that his learners use English with people from a range of countries. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In what ways might the learners\u2019 interactions with North American speakers differ from their interactions with other Asian speakers of English?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What skills do our learners need to use ELF successfully?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"width:560px;margin:0 auto;\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What skills do ELF users need? (video 2 of 4)\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/04E-5f5NDOo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Much of the ELT industry still operates as if people study English for the same reason I\u2019m learning Japanese; in order to integrate within a specific community. Coursebooks still usually defer to so-called \u201cnative speaker\u201d accents in their pronunciation sections, and audio materials are filled with \u201cnative speaker\u201d accents. Examinations often use \u201cnative speaker\u201d pronunciation as a benchmark in descriptors, and it is still common to see the phrase \u201cnative speaker teachers\u201d slapped proudly across the marketing of some schools. But in this connected world, where English is a communication tool across borders, are \u201cnative speakers\u201d really as relevant as some parts of the ELT industry would have us believe? To meet the needs of most of our students, I strongly believe there needs to be a shift in the industry; we need to move away from judging a learner\u2019s success based on how acceptable their English is to a \u201cnative speaker.\u201d Instead, we need to prioritise clear communication in international context. As individual teachers, we might not be able to change the world of publishing, examinations, and marketing! However, we all make decisions in the classroom &#8211; and even the smallest of changes can help to empower learners as international communicators. So, what are the key skills that learners need? In this second video, three teachers talk about their classroom priorities: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nick talks about the difficulty of persuading learners that successful communication does not always have to be grammatically accurate. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why do you think some learners find this concept challenging?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mike talks about the dangers of making assumptions. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have you ever experienced the kind of communication breakdown that Mike describes, either inside the classroom or outside it?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Parisa describes the importance of pronouncing \/r\/ and \/l\/ clearly. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Why do you think consonant sounds are so important when using ELF?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What types of activities can develop our learners\u2019 ability to use ELF?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"width:560px;margin:0 auto;\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How can we build learners&#039; ELF communication skills? (video 3 of 4)\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/foaZUbQFB8I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many of the skills described in the second video are easily achieved through many of the communicative activities we already use in class. That is to say, addressing the needs of ELF users does not require a dramatic change in classroom practice. Information gap activities, for example, are ideal for developing skills such as paraphrasing. In this third video, we look at some more specific examples of classroom activities aimed at promoting successful communication using ELF: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chia describes a fun speaking activity. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Could this work in your classroom?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kevin and Anna talk about the importance of the Internet in developing learners\u2019 ability to use ELF. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How else can we use the Internet to develop learners\u2019 skills to help them use ELF?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>How can we develop learners\u2019 confidence communicating in ELF contexts?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"width:560px;margin:0 auto;\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How can we build learners&#039; confidence using ELF? (video 4 of 4)\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R49Czq3lrGA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the key issues for learners in any context is a lack of confidence. This is often compounded in an ELF context because of the range of first language backgrounds involved. This particularly impacts pronunciation. In this last video, Barbara, Atsuko, and Chad all focus on the importance of accents: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Barbara talks about building learners\u2019 confidence listening to a range of accents and encouraging learners to choose relevant pronunciation models depending on their own accent. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you try to familiarise your learners with a range of accents in your listening lessons?<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> If so, please share suggestions for audio resources in the comments box below! <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Atsuko suggests that communication is a two-way process, i.e. it is not only the speaker who is responsible for successful communication, but also the listener. Hence, learners need to be familiar with a range of accents. She also talks about the issue of \u201cnative-speaker deference\u201d among so-called \u201cnon-native speakers.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How do you think we can help learners to take pride in their accent, wherever they come from?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lastly, Chad stresses the importance of awareness-raising. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What types of activities might promote this?<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indeed, it is fitting to end with Chad\u2019s words because awareness-raising was a common thread throughout the videos. By helping our learners to understand the hurdles they might face when using English internationally, we can enable them to begin working on solutions. To find out more about these hurdles and solutions, check out our online course starting in February: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/itdi.pro\/itdihome\/advanced-skills\/creating-elf-aware-classroom-katy-simpson\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Creating an ELF-aware classroom.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Also, don\u2019t forget to share your thoughts in the comments below, and a big thank you to everyone who was interviewed for the videos. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>English Without Borders: Communication in a Connected Worldby Katy Simpson. &nbsp; In many ELT classrooms, learners have little intention of ever stepping foot in an English-speaking country. So why are they learning English? Whether they have heard of the term or not, an important motivation for many is that English is the world\u2019s Lingua Franca &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/2018\/01\/28\/english-without-borders-communication-in-a-connected-world\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">English Without Borders: Communication in a Connected World<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-as-a-lingua-franca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}