Ljubljana University, June 2019 ‘Global’ English,
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slide2. Ljubljana University, June 2019 ‘Global’ English, and its implications for translation as one dimension of language policy
Robert Phillipson
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Handelshøjskolen i København, Danmark<br>
slide3. Ljubljana in history and now Saint Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymous)
the patron saint of translators, the first translator of the Bible into Latin, was born in 347 A.D. near Ljubljana.
RP
‘English Language Officer’ for the British Council in Yugoslavia, 1969-1972.
Passed the exams in translation from CroatoSerbian to English and in oral proficiency in Serbocroat.
Some translation experience between, French, Danish, Swedish and English. Not a translation specialist.<br>
slide4. Language professional identities and territories Language policy needs to be situated within wider political, social and economic contexts. This also applies to translation and interpretation studies, as exemplified in Michael Cronin’s book Translation and globalization.
Cronin (page 3) writes than translation is ignored in ‘political science, sociology, and cultural studies’.
I reviewed the book for the journal Language Policy because translation tends to be ‘forgotten’ by experts in applied linguistics, language policy, and Anglo-American language pedagogy.<br>
slide5. Neglect of translation in applied linguistics and language pedagogy Handbook of Language teaching Wiley-Blackwell (2009)
the Index – does not include interpretation or translation.
Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism (2012)
the Index - nothing for interpretation or translation
But there is one chapter is on sign language and public service interpretation
the chapter on ‘Multilingual pedagogies’ (García & Flores) refers to the ‘grammar-translation method’ falling into disuse and being replaced by the behaviourist audiolingual method. This means that foreign language teaching was ignored. There are now was communicative approaches, cognitive approaches, Council of Europe benchmarking, etc.<br>
slide6. Why this marginalisation of translation? Nearly all Handbook ‘experts’ are based in BANA countries – Britain, Australasia, North America.
Few are involved in foreign language teaching.
Their expertise has been deeply influenced by Anglo-American efforts to establish ‘global’ English.
Supported by doctrinaire ‘second language acquisition’.
The prevailing pedagogy was monolingual and monocultural, and detached from translation and contrastive analysis. This facilitated ‘global’ careers for native speakers, the export of BANA expertise and UK/US textbooks worldwide that were supposedly ‘culturally neutral’.
mea culpa – British Council 1964-1973.
Zavod za Izobraževanje - in each of the six republics.<br>
slide7. English imposition and promotion Monolingualism nationally in European countries (‘one country, one culture, one language’), a doctrine that was imposed in settler societies (USA, Canada, Australia...).
Linguistic imperialism in colonising empires.
First conference on English as a ‘world’ language, with Carnegie Foundation funding, held in New York in 1934.
Institutional infrastructures were expanded on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1950s, and pedagogical tenets /fallacies articulated (Phillipson 1992, 137-172).
Close collaboration between the USA and the UK to achieve global impact (Phillipson 1992, 2009).
In 1964 I was commissioned into the ‘army of linguistic missionaries’ that a semi-official UK policy study elaborated a plan for in 1941 (Routh). The new service must ‘lay the foundations of a world-language and culture based on our own’.<br>
slide8. Historical contextualising Language policy is integral to economic, military, political, social, and educational policies.
The expansion of English is related to
processes of Europeanisation on several continents over six centuries,
turbulence in Europe for centuries, with reorganisations of polities and identities in 1919 and 1945, with strong US influence,
the ‘construction’ of the EU since 1958, which can be seen as a project, with processes, and products,
US empire, and seeing the EU as an empire externally, and internally as a German empire.<br>
slide9. The EU can be seen as project, product, process
project – supranational integration or inter-statal partnership (federation or ‘Europe des patries’)
product – institutions, ECB, euro, budgets, staff, actions, acquis communautaire, an army?
process – surrender of sovereignty, policy formation in Commission, Parliament & Council of Ministers, market economics, elections, lobbies, research, ombud, etc.
language policies, translation and interpretation, are central to the entire operation of the EU and its interaction with states and civil society. The Bologna Process strengthens English.
English has become the default in-house language, but there is equality of 24 languages for certain functions both in speech (meetings) and in writing (Eurolaw). Plans for a European common market from the 1940s<br>
slide10. EU, European integration: a Franco-German agenda, or …? The process of European integration might never have come about had it not been imposed on Europe by the Americans.
Erik Holm, 2001. The European anarchy.
Europe’s hard road into high politics.
Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press
Pascaline Winand, 1993. Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the United States of Europe. New York: St Martin’s Press.
2007 EU-US summit endorsed the
Transatlantic Economic Integration Plan,
and the coordination of foreign policy globally,
European Round Table of Industrialists, Transatlantic Business Dialogue, Transatlantic Economic Partnership<br>
slide11. americanisation military, economic, political americanisation
culture and imperialism (Edward Said) and the cultural cold war (Saunders 1999)
consumerist capitalism as a cultura nullius of universal relevance, a necessity in the modern world, following on from terra nullius (Kayman 2004)
McDonaldisation in academia, the business world, the media, advertising, lifestyles, entertainment, clothing etc. (Hamelink 1994, Ritzer 2011)
neoliberal commodification principles permeate cultural norms & education (PISA, university ranking, privatisation, etc.)<br>
slide12. GB Shaw .. Simone Weil .. Régis Debray Debray, Régis 2017. Civilisation. Comment nous sommes devenus américains. Paris Gallimard.
Debray, Régis 2019. Civilisation. How we all became American. London: Verso.
Homo œconomicus is a destitute Homo politicus, following on the destruction of Homo religiosus.
L’UE est une machine antipolitique, dont certains rêvent qu’elle devienne un acteur politique et attendant même qu’elle se constitue, un jour, en puissance, quand sa raison d’être est de fuir toute idée de puissance.<br>
slide13. Exploring expanding English as project, product, process
project – who has wanted more use of English?
product – by what means (in business, media, universities)?
process – what activities, beliefs?
Much of the Global English and World Englishes literature is triumphalist explicitly (David Crystal) or implicitly (David Graddol’s reports for the British Council).
That English is ‘global’ in any demographic sense is a myth.
English – panacea or pandemic?
preventive analysis and strategies the 5 Nordic countries, Germany, Slovakia, France (?)
litigation in Italy
EU-funded research, e.g. MIME Global English?<br>
slide14. English as project, product, process
project – English should be used worldwide, the dominant language of regional bodies (EU, ASEAN, African Union), UN bodies, NATO (now active throughout Asia and Africa), scholarship, etc.
product – texts, publications, ‘international’ schools, English-medium schools, TESOL and IATEFL, ‘qualifications’ for teachers
process – ideologies, curriculum time, advertising etc.
English is integral to and constitutes dominant forms of the media, the corporate world, entertainment, international relations, research publications, etc.
Critical research, e.g. two Hydra books (Bunce, Rapatahana) Global English? Lingua nullius?<br>
slide15. Addition or subtraction? It is important in any given context to assess whether the expansion of English is adding to linguistic repertoires (linguistic capital accumulation) or reducing them (linguistic capital dispossession).
Territorial dispossession (terra nullius), and cultural and linguistic genocide and dispossession (cultura nullius) remain integral to the occupation by Europeans of the Americas and Australia. In virtually all former colonies (Singapore, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, et al) English remains hegemonic, the language of elites, often subtractive.
Revitalisation of minoritised languages is a response to this.
In a continental European country, analysis is needed of whether English is supplementing or replacing a national language for key local purposes (English as a lingua nullius).<br>
slide16. Lessons from history the origins and significance of global Europeanisation and racism
transitional expansion from
territorial dispossession - terra nullius
to global americanisation - cultura nullius
with English marketed as universally relevant and needed, Englishisation, English as a lingua nullius
linguistic imperialism involves supply & demand forces and agents, push & pull factors
whether it is in place in any given context requires empirical investigation
cultural and linguistic dispossession happen.<br>
slide17. ”Un sujet qui peut être qualifié d’explosif en Europe” Pierre Lequiller, Président, réunion ouverte à l’ensemble des membres français du Parlement Européen, le 11 juin 2003, pour debattre le Rapport sur la diversité linguistique au sein de l’Union européenne, préparé par Michel Herbillon, auprès de la Délégation pour l’Union Européenne.<br>
slide18. No more emotional topic in the EU than the language issue Es gibt in der EU kein emotionaleres Thema als Sprachen.
Wilhelm Schönfelder, Head of Mission for Germany at the EU, cited in Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1 April 2005<br>
slide19. Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen.
People who know no foreign languages
know nothing of their own.
Wer English kennt
braucht nichts von andere Sprachen.
Whoever knows English
has no need of other languages. Johan Wolfgang von Goethe texts in all languages enrich humanity<br>
slide20. Academic freedom and university autonomy are being subjected to severe constraints. Examples from Denmark and the UK. Den Danske Akademis rapport ‘Forsknings- og udtryksfrihed på universiteterne’, februar 2007.
Jørn Lund: ’fra frihed under ansvar’ til ’frihed under kontrol’.
Magisterforenings klage til UNESCO, 22 maj 2008.
Stefan Collini. Speaking of universities, Verso.
Stress and depression among academics in the UK.<br>
slide21. Handelshøjsksolen i København Copenhagen Business School FROM (after establishment in 1917, by 2000 ….)
A languages faculty: several language and culture departments, with research competence and specialisations in translation, language technology, terminology, American Studies, European Studies, language policy, language pedagogy, and ad hoc
training courses for interpreters.
TO (progressively until 2018)
The abolition of Russian and Italian
Abolition of French, German, Spanish and Japanese
Out with disciplines (translation) and cultural studies
Certification for qualifications as translators abolished (nationally)
English is now an instrument, in most teaching and research, implemented as a covert language policy, decontextualised.<br>
slide22. The first duty of a university is to teach wisdom, not to train, and to confirm character and not impart technicalities. We want a lot of engineers in the modern world, but we do not want a world of engineers. We want some scientists, but we must make sure that science is our servant and not our master… No amount of technical knowledge can replace the comprehension of the humanities or the study of history and philosophy. Universities as a public good<br>
slide23. The advantages of the nineteenth century, the literary age, have been largely put aside by this terrible twentieth century with all its confusion, exhaustion, and bewilderment of mankind. This is a time when a firm grip on all the essential verities and values of humanity and civilization should be the central care of the universities of Europe and the world. Churchill in Copenhagen 1950<br>
slide24. USA exceptionalism past and present From George Washington 1783 & 1796 (the USA as ‘a rising empire’), to the Washington Consensus (neoliberalism)
‘The whole world should adopt the American system. The American system can survive in America only if it becomes a world system’
President Harry Truman 1947
President Barack Obama 2014
‘Here’s my bottom line: America must always lead
on the world stage.’<br>
slide25. Winston Churchill’s understanding of globalization, 1943 The power to control language offers far better prizes than taking away people’s provinces or lands or grinding them down in exploitation. The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.<br>
slide26. Winston Churchill at Harvard, 1943 This gift of a common tongue is a priceless inheritance, and it may well some day become the foundation of a common citizenship. I like to think of British and Americans moving about freely over each other's wide estates with hardly a sense of being foreigners to one another. But I do not see why we should not try to spread our common language even more widely throughout the globe and, without seeking selfish advantage over any, possess ourselves of this invaluable amenity and birthright.<br>
slide27. Churchill’s five themes UK/US unity
military collaboration
plans for global peace-keeping
ensuring US/UK global dominance
global English – and global English teaching
The use of English as a world language, 1934
investment in 1930s and 1950s
massive expansion
global professional service industry<br>
slide28. British Council strategy Martin Davidson, its Chief Executive, asserts in the Annual Report 2009-10:
“English next India tells us that from education to the economy, from employability to social mobility, the prospects for India and its people will be greatly enhanced by bringing English into every classroom, every office and every home.”<br>
slide29. European discourses: rule of law or abuse of power? The Union shall respect cultural,
religious and linguistic diversity.
Artícle 22, The Charter of
Fondamental Rights of the European Union
… in the field of linguistic rights, like in other fields of human rights, there is no right but only … politics.
Yves Marek, counsellor to
Jacques Toubon, Minister of Culture and Francophonie, and later of Justice, France, 1996<br>
slide30. https://www.grantfinder.co.uk/archive/international-education-strategy-aims-to-boost-number-of-overseas-students-in-uk/ UK Department of Education, and Department of International Trade, March 18, 2019
Increase the value of educational exports from £20 billion to £35 billion p.a. by 2030
Increase the number of international students studying in the UK from 460,000 to 600,000 by 2030
Consolidation in China, Hong Kong, India and Middle East
Expansion in Asia, Africa, and Latin America
Exports?<br>
slide31. A Cambridge research project identified on Google Scholar 75,513 scientific manuscripts on biodiversity conservation.
English 48,600 (64.4%)
Spanish 9,520
Portuguese 7,800
simplified Chinese 4,540
French 2,290
Amano, Tatsuya, Juan P. GonzaÂlez-Varo, and William J. Sutherland (2016). Languages Are Still a Major Barrier to Global Science. PLoS Biol 14(12): e2000933. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000933.
Add German, Japanese, Russian, Nordic languages, …
What about indigenous knowledge and cosmology transmission? Alternatives to English linguistic imperialism<br>
slide32. Professional tenets/fallacies in TESOL and ELT the monolingual fallacy
the native speaker fallacy
the early start fallacy
the maximum exposure fallacy
the subtractive fallacy.
Central to the global US-UK ELT and TESOL business, World Bank activities, etc.
Phillipson, Linguistic imperialism, chapter 7, (Oxford UP, 1992, Shanghai and Delhi,
translated into Arabic and Japanese)<br>
slide33. ‘Global’ English myths British English is necessary for development.
See The development dictionary, Wolfgang Sachs.
Anglo-American textbooks are universally appropriate.
See analyses by John Gray.
English is the only language needed in international affairs.
Dozens of languages function internationally.
English language tests are objective and valid worldwide.
See Buck, and Kahn on TOEFL.
The internationalisation of TESOL and ELT is apolitical.
See Linguistic imperialism, Linguistic imperialism continued.
Professionalism and myths in TESOL, RP at TESOL Convention 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPwUVhE0XKE<br>
slide34. Worrying developments in language education Foreign language learning in Denmark, UK, USA, et al …. being eliminated under cultura nullius and lingua nullius pressures.
Implications
catastrophes happen in education
facilitated by the erosion of university autonomy, and of the principle of universities as a public good, of Churchillian, Humboltian values
implemented by poor political and executive leadership
xenophobia has become mainstream, restricting diversity and inclusion
resistance is needed.<br>
slide35. National studies over past 15 years: English as threat?
Commissioned scholarly reviews via five national language boards.
2006, Deklaration om Nordisk Språkpolitik, declares plans for the continued vitality of national languages, and for explicit language policy and planning, and language rights.
Limited implementation.
Report in 2017 on Parallel language competence in the Nordic countries
More parallel, please! Sprogbrug i internationaliseringsprocesser
Final Report of the Nordic Parallel language Group with 11 recommendations for universities on ideal arrangements for the use of international and local languages. Language policy in the Nordic countries<br>
slide36. 1. All universities should have a language policy integrated with its internationalization policy and that relates to national language policy parameters and the role of the university locally.
2. All universities should have a language policy committee that follows developments continually.
3. A language centre should, on the basis of research criteria, elaborate courses in the local language of relevance for ‘international’ staff and students, and should ensure the quality of such courses; it should also offer translation and language revision services; it should develop digital resources. Recommendations for Nordic universities (1)<br>
slide37. 4. International teaching and research staff should be instructed in forms of parallel academic language use, and features of local students’ dialogue; they should also be familiarised with the local language of university administration; and progressively acquire competence to function fully in the local language; this should be stipulated in their employment contract.
5. There should be needs analysis in relation to study disciplines and future employment for guest students and for foreign students doing an entire degree; local students should be instructed in the discourse of their academic field in their language and in English, and ideally in additional languages.
6. Elaboration of a specialised needs analysis so as to achieve full parallel competence. Recommendations (2)<br>
slide38. 7. Criteria for choice of the language(s) of instruction, for lecturers’ language proficiency, reading material, and specification of achievement in each language are needed.
8. Principles for the language of university administration.
9. Strategies for languages of publication.
10. Policies for research dissemination and popularisation nationally and internationally.
11. Elaboration of relevant digital tools for staff and students. Recommendations (3)<br>
slide39. Implications for language policy ‘International’ staff must become bilingual, just as well-qualified foreign language teachers are.
At all levels of education, translation, between a diversity of languages, needs strengthening.
Translation should be integral to communicative language learning, within the diversity of English-using cultures, and critical pedagogy.
Linguistic capital accumulation or dispossession needs constant monitoring.
There needs to be awareness of the fact that however useful English currently is, accepting English as a lingua nullius is harmful for other languages.<br>
slide40. The future? Chinese?<br>
slide42. Zwei-/Mehrsprachige Universitäten lassen sich durch folgende Kriterien definieren, Michael Langner 2+ languages as medium of instruction
25+% bilingual degrees at the institution
Choice of language for the dissertation
Encouragement to write in L2
Ongoing quality evaluation
An explicit language policy
Self-instructional language learning centre
Languages integral to corporate identity
Research into multilingualism
Official documents in 2+ languages
Majority of website texts in the relevant languages
Everyday interaction of students and staff in 2+ languages.
Right to the bi-/multilingual university label requires 7+ criteria<br>
slide43. A taxonomy of variables impacting on multilingual higher education and research Status dimensions (status and prestige planning)
Macro level: international, national, and institutional multilingual context and constraints; hierarchies in global and the local language ecologies; economics and processes of linguistic capital accumulation or dispossession; extent of language maintenance in central domains; degree of respect for linguistic human rights.
Micro level: language use in core university activities, spoken and written, and on websites; awareness of language rights, language duties and linguistic diversity.<br>
slide44. Policy decisions (discourse planning) on
explicit and implicit, overt and covert, language policies for
an institution, including internal and external communications
a department, and for all degrees at BA, MA and PhD levels
medium/media of instruction in learning and examining contexts
institutional and personal multilingual identity, perceptions of multilingualism
criteria for assessing quality of teaching, of research, and for promotion
languages of publication; language policy in bibliometric quantification
certification of language competence of staff and/or students
responsibility for implementing and monitoring language policy decisions<br>
slide45. Processes for creating and maintaining communities of practice (acquisition planning)
Functional goals for academic language competence development, staff & students
Learning processes relative to proficiency development for differentiated activities: in reception (listening, reading) and in production (speaking, writing); IT integration; role of translation and contrastive language study
Teacher and student roles in knowledge assimilation and creation at all levels
Development of metalinguistic, metacommunicative and intercultural awareness
Knowledge sharing within an institution and externally:
International scholarly articles and books
Local mass media popularization, textbooks and reference works<br>
slide46. Form in Language 1/Language 2/Language 3/… (corpus and usage planning) as determined in
Codification in authoritative reference works and materials
Conventional linguistic form in genres and discourses for academic purposes
Terminology and usage creation when needed
Technology (technology planning)
Language learning centre
Internet-based teaching and learning support, online materials, etc
Development of language technology software.<br>
slide47. British Council expert ‘advice’ ‘English is now seen as a “basic skill” which all children require if they are fully to participate in 21st century civil society ... It can now be used to communicate to people from almost any country in the world … We are fast moving into a world in which not to have English is to be marginalised and excluded.’
David Graddol, 2006<br>
slide48. Stefan Collini The changing, or changed university The idea of a university has been corrupted by subordination to short-term instrumental, reductive, generally economic goals.
Students are seen less as seekers after truth and knowledge and more as consumers.
The evaluation of research, and of concomitant funding, focuses on ‘impact’ factors that have little bearing on how research quality is generated.
A small number of ‘elite’ universities are exceptionally well funded, while a large number of poorly-funded institutions have limited research capacity.
Quality in dynamic departments has been undermined by the creation of suspect, ever-larger inter-disciplinary units.<br>
slide49. Stefan Collini: the British experience Administration has become top-down management inspired by principles from commerce.
Universities are run as businesses and no longer receive government funding for teaching activities. Foreign students pay exorbitant fees, while which most British and EU students take on large loans to cover fees.
Reliance on market forces results in essential subjects, especially in the humanities, foreign languages in particular, being eliminated for short-term financial reasons.
An excessive number of ‘for profit’ institutions of dubious quality can call themselves universities. As in the USA, venture capital involvement and shareholder expectations are undermining academic autonomy and self-definition.<br>
slide50. Linguistic justice in the EU It is arguable that the EU practices equality between 24 official and working languages, in speech and writing, for some key purposes.
It is arguable that some languages, and their speakers, have more rights than others in managing the affairs of the EU, its institutions and funded activities.
Linguistic hegemony?<br>
Robert Phillipson
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Handelshøjskolen i København, Danmark<br>
slide3. Ljubljana in history and now Saint Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymous)
the patron saint of translators, the first translator of the Bible into Latin, was born in 347 A.D. near Ljubljana.
RP
‘English Language Officer’ for the British Council in Yugoslavia, 1969-1972.
Passed the exams in translation from CroatoSerbian to English and in oral proficiency in Serbocroat.
Some translation experience between, French, Danish, Swedish and English. Not a translation specialist.<br>
slide4. Language professional identities and territories Language policy needs to be situated within wider political, social and economic contexts. This also applies to translation and interpretation studies, as exemplified in Michael Cronin’s book Translation and globalization.
Cronin (page 3) writes than translation is ignored in ‘political science, sociology, and cultural studies’.
I reviewed the book for the journal Language Policy because translation tends to be ‘forgotten’ by experts in applied linguistics, language policy, and Anglo-American language pedagogy.<br>
slide5. Neglect of translation in applied linguistics and language pedagogy Handbook of Language teaching Wiley-Blackwell (2009)
the Index – does not include interpretation or translation.
Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism (2012)
the Index - nothing for interpretation or translation
But there is one chapter is on sign language and public service interpretation
the chapter on ‘Multilingual pedagogies’ (García & Flores) refers to the ‘grammar-translation method’ falling into disuse and being replaced by the behaviourist audiolingual method. This means that foreign language teaching was ignored. There are now was communicative approaches, cognitive approaches, Council of Europe benchmarking, etc.<br>
slide6. Why this marginalisation of translation? Nearly all Handbook ‘experts’ are based in BANA countries – Britain, Australasia, North America.
Few are involved in foreign language teaching.
Their expertise has been deeply influenced by Anglo-American efforts to establish ‘global’ English.
Supported by doctrinaire ‘second language acquisition’.
The prevailing pedagogy was monolingual and monocultural, and detached from translation and contrastive analysis. This facilitated ‘global’ careers for native speakers, the export of BANA expertise and UK/US textbooks worldwide that were supposedly ‘culturally neutral’.
mea culpa – British Council 1964-1973.
Zavod za Izobraževanje - in each of the six republics.<br>
slide7. English imposition and promotion Monolingualism nationally in European countries (‘one country, one culture, one language’), a doctrine that was imposed in settler societies (USA, Canada, Australia...).
Linguistic imperialism in colonising empires.
First conference on English as a ‘world’ language, with Carnegie Foundation funding, held in New York in 1934.
Institutional infrastructures were expanded on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1950s, and pedagogical tenets /fallacies articulated (Phillipson 1992, 137-172).
Close collaboration between the USA and the UK to achieve global impact (Phillipson 1992, 2009).
In 1964 I was commissioned into the ‘army of linguistic missionaries’ that a semi-official UK policy study elaborated a plan for in 1941 (Routh). The new service must ‘lay the foundations of a world-language and culture based on our own’.<br>
slide8. Historical contextualising Language policy is integral to economic, military, political, social, and educational policies.
The expansion of English is related to
processes of Europeanisation on several continents over six centuries,
turbulence in Europe for centuries, with reorganisations of polities and identities in 1919 and 1945, with strong US influence,
the ‘construction’ of the EU since 1958, which can be seen as a project, with processes, and products,
US empire, and seeing the EU as an empire externally, and internally as a German empire.<br>
slide9. The EU can be seen as project, product, process
project – supranational integration or inter-statal partnership (federation or ‘Europe des patries’)
product – institutions, ECB, euro, budgets, staff, actions, acquis communautaire, an army?
process – surrender of sovereignty, policy formation in Commission, Parliament & Council of Ministers, market economics, elections, lobbies, research, ombud, etc.
language policies, translation and interpretation, are central to the entire operation of the EU and its interaction with states and civil society. The Bologna Process strengthens English.
English has become the default in-house language, but there is equality of 24 languages for certain functions both in speech (meetings) and in writing (Eurolaw). Plans for a European common market from the 1940s<br>
slide10. EU, European integration: a Franco-German agenda, or …? The process of European integration might never have come about had it not been imposed on Europe by the Americans.
Erik Holm, 2001. The European anarchy.
Europe’s hard road into high politics.
Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press
Pascaline Winand, 1993. Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the United States of Europe. New York: St Martin’s Press.
2007 EU-US summit endorsed the
Transatlantic Economic Integration Plan,
and the coordination of foreign policy globally,
European Round Table of Industrialists, Transatlantic Business Dialogue, Transatlantic Economic Partnership<br>
slide11. americanisation military, economic, political americanisation
culture and imperialism (Edward Said) and the cultural cold war (Saunders 1999)
consumerist capitalism as a cultura nullius of universal relevance, a necessity in the modern world, following on from terra nullius (Kayman 2004)
McDonaldisation in academia, the business world, the media, advertising, lifestyles, entertainment, clothing etc. (Hamelink 1994, Ritzer 2011)
neoliberal commodification principles permeate cultural norms & education (PISA, university ranking, privatisation, etc.)<br>
slide12. GB Shaw .. Simone Weil .. Régis Debray Debray, Régis 2017. Civilisation. Comment nous sommes devenus américains. Paris Gallimard.
Debray, Régis 2019. Civilisation. How we all became American. London: Verso.
Homo œconomicus is a destitute Homo politicus, following on the destruction of Homo religiosus.
L’UE est une machine antipolitique, dont certains rêvent qu’elle devienne un acteur politique et attendant même qu’elle se constitue, un jour, en puissance, quand sa raison d’être est de fuir toute idée de puissance.<br>
slide13. Exploring expanding English as project, product, process
project – who has wanted more use of English?
product – by what means (in business, media, universities)?
process – what activities, beliefs?
Much of the Global English and World Englishes literature is triumphalist explicitly (David Crystal) or implicitly (David Graddol’s reports for the British Council).
That English is ‘global’ in any demographic sense is a myth.
English – panacea or pandemic?
preventive analysis and strategies the 5 Nordic countries, Germany, Slovakia, France (?)
litigation in Italy
EU-funded research, e.g. MIME Global English?<br>
slide14. English as project, product, process
project – English should be used worldwide, the dominant language of regional bodies (EU, ASEAN, African Union), UN bodies, NATO (now active throughout Asia and Africa), scholarship, etc.
product – texts, publications, ‘international’ schools, English-medium schools, TESOL and IATEFL, ‘qualifications’ for teachers
process – ideologies, curriculum time, advertising etc.
English is integral to and constitutes dominant forms of the media, the corporate world, entertainment, international relations, research publications, etc.
Critical research, e.g. two Hydra books (Bunce, Rapatahana) Global English? Lingua nullius?<br>
slide15. Addition or subtraction? It is important in any given context to assess whether the expansion of English is adding to linguistic repertoires (linguistic capital accumulation) or reducing them (linguistic capital dispossession).
Territorial dispossession (terra nullius), and cultural and linguistic genocide and dispossession (cultura nullius) remain integral to the occupation by Europeans of the Americas and Australia. In virtually all former colonies (Singapore, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, et al) English remains hegemonic, the language of elites, often subtractive.
Revitalisation of minoritised languages is a response to this.
In a continental European country, analysis is needed of whether English is supplementing or replacing a national language for key local purposes (English as a lingua nullius).<br>
slide16. Lessons from history the origins and significance of global Europeanisation and racism
transitional expansion from
territorial dispossession - terra nullius
to global americanisation - cultura nullius
with English marketed as universally relevant and needed, Englishisation, English as a lingua nullius
linguistic imperialism involves supply & demand forces and agents, push & pull factors
whether it is in place in any given context requires empirical investigation
cultural and linguistic dispossession happen.<br>
slide17. ”Un sujet qui peut être qualifié d’explosif en Europe” Pierre Lequiller, Président, réunion ouverte à l’ensemble des membres français du Parlement Européen, le 11 juin 2003, pour debattre le Rapport sur la diversité linguistique au sein de l’Union européenne, préparé par Michel Herbillon, auprès de la Délégation pour l’Union Européenne.<br>
slide18. No more emotional topic in the EU than the language issue Es gibt in der EU kein emotionaleres Thema als Sprachen.
Wilhelm Schönfelder, Head of Mission for Germany at the EU, cited in Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1 April 2005<br>
slide19. Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen.
People who know no foreign languages
know nothing of their own.
Wer English kennt
braucht nichts von andere Sprachen.
Whoever knows English
has no need of other languages. Johan Wolfgang von Goethe texts in all languages enrich humanity<br>
slide20. Academic freedom and university autonomy are being subjected to severe constraints. Examples from Denmark and the UK. Den Danske Akademis rapport ‘Forsknings- og udtryksfrihed på universiteterne’, februar 2007.
Jørn Lund: ’fra frihed under ansvar’ til ’frihed under kontrol’.
Magisterforenings klage til UNESCO, 22 maj 2008.
Stefan Collini. Speaking of universities, Verso.
Stress and depression among academics in the UK.<br>
slide21. Handelshøjsksolen i København Copenhagen Business School FROM (after establishment in 1917, by 2000 ….)
A languages faculty: several language and culture departments, with research competence and specialisations in translation, language technology, terminology, American Studies, European Studies, language policy, language pedagogy, and ad hoc
training courses for interpreters.
TO (progressively until 2018)
The abolition of Russian and Italian
Abolition of French, German, Spanish and Japanese
Out with disciplines (translation) and cultural studies
Certification for qualifications as translators abolished (nationally)
English is now an instrument, in most teaching and research, implemented as a covert language policy, decontextualised.<br>
slide22. The first duty of a university is to teach wisdom, not to train, and to confirm character and not impart technicalities. We want a lot of engineers in the modern world, but we do not want a world of engineers. We want some scientists, but we must make sure that science is our servant and not our master… No amount of technical knowledge can replace the comprehension of the humanities or the study of history and philosophy. Universities as a public good<br>
slide23. The advantages of the nineteenth century, the literary age, have been largely put aside by this terrible twentieth century with all its confusion, exhaustion, and bewilderment of mankind. This is a time when a firm grip on all the essential verities and values of humanity and civilization should be the central care of the universities of Europe and the world. Churchill in Copenhagen 1950<br>
slide24. USA exceptionalism past and present From George Washington 1783 & 1796 (the USA as ‘a rising empire’), to the Washington Consensus (neoliberalism)
‘The whole world should adopt the American system. The American system can survive in America only if it becomes a world system’
President Harry Truman 1947
President Barack Obama 2014
‘Here’s my bottom line: America must always lead
on the world stage.’<br>
slide25. Winston Churchill’s understanding of globalization, 1943 The power to control language offers far better prizes than taking away people’s provinces or lands or grinding them down in exploitation. The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.<br>
slide26. Winston Churchill at Harvard, 1943 This gift of a common tongue is a priceless inheritance, and it may well some day become the foundation of a common citizenship. I like to think of British and Americans moving about freely over each other's wide estates with hardly a sense of being foreigners to one another. But I do not see why we should not try to spread our common language even more widely throughout the globe and, without seeking selfish advantage over any, possess ourselves of this invaluable amenity and birthright.<br>
slide27. Churchill’s five themes UK/US unity
military collaboration
plans for global peace-keeping
ensuring US/UK global dominance
global English – and global English teaching
The use of English as a world language, 1934
investment in 1930s and 1950s
massive expansion
global professional service industry<br>
slide28. British Council strategy Martin Davidson, its Chief Executive, asserts in the Annual Report 2009-10:
“English next India tells us that from education to the economy, from employability to social mobility, the prospects for India and its people will be greatly enhanced by bringing English into every classroom, every office and every home.”<br>
slide29. European discourses: rule of law or abuse of power? The Union shall respect cultural,
religious and linguistic diversity.
Artícle 22, The Charter of
Fondamental Rights of the European Union
… in the field of linguistic rights, like in other fields of human rights, there is no right but only … politics.
Yves Marek, counsellor to
Jacques Toubon, Minister of Culture and Francophonie, and later of Justice, France, 1996<br>
slide30. https://www.grantfinder.co.uk/archive/international-education-strategy-aims-to-boost-number-of-overseas-students-in-uk/ UK Department of Education, and Department of International Trade, March 18, 2019
Increase the value of educational exports from £20 billion to £35 billion p.a. by 2030
Increase the number of international students studying in the UK from 460,000 to 600,000 by 2030
Consolidation in China, Hong Kong, India and Middle East
Expansion in Asia, Africa, and Latin America
Exports?<br>
slide31. A Cambridge research project identified on Google Scholar 75,513 scientific manuscripts on biodiversity conservation.
English 48,600 (64.4%)
Spanish 9,520
Portuguese 7,800
simplified Chinese 4,540
French 2,290
Amano, Tatsuya, Juan P. GonzaÂlez-Varo, and William J. Sutherland (2016). Languages Are Still a Major Barrier to Global Science. PLoS Biol 14(12): e2000933. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000933.
Add German, Japanese, Russian, Nordic languages, …
What about indigenous knowledge and cosmology transmission? Alternatives to English linguistic imperialism<br>
slide32. Professional tenets/fallacies in TESOL and ELT the monolingual fallacy
the native speaker fallacy
the early start fallacy
the maximum exposure fallacy
the subtractive fallacy.
Central to the global US-UK ELT and TESOL business, World Bank activities, etc.
Phillipson, Linguistic imperialism, chapter 7, (Oxford UP, 1992, Shanghai and Delhi,
translated into Arabic and Japanese)<br>
slide33. ‘Global’ English myths British English is necessary for development.
See The development dictionary, Wolfgang Sachs.
Anglo-American textbooks are universally appropriate.
See analyses by John Gray.
English is the only language needed in international affairs.
Dozens of languages function internationally.
English language tests are objective and valid worldwide.
See Buck, and Kahn on TOEFL.
The internationalisation of TESOL and ELT is apolitical.
See Linguistic imperialism, Linguistic imperialism continued.
Professionalism and myths in TESOL, RP at TESOL Convention 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPwUVhE0XKE<br>
slide34. Worrying developments in language education Foreign language learning in Denmark, UK, USA, et al …. being eliminated under cultura nullius and lingua nullius pressures.
Implications
catastrophes happen in education
facilitated by the erosion of university autonomy, and of the principle of universities as a public good, of Churchillian, Humboltian values
implemented by poor political and executive leadership
xenophobia has become mainstream, restricting diversity and inclusion
resistance is needed.<br>
slide35. National studies over past 15 years: English as threat?
Commissioned scholarly reviews via five national language boards.
2006, Deklaration om Nordisk Språkpolitik, declares plans for the continued vitality of national languages, and for explicit language policy and planning, and language rights.
Limited implementation.
Report in 2017 on Parallel language competence in the Nordic countries
More parallel, please! Sprogbrug i internationaliseringsprocesser
Final Report of the Nordic Parallel language Group with 11 recommendations for universities on ideal arrangements for the use of international and local languages. Language policy in the Nordic countries<br>
slide36. 1. All universities should have a language policy integrated with its internationalization policy and that relates to national language policy parameters and the role of the university locally.
2. All universities should have a language policy committee that follows developments continually.
3. A language centre should, on the basis of research criteria, elaborate courses in the local language of relevance for ‘international’ staff and students, and should ensure the quality of such courses; it should also offer translation and language revision services; it should develop digital resources. Recommendations for Nordic universities (1)<br>
slide37. 4. International teaching and research staff should be instructed in forms of parallel academic language use, and features of local students’ dialogue; they should also be familiarised with the local language of university administration; and progressively acquire competence to function fully in the local language; this should be stipulated in their employment contract.
5. There should be needs analysis in relation to study disciplines and future employment for guest students and for foreign students doing an entire degree; local students should be instructed in the discourse of their academic field in their language and in English, and ideally in additional languages.
6. Elaboration of a specialised needs analysis so as to achieve full parallel competence. Recommendations (2)<br>
slide38. 7. Criteria for choice of the language(s) of instruction, for lecturers’ language proficiency, reading material, and specification of achievement in each language are needed.
8. Principles for the language of university administration.
9. Strategies for languages of publication.
10. Policies for research dissemination and popularisation nationally and internationally.
11. Elaboration of relevant digital tools for staff and students. Recommendations (3)<br>
slide39. Implications for language policy ‘International’ staff must become bilingual, just as well-qualified foreign language teachers are.
At all levels of education, translation, between a diversity of languages, needs strengthening.
Translation should be integral to communicative language learning, within the diversity of English-using cultures, and critical pedagogy.
Linguistic capital accumulation or dispossession needs constant monitoring.
There needs to be awareness of the fact that however useful English currently is, accepting English as a lingua nullius is harmful for other languages.<br>
slide40. The future? Chinese?<br>
slide42. Zwei-/Mehrsprachige Universitäten lassen sich durch folgende Kriterien definieren, Michael Langner 2+ languages as medium of instruction
25+% bilingual degrees at the institution
Choice of language for the dissertation
Encouragement to write in L2
Ongoing quality evaluation
An explicit language policy
Self-instructional language learning centre
Languages integral to corporate identity
Research into multilingualism
Official documents in 2+ languages
Majority of website texts in the relevant languages
Everyday interaction of students and staff in 2+ languages.
Right to the bi-/multilingual university label requires 7+ criteria<br>
slide43. A taxonomy of variables impacting on multilingual higher education and research Status dimensions (status and prestige planning)
Macro level: international, national, and institutional multilingual context and constraints; hierarchies in global and the local language ecologies; economics and processes of linguistic capital accumulation or dispossession; extent of language maintenance in central domains; degree of respect for linguistic human rights.
Micro level: language use in core university activities, spoken and written, and on websites; awareness of language rights, language duties and linguistic diversity.<br>
slide44. Policy decisions (discourse planning) on
explicit and implicit, overt and covert, language policies for
an institution, including internal and external communications
a department, and for all degrees at BA, MA and PhD levels
medium/media of instruction in learning and examining contexts
institutional and personal multilingual identity, perceptions of multilingualism
criteria for assessing quality of teaching, of research, and for promotion
languages of publication; language policy in bibliometric quantification
certification of language competence of staff and/or students
responsibility for implementing and monitoring language policy decisions<br>
slide45. Processes for creating and maintaining communities of practice (acquisition planning)
Functional goals for academic language competence development, staff & students
Learning processes relative to proficiency development for differentiated activities: in reception (listening, reading) and in production (speaking, writing); IT integration; role of translation and contrastive language study
Teacher and student roles in knowledge assimilation and creation at all levels
Development of metalinguistic, metacommunicative and intercultural awareness
Knowledge sharing within an institution and externally:
International scholarly articles and books
Local mass media popularization, textbooks and reference works<br>
slide46. Form in Language 1/Language 2/Language 3/… (corpus and usage planning) as determined in
Codification in authoritative reference works and materials
Conventional linguistic form in genres and discourses for academic purposes
Terminology and usage creation when needed
Technology (technology planning)
Language learning centre
Internet-based teaching and learning support, online materials, etc
Development of language technology software.<br>
slide47. British Council expert ‘advice’ ‘English is now seen as a “basic skill” which all children require if they are fully to participate in 21st century civil society ... It can now be used to communicate to people from almost any country in the world … We are fast moving into a world in which not to have English is to be marginalised and excluded.’
David Graddol, 2006<br>
slide48. Stefan Collini The changing, or changed university The idea of a university has been corrupted by subordination to short-term instrumental, reductive, generally economic goals.
Students are seen less as seekers after truth and knowledge and more as consumers.
The evaluation of research, and of concomitant funding, focuses on ‘impact’ factors that have little bearing on how research quality is generated.
A small number of ‘elite’ universities are exceptionally well funded, while a large number of poorly-funded institutions have limited research capacity.
Quality in dynamic departments has been undermined by the creation of suspect, ever-larger inter-disciplinary units.<br>
slide49. Stefan Collini: the British experience Administration has become top-down management inspired by principles from commerce.
Universities are run as businesses and no longer receive government funding for teaching activities. Foreign students pay exorbitant fees, while which most British and EU students take on large loans to cover fees.
Reliance on market forces results in essential subjects, especially in the humanities, foreign languages in particular, being eliminated for short-term financial reasons.
An excessive number of ‘for profit’ institutions of dubious quality can call themselves universities. As in the USA, venture capital involvement and shareholder expectations are undermining academic autonomy and self-definition.<br>
slide50. Linguistic justice in the EU It is arguable that the EU practices equality between 24 official and working languages, in speech and writing, for some key purposes.
It is arguable that some languages, and their speakers, have more rights than others in managing the affairs of the EU, its institutions and funded activities.
Linguistic hegemony?<br>