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Going Global by Ian McMaster

Before you read this article, you may first find it useful to try this exercise.

Everyone seems to be doing it. Taxi drivers in Beijing are learning English in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, and Chile wants to make its 15 million citizens bilingual in Spanish and English within a generation. In his report for the British Council, English Next, David Graddol predicts that 'within a few years there could be around 2 billion people learning English' - nearly a third of the world's population.

The spread of English is both a cause and result of globalization. But Graddol warns that this trend is 'probably not a cause of celebration by native speakers'. In a world in which English becomes a global basic skill, says Graddol, native English-speakers will lose their historic competitive advantage.

Another British language expert, David Crystal, has estimated that only about a quarter of the 1.5 billion or so people who speak English are native speakers from countries like Australia, Britain or the US. A further quarter live in countries where, for historical reasons, English plays an important role as a second language, such as India, Nigeria and Singapore. The biggest group, however, consists of those who have learned English as a foreign language. Indeed, it is often claimed - although nobody knows for sure - that around 80 per cent of the world's communication in English is between non-native speakers using the language with each other as a lingua franca rather than with native speakers. If this is true, are the traditional native-speaker models such as British or American English still relevant for learners?

In a recent Business Spotlight survey, more than 1,000 German-speakers gave detailed information about how they use English at work. The most common tasks they performed were reading and writing e-mails, telephoning, reading and writing letters, reading job-specific literature, and socializing and making small talk.

The survey also found that, although 83 per cent of respondents used English with non-native speakers, 67 per cent said they communicated with native speakers (both are, of course, possible). One reason was that Britain and the US were the countries with which German-speakers were most likely to have business contacts in English. On the other hand, growing trade with China and countries from central and eastern Europe is increasing the importance of communication with other non-native speakers.

Interestingly, despite the importance of business contacts with Britain and the US, only 18 per cent said British English was the most important variety of English for them in their jobs, and just 13 per cent chose American English. The biggest group (45 per cent) chose "international English", while 31 per cent had no preference.

But what is international English?

The problem is that there is currently no clearly defined model of international English. Instead, the term is used to cover a number of very different concepts:

a) To some people, it means a specific, reduced form of English, with a limited vocabulary and a simplified grammar. One example is the 1,500-word 'Globish' developed by Jean-Paul Nerrière, a former vice-president of IBM. Other simplified models exist within individual companies and for specific professions, such as pilots. But there is no widely accepted version, and it is doubtful whether such simplified versions of English can really meet the sophisticated needs of the modern business world.

b) To others, international English means a simpler and clearer style of English that native speakers should also learn to use internationally (also sometimes called 'Offshore English'). In our survey, 39 per cent of respondents said they found other non-native speakers easier to understand, with just 24 per cent having fewer problems with native speakers. 'This means that native speakers really need to improve their international communication skills,' says Steve Flinders, a director of York Associates.

A simpler style of English could include:

not talking too quickly or unclearly (which our survey identified as the biggest problems that native-speakers cause non-native speakers);
using shorter sentences and simpler grammar;
avoiding abbreviations ('asap' or 'MD');
avoiding culturally specific idioms;
checking regularly for understanding;
rephrasing things that are not clear;
summarizing frequently.

Why do you find it difficult to understand native speakers?

business spotlight reader survey results

Source: Business Spotlight reader survey, 2007 (unpublished). Respondents: 1058 German-speakers who use English at work.

c) International English is also sometimes used to mean all the various different 'World Englishes'. These include not just native-speaker varieties but also those that combine English and a local language, such as Singlish (Singaporean English), Taglish (a combination of Tagalog and English, spoken in the Philippines) and Hinglish (a combination of English and south Asian languages, such as Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu). Some people fear that these varieties may become so different that they will be mutually unintelligible. For example, Hinglish has the word 'prepone', which means 'bring forward', the logical opposite of 'postpone', and an 'air dash' is a flight taken at short notice. Such words may not be understood by speakers of other varieties of English.

d) Another use of 'international English' is to describe a new spoken standard that may emerge internationally. In English as a Global Language, David Crystal argues that, even if the different varieties of English do diverge, 'the consequences for world English would not necessarily be fatal. a new form of English - let us think of it as "World Standard Spoken English" (WSSE) - would almost certainly arise'. In this scenario, says Crystal, people would have 'their dialects for use within their own country, but when the need came to communicate with people from other countries they would slip into WSSE'. Which current form of English might have the most influence on WSSE? 'It seems likely that it will be US (rather than UK) English,' Crystal wrote. This perfectly plausible prediction has, however, often been mistaken for a recommendation.

e) A very different concept, English as an International Language (EIL), looks at the way English is really used internationally, particularly by non-native speakers. Researchers in this field - such as Jennifer Jenkins at King's College, London, and Barbara Seidlhofer at the University of Vienna - prefer the term 'English as a Lingua Franca' (ELF) to emphasize the fact that most communication is between non-native speakers. Indeed, like many researchers, they reject the terms 'native speaker' and 'non-native speaker'. They argue that the contrast is irrelevant now that so many people grow up bilingual or multilingual, and that 'native speaker' suggests a superiority of the language norms of British and American English.

In their research, Jenkins and Seidlhofer have identified features of native-speaker models that are not essential for clear communication. Examples include the standard pronunciation of 'th' at the start of words, the use of the 's' in the third person singular, and the standard question tags ('do you?', 'didn't she?', etc.). For more examples, see the Comments box from the exercise you did earlier. Jenkins and Seidlhofer argue that if deviations from these norms are common and cause no misunderstanding, they should no longer be regarded as mistakes. They also believe that examinations for English qualifications should be more tolerant of typical deviations from native-speaker norms.

So which model?

The insights from ELF research certainly challenge learners and teachers to think about their views of what 'correct' English is. Some teachers use Jenkins's insights to concentrate on pronunciation features that, if spoken incorrectly, do cause misunderstanding (her 'Lingua Franca Core'). These include the mispronunciation of consonants, and failure to distinguish between short and long vowel sounds.

But the ELF research is still a long way from describing a coherent alternative model (or models) of English. As business English author Ian MacKenzie says, 'a handful of widespread grammatical patterns and pronunciation features do not constitute a fully fledged lingua franca'. And the researchers themselves have been careful not to recommend the active teaching of non-standard forms, such as 'she work', 'informations' or the use of 'isn't it' in all situations as a question tag (similar to n'est-ce pas in French: 'That was a nice meal, isn't it?'). At most, they suggest that learners should be made aware that such forms exist internationally, and that these forms should be tolerated.

Perhaps the most serious criticism of ELF, as well as of simplified varieties of English such as 'Globish', is that they underestimate the desire of many language learners to aspire to (or towards) a native-speaker model - even if they are not communicating mainly with native speakers, and even if they are unlikely to reach native-speaker levels.

In the Business Spotlight survey, for example, 53 per cent of respondents said that it was 'very important' for them to speak English correctly because it 'makes a good impression'. A further 40 per cent said it was 'important'. Only 5 per cent - and many more men than women - said it was 'unimportant as long as I can make myself understood'.

This doesn't, of course, mean that learners or teachers should spend excessive time on the details and culturally specific aspects of a particular native-speaker model, unless that is what they expressly desire. In most cases, I would support what Julie Moore wrote in English Teaching professional in January 2005: 'What learners need is a form of English that is like native English, but without the cultural baggage.'

And as Scott Thornbury says in his book, An A-Z of ELT: 'It is unlikely . that most teachers - and many learners - will accept anything less than some notion of 'Standard English' as their goal, at least for the foreseeable future.'

Ian McMaster is editor-in-chief of the bi-monthly business English magazine, Business Spotlight www.business-spotlight.de