They DO Speak English: World Englishes in U.S. Schools

JoAnn (Jodi) Crandall, University of Maryland Baltimore County

With increases in the number of speakers of English, the number of countries in which English has official status, and the number of people who are studying English for personal, academic, or professional reasons, there is also an increase in variation in the sound systems, grammars, and vocabularies of English as it is used around the world. This diversity of Englishes is evident: We see the Nobel Prize for Literature being awarded to authors who write in different English varieties, we watch television programs and movies in which diverse Englishes are used, and we hear a wide range of Englishes employed by broadcast journalists on CNN and other networks.

Among the estimated 1.5 billion speakers of English, only 350 to 450 million speak English as a first language. An equivalent number speak English as a second language, many of them in countries where their variety of English has official status. An even greater number of people speak English as a foreign language, using English as a language of international communication (Crystal 1995, 1997). To capture this diversity of Englishes and the global spread of English, Braj Kachru (1988, 1992) has proposed three concentric circles representing traditions of English use:

The term World Englishes, then, recognizes the global spread of English and the maintenance of different local or national varieties of English, especially among individuals in the Outer Circle countries.

World Englishes in the Schools

In many ESOL classrooms in the United States, diverse Englishes are neither accepted nor understood. The view that there is one appropriate English for use in school is all too common. Immigrant students who arrive in the United States speaking English may face judgment of their English variety as “odd” or “bad.” A student from Ghana said, “So when I came here, they were laughing at me, and I’m like, why are they laughing at me for, because I didn’t talk with their accent.” Many speakers of World Englishes report being told by students and teachers alike that they were “not speaking proper English.” Even teachers are not immune to these comments. An English teacher from Trinidad reported that a student once asked her, “How can you teach English when you don’t even speak it?”

Speakers of World Englishes represent a significant community of immigrant students in some U.S. schools, but their special needs are often not adequately addressed either in programs of special support or in the mainstream classroom. Because the variety of English they speak can differ substantially from varieties of American English, these students may not even be considered English speakers. At the same time, because they speak a variety of English, they are not considered to be English language learners as traditionally defined. For those with low literacy due to limited or interrupted schooling, neither traditional placement with a reading resource specialist nor placement with English language learners in an ESOL literacy class is likely to be appropriate. For students with substantial schooling and literacy skills, neither a mainstream English class nor an advanced ESOL reading and writing class may be appropriate. When there are sufficient numbers of World English speakers in one school or district, it is possible to provide special courses for them. When that is not possible, schools may rely on the ESOL teacher to assess the student’s English language and literacy and propose an instructional program. While ESOL teachers have an important role to play, few of them were given the opportunity to learn about the status and nature of Englishes around the world in their teacher preparation programs (see Brown, 2002). The same is true for most mainstream teachers as well.

A Professional Development Program Focused on World Englishes

Several years ago, I worked closely with a large, diverse school district in which World English speakers from the Caribbean and West Africa were the second-fastest growing population of immigrant students. Many of these students had limited formal schooling or English literacy. There was considerable concern about the education these students were receiving, especially the older students with limited literacy. This prompted the school district and the M.A. TESOL program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to design and offer a graduate course, World Englishes and Their Speakers, to help participants better understand these students and offer appropriate instructional programs for them. The objectives of the course were to

• foster increased understanding of the cultures and communities of World English speakers;
• help create an awareness of the varieties of English spoken by these students;
• identify ways of validating these students’ English varieties and assisting them in acquiring the Standard American English expected in their classrooms; and
• provide strategies to assist these students in developing academic literacy and skills.

Participants in the course included teachers, administrators, testing specialists, and graduate students in the M.A. TESOL program. It was taught by district and university faculty and a staff member from the Center for Applied Linguistics, assisted by a group of students who were World English speakers and by key adult members of their communities.

Each course participant interacted weekly with a World-English-speaking student through a dialogue journal (a notebook in which they wrote to each other) and provided one-to-one tutoring focused on helping that student acquire academic English and literacy. They reviewed materials about the student’s country and developed an annotated bibliography for distribution to the class. They also conducted a case study of the student’s background, educational experiences and expectations, future plans, and language, using the weekly tutoring sessions or dialogue journals as an opportunity to learn more about the student. In addition, they audiotaped and transcribed a sample of the student’s speech, collected and analyzed the student’s writings, and discussed the effects of various instructional strategies they used in working with the student.

In the initial class meetings, the class discussed language varieties and World Englishes, drawing on readings by Crystal (1995, 1997) on the spread of English; Kachru (1988, 1992) on the Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circles of English; McArthur (1998) on the nature of standard languages; and Winer (1993), Romaine (1988), and Nero (1997) on Creoles and creolization relevant to the countries of the students they were working with. The class focused on one country each week. During that week, students from that country and key members of the immigrant community were invited to class to talk about the community, the educational experiences in the home country, and their experiences in U.S. schools. This gave students in the class the opportunity to listen to a range of English varieties spoken by adolescents and adults and also to hear firsthand what it feels like to be a speaker of an “other” English. They developed a sense of the similarities among the various Caribbean and West African Englishes and compared these varieties to African American Vernacular English, which was widely spoken in the school district.

In their discussions, writings, and interviews, course participants reported that they learned about the range and systematic nature of English varieties and dialects, the ways in which linguistic diversity can be a resource, the need for an explicit district policy governing language expectations in their classes, and strategies to foster respect for World English speakers in school.

In looking back at attitudes they had brought to the class, a number of teachers reported that they had been quite “condescending” toward these students, believing their languages were “less-developed forms of expression.” Learning about World Englishes from educated speakers helped them to understand that there are many standard varieties of English around the world, as well as many nonstandard varieties, all of which need to be viewed as a resource. Working through their attitudes toward multiple varieties of English helped the teachers see the importance of developing clear policies regarding language expectations and use in their classes.
For example, one teacher suggested that oral and written assignments might warrant different policies. As she explained, students engaged in “a discussion of marriage customs around the world” might use their indigenous varieties but be expected to switch to Standard American English in written assignments. Another teacher wrote that “Teachers in the United States must be aware of the language used in their [students’] communities or homes as being different from that used in the school” and that rather than trying to eliminate that variety, they should teach students to code-switch.

In describing the steps she was going to use to help build an atmosphere of respect for English language varieties in her classes, another teacher summed up much of what the course had hoped to achieve. She said that she would

• encourage the students to talk about their experience in their countries;
• record and replay tapes of students’ speech, pointing out the commonalities among different varieties;
• identify parallels between Black English and other varieties of English; and
• encourage speakers of other varieties to use those varieties at times.

Some Strategies to Assist World English Speakers in U.S. Schools

Through readings, discussions with a range of educators and community members, and personal experiences, class members identified a number of strategies that could help create a more supportive educational environment for World English speakers and assist them in their transition to U.S. schools and their acquisition of Standard American English. These strategies, as well as those that have been discussed more recently by other educators (Adger, 1997; Crandall, 1995; Crandall & Greenblatt, 1999; Nero, 1997; Sewell, 1997; Sewell, in press) are summarized here. They are especially relevant for English and ESOL teachers but could be applied by any teacher. They are of critical importance for middle and high school students, but students at all educational levels would benefit from them.

Foster an atmosphere of respect for students’ English varieties.

• Introduce literature (folk tales, stories, proverbs, etc.) in which different English varieties are used.
• Invite respected community members who speak different varieties of English to speak to the class.
• Engage students in research projects in which they study different varieties of English.

Build on the English varieties that students bring to class.

• Engage students in written dialogues with teachers where they can use their variety of English but also see the Standard American English forms in the teacher’s responses.
• Allow the use of different varieties in prewriting and drafting of papers and in language experience stories.
• Base early writing assignments on personal, family, or traditional stories.
• Include students’ writings in the collection of texts that students read.

Focus on developing written Standard American English.

• Provide extensive opportunities for students to use Standard American English in their reading and writing.
• Provide frequent opportunities for students to draft, revise, edit, and share their writings.
• Use small-group guided reading to foster discussions about similarities and differences in English varieties.

Be explicit about the major differences between the students’ Englishes and Standard American English.

• Provide contrasting sentences in Standard American English and a student’s variety of English to help students notice grammatical and lexical differences.
• Discuss differences in spelling conventions.
• Make academic English discourse and rhetorical conventions explicit.

Use thematic units that integrate academic content (mathematics, science, social studies) from several disciplines and offer substantial academic language and literacy demands.

• Point out that all students are learning new language, especially vocabulary, when they learn academic English.
• Focus attention on vocabulary, grammar, and spelling conventions.
• Encourage collaborative projects in which pairs or groups of World English students work together.
• Engage students in investigating language differences, language attitudes, and dialect diversity.
• Develop jigsaw reading activities in which each student is responsible for being an expert on a portion of the text.

Be cautious in interpreting the results of standardized tests of English.

• Explain to administration and faculty that the scores on standardized English placement exams are based on norms of Standard American English (see Lowenberg, 2002, for examples).
• Advocate for adaptation of assessment instruments to recognize different English varieties.
• Develop alternative assessments that record students’ actual reading and writing abilities in their English varieties.

For students with limited literacy or prior schooling, develop special instructional programs.

• Offer small-group basic literacy classes.
• Involve former literacy-level World English students in cross-age or cross-proficiency tutoring with current students.
• Provide sufficient instructional time through special literacy classes, afterschool programs, weekend programs, or summer school.

Conclusion

As linguistic and cultural diversity becomes the norm in U.S. schools, all teachers and school staff need preparation and professional development to better understand diverse students, their English varieties, and the relationship of these varieties to Standard American English. Appropriate professional development will help teachers learn how to foster greater respect for English varieties in the school and to adapt instruction so that World English speakers can develop the academic English expected in American schools while also retaining pride in their own variety of English and in the culture and identity that that variety represents. They DO speak English!

References

Adger, C. (1997). Issues and implications of English dialects for teaching English as a second language (TESOL Professional Papers No. 3). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

Brown, K. (2002). Ideology and context: World Englishes and EFL teacher training. World Englishes, 21(3), 59-73.

Crandall, J. A. (1995). Reinventing (America’s) schools: The role of the applied linguist. In James E. Alatis (Ed.), Linguistics and the education of language teachers: Ethnolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and sociolinguistic aspects (pp. 412-427). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Crandall, J. A., & Greenblatt, L. (1999). Teaching beyond the middle: Meeting the needs of underschooled and high-achieving immigrant students. In M. Basterra (Ed.), Excellence and equity in education for language minority students: Critical issues and promising practices (pp. 43-80). Chevy Chase, MD: The Mid-Atlantic Equity Center.

Crystal, D. (1995). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kachru, B. B. (1988). Teaching world Englishes. ERIC/CLL News Bulletin, 12(1), 1,3-4,8.

Kachru, B. B. (1992, January). World Englishes: Approaches, issues and resources. Language Teaching: The International Abstracting Journal for Language Teachers and Applied Linguists, 1-14.

Lowenberg, P. (2002). Assessing English in the expanding circle. World Englishes, 21(3), 431-435.

McArthur, T. (1998). The English languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nero, S. J. (1997). ESL or ESD? Teaching English to Caribbean English speakers. TESOL Journal, 7(2), 6-10.

Romaine, S. (1988). Pidgin and Creole languages. New York: Longman.

Sewell, D. (1997, June/July). World English speakers in ESL classes: Not a perfect match. TESOL Matters, 7(3), 1, 22.

Sewell, D. (in press). World English-speakers: Moving from the outer to inner circle. WATESOL Newsletter.

Winer, L. (1993). Teaching speakers of Caribbean English Creoles in North American classrooms. In A. W. Glowka & D. M. Lance (Eds.), Language variation in North American English: Research and teaching (pp. 191-198). New York: Modern Language Association.