The status of non-native speaker in the context of English as a Lingua Franca


Abstract


This paper examines the complex concept of native and non-native speaker, a dichotomy which is central to studies of language acquisition, and inevitably informs almost all of language teaching and assessment. The non-native speaker has often been side-lined in linguistic theory. In areas such as applied and sociolinguistics, it has often been dismissed as a poor imitation of a native speaker. However, in the specific area of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), it has been argued that the contribution of the non-native speaker is more relevant than that of the native speaker (Kachru 1985; Seidlhofer 2005, 2011). In this paper, we will examine the concepts of native and non-native speakers and pose the question of how far the concept of native speaker is appropriate or useful in the era of English as a global lingua franca used among predominately non-native speakers. We will first look at its place in general linguistic theory (Chomsky 1965/1968/1981; Pinker 1994). Then, by analysing the processes of first and second language acquisition (Selinker 1972; Krashen 1982; Krashen and Terrell 1983), we will identify the differences between native and non-native speakers. Next, we will discuss the arguments that have been made against elevating the native speaker to the status of sole legitimate point of reference for language teaching and assessment (Cook 1999; Graddol 2007; Rinvolucri 2001). After this, we will examine the contributions that non-native speakers can play in the evolution of language: the way that specific languages (in this case English) – popularly perceived as the property and heritage of native speakers – can be seen to have been shaped not only by native speakers but also by the contribution, direct and indirect, of non-native speakers (Brutt-Griffler 2002; McWhorter 2007; Christiansen 2021). Finally, we will argue that the native – non-native speaker distinction is not useful in the context of ELF, it being a variation of English which manifests itself differently on each occasion depending on the linguistic competence of the speakers and their respective linguacultural backgrounds. Rather, we argue, one should talk about a third category, that of the highly proficient user (as identified by Graddol 2007), to describe all those speakers, native or non-native of English, who have reached an advanced level in those linguistic, communicative competences that are required to perform effectively specifically within ELF.

 


DOI Code: 10.1285/i22390359v53p77

Keywords: native speaker; non-native speaker; ELF; language teaching; language assessment

References


Bailey, Charles J. / Maroldt, Karl. 1977. “The French lineage of English.” In Meisel, Jürgen M (ed.) Langues en contact – Pidgins – Creoles. Tübingen: Narr, pp. 21-53.

Baker, Colin / Wright, Wayne E. 2021. Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (3rd ed.). Bristol: Channel View Publications.Bleses, Dorthe / Vach, Werner / Slott, Malene / Wehberg, Sonja. 2008. “Early vocabulary development in Danish and other languages: A CDI-based comparison”. Journal of Child Language, Vol. 35, Issue 3, 619-650.

Bloomfield, L. 1933. Language. New York (NY): Holt Rinehart Winston.

Brutt-Griffler, Janina. 2002. World English: A Study of its Development. Channel View Publications / Multilingual Matters, Bristol.

Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.

Chomsky, Noam. 1980. Rules and Representations. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Chomsky, Noam. 1968. Language and Mind. New York (NY): Brace and World.

Chomsky, Noam. 1966. Cartesian linguistics: a chapter in the history of rationalist thought. New York (NY): Harper & Row.

Chomsky, Noam. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge (MA): The MIT Press

Christiansen, Thomas. 2021. The Multilingual Roots of English: The Birth of a Lingua Franca, Alessandria (TO), Edizioni dell’Orso.

Christiansen, Thomas. 2019. “The role of affinity in attitudes towards the English of native and non-native speakers” In Lingue e Linguaggi 30, pp. 87-105.

Christiansen, Thomas. 2018a. “Are native speakers the only model for ELF users?” Lingue e Linguaggi 26, pp. 101-120.

Christiansen, Thomas. 2018b “The role of celebrity in attitudes to the English of native and non-native speakers. A case study of female Italian ELF users” In Lingue e Linguaggi 28, pp. 7-32.

Christiansen, Thomas. 2017. “ELF-oriented attitudes to learning English.” In Lingue e Linguaggi 21. pp 57-77.

Cook, Vivian. 1999. “Going beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching”. TESOL Quarterly, 33, 2, pp. 185-209.

Corder, Stephen. Pit (1967). “The significance of learners’ errors.” International Review of Applied Linguistics, 5, pp. 161–70.

Coulmas, Florian (ed.). 1981. A Festschrift for native speaker. The Hague: Mouton.

Council of Europe. 2020. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, available at www.coe.int/lang-cefr.

Council of Europe 2001, The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Dailey-O'Cain, Jennifer. 1998. “What does the second-language learner know about sociolinguistic stereotypes in the target language.” Paper given at the conference Trends/Tendances, Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics, Ottawa

Darwin, Charles R. 1871. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray.

Davies, Alan. 1996. “Proficiency or the native speaker: what are we trying to achieve in ELT?” In Cook, Guy / Seidlhofer, Barbara (eds.). Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 145-157.

Dawkins, Richard. 1996. The Blind Watchmaker. New York (NY): W. W. Norton & Company.

Dulay, Heidi C. / Burt, Marina K. (1975) “A new approach to discovering universal strategies of child second language acquisition.” In Dato, Daniel P. (ed.) Developmental Psycholinguistics: Theory and Applications. Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics. Washington: Georgetown University Press. pp. 209-233.

Dulay, Heidi C. / Burt, Marina K. (1974) “Natural sequences in child second language acquisition.” Language Learning 24: pp. 37-53.

Ferguson, Charles A. 1959. “Diglossia.” Word, 15, pp. 325-340

Filppula, Markku / Klemola, Juhani / Pitkänen, Heli. 2002. “Early contacts between English and the Celtic Languages.” In Filppula, Markku / Klemola, Juhani / Pitkänen, Heli (eds.). The Celtic Roots of English. Studies in Language, Volume 37. Joensuu: University of Joensuu, Faculty of the Humanities. pp. 1-26.

Forche, Christian, R. 2012. “On the emergence of Euro-English as a potential European variety of English – attitudes and interpretations”. Jezikoslovlje (Linguistics) 13 [2], 447-478.

Forster, Peter / Renfrew, Colin. 2011. “Mother Tongue and Y Chromosomes”. Science 333, pp. 1390-1391.

García, Ofelia / Li, Wei. 2014. Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke.

García, Ofelia. 2009. Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective. Oxford: Blackwell.

Giles, Howard / Smith, Philip. 1979. “Accommodation theory: optimal levels of convergence”. In Giles, Howard / St. Clair, Robert (eds.). Language and social psychology”. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 45-65.

Gordon, Peter (1986) “Level-ordering in lexical development”. Cognition 21, 73-93.

Graddol, David. 2007. English Next. London: The British Council.

Hickey, Raymond. 2012. “Early English and the Celtic Hypothesis.” In Nevalainen, Terttu / Closs Traugott, Elizabeth (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of the History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 497-507.

Johnson, Jacqueline S. / Newport, Elissa L. 1989. “Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language.” Cognitive Psychology, 21(1), pp. 60–99.

Johnson, Keith / Johnson, Helen (eds.) 1998. Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

Kachru, Braj, B. 1985. “Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: the English language in the outer circle”. In Quirk, Randolph / Widdowson, Henry G. (eds.). English in the World: Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 11-30.

Kachru, Braj, B. 2005. Asian Englishes: Beyond the Canon. Honk Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Krashen, Stephen D. 1973. “Lateralization, language learning and the critical period: Some new evidence.” Language Learning 23: 63–74.

Krashen, Stephen D. 1981. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Pergamon.

Krashen, Stephen D. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.

Krashen, Stephen D. / Terrell, Tracy D.1983. The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. New York: Prentice-Hall.

Labov, William. 1969. “The logic of non-standard English”. In Giglioli, Pier. Paolo (ed.) Language and Social Context. Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 179-215.

Lenneberg, Eric Heinz 1967. Biological foundations of language. New York: Wiley.

Levis, John M. 2005. “Changing Contexts and Shifting Paradigms in Pronunciation Teaching”. TESOL Quarterly, Vol 39 no. 3, pp. 369-377.

Li, Wei. 2018. “Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language”. Applied Linguistics, Vol. 39, Issue 1, 9-30.

McArthur, Tom. 1998. The English Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McArthur, Tom. (ed.). 1992. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

McWhorter, John H. 2007. Language Interrupted: Signs of Non-Native Acquisition in Standard Language Grammars. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.

Mollin, Sandra. 2006. Euro-English. Assessing Variety Status. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.

Oppenheimer, Stephen. 2007. The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story: the surprising roots of the English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh. New York (NY): Carroll & Graf.

Pinker, Steven. 1994. The Language Instinct. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Poussa, Patricia. 1990. “A Contact-Universals Origin for Periphrastic Do, with Special Consideration of OE-Celtic Contact.” In Adamson, Sylvia / Law, Vivien / Vincent, Nigel / Wright, Susan (eds.) Papers from the Fifth International Conference on English Historical Linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 407–34.

Preußler, Walter. 1938. “Keltischer Einfl uß im Englischen.” IndoGermaniche Forschungen 56, pp. 178–91.

Rinvolucri, Mario. 2001. “Mother tongue in the foreign language classroom. Why and how.” Modern English Language Teacher, Volume 10/2, pp. 41-44.

Roberts, Gregg / Leite, Jamie / Wade, Ofelia Wade. 2018. “Monolingualism is the Illiteracy of the Twenty-First Century.” Hispania, Vol. 100 / 5, pp. 116-118.

Sanquillet, Michel / Peterson, Elmer (eds.). 1978. The Essential Writings of Marcel Duchamps. London: Thames and Hudson.

Saxon, Matthew. 2017. Child Language Acquisition and Development (2nd Edition). London: SAGE.

Schumann, John. 1978. “The acculturation model for second-language acquisition.” In Gingras, Rosario C. (ed.) Second-Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching. Arlington, Virginia: Center for Applied Linguistics. pp. 27-50.

Searle, John R. 1980. “Minds, Brains, and Programs.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 3, Issue 3, September 1980, pp. 417 – 424.

Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2011. Understanding English as a Lingua Franca: A complete introduction to the theoretical nature and practical implications of English used as a lingua franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2005. “Key concepts in ELT: English as a lingua franca”. ELT Journal, pp. 339-341.

Selinker, Larry. 1972. “Interlanguage”. International Review of Applied Linguistics 10, pp. 201-231.

Sinclair, John (ed.). 1995. Collins COBUILD English Dictionary. London: Harper Collins.

Skinner, Burrhus F. 1953. Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1999. A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of The Vanishing Present. Calcutta: Seagull Books.

Sykes, Brian. 2006. Blood of the Isles. London: Bantam Press.

Tomasello, Michael. 1996. “Do apes ape? In Heyes, Celia M. / Galef, Bennett G., Jr. (eds) Social learning in animals: The roots of culture (Ed. by) San Diego (CA): Academic Press, Inc, pp. 319-346.

Tolkien, John R. R. 1963. “English and Welsh”. In Lewis, Henry (ed.). Angles and Britons: O’Donnell Lectures. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 1-41.

Tristram, Hildegard L.C. 2004. “Diglossia in Anglo-Saxon England, or what was spoken Old English like?” Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 40, pp.87-110.

Turing, Alan M. 1950. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Mind, Volume LIX, Issue 236, October 1950, pp. 433–460,

Van der Veer, René / Valsiner, Jaan (1991). Understanding Vygotsky. A quest for synthesis. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Watson, John B. 1924. Behaviorism. New York: People’s Institute.

Widdowson, Henry G. 2015. “ELF and the pragmatics of language variation”. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 4(2), 359-372.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
کاغذ a4

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.