LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 12 December 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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Teaching World Englishes in Pakistan - A Global Criterion

Muhammad Shahbaz, Ph.D. Scholar
Yongbing Liu, Ph.D.

Abstract

There has been a great deal of discussion about the history and traditional ways of teaching English in Pakistan. However, this paper departs from tradition and argues for teaching of different varieties of global lingua franca (English) of post-modern era. Pakistani nation is facing a worst tsunami of economy and we suggest that a possible way to deal with this issue is the learning and teaching of global language and education, where English with different varieties is a must.

We don’t underestimate the importance of English speaking countries but at the same time we urge for giving due respect to the rest of the world which includes Europe, Africa and many Asian countries.

Hence, global as well as local varieties of the language should be incorporated in learning and teaching of English to develop a better understanding of uses of English across different socio-cultural settings. Mostly, English is discussed in political scenario but we advocate for the economic benefits of teaching World Englishes.

Keywords: World Englishes, International English, ELT, Language Ownership.

Introduction

The English language is nobody’s special property. It is the property of the imagination; it is the property of the language itself. (Derek Walcott, 1986)

No doubt, information technology has caused a big change in modern age; however, another phenomenon that has equally contributed to this progress is the global spread of English. English serves a multitude of different purposes now, for unprecedented numbers of different "owners" of it (Gilsdorf, 2002). She further writes, “Paradoxically, it is owned by other cultures, by us, by everyone, and by no one”. Scholars use different terms like English as an international language (e.g. Kirkpatrick 2007; Jenkins, 2000), World Englishes, (e.g. Kachru, 1998a; Kingsley 2004), English as a global language (e.g. Graddol 2006, 2010; Crystal 2003), English as a world language (e.g. Mair 2003) and English as a Lingua Franca (e.g. Jenkins, 2006; Seidlhofer, 2005). However, the fact remains that English has become the working language of the world. At least for next half century (in most cases if not all) no real progress is possible without being fully aware of the role of English language across the globe. For our purpose, we will use the term World Englishes (WE) to refer to different varieties of English or global English.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Muhammad Shahbaz, Ph.D. Scholar
International Students’ Dormitory, Room No. 623
Northeast Normal University
Renmin Street
5268, Changchun
Jilin
China, 130024
shahbazasian@gmail.com

Yongbing Liu, Ph.D. Corresponding Author
Dean, School of Foreign Languages
Northeast Normal University
Renmin Street
5268, Changchun
Jilin
China 130024
ybliu.nenu@gmail.com
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