Chinese perceptions of Inner Circle varieties of English

Evans, Betsy

doi:10.1111/j.1467-971x.2010.01642.x

Cited by 26 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Although some scholars claim that Japan has rejected (cultural) Westernisation (Hashimoto, 2007), it is still true that English language learning has been promoted extensively and that many people, including students and businesspeople, go to a private English conversation school to learn eikaiwa, 'conversational English' (McKenzie, 2008b, p. 275). While it seems natural that these respondents would draw on second language learning experiences to carry out the task in this survey, ease of understanding/learning was not a salient issue for Chinese university students surveyed (Evans, 2010;Garrett, 2009). A potential explanation for this discrepancy may be due to the intense English language learning situation in Japan described above.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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‘If we say English, that means America’: Japanese students’ perceptions of varieties of English

Evans

Imai

2011

Language Awareness

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This paper reports the results of a survey of 101 Japanese university students' perceptions of different varieties of English using an open-ended questionnaire. Participants indicated their first impressions of varieties of English that they had named. This methodology allows participants themselves to provide the specific varieties as well as the evaluative categories and avoids problems associated with using voice stimuli while capturing the stereotypes of the countries they name, a method of research well-established in perceptual dialectology. There were consistent patterns of evaluation of Englishes not found in similar research such as characterisations of US English as authentic, the default variety, a familiar or easy variety. Typically, when evaluating varieties of English, respondents attribute higher status to UK English than US English. Capturing the attitudes of non-native speakers to varieties of English provides understanding of the influences on the shape of English as a global language as attitudes are known to be a powerful influence on the usage and perceptions of language varieties. among the UK respondents they surveyed. Thus, an interesting question remains about the discrepancy between the evaluation of varieties in question by native speakers in previous research and the evaluation by non-native speakers found by McKenzie, particularly perhaps since McKenzie did not include the stereotypically status-preferred RP variety.McKenzie (2008c) also found that these same Japanese learners of English were relatively good at correctly identifying the US varieties as originating from the US but not the country of origin of the other varieties. For example, 59% of the respondents identified Southern US English and 54% correctly identified the Midwest US English as American. Only 32% identified Glaswegian standard and 31% Glaswegian vernacular as originating from the UK. McKenzie (2008b) calls for more research on attitudes to varieties of English to better understand these attitudes and inform language planning policy and language pedagogy.It seems that how non-native speakers perceive different varieties of Inner Circle Englishes remains unclear. As such, we feel that research on those varieties is merited; however, we do not intend, by conducting such research, to suggest that Inner Circle varieties are more important than Outer and Expanding circle varieties or to reinforce the hegemonic position of Inner Circle varieties. We believe that perceptions and attitudes to different varieties of English are crucial towards understanding the use and form of global English. So, while some scholars believe 'A socially realistic approach to language has to recognise that variation exists within a national variety, whether American, Australian, or British -and the same is true of Englishes in the Outer and Expanding Circles' (Kachru & Smith, 2009, p. 6), research on attitudes towards those varieties and the power those

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…As indicated above, previous research has reported that these comments are usually reserved for UK English and not typically associated with US English. In addition, Chinese respondents did not show a similar attribution of US English being the 'original' version of English (Evans, 2010;Garrett, 2009).…”

Section: Usamentioning

confidence: 93%

‘If we say English, that means America’: Japanese students’ perceptions of varieties of English

Evans

Imai

2011

Language Awareness

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“…Generally, research on the use of English at Chinese universities have remained focused on attitudes of Chinese learners towards various English varieties (e.g. Kirkpatrick and Xu ; Gao et al ; Hu ; ; Young ; Fong ; He and Li ; Evans ), and this study aims to provide what appears to be much needed sociolinguistic data on the actual use of English at Chinese universities (Bolton , Bolton and Graddol )…”

Section: The Research Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

English‐medium instruction at a university in Macau: Policy and realities

Botha

2013

World Englishes

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This paper discusses the sociolinguistic background to the use of English in higher education in Macau by presenting the results of a sociolinguistic survey on the use of English in a privatelyowned university in the special administrative region of Macau. A survey of language use and attitudes was administered to 26 teaching staff and 227 undergraduate students at the university in mid-2012. The results report on the status and functions of English at the university, as well as attitudes and ideologies. However, they also point to a gap between the stated policy of the institution and the realities of language use at the university, and also provide insights into the ways in which English is used outside the formal curriculum. 1 *

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“…Furthermore, Munro [13] studied international graduate students' views toward English and found their positive attitude toward American English. There have also been quite a few studies revealing student participants' favorable attitudes toward other native speaker models, such as British English [16,17]. The findings of substantial relevant research studies also show nonnative English speakers' general preference for native speaker models, as it was found in Jenkins's [22].…”

Section: A Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Interestingly, the most preferred variety in native speaker models is not necessarily American English. Contrararily, Evans' [16] study, which examined 247 Chinese university students' views of the English varieties, shows American English is not likely to be a model considered -standard‖ among all. In Ladegaard and Sachdev [17], which examined perceptions of different English varieties, British English (RP) was rated the highest in terms of performance model.…”

Section: B Related Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of International Education on Students Attitude toward English as Lingua Franca

Wang¹,

Ho²

2013

Proceedings of the 2013 International Academic Workshop on Social Science (IAW-SC-13)

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Abstract-English has long been widely used as a lingua franca (ELF) for intercultural communication and inevitably evolved into various varieties due to its nativisation and localization in different contexts. Its recognition and acceptance, accordingly, are crucial for successful intercultural communication, a goal of international education in higher educational settings. Much research on ELF or world Englishes has been conducted and has findings related to attitudes toward the sociolinguistic reality due to the use of ELF. However, sporadic studies have been conducted on attitudes towards ELF of the students in settings where international education of different forms are provided, and none has been done to compare impacts of these forms on students' ELF attitudes. Therefore, the study introduced in this paper aimed to investigate ELF attitudes of students studying in two types of programs in the same university, one type (the first type) with English as instructional means for all courses and to local students and their international classmates and the other (the second type) with English used only in the 4-year English classes. Questionnaire data were collected and analyzed statistically. Results of the study show significant differences in attitudes of the two groups and have implications for the international education to students in higher educational settings.

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Chinese perceptions of Inner Circle varieties of English

Cited by 26 publications

References 28 publications

‘If we say English, that means America’: Japanese students’ perceptions of varieties of English

‘If we say English, that means America’: Japanese students’ perceptions of varieties of English

English‐medium instruction at a university in Macau: Policy and realities

Impact of International Education on Students Attitude toward English as Lingua Franca

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