Saturday, January 25, 2020

Varieties of English: Effects on Teaching English

Varieties of English: Effects on Teaching English The Varieties of English and Its Affects on Teaching English as a Foreign Language English is considered to be the most important language and has gained importance internationally. The English is treated as a means of communicating in the areas of the economy, technology, science, arts, tourism, and sports. English language can be described as a truly global language that people all over the use more than any other language and it functions as an international or world language and it serves as lingua franca for facilitating communication between people who do not share the same first (or even second) language (Harmer, 2007). Since English is considered to be the most important tool for communication globally, the understanding of its varieties also becomes necessary. To give clear view of the use of English in different countries, Kachru (1992) presents the three concentric circles of language. The inner circle represents the places where English is used as first or native language such as Britain, the USA, Australia etc. According to Crystal (2006), there are 400 million native speakers of English language. The outer circle includes the places, such as India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore etc, where English is used as an official language or second language. Crystal (2006) states that there are 400 million speak English as a second language. The Expanding circle represents the countries where English plays no special status but widely used as a lingua franca or medium of international communication and studied as a foreign language, for example, Japan, Egypt, Mexico, Indonesia etc. There are around 600-700 million people use English as a foreign language around the world (Crystal, 2006). These circles clearly show the high status of Englis h language as it becomes an official or second language in more than 100 countries. There are about 2 billion people, one third of the world population speak English all over the world. Varieties of world English include American English. British English, Singapore English (Singalish), Indian English, Australian English, Philippine English, Scottish English, Spanglish, Taglish etc. The existence of different varieties of English around world is because of the spread of English. The spread of English is the result of a number of historical and pragmatic factors (McCrum, 2010). The first factor is the expansion and the influence of British colonization to many parts of the world in the nineteenth century. The second factor is the great influence of United States in world economy and military and Harmer (2013) states that these influences make English to become one of the main language of international businesses. Thirdly, according to Crystal (2003), American technology takes a leading role in the world technology. Besides, the great deal of advertising, broadcasting, popular music and literature around the world use English to express the ideas around the world. Moreover, in education, the most of the academic discourse use English language and it can be one of the main reasons why many countries use English as the foreign language or medium of instruction in schools. Therefore, it is obvious that English becomes a global language as it is the most commonly used in many important fields such as business, education, media, science and technology. According to Greenbaum and Quirk (1991), there are five reasons why varieties of English has evolved: regional, social group, field of discourse, medium and attitudes. The variation occurs in the distinctive features of English which include spelling, pronunciation, lexis, grammar and preferred usages. The varieties of English, as shown in the verbal structures, which express the variations in the aspects are commonly seen in all the varieties around the world. Pronunciation and morphology can be classified in accordance with the frequency of variation seen in the non-standard forms of the English language. The variation in vocabulary is restricted to two types. First, the presence of archaic words and second, the presence of flora and fauna words. The phonological, morphological and syntactical features are the three main features which show the variations in the English language as compared to be the standard form of the language. Out of all the countries around the world, Britain and America are the two main countries that have used a standard form of English. In Britain, the standard form is called as received pronunciation (RP), and in America, the standard form is called by various names, but most common being- general American and network American. Maximum people in America, use General American while speaking. Whereas, a very few people in Britain, use Received Pronunciation while speaking. Other than these two standard forms of English are considered to be the varieties of English. The varieties of English (Fairclough,2014) spoken out of Britain and America are called to be overseas or extraterritorial varieties. English is considered to be an official and often native language. English fulfills the function of a lingua franca (ELF). Many countries, like Nigeria, have used English as a lingua franca (which means a general means of communication). More attention shall be given to the varieties in ELT from various perspectives like grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary (Pennycook.2014). The variations are least at the level of grammar. Thus, are not to be addressed in the English language classroom in detail. But if we talk about pronunciation, the case is totally different. It requires to be studied in detail. The role of varieties of English in ELT to some extent also depends on the teacher. It has been seen that the prospective teachers of ELT are not prepared properly for coping up with the variety-related problems that arise in the classroom. Due to lack of proper training, teachers hesitate to include varieties of English in ELT as they consider it a complex thing (Llurda, 2016). Also, varieties are not considered important by teachers as they usually are not important in exams. The challenges of variation of English language in ELT context can be overcome by strengthening the regional and social varieties in the areas where English is used traditionally as the traditional language by the majority of the population, by growing the self-confidence of the native and non-native users of English to use the regional varieties in the English language without sticking to the norms of using the traditional language as standard as exposing students to as many varieties of English as possible would do more to ensure intelligibility than trying to impose a single standard on everyone (DSouza, 1999) and by adopting ELF in the ELT, due to globalization as English learners will most likely to communicate in English with other non-native ELF speakers in ELF interactions. Although it is impossible and unnecessary to teach all varieties of English in the classroom, students should be given proper training to be able to understand the speakers from different geographical and social differences which needs to include more exposure to varieties and variety-related training in ELT to create awareness, for example, teaching listening skill with the recordings of different speakers with different accents. To conclude, because of the spread of English in British colonization and the influence of USA in economic and military and a wide use of English language in different areas to share the ideas with the world such as media, technology, science and education can make English to become global language. As English become global language, there are many users of English around the world and this lead to different varieties of English. The existence of varieties of English influence in teaching English as the role of varieties in the ELT classroom has gained major importance and thus, can be said to be the most promising way to provide users of English an education which makes them highly competent in terms of communication globally.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Corruption in Bolt’s ‘Man for All Seasons’

Most of us, politically, mentally, morally, socially, live somewhere between the negative pole of Robert Bolt’s â€Å"terrifying cosmos [where] †¦no laws, no sanctions, no mores obtain† (xvi), the nadir of the human spirit and self, and the positive pole he finds in Thomas More, who makes, not only in oaths but in all his dealings, â€Å"an identity between the truth †¦ and his own virtue,† and â€Å"offers himself as a guarantee† (xiii-xiv) – a self which proves incorruptible by either promise or punishment. Near to More’s level of righteousness are his wife and daughter, though he feels the need to protect them from perjuring themselves, a corruption stemming from one of the hardest temptations, protecting their family from harm. Rich and Cromwell are nearer to the lower pole in the play, the former making the complete arc from innocence to its opposite, and the latter starting from a place of moral bankruptcy and guiding Rich there with him. In between is the political corruption of King Henry who won’t let â€Å"all the Popes back to St. Peter [get] between me and my duty† (54), and of Woolsey’s appeal to More along patriotic and anti-war lines. With the exception of More, and those who anchor themselves to him like his family and Will Roper, they are all, like the Boatman’s wife, â€Å"losing [their] shape, sir. Losing it fast† (28). Richard Rich is the play’s most developed exemplar of the gradual, and gradually accelerating, course t hat leads, through corrupt action, to corruption’s end-point: a shell without a self. As the Common Man, in the guise of Matthew, correctly predicts, Rich â€Å"come[s] to nothing† (17), despite his final worldly status, symbolized by his rich robes which, as that same Man says elsewhere of all clothing, say nothing about the man inside them, â€Å"barely cover[ing] one man’s nakedness† (3). Oliver Cromwell, a disciple of Machiavelli, and unashamedly corrupt, is Rich’s teacher and exhorter along that road. Rich is bullied into telling Cromwell information that might harm Thomas More, a betrayal. Cromwell uses this sin as a teaching opportunity – the more you give in to corruption (and therefore the less of you there is left to struggle against it), the easier it becomes: CROMWELL There, that wasn’t too painful, was it? RICH (laughing a little and a little rueful) No! CROMWELL That’s all there is, and you’ll find it easier next time. (76) Richard Rich sums up the teachings of Machiavelli, embodied in Cromwell, as quintessentially empty (though Rich is too fearful for his worldly status to be afraid of the legitimately fearful consequence of following those teachings): â€Å"properly apprehended, [Macchiavelli] has no doctrine. Master Cromwell has the sense of it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (13). In following Cromwell into philosophical corruption, Rich will reap the rewards of such pragmatism. More, at the apex of Rich’s ascent to influence and wealth (he’s been named Attorney General for Wales as a reward for perjury), reminds Rich that â€Å"it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world† (158). That word, â€Å"nothing,† both represents that he doesn’t gain anything worth having, and that he will, in consequence, add to the absence of his being – what he will gain is nothingness. The reasons Rich and Cromwell are tempted are simple in that they (the reasons) are particular to self-profit (More, and perhaps Bolt through More, would find that an ironic term): personal wealth, influence and power, and escape from suffering. Cardinal Woolsey tempts More with a form of corruption less black-and-white: not merely Cromwell’s short-sited â€Å"administrative convenience† (73), but a seemingly moral and patriotic act: possibly preventing a war of succession like the War of the Roses had been. â€Å"Oh your conscience is your own affair,† the Cardinal tells More, â€Å"but you’re a statesman! Do you remember the Yorkist wars? All right [my solution to this problem is, in that it isn’t perfectly moral,] regrettable, but necessary†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (22). It is a dilemma: whether the good of a country (or the prevention of an evil to a country) somehow outweighs the evil of achieving that end by corrupt means. More’s â€Å"horrible moral squint† (19), as Woolsey calls it, sees through the Cardinal’s assumption that such corruption, simply because it has a good in sight for that greater self that is one’s homeland, won’t open the door to further corruption, as a precedent that many (as it affects many) will follow, that will in fact â€Å"lead their country by a short route to chaos† (22). The form of corruption with which Thomas More will have to grapple most desperately, and from which he will protect his family most carefully, is the temptation to act against conscience, not for personal gain, or for the sake of an abstract like ‘the common good,’ but for loved ones. More knows that temptation, in this case to perjure themselves for his own sake, might topple even the upright Alice and Margaret. For that eason, despite the anger and suffering his wife and daughter evidence at being kept in the dark, he never once opens his mind to them about those issues (the real reason behind his resignation, which lands them in poverty, and imprisonment over taking an oath, which deprives them of father and husband, and puts them in danger) – a relief he must have craved were they the picture of understanding. However, though they are not – he tell’s Margaret â€Å"the King’s more merciful than you; he doesn’t use the rack† ( 142) – he holds firm. This he also does for himself, never taking the oath and perjuring himself to God (as, he says, â€Å"what is an oath then, but words we say to God† (140)), though he knows his family will suffer his ultimate loss. For that reason, though, he can go to his death with a special tranquility, telling the headsman â€Å"you send me to God †¦ He will not refuse one who is so blithe to go to him† (160). We are left, then, with so many who died long ago, and the tale that history, and this play, tells of them. Richard Rich loses himself to corruption for purely personal gain, and while he lives with outward wealth, he is inwardly rotten, and ends in obscurity. Cardinal Woolsey, who ruthlessly pursues personal power and uses the same tactics in pursuit of patriotic goals, is remembered as an influencer of the policies of Europe, but, in the play, paves the way for greater evil, though he tries to stave it off by electing More Lord Chancellor. That evil is personified in Cromwell, a man with no morals, patriotic or otherwise. That â€Å"short route to chaos† More warns of shows up as well in the escalation of the scale of resistance Henry levels against the Church, eventually destroying most of the monasteries in England, and sparking a bloodily put down revolution. More, meanwhile, is an inspiration not only for his family, but has inspired conscience and nobility of spirit for almost five hundred years since his death, which is its own kind of immortality.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

European Political Transformation Essay - 1835 Words

In 21st century Europe, along with America, the idea of individual rights is something that is taken for granted. It is almost unimaginable to think of a time where the freedom of speech, right to vote, and ability to run for office were not automatically a given right for the majority of the population. For the most part, these changes came about during the mid-to late nineteenth century. Some philosophers, psychologists, and even scientists shared their opinions through their works during this era. These famous works commented on or even helped further generate the political reformation. The countless revolutions and political reconstructions of the eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century established a few democratic governments†¦show more content†¦They were able to amend the injustices of Parliament. One example of the corruption would be the representation. Both the House of Lords and the House of Commons were composed of Aristocratic landowners, who were looking out for their own interests and voted accordingly. England was able to regulate this and allow others to join the House of Commons. In addition to this reform, journalists were given the right to sit in when Parliament met, and inform the public of the on goings. One new philosophy that helped to introduce the concept of individual rights to Europe was Utilitarianism. Created by John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism still is a widely spread concept. Mill’s â€Å"Greatest Happiness Principle† declared that in life, there was only pleasure and pain. Whether it is a noble act or not, the correct thing to do was to attempt to give pleasure to the greatest possible amount of people, even if it hurts a smaller group of people (Mill 4). 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Wednesday, January 1, 2020

The Importance of Names in Frankenstein and the Handmaids...

Names are a very important thing that most people are given shortly after birth. A name is â€Å"the word or words that a person, thing or place is known by† (Cambridge Online Dictionary (2011), Retrieved November 6th 2012). Names are given to identify an individual in replace of calling someone â€Å"it†, a term used to refer to something inanimate or without a name. A name shows that someone loves us enough to name us; to think about it with care and affection. Names surrounding the author have a great influence also and the main character in Frankenstein shares the penname of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley’s husband. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood uses the influence of feminism to create the names of the majority of the female†¦show more content†¦Victor’s hubris can also link to Satan in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Formerly the most beautiful of all angels in Heaven, he is a tragic figure best described by the now-f amous quote Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven (Paradise Lost, Book One, Page 263). He is introduced to Hell after he leads a failed rebellion to wrestle control of Heaven from God. (Wikipedia (2012), Retrieved November 8th 2012). Anne Mellor said that â€Å"Frankenstein’s scientific project is clearly an attempt to gain power† (A Feminist Critique of Science). This can be seen though Victor’s speech about creating the Creature and his toils. We know that Victor is punished because he says â€Å"one by one, my friends were snatched away; I was left desolate.† The use of the term â€Å"friends† in this quote suggests that Victor does not feel any relation to William, his brother. He does not say â€Å"friends and family† which would have described his punishment accurately. The use of â€Å"one by one† creates imagery of the domino effect. The repetition of â€Å"one† can suggest that each death is linked; which in evitably they are. There was also no choice in the loss of his friends as they were â€Å"snatched† away from him. This violent verb represents the creature in a vicious light. The adjective â€Å"desolate† suggests that he is completely alone, even though he still has people that care for him. Victor’s best friend, Henry Clerval, whose name is phonetically similar toShow MoreRelatedEssay Prompts4057 Words   |  17 Pagesof Solitude Catch-22 Othello Crime and Punishment The Scarlet Letter The Crucible Slaughterhouse-Five A Farewell to Arms Song of Solomon Ghosts The Stone Angel The Great Gatsby The Stranger Heart of Darkness A Tale of Two Cities The House of Mirth Their Eyes Were Watching God Jude the Obscure 2003 (Form A): According to critic Northrop Frye, â€Å"Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors