What is Standard English and how does it effect everday TEFL classrooms including an insight to English for Aviation purposes.

1. THE BABEL TOWER OF
ENGLISHES
WHAT IS STANDARD
ENGLISH TODAY?Sharon Noseley
MA in English Language Treaching
Sociolinguistics TEFL5012 Presentation
Sharon Noseley

2. The Babel Tower of Englishes
Does a Standard English Exist in the EFL Classroom?

3. Discussion
 How is a Standard Language defined?
 The Procedure of Acceptance of a Standard Language.
 What is Standard English?
 New Englishes and their Status.
 Variations in Englishes.
 Standard English – beautiful but dangerous!
 Plain English – a Standard?
 Conclusions
 Question Time
 Bibliography

4. How is a Standard Language
defined?
 “Standard Language is the term used for that variety
of a language that is considered to be the norm”
(Jenkins 2009, p.33)
 It is codified in dictionaries and grammars for
different uses, such as education, government and
science. (Graddol, 2007)
 Haugen‟s 1972 observations of its goals are
„minimal variation in form, maximal variation in
function‟ (cited in Graddol,2007, p.84)
 Hudson (1996) in Jenkins (2009) argues that there
is no such thing as a standard language.

5. The Procedure of Acceptance of a
Standard Language
Standard Language is accepted by a society through the following four processes:
 Selection :the most critical stage.
A social or political process.
 Codification : dictionaries and grammar
books are produced.
 Elaboration of Function: capable of
performing a wide range of institutional functions.
New lexical items or grammatical conventions are added here to fill any gaps.
 Acceptance: clearly it has to be accepted by the relevant population.
In today‟s global world, this is a challenge from both within and outside the
society

6. What is Standard English?
Too many definitions to mention….!
 “Sociolinguists tend to use the term to describe the
primarily written, especially printed, usage of
educated people “ (Graddol,2007 p.83)
 “ The dialect normally used in the British Isles for
teaching, in schools and universities, and heard on the radio and TV”
(Trudgill,1979)
 “ We may define the standard English of an English speaking country as
a minority variety which carries most prestige and it most widely
understood” (Crystal, 2003)

7. New Englishes and Status.
„New Englishes‟ are a variety of English which differ from each
other in use and characteristic but fulfil certain criteria.
Platt et al(1984) as cited by Jenkins (2009).
The five internal factors to decide the status of an innovation in
English.
1) Demographic Factor : how many people use it.
2) Geographical Factor : how widely it is used
3) Authoritative Factor : where is it allowed to be
used ?
4) Codification : does it appear in reference
books/dictionaries/grammar books?
5) Acceptability Factor: attitude of users/non-users.

8. Jenkins (2009) has cited some variations between
Standard and Non Standard/New Englishes.

9. The new Tower of Babel...reaching
for prestige…
Will these New Englishes
attract the same prestige
as their counter parts in
the inner circles?
Will they encourage
change?
Should these
Englishes
have „Standard
English‟ as
their target
language?
What are the
implications for
English teachers?

10. Can you guess what this is?
Wun Ait
Too Nin-er
Tree Hun-red
Fow-er Tousand
Fife
Six
Seven
Is this standard or a variation?

11. Standard English – beautiful but dangerous!
A Lingua Franca of the Skies.
 The literacy traits for which
Standard English is praised, are the
exact opposite needs for pilots.
 Pilots need standard phraseology
Simplified grammar
Simple pronunciation
 Non ambiguous vocab
 No idioms
 discou Simple discourse

12. Plain English – phraseology
Kennedy(2008) & Jones (1999)
 Absence of tenses
 No prepositions
 No homonyms E.g.
two/too/to
 Specific use of plurals
E.g. Aircraft approaching
could mean 1 or 5
 No homographs E.g.
close by/close the door
 Irregular verbs restricted
 How do you read me? = How
do you hear me?
 Hold = stop
 Set down = land an aircraft
 Vacate = exit
 Globe = object shaped like a
ball
 Eddy = a current or air
moving in a certain way
 Outlet = escape route
 Sweep = move now!
Grammar Vocabulary

13. Is Plain English a New English or a
Standard English?
 Remember the standardising process of a language?
 Selection: one variety chosen over another/promotes interest or
prestige.
 Codification: it is „fixed‟ in grammar books or dictionaries, to allow
access to all who need it.
 Elaboration of Function: fulfils its role and functions and new vocab
is added to fill any gaps.
 Acceptance: accepted by those who use it, may be with no political
or economic status.
 Is Plain English a Standard English?
 Look at the ICAO rating scale…does the criteria for operational
English compare in any way with your standard of English or your
students??

14. Conclusion
“ The new language which is rapidly ousting Shakespeare
as the world‟s lingua franca is English itself – English in its
new global form…this is not an English as we have known
it, and have taught it in the past as a foreign language. It is
a new phenomenon, and if it represents any kind of
triumph it is probably not a cause of celebration by native
speakers”
Graddol 2006 as cited by Jenkins (2009 p.233)
What standard of English should we teach??

15. Any Questions ?

16. Bibliography
Books
Crocker, D. (2012). Dictionary of Aviation. 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury.
Graddol,D. (eds.) (2007) Changing English.Oxon:Routledge.
Jenkins,J.( 2009) World Englishes: A Resource Book for Students. 2nd ed.
Oxon: Routledge.
Kennedy , J. (2008) Aviation English For ICAO Compliance. Oxford:
MacMillan.
Thomas, L. et al. (2004) Language, Society and Power. 2ND ed. London:
Routledge.
Tollesfon, J. (1991) Planning Language, Planning Equality: Language Policy in
the Community. Essex: Longman Group UK Ltd.

17. Journals
Melnichenko, S. (2013) Target Language Use Analysis in Aviation English Testing.
ICAO LPR Technical Seminar, Montreal, Canada. Available from
http://www.icao.int/Meetings/lpr13/Documents/Presentations/Day%202-
5%20Target%20Language%20use%20Analysis%20in%20Aviation%20English%20Test
ing.pdf
Weblogs
Jones, K. Aviation English: Improving Pilot Communication [ Online]. Available from:
http://miresperanto.com/en/english_as_intern/aviation_language.htm [Accessed
24/10/13].
Images
Wikigallery.org The Tower of Babel
Modern tower http://marcelflisiuk.deviantart.com/art/Rebuilding-the-tower-of-babel-
190519565
Google images Available from: http://www.google.co.uk/imghp