(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I came across this on You Tube this afternoon, and I couldn’t resist sharing it with you all. It is always a pleasure to listen to David Crystal discussing language, and his views on what is happening in English are sharp and refreshing. Enjoy!
In this post, Tyson Seburn explains how to make students more aware of the limitations of Google Translate, while at the same time giving us an idea of how to use the theme songs of popular TV series in class. Great fun for the new term.
Here is an article which discusses the position of the native speaker in an ELF world. A very interesting perspective.
Academia is a world of its own. Linguistic controversies are fought among scholars with little interest from the outside world. There was outrage in response to early propositions that English used as a lingua franca (ELF) should be studied as a legitimate form of English in its own right, and not as perpetually deficient “learner language”. Yet, the ELF world outside kept communicating, and 15-or-so years since the pioneers of ELF research fought their early battles, academics are gradually recognising the uncontroversial and obvious linguistic reality around them.
While academia moves at the speed of, well, academia, I’ve always had more hope for business. English as a lingua franca of business (BELF) is nothing new, and as with academic ELF, there are English native speakers in the mix. How do they adjust to their ELF surroundings? People in business are motivated by money, which motivates efficiency, which motivates doing things…
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One of the most contentious issues in British English is that of regional accents, far more than in any other English-speaking country. There are many different accents from different parts of the UK, and people are often judged by the way they speak. In this article, based on a recent webinar, Helen Ashton investigates people’s reactions to different accents, and explains how they are perceived both in Britain and abroad.
http://blog.britishcouncil.org/2013/05/17/uk-accent-pronunciation/
See on Scoop.it – David Bradshaw ESOL
RT @TESOLatMQ: Identity in foreign lang learning and teaching: why listening to our s’s and t’s voices really matters #TESOL #AusELT http://t.co/mezjqq8R7P
This addresses a very serious issue in ELT.
See on www.teachingenglish.org.uk
A refreshing alternative to the usual insults we hear. Enjoy!
I couldn’t let the Bard’s birthday (and the anniverasry of his death) go by without some sort of mention. Thanks to Roseli Serra for sharing this.
This is my 100th post on this blog, and I feel this is a good occasion to thank all the people who have visited this site and shown interest in what I have published here. I hope you have found it useful.
A simple, clear explanation of the Common European Framework for Languages, from Cambridge English Language Assessment.
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