English as International Language Journal

Foreword

Sivakumar Sivasubramaniam — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0600

Welcome to the April 2023 issue of the Journal of English as an International Language! This issue signposts a continuity/ continuum of conceptualizations, innovative intellectual exercises and applications that are consistent with EILJ’s declared mission of promoting locally appropriate, culturally sensitive and socially aligned pedagogies and practices in EIL. The voice and agency of our contributing authors assume particular substance and prominence in this issue in that it chimes in with EILJ’s attempts to democratize and dehegemonize the use of English across the cultures of Asia and farther afield in the world.

Creating Critical Spaces for Meaningful Education through Newspapers: Drawing Best out of Waste in EIL Classrooms

Vijay Singh Thakur, Sivakumar Sivasubramaniam, Moosa Ahmed Ali Suleiman — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0600

According to Patil (2012), a course book should be used as a source book rather than a forced book (p. 67). Students’ learning needs to be enriched by supplementing the text book with the help of authentic materials. One of the readily available and easily accessible authentic materials is the newspaper, which is generally read casually and discarded as a waste material. The use of this educationally rich resource of newspapers is not given a serious attention in the pedagogy of English as an International Language (EIL). Incidentally, EIL is a wide-ranging field meant to examine how English language teaching and learning is structured, how meanings and ideas are formed and encoded, how they are communicated and represented, decoded and interpreted, and also taught and learnt across the Globe. Drawing on the wide-ranging educational possibilities that the use of newspapers can offer, we propose to demonstrate, in this paper, how EIL teachers can fruitfully exploit the neglected resource of newspapers to promote language skills, sharpen critical thinking skills, and develop research skills of EIL learners.

Mind What You Say in the United Arab Emirates: Swear Words Will Land You in Jail

Tharwat EL-Sakran — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0600

Linguists and forensic linguists have tried to shed light on the sensitivity and offensiveness of words and/or language expressions from various linguistic theories such as speech act theory, semantics, discourse analysis, and pragmatics. With the wide spread intercultural communication and the global use of English as a lingua franca, it is important to know that some language expressions might be understood as compliments in a specific culture, whereas others might view them as offensive. An instance of this is the English expression: “You have a beautiful mum”. Although this could be a positive compliment, it could also be misunderstood and interpreted as an insult in some Arabic cultures, since in some cultural contexts it could imply that the utterer is hinting at some sexual act. The data for this research is collected from participants of various Arabic nationalities and different genders from different age groups by presenting them with four situations and requesting them to indicate their reactions to the compliments uttered by others through selecting from four options offered on the survey. Findings indicate that all participants accept such compliments from either relatives, close friends, or strangers based on the gender of the utterer. In other words, the compliment is appreciated if said by a female. Nevertheless, the compliment is less appreciated if it is on a feature inherent in the personality of the receiver than when it is on something that the receiver is wearing.

Utilizing English as a Language of Instruction in Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

Adrian Protacio — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0600

The study aimed to gauge higher education teachers’ employment of English as a language of instruction in teaching culturally diverse students. Through descriptive research, eighty-six faculty participated through simple random sampling. The research instrument was based on the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Model, centered in the language, content, learning, and culture dimensions. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze and present the results. Findings revealed that English has multidimensional uses and has significant value in education, language proficiency, professionalism, cultural development, language repertoire, and personal empowerment. For the teachers, the state of utilizing English revealed its superiority and strong recognition. However, it is inevitably supplemented by Filipino and native tongues, which could offer meaningful experiences and grasp the subject matter.

Enabling Students to Use their Voices and Decode Academic Experiences Critically: Rebalancing Teaching Approaches, Beliefs and Attitudes

John Wankah Foncha, Jane-Francis Afungmeyu Abongdia, Feuba Wanji Elvis — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0600

The main purpose of this reflective paper is to signpost the importance of language of learning and teaching in a Teacher’s Education course. It is then meant to decolonise the curriculum by tapping into the indigenous knowledge systems of the students. In view of this, the main aim of the Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) English is to bridge the gap between schools and Higher Education given the fact that a considerable number of students come to universities in South Africa unprepared or underprepared. LoLT gives students the opportunity to take ownership of their literacies, particularly academic writing through defamiliarization and co-construction of knowledge. Our reflections are based on first year students’ experiences on the language of learning and teaching in the Senior Phase/ Further Education and Training (SP/ FET) in Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). In light of this, our reflections are primarily focused on their ability to read and respond to selected texts where they were encouraged to interpret the texts based on their own perspectives. Most of the work was done in groups before individual assignment to factor in diversity in their interpretation bringing out the richness of the texts. The paper in conclusion, supports the belief and realization that once students are engaged to participate in unpacking a text, they come to understand that diversity is inevitable in whatever they do in life.