Please note: proper face mask wearing is still required at all face-to-face linguistics seminars.
Talk’s title: Teaching and assessment of ICC for ELF: A lingual-cultural pedagogy
Abstract:
Drawing on critical pedagogy, this study challenges the hegemony of standard English (SE) to promote inclusive approaches which integrate the variation of World Englishes into curricular design, enhancing students’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) for English as a lingua franca (ELF) in cross-cultural interaction with people from different backgrounds. In this study, a critical learning portfolio pedagogy was conducted in the “Language and Culture” class at a national university located in central Taiwan with the focus on Australian English (AuE), in contrast with General American English (GAE) as a reference of point. In this class, 70 Taiwanese English majors were guided to explore AuE and write their learning portfolios, providing their end-of-semester reports for data analysis. The findings show that they modified their initial stereotypes, generalizations, misconceptions, and prejudices, developing increased sensitivity to English variation, cultural diversity, and linguistic differences between AuE and GAE. In this talk, I will present the teaching and assessment of the pedagogical design awaking students to English variation worldwide and preparing them for intercultural communication in ELF.
James is Sociolinguistics Professor at National Yunlin University Science and Technology in Taiwan. He is the 2021-2022 Fulbright scholar affiliated with the Department of Linguistics at the U of I. He has been to many English-speaking countries for his research on the worldwide spread of English variation used in intercultural communication, including Australia, England, Jamaica, New Zealand, Scotland, and Singapore. He looks forward to meeting you with your research interests and inquiries.
