2. 2
Structure of the presentation
1. English language learner vs. English language user
2. What is a ‘good’ English language user?
3. Sense of ownership of your own English
3. Think about the question:
• Why did you learn English before coming to the UK?
• Why do you learn English for now?
3
4. You learn English because you want to…
• Pass the exams
• Use English as a tool for communication
• Use English as a tool to acquire subject knowledge
• Others?
4
5. Issues in the transitional phase
• English becomes more important in achieving personal and
academic success.
• Even you passed English tests and got a high grade in
English courses, you still have many difficulties in using
English in communicative context.
(Li, 2014)
• ILETS had limited relevance to their subsequent university
life in general and to their academic study more specifically.
(Jenkins, 2014, p.189)
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6. Assumptions vs. Reality 1
• Assumption:
I am just a learner of English, of course, I know my English is
poor and with deficit ---- I have many errors and mistakes
in my English. Don’t worry, I have tutors and they can
correct them for me.
• Reality:
Your tutors will not proofread for you. You won’t have many
contact hours with tutors or lecturers.
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7. Assumptions vs. Reality 2
• Assumption:
I am going to a British university, and everyone I meet there,
will speak good English with pure British accent.
• Reality:
British or International?
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9. Even you go here:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/international/
9
10. Assumption vs. Reality 3
• Assumption:
As soon as I meet the required language proficiency level of
the university, I can be successful living in the UK.
• Reality :
Even when I achieve high scores in my language assessments,
I may still come across many language related issues in my
daily life.
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11. Or sometimes, you may come across this
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2424791/Britains-food-waste-fifths-
ugly-fruit-vegetable-crops-make-shelves.html 11
12. Back to the three assumptions
1. I am just a learner of English, of course, I know my English
is poor and with deficit ---- I have many errors and
mistakes in my English. Don’t worry, I have tutors and
they can correct them for me. Language learner
identity
2. I am going to a British university, and everyone I meet
there, will speak good English with pure British accent.
Native speaker of English norm
3. As soon as I meet the requirement for language of the
university, I can be successful in living there. Influenced
by traditional EFL teaching
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13. 1. Time for the change: learn English to
use it.
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14. For a long time, you learn English like this
(English learning as a foreign language, EFL)
14
http://edwp.educ.msu.edu/dean/2012/visiting-a-chinese-high-school/
15. In last three weeks, you may be in a class like this
(learning English as an international language, EIL)
15
http://www.prepareforsuccess.org.uk/differences_in_university_study.html
16. EFL vs. EIL
EFL : learn language
• You only learn/use
English in the class;
• You aim to learn native
English: e.g. BrE or AmE;
• You are not confident
when use English, since
you may think you own
English is poor;
EIL: learn to use
• You learn/use English
beyond the class;
• Your English is assessed in
terms of proficiency,
intelligibility and
communicative success
with people from multi-
lingual background, more
than an English test;
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17. 2. What is a ‘good’ English user?
• A ‘good’ English user = A competent user of English=A
person successfully communicates with others in
English.
1) About ‘others’
2) About ‘communication’
3) About ‘your English’
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18. 1) About ‘Others’: British or
International?Nearly a billion people around the world speak English, which
means that more people speak English as a second language
than there are native speakers. In Asia, the number of
English-users has surpassed 350 million, equal to the number
of people who live in countries where English is the dominant
language: the United States, Britain and Canada.
(Andrès, 2010)
http://newamericamedia.org/2010/07/non-native-english-
speakers-setting-new-standard.php
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19. What does ‘international’ mean?
• An international language is not just a language that has a
large number of native speakers. A language to be
international means that the language has developed to
where it is “no longer linked to a single culture or nation
but serves both global and local needs as a language of
wider communication.”
(McKay, 2002, p. 24)
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20. Language: freedom of choices
• Example: accent
• You have own right to choose language to use and learn it,
so do others.
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21. 2) About ‘communication’
• Example: English writing as written communication
• Think about your audience: The audience include the
listeners, when you speak; and the readers when you write.
Think about their expectation from your language, who
they are.
• Language is dialogic: a conversation between writer and
reader is an ongoing activity （ Bakhtin, 1986 ）
• Writing as social interaction: the process of writing is a
matter of elaborating text in accord with what the writer
can reasonably assume that the readers know and expect.
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22. Language production : editing and
revising
• Be careful and always go back and check your language
production, for example, always remember to edit your
essay after finishing an essay.
• Purposes: for communication intelligibility
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23. 3) About ‘your English’
Language learning involves an alignment of one’s language
resources to the needs of a situation, rather than reaching a
target level of competence (Atkinson, et al, 2007).
•Intercultural communication awareness/skills
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24. 3. You own your English and take good
care of it.
• Be a more confident learner: I use my English. I am going
to take control of my English language.
• Be a more patient user: tolerate English of OTHERS
• Be an open-minded language user, that’s why you choose to
study abroad.
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