Ambivalent English: What We Talk About When We Think We Talk About Language

Taina Saarinen,Johanna Ennser-Kananen

doi:10.35360/njes.581

Taina Saarinen, Johanna Ennser-Kananen

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.35360/njes.581

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Abstract

The ambivalence of English manifests itself in the discourses that surround it. English may be a resource and consume resources; it empowers and oppresses. The dichotomous discussion around the usefulness or dangers of English as a “global” or “world” language erases problematizations of the layered societal implications of English in localised contexts. English needs to be analysed not (only) as a language but (also) as the ideologies and societal structures intertwined with it. We examine English in two higher education contexts. Our first case deals with the so-called Accent Reduction courses offered for international students in US universities. The second one analyses English as a language political catalyst in a nation state context. We conclude with a discussion of the nativist and nation-state-centred role of global English. We argue that to discuss English as a language oversimplifies the societal implications of the debate. When we think we talk about English, we are, in fact, talking about the various societal, political, economic, cultural and historical power dynamics that accompany it.

Highlights

From Looking at English to Beyond English The Special Issue, invited and edited by Anna Kristina Hultgren, is a welcome addition to the debate on Global English as an opportunity or threat, expanding the discussion outside that dichotomy
Hultgren’s argument about the significance of socioeconomic factors is very relevant empirically, but it is a more complex epistemological question: how do we know what we know about English, if we focus in our research only on particular kind of English? In this article, we want to discuss the problematics of the institutional setting of education, where the dynamics of English and “other” languages, or “native” English and “non-native” English help unpack political issues that we are talking about when we think we talk about English
“White English” as racial hierarchization To illustrate what we might be talking about when we think we talk about English, we will first use the case of so-called Accent Reduction/Accent Modification (AR/AM) courses

Summary

Introduction

From Looking at English to Beyond English The Special Issue, invited and edited by Anna Kristina Hultgren, is a welcome addition to the debate on Global English as an opportunity or threat, expanding the discussion outside that dichotomy. We want to discuss the problematics of the institutional setting of (higher) education, where the dynamics of English and “other” languages, or “native” English and “non-native” English help unpack political issues that we are talking about when we think we talk about English.

Results

Conclusion