English in Germany: Evidence from domains of use and attitudes

Julia Gennad'Evna Davydova

doi:10.22363/2687-0088-2020-24-3-687-702

Abstract

This paper discusses the changing role of English in Germany drawing on evidence from domains of English use and speakers attitudes. In so doing, it reports two case studies carried out at the University of Mannheim, Germany. The quantitative data and its methods of evaluation are discussed in the sections reporting case studies. The first study documents the use of English across formal and informal settings as well as in spontaneous interactions. In so doing, it reports the results of a survey collected from 172 students. The second study discusses the results of a survey tapping into German speakers attitudes towards two native (British, American) and two non-native (Indian, German) Englishes, thereby eliciting respondents attitudinal orientations towards English varieties including their own. This case study is based on data stemming from 94 students. The first case study shows that English in Germany has been continuously expanding its social domains of use and there is a small but stable minority of German speakers using English in spontaneous daily interactions. The second case study highlights the importance of the native-speaker model for the attitudinal mindset of the German learners; they see no value in speaking German English and clearly do not identify with this linguistic variety, a finding which reveals their exonormative orientation. Against this backdrop, I conclude that whereas English spoken in Germany shows clear signs of evolving into an ESL variety, it is still, by and large, an EFL English, at least in terms of attitudinal orientations professed by educated young adults.

Highlights

English is the first truly global human language that, over the centuries, has morphed into a plethora of different lects
Much has been written about the English as a Second Language (ESL) / English as a Foreign Language (EFL) distinction and there seems to be an implicit agreement amongst experts that different varietal types are not set in stone
I conclude that whereas English spoken in Germany shows clear signs of evolving into an ESL variety, it is still, by and large, an EFL English, at least in terms of attitudinal orientations professed by educated young adults

Summary

Introduction

English is the first truly global human language that, over the centuries, has morphed into a plethora of different lects (see, for instance, Mesthrie & Bhatt 2008, for an overview). Different forms of language are endowed with the capacity to evolve in time (for instance, from EFL to ESL and vice versa) due to various historical and socioeconomic circumstances (Buschfeld 2014, Kautzsch 2014). Another insight stemming from this line of academic inquiry is that the ESL/EFL contexts represent a continuum rather than a dichotomous distinction (Kautzsch 2014). To give one example, Kautzsch (2014) singles out three factors relevant to the description of the status of an English – spreading bilingualism, exonormative orientation, and the nativisation of pronunciation features

Methods

Results

Conclusion