English Worldwide Research Articles

Introduction: World Englishes and Cultural Linguistics special issue

AbstractThis special issue brings together contributions from leading researchers from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia active in the field of Cultural Linguistics, with particular reference to English worldwide. The special issue comprises nine substantive research articles together with a comprehensive bibliography dealing with Cultural Linguistics and world Englishes. It is anticipated that the special issue will provide a very useful reference and starting point for future research in this area.

How real is the quantitative turn? Investigating statistics as the new normal in linguistics

Abstract Statistical approaches in linguistics seem to have gained in importance in recent times, especially in the field of Corpus Linguistics. In particular, the last ten years have seen an upsurge of linguists being dedicated to statistical methods and the improvement of statistical knowledge. This has repeatedly been described as ‘the quantitative turn’ in linguistics. In the present paper, we assess how real this quantitative turn actually is and whether statistics can be considered the ‘new normal’ in (corpus) linguistics. To this end, we have analyzed the contributions to six high-impact journals (Corpora, Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, ICAME Journal, English World-Wide, Journal of English Linguistics, and Language Variation and Change) for a period of eleven years (January 2011 until December 2021). Our results suggest that, indeed, statistical methods seem to be on the rise in linguistic studies. However, their frequency strongly varies between the journals, and, in general, we have identified some room for improvement in the use of advanced statistical methods, in particular the discussion of true prediction.

Variation in world Englishes through the lens of negation

AbstractThis article reports the findings of a study of negation across varieties of English worldwide, with data derived from the Global Web‐Based Corpus of English. Three general categories are explored: negative polarity‐sensitive expressions (lexical verbs such as bother, and idioms such as give a damn); negators (idioms such as be not half bad, boilerplate no‐collocations such as no worries, and implicit negators such as bugger all); and non‐standardised features such as invariant don't and multiple negation. The findings provide support for the Inner Circle versus Outer Circle distinction, with results ascribable to such factors as evolutionary status, SLA phenomena, colloquiality, and tolerance of vulgarity. Further areal findings are suggestive of linguistic epicentrality.

Voice Of Indonesia And Sense Of Belonging In Media: A Content Analysis

VOI (Voice of Indonesia) is a professional media in their respective field, that exists and works for Indonesian development. Their content is dominated by cultural promotion and tourism but it’s not delivered subtly. This paper would asses the sense of belonging on VOI broadcast by RRI as an English worldwide broadcast. Content analysis by Krippendorf was used as a methodology to assess the Instagram post by VOI. As a result, VOI can’t be like VICE, subtly presenting information and their dynamic of phrases. This alarms Indonesia to stand out more in international affairs; therefore Indonesia won’t be seen as a country with empty offer.

The Role of English Language Teaching in Promoting Intercultural Understanding in Pakistani Classrooms

Introduction: English language teaching (ELT) is essential for linguistic growth and building cross-cultural understanding in Pakistani classrooms. Given the multicultural makeup of Pakistan and the importance of English worldwide, it is critical to consider how ELT might advance intercultural understanding. Research Methodology: This study emphasizes the value of this method in the Pakistani context by examining how Pakistani EFL teachers see "interculturality" as a pedagogical strategy in teaching English as a foreign language through descriptive and inferential analysis. Findings: According to the findings, English language instruction plays various roles in Pakistani classrooms that support intercultural understanding. Examining various cultures, dispelling myths, and encouraging tolerance and empathy in students are all made possible by language training. Furthermore, teachers utilize various instructional approaches, including literature exploration and cultural exchange activities, to improve students' intercultural competency. Conclusion: English language instruction fosters empathy and meaningful connections between students from different cultural origins, essential for advancing intercultural understanding in Pakistani classrooms. Unfortunately, obstacles to successful implementation include language imperialism and scarce resources. To maximize the potential of ELT for fostering intercultural understanding in Pakistan, educators, policymakers, and curriculum developers must work together. Recommendation: Given the results, educational stakeholders are urged to prioritize intercultural integration while creating English language courses. This can be accomplished with teacher education programs, culturally aware lesson planning, and the inclusion of diverse opinions in class discussions. Furthermore, forming partnerships with international schools can open doors for cross-cultural exchanges and improve the educational opportunities for Pakistani pupils. By implementing the above recommendations, Pakistan can effectively use English language training to promote cross-cultural understanding and enhance global citizenship.

Spelling Variation in Inner-Circle Englishes

English is the language with the largest number of speakers in the world, when both native and non-native speakers are included. With an estimated 1,268 million users around the globe, linguistic variation is bound to occur. Research on World Englishes focuses on the study of this variation, though it has systematically disregarded the linguistic level of orthography. This neglect has operated under the assumption that most contemporary varieties must adhere to British English spelling norms. Nevertheless, recent studies on the Americanisation of English worldwide (Mair 2013; Gilquin 2018; Gonçalves et al. 2018) have brought the question of spelling variation back to the fore. The present paper thus analyses the distribution of the most distinctive spelling variants—i.e. -our/-or, -re/-er and -isation/-ization—in the varieties of the inner circle from a synchronic perspective. By means of a corpus-based investigation of English online, this study will outline the spelling usage patterns for the aforementioned varieties and will analyse the highly-likely Americanisation process in spelling on the Internet.

Modals and Quasi-Modals in English World-Wide

This study explores the distribution of modals and quasi-modals in the twenty English dialects represented in the Global Web-based English Corpus (GloWbE). Intervarietal trends are observed across and within the Englishes of the “Inner circle” and “Outer circle.” Ratios calculated for onomasiological pairings of modal expressions suggest that Inner circle varieties tend to be associated more closely than Outer circle varieties—and “epicentral” varieties more so than non-epicentral ones—with trends of frequency change that have been identified in previous diachronic studies of the reference varieties, British and American English. A further type of change is revealed by semantic analysis: Inner circle varieties tend to embrace epistemic modality more readily than Outer circle varieties. Possible explanations considered for intervarietal differences include areal proximity, epicentrality, evolutionary status, and colloquiality.

Enhancing EFL learners’ intercultural communicative effectiveness through telecollaboration with native and non-native speakers of English

Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has recently attracted the researchers’ attention in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context; however, insufficient studies seem to have examined the role of online programmes in enhancing EFL learners’ ICC. The current study, therefore, employed a mixed-methods approach to explore EFL learners’ intercultural communicative effectiveness (ICE), a subcomponent of ICC, through telecollaborative language learning. Two intact classes, studying at a language institute, were selected as the participants of the study and were randomly assigned to an experimental group (henceforth referred to as the telecollaborative group) with 22 learners and a control group (henceforth referred to as the face-to-face group) with 20 learners. The learners in the telecollaborative group communicated with both native and non-native speakers of English by the means of online a/synchronous communication via Tandem, a language learning application, whilst the learners in the face-to-face group were taught intercultural issues during class time. The required quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an intercultural communication effectiveness scale and an individual semi-structured interview. One-way ANCOVA, applied to analyse the quantitative data, demonstrated that the EFL learners’ ICE and its six subscales of behavioural flexibility, interaction relaxation, interactant respect, message skills, identity maintenance, and interaction management were developed in both groups after sharing intercultural background with foreign speakers of English worldwide and with their classmates during class time. Thematic analysis, utilised to analyse the qualitative data, uncovered some themes and categories indicating the learners’ positive attitudes and perceptions towards the telecollaborative language learning activities. Practical implications are discussed next.

The Functions of Discourse Markers in L2 Teachers’ and Learners’ Speech across Gender and Proficiency: A Corpus Study

Discourse markers (DMs) as linguistic devices have a significant role in the coherence of conversation—a speakers’ fluency. With the growing use of English worldwide, it is of great importance to focus on DMs as an essential part of communication which provides discourse coherence. This study was conducted to develop a description of spoken English with a special focus on DMs to investigate their functions and frequencies in Iranian non-native discourse and was conducted across 30 EFL teachers and 30 EFL learners. Spoken samples were gathered from the participants in the context of the classroom. Fung and Carter’s (2007) framework was adopted for the analysis of DMs. The results showed no significant gender difference in terms of frequency of using DMs with different functions between learners and also teachers. In investigating the effect of proficiency level on using the markers among learners, advanced learners were found to use more interpersonal DMs than intermediates. At this intermediate level, male learners used fewer interpersonal DMs than female learners, but, at the advanced level, males used more DMs than females. Implications for teachers and researchers are mentioned.

World Englishes and English for specific purposes (ESP)

AbstractThis article sets out to review English for specific purposes (ESP) as a discipline and its conceptual and scholarly connections with the world Englishes (WE) approach English worldwide. This is done partly through a detailed literature review of articles on ESP in the Asian and European regions, taken from the journal English for Specific Purposes, identifying which countries and topics are most frequently represented in this leading publication. The later sections of the article go on to explore the disciplinary interface between ESP and world Englishes, with reference to the potential contributions of both disciplines to research on areas of shared interest, including English‐medium instruction (EMI) worldwide.

Language management, discursive power, and English as lingua franca in island countries and territories

Both geographical factors and colonial histories have contributed to the marginalization of many islands. In the context of globalization, European colonial languages often dominate, and the Standard English ideology has been gradually internalized alongside the spread of English worldwide. Islands face an apparent tension between promoting local languages for the purpose of strengthening social and cultural cohesion and maintaining the favored status of European colonial languages in order to facilitate integration into global markets. Languages are, however, ideologically constructed, and the dominant status of English and other European languages on islands has created a cultural system of ideas, norms, and values originating from the West. This turns islands into norm followers, creating difficulties for the construction of island identities and making it impossible to act from a position of discursive power on the international plane. This paper argues that island governments should carry out language management in such a way as to promote the idea of English as a lingua franca for use in global intercultural communications and thereby enhance the island’s discursive power while strengthening social and cultural cohesion.

Kosovo musicians' efficacy of using English language: Internationalization of Albanian songs

The English-speaking market is huge. English dominates the international music. The two most powerful countries in the world, the USA and the UK are the bases of the music industry. There is over one billion people who speak English worldwide. It is no surprise that the English language is used as a base for music by so many musicians. This work’s main objective is to find out the Albanian musicians’ English language proficiency level as well as gain knowledge about the importance of being an English-speaking musician. The present study delves further into examining the internationalization of Albanian songs from the viewpoints of musicians in Kosovo and investigating whether the Albanian songs would have a different impact or would be more successful if translated and sung into the English language. Last but not least, the researchers are also interested in discovering if there is any difference between Albanian and English languages in terms of songs and singing. To go deep into the understanding and the perception of the issue and answer our research questions, a descriptive qualitative approach was used. To collect the data, semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted. Ten (10) Kosovar musicians who have a lot of knowledge on the issues participated in this study and thus provided us the necessary information. The results of this research correspond with the theoretical framework. The results obtained from the data analysis reveal that Kosovar musicians are proficient in English which is considered very advantageous since performing in English can help musicians build an international music career. It is also indicated that an Albanian song can also be an international success without the need to translate it into English since music is a universal language, musical notes sound the same in all languages around the world, they are written the same, they have the same position. Thus, the melody sounds the same in every language of the world and this is the beauty of music.

The epicentre model and American influence on Bahamian Englishes

Americanization has been described as one of the major sociocultural processes of language change currently affecting varieties of English worldwide; it is generally linked to the post-World War II rise of the United States to global superpower status in political, military, economic, and cultural terms. Owing to their immediate geographical proximity, the Bahamas always had closer demographic, cultural, and institutional links with the North American mainland than other British colonies. The present paper applies the notion of epicentral influence, in the sense of a regionally dominant model influencing developments in neighboring areas, to Bahamian-American linguistic relations and attempts to disentangle global from epicentral American influence. It considers not just standard Bahamian English but also Bahamian Creole, all levels of language, diachronic and synchronic data, and corpus findings as well as attitudinal studies and discusses the theoretical and methodological implications of the Bahamian data for the epicentre idea.

The Role of Needs Analysis in English for Academic Purposes in Higher Education

Despite the established importance of English worldwide, and notwithstanding the fact that in expanding circle countries (defined as expanding or extending circle countries those countries where English is used as a foreign language), English for Academic Purposes plays an increasingly important role. Studies on the linguistic needs of university students are still lacking their perspective, at least in Italy, where students studying English language in Higher Education institutions are expected to gain access to the discourses of the academia via language competence. For this reason, the present paper reviews the theoretical and practical bases of English for Academic Purposes in order to provide further thought-provoking ideas based on a study carried out in the Italian university context. As far as method is concerned, due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the study was conducted through Google Forms. The results of the authors’ questionnaire model are presented and analysed for the purpose of this research. Findings demonstrate both the complex network of elements that play a significant role in determining the needs of EAP students in Italy, and the unavoidable necessity to set priorities. It is a fact that needs in a learner-centred system are not static. In addition, learning EAP is bound to mean learning to be an independent learner.

They expand their own language; God bless them: positions of Iranian cultural activists on English in Iran

ABSTRACT The extraordinary spread of the English language into people’s language-life around the world has made it a taken-for-granted desire for various social groups in almost all non-English-speaking countries. However, beyond the guise of a neutral global lingua franca, the learning and use of English by speakers of other languages is imbued with sociopolitical contestations. This study explores such contestations from the perspective of some Iranian cultural figures. In extensive interviews, five active cultural figures commented on the importance of English learning today, the possibility of exploiting this language as a medium to promote local culture, and the international policies of teaching English worldwide. Although the participants’ opinions are divergent at some points, the thematic analysis of their viewpoints indicates that they endorse the need to English as an instrument, and that their instrumentalist perception seems to influence their views about the sociopolitical functioning of this language. Some implications of such perspectives for the cultural atmosphere of countries like Iran are discussed.

English Medium Instruction (EMI) lecturer support needs in Japan and China

The internationalisation of higher education has resulted in a focus on English in non-Anglophone contexts and a boom in courses and programmes offered in English worldwide. Despite this growth in provision, a number of challenges have been identified with regards to English Medium Instruction (EMI) (Galloway et al., 2017), including a lack of suitable instructors and a lack of training and support for those transitioning to teaching their curricula in English. Drawing on questionnaires with students (n = 702) and teachers (n = 28), interviews with English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructors (n = 10) and EMI content instructors (n = 17) and focus groups with EAP instructors (2) and content instructors (1), our study explores the types of instructors employed in EMI programmes in China and Japan, the characteristics that students consider important in instructors, and the support available. The results provide insights for faculty recruitment and training and overall EMI policy implementation.

Intraoperative Bleeding Management: An Updating Literature Review: Review Article

Background: Intraoperative bleeding remains a major complication during and after surgery, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Several influences determine the complex causes of bleeding in surgical patients. About 75 to 90% of early intraoperative and postoperative bleeding is due to technical factors. In some cases, however, acquired or congenital coagulopathies can stimulate, if not directly cause, surgical bleeding.
 Objectives: This paper aims to overview etiology, causes, diagnosis, and updated management of intraoperative bleeding.
 Methods: The review article ran from July 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021. We searched articles on etiology, causes, and treatments published in English worldwide in the Medline, EBSCO and PubMed databases. No software was used to analyze the data. Team members reviewed the data to determine initial results.
 Results: All patients scheduled for elective surgery should be screened for possible hemostatic defects using tests, and, if necessary, laboratory tests. Treatment of intraoperative bleeding consists of identifying patients at risk and understanding the effect of surgery on hemostasis. For patients at high risk of bleeding, a pre-operative meeting with a multidisciplinary team (anesthesiologist, surgeon, hematologist, radiologist) can discuss the correct surgical procedure.
 Conclusion: Technical variables account for 75-90% of initial intraoperative and postoperative bleeding. However, in other cases it is associated with acquired or congenital coagulation disorders. All patients scheduled for elective surgery should be checked for problems with hemostasis. Treatment of intraoperative bleeding involves identifying those at risk and understanding the effect of surgery on hemostasis.

The Challenges of English Language Teaching in Indonesia

The widespread use of English worldwide has brought about a significant impact for human beings to date. In the education sphere mainly, many studies have been conducted to discover the issues in English instruction. Moreover, English teachers in Indonesia were highly encouraged to figure out the best method to teach and cope with any problems encountered by the students to achieve the best learning outcomes. Besides, the government had also tried its best endeavors to accustom the curriculum to the needs in this globalization era. However, the results have not always been as expected since teachers and students possessed divergent points of view linked with the implementation of English language instruction. Therefore, this scientific literature review discussed some issues related to English which included; English in Indonesia, English Language Teaching for Education, Teachers’ Strategies to English Language Teaching, Problems of English Language Teaching, and Students’ Perceptions towards English Language Teaching. Furthermore, the main aim of this paper was to acknowledge to the readers that the teachers and students essentially require English due to its crucial role in the development of Education in Indonesia.

Comparison of test performance on paper-based testing (PBT) and computer-based testing (CBT) by English-majored undergraduate students in China

Computer-based testing (CBT), which refers to delivering assessments with computers, has been widely used in large English proficiency tests worldwide. Despite an increasing CBT in China, limited research is available concerning whether CBT can be used for the Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM 4). The current study investigated whether testing mode impacted TEM 4 score and factors (i.e., computer familiarity level and attitude towards CBT) that might correlate with performance on CBT of TEM 4. Overall 92 Chinese undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of the groups, i.e., CBT or paper-based testing (PBT), and took the test. A mixed method was employed, including (1) quantitative and qualitative analysis of test performance in two modes, as well as CBT group participants’ computer familiarity and attitudes towards the mode; and (2) thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that (1) test scores in CBT and PBT were comparable; (2) two items in the computer familiarity questionnaire, i.e., comfort level of reading articles on the computer and forgetting time when using computers, positively correlated with CBT scores; and (3) participants’ attitude towards CBT did not impact test performance.

ENGLISH PORCELAIN – ITS ANTHROPOLOGICAL INFLUENCES IN THE SOCIAL LIFE AND RECOMMENDATION FOR ITS INCLUSION IN TEACHING ENGLISH AND ENGLISH CULTURE WORLDWIDE

Being recognized worldwide for its aesthetic value and durability, English porcelain has been a strong longingness among many people from anywhere in the world. Apart from its commercial value, it also carries out non-materialistic notions that can be seen through anthropological analysis within this essay. It, initially, is a means for people of certain occupational sectors to define themselves in the streamline of the social life. In addition, the inspiration it generates uplifts these target people to a rank of incredibly superior intuitions. Even more, it sets a global network of people with a mutual interest where they communicate, make business deals in porcelain, and support one another. Nevertheless, English porcelain seems to be left aside in the list of English cultures in English courses worldwide. It, therefore, urges a necessity to include English porcelain as a cultural significance in teaching English globally, depending on the teacher’s optional method, for a more comprehensive training framework of one of the most internationally used languages (English).