English as an international language international student and identity formation

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English as an international language: international student and identity formation

Phan Le Ha a

a Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia Online Publication Date: 01 August 2009

To cite this Article Phan Le Ha(2009)'English as an international language: international student and identity formation',Language and Intercultural Communication,9:3,201 — 214

To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/14708470902748855

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14708470902748855

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English as an international language: international student and identity formation

Phan Le Ha*

Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia

Drawing on the literature on Asian international students, current debates surrounding English as an international language (EIL), and the conceptual tools of appropriation, this article reports the findings of a qualitative research study with eight Asian international students studying at a university in Thailand

to explore their taking ownership of English and how they see themselves in relation to the language The findings demonstrate that these students’ appro-priation of EIL for their own advantage reflects a healthy and sensible sense of sharing the ownership of English The findings also highlight the relationships between these students’ sense of self and their positioning with respect to the English language Many stereotypes about international students constructed around the English language and their being Asian have been challenged by the sophisticated and dynamic manner of the participants’ appropriation of English The article argues that together with encouraging and valuing users’ appropria-tion of English, it is important to acknowledge and promote ways that individuals take ownership of English Their voices must be heard, not assumed Users of EIL need to be seen as individuals and in relation to who they are, who they want to be and who they could become and in multiple domains in which their identities are produced and reproduced

Noi dung cua bai viet nay dua tren so lieu thu thap duoc tu mot de tai nghien cuu khoa hoc thuc hien voi tam sinh vien quoc te nguoi chau A theo hoc chuong trinh thac si ve giang day tieng Anh tai mot truong dai hoc o Thai Lan Bai viet duoc khai trien tren nen co so ly luan lien quan den ba mang ly thuyet Thu nhat, do la mang ly thuyet viet ve du hoc sinh chau A tai cac quoc gia noi tieng Anh Thu hai,

do la cac van de va tranh cai xoay quanh tieng Anh nhu mot ngon ngu quoc te Thu ba, do la cac hinh thuc tiep nhan va chon loc tieng Anh cua cac cong dong va quoc gia tren the gioi cho muc dich phat trien rieng cua minh De tai nghien cuu noi tren nham muc dich tim hieu moi lien he giua viec su dung tieng Anh nhu mot ngon ngu quoc te, goc gac chau A va moi truong hoc tai Thai Lan co anh huong nhu the nao den su hinh thanh va phat trien cac gia tri co lien quan den cai toi, ban sac ca nhan, ban sac van hoa va ban sac dan toc cua tam du hoc sinh quoc te tham gia vao de tai Ket qua cua de tai bac bo mot so nhan dinh mang tinh tieu cuc va co phan ky thi ve sinh vien quoc te nguoi chau A, vi du nhu kha nang tieng Anh yeu kem va cach tiep can tri thuc thieu tinh sang tao va thieu dau oc phan bien Nhung nhan dinh nay phan lon deu cho rang nguyen nhan cua nhung yeu kem nay xuat phat tu ly do ngon ngu, su khac biet van hoa va su thua kem ve van hoa tri thuc khi so sanh voi phuong Tay Viec tam sinh vien quoc te nguoi chau A

du hoc tai Thai Lan chu dong va sang tao lam chu tieng Anh va tiep nhan co chon loc ngon ngu nay duoi nhieu goc do da dang cho thay su lam chu tieng Anh nhu mot ngon ngu quoc te co moi lien he mat thiet voi su hinh thanh cac gia tri co lien

*Email: ha.phan@education.monash.edu.au

Vol 9, No 3, August 2009, 201
214

ISSN 1470-8477 print/ISSN 1747-759X online

# 2009 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/14708470902748855

quan den ban sac va vi tri xa hoi cua moi ca nhan trong moi tuong quan voi nhung hoan canh khac nhau, voi van hoa dan toc, dat nuoc cua minh va su giao luu quoc

te Dieu nay goi mo mot huong di moi cho nhung nghien cuu co lien quan den tieng Anh nhu mot ngon ngu quoc te, ban sac, va du hoc sinh tai cac quoc gia khac nhau tren the gioi Bat dau bang nhung dinh kien duong nhu khong phai la mot cach bat dau co hieu qua de tim hieu su hinh thanh cac gia tri ban sac cua cac nhom du hoc sinh boi le qua trinh hinh thanh cac gia tri ban sac nay thuong rat phuc tap, da chieu, chiu tac dong cua hoan canh, luon trong the bien dong nhung lai gan lien voi nhung gia tri van hoa ‘goc’ ma nhung dinh kien mang tinh khien cuong thuong khong nam bat duoc

Keywords: international students; Asia/Asian; English as an international language (EIL); appropriation; identity formation; ownership of English; Thailand

Introduction

Stories and experiences of individuals appropriating English to their advantage have not yet been highlighted in the literature on international students and English as an international language (EIL) In the same vein, little about international students in areas beyond the Western world has been discussed in the published research literature The assumption that ‘the West is the world’ and English belongs to native English-speaking countries appears to have marginalised even the need and importance of doing research into the so-called Other
the Other that the Self has already known and constructed (Pennycook, 1998; Said, 1978) This article responds to this concern and the absence of empirical work on international students studying in Thailand, a non-Western context

In 2006, I took a trip to Thailand that astonished me I felt I was in a truly international environment: the students and academics who attended my seminar were international in appearance, language, culture, experience and ethnicity In particular, we all seemed to share the ownership of the English language Many international students confirmed that they felt comfortable and respected as international students who had a command of English in addition to their mother tongue They clearly had taken advantage of the international role of English and presented themselves as having a certain authority with respect to this language This phenomenon demanded further research

Drawing on the literature on Asian international students, current debates surrounding EIL, and the conceptual tools of appropriation, this article reports the findings of qualitative research with eight Asian international students who were studying at a university in Thailand The research is designed to explore their taking ownership of English and how they see themselves in relation to the language The findings demonstrate that these students’ appropriation of EIL for their own advantage reflects a healthy and sensible sense of sharing the ownership of English The findings also highlight the relationships between these students’ sense of self and their positioning with respect to English

Throughout the article, I employ the terms Self, Other, Asia, Asian, the West and Western with full awareness of the different connotations and limitations attached to each of them I do not treat these terms as being unified, fixed and binary in relation

to each other Instead, I have adopted a critical view taking into account various dimensions of these terms (see Phan, 2008 for a detailed discussion)

English and international students

International students, particularly those coming from Asian countries, have suffered from negative stereotyping associated with their Asian origins and their use of the English language The literature testifies to the perception that, despite the range of nationalities represented among international student body, it tends to be regarded as being ‘Asian’, and ‘Asians’ in turn tend to be regarded as ‘international students’
particularly in Australia and New Zealand Collins (2006), for example, observes that international students in New Zealand are often referred to as ‘Asian students’, especially in the media, which goes further by representing New Zealand citizens and permanent residents of Asian descent in the same discourse as non-resident Asians Being Asian is depicted more negatively than positively, despite the contribution that Asians, and Asian students, make to New Zealand’s economic growth and multi-cultural identity As Coates (2004) has noted, international students remain ‘the foreigner’ and ‘the stranger’ Another example that conflates international students with ‘Asians’ is the work of Ballard and Clanchy (1997) Although the title of their book is ‘Teaching international students: a brief guide for lecturers and supervisors’, these authors represented ‘the international student’ as all Asians These ‘Asian international students’ suffered from negative, even hostile, comments and attitudes from their lecturers due to their being the Asian Other and to their having poor language skills, as reported in the book

Discourses about Asian international students often describe them being uncritical, passive, obedient and lacking analytical and argumentative skills
deficits that are associated with their ‘Asian’ backgrounds (Ballard & Clanchy, 1991; Barrett-Lennard, 1997; Samuelowicz, 1987) In addition, problems with plagiarism and lack

of participation are traced to their poor English and their Asian cultural values (Sowden, 2005) Asian international students have been accused of reducing academic standards in Australian universities and causing academics to soft-mark (Devos, 2003) Marlina (2007, p 5) cites a range of sources in the USA, the UK and Australia which confirm the general picture of Asian students:

many of these stereotypes are ‘repeated often in the professional literature, conference presentations’ (Kumaravadivelu, 2003, p 710), appear in ‘minutes of a Course Planning Committee, and a frequent topic of conversation between western lecturers about students from Asian countries’ (Kember, 2000, p 99), and appear to be a ‘recurring concern preoccupying academics in response to the increased number of international students from Asia’ (Kettle, 2005, p 50)

Accordingly, international students are often blamed for their deficit and thus expected to adjust themselves to ‘new’ educational contexts in the host country, which bear characteristics of dominant Western academic and ideological conven-tions and discourses However, a study by Lee and Rice (2007) on international students in the USA contends that international students’ difficulties are caused as much by the different forms of discrimination and racism that have been practised against them In the same vein, Gu and Schweisfurth (2006) also problematise the assumption about ‘the’ Chinese international student in the UK and their problem of adjustment The key issues of concern raised in these studies, again, point to those of the language and the Asian Other identities

In a study conducted into factors influencing international students’ decisions

to study in Australia and Thailand, Jones (2006) excludes the role of English as one factor for comparison because English is not a native language of Thailand

However, the author shows in the study that although Australia is pictured as an English-speaking country ‘perceptions of the benefits of study abroad such as ‘‘learn English with native speakers’’ decreased’ (Jones, 2006, p 26) among international students there This finding suggests that ‘learning English with native speakers’ is no longer an obvious comparative advantage to attract international students and that English is no longer solely the property of Australia in the region Jones’ study sheds some light on international students’ perspective on the shared ownership of English The present article investigates further how the use and consumption of English contributes to the sense of identity of a group of international students in Thailand The findings further consolidate the emerging literature on the ownership of English, which is dealt with in the subsequent section, which demonstrate that in the context

of EIL, that English is the property of only the English-speaking West and that international students have to submit themselves to English is no longer valid and thus must not be taken for granted

Taking the ownership of English as an international language (EIL)

Debates surrounding the international status of English have mushroomed over the past years (for example, Brutt-Griffler, 2002; Kachru, 1986; Pennycook, 1994; Phillipson, 1992; Rubdy & Saraceni, 2006) Concerns about the ownership of English have also been raised and discussed (Canagarajah, 1999; Holliday, 2005; McKay, 2002; Phan, 2008; Widdowson, 1997) Issues of resistance, appropriation and negotiation in relation to EIL have been noted and theorised For instance, Canagarajah (1999) demonstrates that Sri Lankans have been able to use appropriate English for their own purposes, taking into account local cultural and political factors He offers an approach that resists ‘linguistic imperialism in English teaching’ Hashimoto (2000, p 39) provides an example of how a country resists Western globalisation and English dominance He argues that ‘the commitment of the Japanese government to internationalisation in education actually means ‘‘Japanisa-tion’’ of Japanese learners of English’

Resistance, appropriation and negotiation do not mean rejecting English Instead, they support the use of English for one’s own benefit and equality, but at the same time urge English users to work together to eliminate the still active discourses of colonialism These notions suggest a new and more sophisticated view

of ‘appropriation’, which consists of resistance and reconstitution English users may

be better served by their proactively taking ownership of its use and its teaching English users, particularly non-native speakers of English, will then ‘be the main agents in the ways English is used, is maintained, and changed, and who will shape the ideologies and beliefs associated with [EIL]’ (Seidlhofer, 2003, p 7) Warschauer (2000, p 511) shares a belief in a more widespread of EIL and accordingly ‘a shift of authority to non-native speakers [of English]’ However, Canagarajah (2005, p xvi) also points out the fact that ‘standard English’ is still the norm in most institutions and that other forms of English are not guaranteed a place Rather, they have ‘to be achieved through socially informed struggle and strategic negotiation’ (p xvi) Appropriation includes the possibility of change and opens up spaces for the Other to develop positively and equally in relation to the Self In the context of EIL, appropriation is specifically related to how the Others actively and comfortably use English as their tongue But appropriation does not stop at an ‘apolitical relativism’ status (Pennycook, 2001, p 71) Instead, it will assert itself by constantly creating

‘third cultures or third spaces’ as suggested by Kramsch (1993), (cited in Pennycook,

2001, p 71) Indeed, the use of English plays an important part in both one’s desire to communicate with the world and one’s will to preserve one’s identity (Kubota, 1998; Pham, 2001) It also influences one’s perception of one’s identity (Kramsch, 2001; Lin, Wang, Akamatsu, & Riazi, 2001) Put differently, English contributes dynamically to identity formation and a sense of belonging that is complemented but not compromised by a sense of global citizenship

It is important to explore what the process of taking ownership of English involves It is therefore critical to tell more stories of how individuals and communities have taken ownership of English to their advantage The international students participating in this study were also teachers of English, and their appropriation of EIL did not simply occur within their immediate context It took place at multiple sites and in interaction with the language, other users of it, their multiple roles and how they were seen by different stakeholders of the English language in Thailand The inter-relationships between context (of their language learning, language teaching and language use), their identity formation and change, their representation seen in their own eyes and constructed by others, and their own attitudes towards English were all interwoven in the ways these students claimed their ownership of English As we shall see later, taking ownership of English carried different meanings to different participants, as affected by these inter-relationships

The study

The study was conducted with a group of eight international students doing their Masters degree in English Language Teaching at an international university in Thailand Four of them came from China, and four came from Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines, respectively Their ages ranged from 25 to 32 The students had some English teaching experience either in their home country or in Thailand or both In their course, the medium of instruction was English These students commenced their English Language Teaching (ELT) degree at different times, so not all of them were on the same courses The ELT courses they took in Thailand had lecturers from various countries, such as Britain, the USA, Australia, India, Singapore, Eastern Europe, Vietnam and Thailand They also had classmates coming from English-speaking countries including North America and Australia, and classmates from European countries

Data collection were by informal face-to-face conversations with the participants

in Thailand after I had delivered my public lecture at their university The conversations were mainly with the students from China, and this explained why

I obtained more data from these students than the ones from Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines The participants were then asked to respond to 10 guided questions in writing, and these questions were followed up by email exchanges for clarification and depth The topics included ‘Your experience as an international student in Thailand’, ‘Your experience with English in Thailand’, ‘Your experience with your own teaching in Thailand’ and ‘How do you see yourself in relation to English?’

The following section presents various ways in which the participants saw themselves as appropriating English and constructing their identity in relation to the language

Taking ownership of English by making English serve one’s multi-relationships with the language

The data given below show that these eight Asian international students felt they were in control of the English language and saw their command of English as putting them in a ‘better’ position They saw English as everyone’s language and seemed to enjoy positive international experiences by taking ownership of English Above all, they all seemed to use English proactively to their advantage Through English, their multiple relationships with English and their multiple identities were identified, produced and reproduced As we shall see, the students’ comments support the argument, partly exemplified in the work of Canagarajah (1999) and Kramsch (2001), that English has been appropriated by international users to an extent that is meaningful to them Their comments also suggest that the use of EIL creates domains that help these students reclaim their identities as Asian in general and as Chinese or Indonesian, for example, in particular Being able to use English was seen

as an important factor contributing to these students’ positive experience as international students and/or foreigners in Thailand

The comments reported and summarised below show that all the participants self-identified with English, sometimes in ways that were similar, sometimes in ways that were unique Their shared ownership of English, and their positive relation to it, was an important factor in contributing towards their multiple identities

Teaching Chinese through English

The four students from China all reported that they taught Chinese in Thailand through English They all appreciated the role of English in helping them introduce their language and cultures to others They felt proud as they were highly regarded for their mastery in both English and Chinese by their students and by those westerners they knew in Thailand They also seemed to be proud as speakers of these two dominant languages that others wanted to learn This gave them a sense of

‘superiority’, not just in relation to English but Chinese as well, as expressed by two students

English granting its users an empowering and ‘superior’ status

I feel a little bit superior and proud compared to some Thai people’s speaking English, because we can manage the sentences more neatly, logically, grammatically, and more expressively instead of their keeping repeating Meanwhile, I feel happy, because I can communicate with those westerners to gain more information and make friends with them This frequent contact in English helps enhance understanding, hence facilitate the cultural transmitation (S2-China)

I have been exposed to international teaching methods and learning strategies and been transformed to an English teacher and learner who is confident in achieving her dreams

in her teaching career (S3-China)

What these two students expressed emphasised the important role of ‘the interna-tional context’ in which they learnt, taught and used English The institution where they took their Masters’ degree seemed to offer them good opportunities to establish and exercise their multiple identities with respect to English More importantly, it was

they who took the initiatives in making full use of the context for their language learning and professional development

However, S2’s view also raises a concern that the ownership of English may be

‘politicized’ by its users She defined some Thais as being ‘inferior’ because they needed to learn English from her and some westerners whom she wanted to mix with as being relatively ‘superior’ Proficiency in English or the ownership of English, appeared to be an important criterion with which she identified herself and others The observation of such views suggests that taking the ownership of English is itself a complicated process, which at the deepest level, is laden with the question of identity formation and re-construction

‘English as one part of my life’ and ‘the gateway’ to know others

Before English is just one subject that I need to learn and teach But now English is one part of my life I communicate and write in English I keep the record of my life in English I also use English to make money when I go to class to teach (S3-China)

I have related to English more than 15 years I have learned English from secondary school until I graduated university as my major and now I am still learning and teaching

it at international school English is something that most Korean people cannot help learning for social and cultural reasons, but for me I regard English as the gateway to the contact with the different people in other world (S5-Korea)

What S3 reported revealed the sentiments she had about English and her attachment

to it It was not just the language she learnt, taught and used, but the language in which she ‘recorded’ her life This is a powerful example of one’s appropriation of English that carries feelings, love and affection embedded in her use of the language S5 can also be seen as having appropriated English for her own purposes, but her words clearly show that her appropriation involves greater resistance to the stereotypes made about Koreans learning English She excluded herself from the majority of Koreans who had learnt English for social and cultural reasons She was

in Thailand and this context enabled her to meet and have contacts with people from all over the world While the learning of English in Korea is often discussed in the literature as a ‘fever’ that strongly portrays Koreans as being Americanised and

‘crazy about English’ (for example, Han, 2004), S5 constructed a different image of herself in relation to this must-learn language

Being a communicator of cultures through ‘International English’

One good thing about studying in Thailand is that you get to know people from different parts of the world, and you can get a lot of opportunities to listen to people speaking English with different accents I personally think that it is very important since now the world deals with ‘International English’, and it is crucial for one to be able to communicate well with others from various cultural backgrounds (S10-Taiwan) English is the foreign language I try to master as a teacher I like using English in this special international environment I want to create an immersion environment for myself even I am in an English speaking country Now I feel that I have more control in using English in daily and academic communication I enjoy doing like this as long as I live in

a foreign country (S4-China)

Again, these two students acknowledged and recognised the importance of the context in which they were able to learn and use English It is also interesting to see that ‘the international context/environment’ was constructed around the status of EIL Put differently, an ‘international context’ often means an ‘English-speaking context’ Perhaps, this very ‘international context’ tended to liberate these students more in terms of how they accepted different Englishes and developed their knowledge of others

Reasserting one’s identity through English: feeling proud to be Asian

Although there is an extensive literature on the colonising influence of English on its users (for example, Pennycook, 1994, 1998; Phillipson, 1992), what the participants expressed in this study presented a different position They felt they had colonised English Their identities as ‘Asian’ were reclaimed, strengthened and deeply felt in the ways they asserted their identities in relation to English, their home country, their people and their status:

It is really amazing how English as an international language can help people from different cultures and countries to communicate with one another in depth I understand more about Chinese culture and what the national identity as a Chinese means to me

I cherish more about the beauty of our language and the depth of our culture and the width of our life philosophy Those things are implicit and unconscious before I go abroad Through the frequent communication with people from various cultures, I often reflect on our own cultures and think more deeply about the importance of being a Chinese as well as an intercultural communicator (S4-China)

I have a strong sense of belonging to my own country I feel proud of being a Chinese

I am still Chinese I use English only as a medium of communication Chinese long history, stronger economy, hard-working people, diversified dialects and cultures, various and delicious food, rich resource All of these make me feel so good to be Chinese (S2-China)

I enjoy studying and teaching English in Thailand since I have got the advantages of being an Asian and yet, proficient in English; which I hope could be a role model among other successful English learners in a non-English speaking country (S7-Indonesia)

In the same vein, these participants felt that the knowledge they had acquired through the means of English had helped them be more aware of their identities

as Asian More data obtained from S2 and S4 revealed that these two participants tended to appreciate their Chinese culture more when they lived abroad They saw the need to learn more about their own culture and country, as they were identified not just as Asian but as Chinese in particular, in their conversations with others in English They felt proud when they could talk about China in English This gave them a sense of achievement as English language learners, a sense of success as intercultural communicators, and a sense of ownership as EIL users

To S7 from Indonesia, her self-representation as a successful role model

to other non-native English-speaking learners deconstructs the native speaker norm deeply embedded in English language teaching and learning (Holliday, 2005) and further supports the argument for EIL and appropriation of EIL by its users

‘I do not own the language and the language does not own me’

English language has become an international language, and some people may disagree with me on this issue However, the truth is that having the ability to communicate in the language yields is more advantageous if not rewarding I have been speaking the language for quite some time now but one thing is clear though, I do not own the language and the language does not own me What I mean is that the gift of this language has opened wider doors for me, but I am in no way cloistered by its dazzling world of origin In fact, it helped me create a world of my own (S6-Philippines)

This statement from S6 corresponds to Kramsch’s (1993) concept of the ‘third space’ She appeared to enjoy her authority over English and be comfortable in her own

‘third space’ constantly created and re-created by her multiple relationships with English In addition, her authority over English marked her resistance to the colonial history associated with the language

English alone, though important, is not enough

One thing that’s different, though, is that being an international student in Thailand, you need to learn Thai, not English If you don’t speak Thai, a certain degree of difficulty

to get around is there English is the key to do all the courses well in my study, but as

to living in Thailand, Thai is more important (S8-Taiwan)

The acknowledgement that English is important and that it is an international language does not negate the equal status of other languages What this participant from Taiwan expressed about the need to know both English and Thai to function well in her study and everyday life in Thailand recognises the importance of multilingualism and the danger and limit of knowing only English EIL can result in the appreciation of other languages and in multilingualism (Joseph & Ramani, 2006)

Taking ownership by feeling included and positive as international students

and foreigners in Thailand

All participants reported a positive experience of being an international student and foreigner in Thailand They perceived their status as being privileged Despite a large number of foreigners coming from western countries to Thailand, these participants had not experienced discrimination in the ways they were viewed and treated in Thai society Their experience appeared to be the opposite to that of the international students reported in studies by Koehne (2004) and Lee and Rice (2007) in English-speaking countries Neither were they constructed as ‘the international student’
‘the stranger’ as discussed in Coates (2004) Indeed, these students’ Asian backgrounds may make it easier for them to adjust in Thailand Nonetheless, it was their own initiative and determination to take ownership of English and hold firm to their national cultural identity that played a key role in helping them develop a sense of confidence and inclusion in the host society:

I feel like an international student in an international environment with students from different countries in Thailand I use English to communicate with other international students and the instructors in our program All the Thai staff can speak English as well

I enjoy my life as an international student in this university Foreigners feel at home in this foreign country with reasonable living standard and friendly local people Studying

in Thailand offers me a lot of opportunities to get in touch with professional academic