Euro English A Debate and its Implications for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Euro English A Debate and its Implications for Teaching English as a Foreign LanguageEuro English A Debate and its Implications for Teaching English as a Foreign LanguageEuro English A Debate and its Implications for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Euro-English:

A Debate and its Implications for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

by Christine Raack

A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

Approved March 2012 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee:

Elly Van Gelderen, Chair Karen Adams Carla Ghanem

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

May 2012

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ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the acceptability of a new variety of English among the English teaching community in Germany A number of linguists claim there is a new variety of English developing in continental Europe, also known as

Euro-English Their research has surfaced multiple features that are unique to

European speakers of English Twenty-one teachers participated in a survey They answered a questionnaire consisting of two parts Part one investigates the

background of the teachers, their attitudes towards different varieties of English,

and their awareness of the research regarding Euro-English Part two tests the

acceptability of ten features that have been claimed to be specific for mainland Europeans Results of this study reveal that there is little awareness of non-native

varieties and many find it hard to accept the features of Euro-English However,

the teachers show a genuine interest in this topic Where there is a general

preference in holding on to the guidelines of standard norms, many comments indicate that teachers think about issues of identity and how their teaching could

be affected by a broader scope that exceeds traditional methods

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION 1


2 ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA (ELF) 6


English Worldwide 6


Defining English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) 8


Conceptualizing English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) 10


ELF Features 11


Phonology 12


Pragmatics 13


Lexicogrammar 20


3 ENGLISH IN EUROPE 24


The Role of English in Europe 24


The Role of English on a National Level 27


The Example of Sweden 27


The Example of Germany 28


Resistance to English 32

English as the EU Working Language 34


The European Identity 36


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CHAPTER Page

4 EURO-ENGLISH 41


The Term Euro-English 41


The Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (VOICE) 44


Features of European Languages 45


Features of Euro-English 52


A New Variety or Learner Language 58


Native and Non-native Teachers of English 62


Teaching the Variety 64


5 THE STUDY 68


Survey of English Teachers 70


Participants 71


The Questionnaire 73


Results 74


Professional Opportunities for Non-native and Native Speakers 74


Identity 77

Awareness of other Varieties of English 78


Awareness of Euro-English as a Topic of Discussion 80


Student Age Groups and Motivational Levels 83


CHAPTER page

Varieties of English: Availability and Preference 83


Acceptability of Euro-English Features 89


Discussion of Results and Comments 98


6 CONCLUSION 108


REFERENCES 114


APPENDIX A INFORMATION LETTER ABOUT THE STUDY 123


B QUESTIONNAIRE 125


C APPROVAL FOR EXEMPT RESEARCH 131