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Course Introduction
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Unit 1: Defining English
This unit introduces the idea of alternative monolithic and plurilithic conceptions of English.
- 1.0 Introduction
- 1.1 Monolithic vs Plurilithic Concepts
- 1.1.1 Monolithic Concepts of Language
- 1.1.2 Plurilithic Concepts of Language
- 1.2 ‘Standard English’
- 1.2.1 ‘Standard English’: History
- 1.2.2 ‘Standard English’: Beliefs
- 1.2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of ‘Standard English’ for ELT
- 1.3 Rules of English
- 1.3.1 The ambiguity of the word rule
- 1.3.2 Rules of English: The Monolithic View
- 1.3.3 Rules of English: The Plurilithic View
- 1.4 Four Dimensions of Monolithism
- 1.5 Check Your Understanding
- 1.6 Reflect and Discuss
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Unit 2: Using English
This unit explores the plurilithic usage of English in diverse global settings.
- Unit 2: Using English
- 2.1 Introducing Lingua Franca Usage
- 2.2.1 Native speaker Variation
- 2.2.2 Native speakers: Accommodation
- 2.3 Englishes in the British Isles
- 2.4 World Englishes
- 2.4.1 Englishes in Your Part of The World
- 2.4.2 Owning a language (Part 1)
- 2.5 ELF
- 2.5.1 Intelligibility
- 2.5.2 ELF in Your Part of The World
- 2.6 Translanguaging with English
- 2.7 Check Your Understanding
- 2.8 Reflect and Discuss
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Unit 3: Learning English
This unit discusses how English is learned as a first or additional language.
- Unit 3: Learning English
- 3.1 First Language Acquisition
- 3.2 Back to Rules
- 3.2.1 Rules as Patterns in the Mind (Part 1)
- 3.2.2 Rules as Social Markers
- 3.2.3 Rules as Mental Representations
- 3.2.4 Rules in Schools
- 3.2.5 Rules as Patterns in the Mind (2)
- 3.3 Models and Targets
- 3.4 Learning Contexts
- 3.5 Owning a Language (Part 2)
- 3.6 Learners and Users
- 3.7 Check Your Understanding
- 3.8 Reflect and Discuss
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Unit 4: Teaching English
This unit examines the teaching implications of plurilithic conceptions of English.
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Unit 5: Changing English
This unit suggests ways to share your learning on the course with others.
- Unit 5: Changing English
- 5.1 The Challenge
- 5.2 Changing Learners’ Beliefs About English
- 5.3 Changing Teaching Colleagues’ Beliefs About English
- 5.4 Changing Policy-Makers’ Beliefs About English
- 5.5 Changing the Public’s Beliefs About English
- 5.6 Check Your Understanding
- 5.7 Reflect and Discuss
- Course Finish
4.4 Your Learning and Teaching Activities
Next we’ll think about how the ideas we present in this course (could) relate to your own teaching activities.
Activity
For this activity, choose a lesson that you taught very recently. Did you take any of the roles in the list in Figure 4.4? Did your students? Your textbook? Can you roughly describe what percentage of the lesson involved you, your students or your textbook in these roles? (Some of the roles may overlap, so while you’re thinking about your own lesson, also consider how this list of roles could be improved.)
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Figure 4.4: Classroom roles
Instead of remembering a lesson you taught recently, you could ask someone to observe one of your classes and make a note of the number of minutes you spend in each role. Or you could (with your students’ permission) audio or video record one of your lessons, then listen to or watch the recording and make a note of the actual number of minutes you spend in each of these roles. Or you could ask your students to make a note of the actual number of minutes you spend in each role during one of your classes. Is the amount of time you spent in each role what you expected? What do the roles you take imply about your understanding of what ‘English’ is and how it is learned?
Feedback
Are all or most of your percentages, or number of minutes, in the teacher or textbook column? Or do you sometimes share these roles with your students? What does your choice of roles imply about your understanding of how language teaching differs from the teaching of other subjects?
Reflection 4.2
Reflect on some of the teaching materials and activities you currently use or are familiar with. In what ways do they implicitly encourage or explicitly promote monolithic and plurilithic thinking on the part of students? Share your reflections here.