David Huddart
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781781380253
- eISBN:
- 9781781381540
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781380253.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language
In the context of English’s apparent worldwide spread, this book brings together the fields of postcolonial studies and world Englishes, arguing that this is a necessary and long overdue connection. ...
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In the context of English’s apparent worldwide spread, this book brings together the fields of postcolonial studies and world Englishes, arguing that this is a necessary and long overdue connection. Although postcolonial studies appears to have its origins in literary studies, and accordingly in the study of language, in fact there have been few connections with fields in linguistics that are clearly relevant to postcolonial approaches to English in particular. The book chiefly makes connections with the growing field of World Englishes studies, considering points of contact, differences in emphasis, and fundamental disagreements. It proposes that postcolonial studies can be renewed through engaging with World Englishes studies, but also that postcolonial studies as a discipline can offer powerful frameworks for World Englishes studies itself. The book examines the existing and potential connections between the fields through examples such as postcolonial dictionaries, postcolonial composition, the language of global citizenship, and the interface between World Literatures and World Englishes. It concludes that World Englishes, by contrast with a monolithic Global English, contribute to a vision of communication that resists globalization’s demand for accessibility and transparency.Less
In the context of English’s apparent worldwide spread, this book brings together the fields of postcolonial studies and world Englishes, arguing that this is a necessary and long overdue connection. Although postcolonial studies appears to have its origins in literary studies, and accordingly in the study of language, in fact there have been few connections with fields in linguistics that are clearly relevant to postcolonial approaches to English in particular. The book chiefly makes connections with the growing field of World Englishes studies, considering points of contact, differences in emphasis, and fundamental disagreements. It proposes that postcolonial studies can be renewed through engaging with World Englishes studies, but also that postcolonial studies as a discipline can offer powerful frameworks for World Englishes studies itself. The book examines the existing and potential connections between the fields through examples such as postcolonial dictionaries, postcolonial composition, the language of global citizenship, and the interface between World Literatures and World Englishes. It concludes that World Englishes, by contrast with a monolithic Global English, contribute to a vision of communication that resists globalization’s demand for accessibility and transparency.
Lauren Zentz
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034708
- eISBN:
- 9780262335980
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034708.003.0015
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The data presented in this chapter highlight the Indonesian state’s influence on citizens’ access to education as it implements policies that simultaneously aim to secure a national identity through ...
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The data presented in this chapter highlight the Indonesian state’s influence on citizens’ access to education as it implements policies that simultaneously aim to secure a national identity through enforcing Indonesian as medium of instruction in public schools and categorizing English as a Foreign Language. The state is in a double bind, and its policies are ineffective: in globalization, English cannot be avoided, but the state lacks the resources needed to meet internationalized standards with language and curriculum content appropriate to the needs of Indonesia’s student populations and the skills of its teachers. Because of these dynamics, the English language is accessed mostly by those who already have access to mobility, wealth, and “international standard” educations. The national categorization of English as a Foreign Language combined with a contradictory rush to get citizens English alone by increasing its distribution throughout educational curricula, promises nothing more than to reinforce levels of English fluency as indicators of individuals’ access to or marginalization from wealth and state-distributed educations. Beliefs that English alone will earn the Indonesian state and its citizens prosperous positions in national and global society act to conflate the English language with the other important material factors alongside which this symbol of wealth “hitchhikes” (Mendoza-Denton, 2011), and this has led to rushed and ineffective policy implementation on many levels.Less
The data presented in this chapter highlight the Indonesian state’s influence on citizens’ access to education as it implements policies that simultaneously aim to secure a national identity through enforcing Indonesian as medium of instruction in public schools and categorizing English as a Foreign Language. The state is in a double bind, and its policies are ineffective: in globalization, English cannot be avoided, but the state lacks the resources needed to meet internationalized standards with language and curriculum content appropriate to the needs of Indonesia’s student populations and the skills of its teachers. Because of these dynamics, the English language is accessed mostly by those who already have access to mobility, wealth, and “international standard” educations. The national categorization of English as a Foreign Language combined with a contradictory rush to get citizens English alone by increasing its distribution throughout educational curricula, promises nothing more than to reinforce levels of English fluency as indicators of individuals’ access to or marginalization from wealth and state-distributed educations. Beliefs that English alone will earn the Indonesian state and its citizens prosperous positions in national and global society act to conflate the English language with the other important material factors alongside which this symbol of wealth “hitchhikes” (Mendoza-Denton, 2011), and this has led to rushed and ineffective policy implementation on many levels.
