British Journal of English Linguistics

Cameroon Francophone English: An ATypical Example to Moag’s and Schneider’s Models

Gilbert Tagne Safotso — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 17:57:53 +0000

The spread of English as the world lingua franca in the 20^thcentury has led to the development of many autonomous non-native varieties of it. Those varieties first seen as deviations from Received Pronunciation, Standard British English, and General American have gradually developed their hallmarks, and now deserve serious consideration. Each non-native variety of English claims its autonomy, and indeed has some features which differentiate it from other new Englishes. Because they all have common parents-British English or American English-, certain tendencies have been observed in their evolution process. Kachru (1992), Moag (1992) and Schneider (2003, 2007 & 2009) proposed some of those models. But since in the Expanding Circle English continues to spread,some of the theories developed begin to be challenged. This paper aims to show that Cameroon Francophone English (CamFE), a New English variety, which is fast emerging is an atypical example to Moag’s and Schneider’s Models. With the growing interest in the learning of English in the 21^st century, the paper proposes that new models of the evolution process of new Englishes be elaborated.

Language and Culture as Conflict Resolution Tools: Rethinking English as Lingua Franca

Chika Glory Opara — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 11:07:53 +0000

Language as a structure of meaning giving and reality creation is composed of words, phrases and sentences. Humans’ communications are based on these features to describe an event, explain one’s emotions, needs, interests and fears etc. Language is used to resolve or escalate dispute. People from different culture and social units perceive the world through the lens provided by their distinctive languages. Meaning that language provides repertoire of words that name the categories into which the language users have divided their world. In fact, definitions of words are linguistically, culturally and contextually bound. This is because words carry meanings that make sense to members of a shared social environment. Dispute resolution relies heavily on words (language). However, there is an underlying assumption in Nigeria that all these words should be in English – the second language. The researcher posits that if English is to be a conflict resolution tool in Nigeria. It must accommodate the diversity of culture and language usage. The paper therefore explores the challenges of English language in intercultural conflict resolution, and emphasizes the need to consider the different uses of the language in national and transnational conflict resolution.

Evaluating the Awareness and Perceptions of English Teachers in using E-Learning Tools for Teaching in Saudi High Schools

Khalid Alharthi — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 21:34:14 +0000

The study was carried out to evaluate English teachers’ awareness and perceptions in using e-learning tools. In this study, a total of 22 English teachers from Yanbu educational department participated in the online survey. The majority of the participants (77.3%) are male. Different e-learning parameters were measured like; skill in using educational technology, teachers’ personal use of technology, type of technology used in the classroom, e-learning confidence, barriers to e-learning, perceived effectiveness of e-learning, and willingness to adopt e-learning tools for teaching. The result of the study showed that English teachers are aware and familiar with popular e-learning tools and perceived its usefulness in teaching and learning. Moreover, teachers were faced with some barriers that prevent them to employ technology in the classroom like; lack of reliable Internet connectivity, lack of training, inadequate devices for both teachers and students, and shortage of class time needed to integrate technology in classroom. The study recommends among other things to provide training programs, workshops and seminars to improve teachers’ skills in integrating technology. Furthermore, it suggest to equip schools with a reliable Internet connectivity and technology devices and to provide teachers with enough time to prepare for using e-learning tools.

Metadiscourse in Academic Genres: An Interdisciplinary Study of Research Articles in Sudan

Nauman Al Amin Ali — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 21:51:57 +0000

Metadiscourse is a ubiquitous aspect of all academic discourse in its attempt to align with readers, and, hence, this study purports to investigate cross-disciplinary variations in its deployment in 60 research articles produced locally by Sudanese academicians in six domains. Utilizing Hyland’s (2005) typology, the corpora were compared in terms of patterns of metadiscourse and how these strands represent the Weltanschauung of particular discourse communities. Findings indicate that the corpus is characterized by a relative oblivion to the needs of readers. On the other hand, the dichotomy between interpretive discursive and natural incremental fields was borne out by the statistics. This is manifest in the preponderance of overall features in the former, together with their proclivity to draw on more interpersonal elements to establish rapport. The study has also uncovered marked deviations in the ratios of hedging, boosters and attitude markers in Chemistry and Civil Engineering compared to studies of sociology of knowledge. Yet, subtle, but significant, distinctions in the linguistic embodiment of these categories were found to set these disciplines apart from Economy and Applied Linguistics. Finally, the epistemologically contingent nature of Medicine and the empirical tendencies within Geography were positively correlated with their metadiscourse figures. The implications for teaching academic discourse are also explored.