Analyzing Use of Thanks to You: Insights for Language Teaching and Assessment in Second and Foreign Language Contexts

This investigation of thanks to you in British and American usage was precipitated by a situation at an American university, in which a native Arabic speaker said thanks to you in isolation, making his intended meaning unclear. The study analyzes use of thanks to you in the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus to gain insights for English language instruction /assessment in the American context, as well as English-as-a-lingua-franca contexts where the majority of speakers are not native speakers of English or are speakers of different varieties of English but where American or British English are for educational purposes the standard varieties. Analysis of the two corpora revealed three functions for thanks to you common to British and American usage: expressing gratitude, communicating "because of you" positively, and communicating "because of you" negatively (as in sarcasm). A fourth use of thanks to you, thanking journalists/guests for being on news programs/talk shows, occurred in the American corpus only. Analysis indicates that felicitous use of thanks to you for each of these meanings depends on the presence of a range of factors, both linguistic and material, in the context of utterance

Beyond aspect: will be -ing and shall be -ing

This article discusses the synchronic status and diachronic development of will be -ing and shall be -ing (as in I’ll be leaving at noon).2 Although available since at least Middle English, the constructions did not establish a significant foothold in standard English until the twentieth century. Both types are also more prevalent in British English (BrE) than American English (AmE). We argue that in present-day usage will/shall be -ing are aspectually underspecified: instances that clearly construe a situation as future-in-progress are in the minority. Similarly, although volition-neutrality has been identified as a key feature of will/shall be -ing, it is important to take account of other, generally richer meanings and associations, notably ‘future-as-matter-of-course’ (Leech 2004), ‘already-decided future’ (Huddleston & Pullum et al. 2002) and non-agentivity. Like volition-neutrality, these characteristics appear to be relevant not only in contemporary use, but also in their historical expansion. We show that the construction has evolved from progressive aspect towards more subjectivised evidential meaning

The Attitudes of Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians towards Cameroon English as a Model of English Language Teaching and Learning in Cameroon

Teachers of English in Cameroon are proficient speakers of Cameroon English and their non-native status militates against their usage of Standard British English in the English language classrooms. This makes the attainment of British English thorny and perhaps impossible in Cameroon. Standing on that premise, we were motivated to find out Cameroonians’ attitudes towards Cameroon English as a model of English language teaching and learning in the country. Eighty (80) post graduate Cameroonian users of English (40 Anglophones and 40 Francophones) were randomly in the Departments of English both in the University of Yaounde I and the Higher Teacher Training College Yaounde. A four-Likert scale questionnaire comprising 27 questions was designed for the informants to indicate their agreement or disagreement with them. The findings revealed that attitudes towards CamE as a variety that must serve as a model in the English Language Teaching (ELT) industry are varied. While the majority of Anglophone informants had a positive attitude towards Cameroon English as a model of English language teaching and a relative negative attitude towards Standard British English, the majority of Francophone informants rather had a negative attitude towards CamE and a very favourable attirude towards Standard British English. Keywords: Attitude, Anglophone, Francophone, Cameroon English, English Language Teachin

The World Englishes Paradigm and its Implications for International Students\u27 Acquisition of Standard American English for University-Level Studies in the United States

Because English, as the predominant international language, is now used in many different forms and contexts globally, attitudes are changing towards variety in English, the construct of English proficiency tests, and methods of teaching English. This paper addresses the fact that many students of English are exposed to non-standard indigenized or lingua franca Englishes, thus potentially marginalizing them in their efforts to succeed on international tests of English based on standard American or British conventions. It examines non-standard grammatical features of world Englishes, summarizes the results of studies on bias in English proficiency tests, and details suggestions for best teaching practices enlightened by an understanding of this new English reality. Suggestions for modifications to ESL/EFL teaching methods are informed by empirical studies that demonstrate the success of using the non-standard dialect as a comparative device in English language classrooms whose goal is to teach a standard target dialect

Standard Southern British English as referee design in Irish radio advertising

The exploitation of external as opposed to local language varieties in advertising can be associated with a history of colonization, the external variety being viewed as superior to the local (Bell 1991: 145). Although “Standard English” in terms of accent was never an exonormative model for speakers in Ireland (Hickey 2012), nevertheless Ireland’s history of colonization by Britain, together with the geographical proximity and close socio-political and sociocultural connections of the two countries makes the Irish context an interesting one in which to examine this phenomenon. This study looks at how and to what extent standard British Received Pronunciation (RP), now termed Standard Southern British English (SSBE) (see Hughes et al. 2012) as opposed to Irish English varieties is exploited in radio advertising in Ireland. The study is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of a corpus of ads broadcast on an Irish radio station in the years 1977, 1987, 1997 and 2007. The use of SSBE in the ads is examined in terms of referee design (Bell 1984) which has been found to be a useful concept in explaining variety choice in the advertising context and in “taking the ideological temperature” of society (Vestergaard and Schroder 1985: 121). The analysis is based on Sussex’s (1989) advertisement components of Action and Comment, which relate to the genre of the discourse.Ye

English as a Lingua Franca: Improving Technical Writing and Communication Methods for International Audiences

This thesis centers on the role of English as a lingua franca in global communication, particularly as it pertains to technical written communication. Over the 20th century, English emerged as the primary language used in global communication. As a result, efforts have been made to standardize the language and teach this standardized English in schools and writing programs around the world. Standard American and British English are dominant in academic and professional fields, which inhibits both native and nonnative language learners from reaching their full potential. This project focuses on the most prominent language acquisition methodologies - Standard English, translingualism, English as a lingua franca, and World Englishes - as well as a potential solution to this linguistic paradox. In this thesis, I argue that translingualism is needed in congruence with Standard English, ELF, and World Englishes in order to provide a thorough language education to language learners. English as a lingua franca awareness must be prioritized in the education of professional writers in order to identify best practices and establish consistent terminology, linguistic practices, and writing goals

British or American English? Awareness, preferences and use among university students of English

This work aims at underlining and pointing out how two varieties of English, more specifically, American and British English can differ both lexically and grammatically, and will explore how these differences are perceived by language university students of English. The work starts by focusing on the historical circumstances that led to the differences between the two standard varieties of English, British English and American English. It then goes on to point out the main lexical and grammar differences between the two languages today, addressing the issue of the blurring of boundaries due to globalization. Additionally, the online corpora COHA is used to underline and highlight evident historical changes throughout the decades. Finally, the last chapter consists of an analysis of a questionnaire administered to English university students at the University of Padua. The questionnaire aims at understanding and examining the students’ preferences of the two language varieties, whether they are aware of the differences, what they are generally exposed to and through which sources and, lastly, whether their understanding of one variety over the other can influence their understanding of the other variety. The work concludes by underlining once again the differences between American and British English, by also adding some considerations in the light of the questionnaire’s results.This work aims at underlining and pointing out how two varieties of English, more specifically, American and British English can differ both lexically and grammatically, and will explore how these differences are perceived by language university students of English. The work starts by focusing on the historical circumstances that led to the differences between the two standard varieties of English, British English and American English. It then goes on to point out the main lexical and grammar differences between the two languages today, addressing the issue of the blurring of boundaries due to globalization. Additionally, the online corpora COHA is used to underline and highlight evident historical changes throughout the decades. Finally, the last chapter consists of an analysis of a questionnaire administered to English university students at the University of Padua. The questionnaire aims at understanding and examining the students’ preferences of the two language varieties, whether they are aware of the differences, what they are generally exposed to and through which sources and, lastly, whether their understanding of one variety over the other can influence their understanding of the other variety. The work concludes by underlining once again the differences between American and British English, by also adding some considerations in the light of the questionnaire’s results

Never again: the multiple grammaticalization of never as a marker of negation in English

In both standard and nonstandard varieties of English there are several contexts in which the word never functions as a sentential negator rather than as a negative temporal adverb. This article investigates the pragmatic and distributional differences between the various non-temporal uses of never and examines their synchronic and historical relationship to the ordinary temporal quantifier use, drawing on corpora of Early Modern and present-day British English. Primary focus is on (i) a straightforward negator use that in prescriptively approved varieties of English has an aspectual restriction to non-chance, completive achievement predicates in the preterite, but no such restriction in nonstandard English; and (ii) a distinct categorical-denial use that quantifies over possible perspectives on a situation. Against Cheshire (1998), it is argued that neither of these uses represents continuity with non-temporal uses of never in Middle English, but both are instead relatively recent innovations resulting from semantic reanalysis and the semanticization of implicatures