English and identity a reflection and implications for future research

John Benjamins Publishing Company his is a contribution from Journal of Asian Paciic Communication 26:2 © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company his electronic ile may not be altered in any way he author(s) of this article is/are permitted to use this PDF ile to generate printed copies to be used by way of ofprints, for their personal use only Permission is granted by the publishers to post this ile on a closed server which is accessible only to members (students and faculty) of the author’s/s’ institute It is not permitted to post this PDF on the internet, or to share it on sites such as Mendeley, ResearchGate, Academia.edu Please see our rights policy on https://benjamins.com/content/customers/rights For any other use of this material prior written permission should be obtained from the publishers or through the Copyright Clearance Center (for USA: www.copyright.com) Please contact rights@benjamins.nl or consult our website: www.benjamins.com English and identity A relection and implications for future research Le Ha Phan University of Hawaii at Manoa Introduction When invited to write a relection for this special issue, I could not be happier to be given the liberty and luxury underlying this genre to share a bricolage of ideas on English and identity positioning I will not be able to treat all these ideas in depth and will not discuss the literature as usual, but will at least present them in ways that could stimulate further thinking and relections for future scholarship and research Two anecdotes to begin Anecdote One Friend: “I am going to my yoga class now” Le-Ha: “How is the class?” Friend: “he teacher is from India, and so this is reassuring and authentic” Le-Ha: “How did you ind the teacher and his class?” Friend: “Advertisements of yoga classes with Indian teachers are ample here in Hanoi and on Facebook, and my class is one of many around here” My friend then sent me the two photos presented below as evidence Journal of Asian Paciic Communication 26:2 (2016), 348–355 doi 10.1075/japc.26.2.10pha issn 0957–6851 / e-issn 1569–9838 © John Benjamins Publishing Company English and identity 349 Anecdote Two “Yoga is not meant to give you pleasure Pain and discomfort are part of it Yoga mustn’t be treated as a commodity that you can buy as an accessory or a trendy tick in your lifestyle, as it has been promoted in so many yoga centers out there My teaching is not meant to make you feel good Get serious, it’s hard work You’ve got to overcome your fear of pain and your own desire for relaxation, pleasure, quick-ix beauty and health tips, and some temporary pain relief solution Feeling challenged and being able to bring your body and your mind together to overcome challenges is the attitude and mindset I want you to have I have never stopped practicing yoga It’s a lifetime learning, and there are always more diicult posts that I want to be able to do” (Note that these ideas are from one of my yoga instructors that I noted down ater each class I acknowledge that I have made every efort to stay honest to the teaching, although my notes are not necessarily verbatim repetitions of the original words) Yoga and English he above two anecdotes have tempted me to make analogies between English and yoga and between teachers of English and yoga instructors hese analogies are relevant to many existing deliberations on identity and English language, particularly in the context of a growing interest in the question of identity in relation to English as an international language (EIL), English as a lingua franca (ELF), and World Englishes (WE) But let me pose a couple of questions irst Is there anything wrong with doing yoga for relaxation and beauty seeking purposes? For those considering themselves serious and genuine yoga practitioners, of course this seems very wrong because it downplays the philosophy of yoga which includes endurance and pain overcoming, as evident in the two narratives presented above But then, does it mean that those doing yoga for relaxation and beauty seeking purposes are not serious practitioners? his is questionable and has never settled Likewise, is there anything problematic with learning and practising so-called ‘less standard’ © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company All rights reserved 350 Le Ha Phan English and recognizing multiple forms and structures of Englishes as being equal and meaningful for educational and other purposes? Again, the on-going debate surrounding EIL, ELF, and WE released in a wide range of academic outlets including those in this Special Issue is a telling example of the push and pull over ideologies, standards, establishment, and positionality to which English and what English and whose English are central In the midst of this debate, I present here a recurring question posed by many participants in various research projects I have conducted, which is “Who would be the next victim when the promotion of so-called other Englishes could pose stark contradictions against standardized Englishes used and demanded in education and schooling in most countries?” I would now like to explain the association I have mentioned above about yoga and English First, both English and yoga are internationally recognized as being desirable objects wanted by international citizens and are oten linked to many positive attributes that could enhance one’s lifestyle in many ways Both, at the same time, are seen by many as a commodity that is oten promoted as a necessity, an accessory, and a trend participated by all age groups Next, both English and yoga are multiple and controversial in their forms, ideologies, and teaching approaches hen, as a matter of fact, whenever possible one tends to adhere both the English language and yoga to a ‘native’, ‘original’, and ‘authentic’ place, which one perceives as giving birth to a deined ‘native’, ‘original’ and ‘authentic’ population with an automatic and built-in ability to teach English and yoga respectively As a result, with the English language, we have native English speakers, and with yoga, we have Indian yoga instructors, both of whom are being seen as the expert, the authority, and the guru What’s more, the reputation and trustworthiness attached to teachers of English with a qualiication from a native-English-speaking country is as high as that attached to yoga instructors with some training and validation ofered by Indian gurus and/or by yoga schools in India Of course, all these assumptions have been challenged and their underlying controversies have been examined, at least in relation to English Nevertheless, native teachers of English and Indian yoga instructors continue to be sought ater he sentiment towards English and native speakers of English is similar to that towards yoga and yoga instructors from India Indeed, both yoga and English are deeply concerned with questions of authenticity, reliability, qualiication, credentials, and identity Some nuances observed in various research sites and contexts hese very questions are being taken up and shaken up by much literature on TESOL in general and on EIL, ELF, and WE in particular Despite plural approaches, methodologies, academic ideologies and stances, this literature all concerns and © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company All rights reserved English and identity ofers implications to questions of identity and empowerment related to English However, the literature has not moved much beyond the academic sphere, and this is precisely why scholars have been continuing to challenge and critique one another for the same issues over and over again For my elaborate discussion of the literature, see Phan (2008, 2009, 2013, and 2016) and Chowdhury and Phan (2014) Now I would like to present you several nuances and complexities embedded in and arising from professional experiences and research projects I have conducted with diferent groups of participants in global contexts regarding English language education, identity and transnationality In all these projects, I hear doubts, excitement, skepticisms, hopes, joys, confusion, ambivalence, tensions, dilemmas, and resentment My participants have never stopped wondering about what we actually mean by ELF and EIL pedagogy when at the end of the day it is the teacher who has to teach in the classroom and who has to take responsibility for their students’ success in many ways Of course they feel empowered knowing that they can own English, but they are nervous and resentful too Example Our irst example involves a meeting with colleagues in an Australian university hese colleagues have been very concerned and frustrated about the poor English language proiciency of many international students who are pursuing graduate education in various ields It is rather common to hear comments like “I can’t stand the English of these students who can’t produce anything clear let alone advanced knowledge in English Who admitted them into the program?” However, from certain EIL and ELF standpoints, English belongs to everyone and everyone has his/her own version of the language herefore, it would not be surprising if those making the above comment are accused of being unaware of the ELF and EIL developments and of multiple creative uses of the language by international speakers Who are they to correct and interfere in other people’s Englishes? hen, however, what is the common ground here? here has not been satisfactory treatment of this last question in any existing literature Example he second example relates to my projects with transnational students in Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries hese students are enrolled in universities located in these countries but their courses, programs and degrees are delivered in English and largely come from universities in Australia, the UK, the US, and New Zealand he data I have collected over the past ten years consistently shows that © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company All rights reserved 351 352 Le Ha Phan an ailiation with an English-speaking ‘Western’ university plays a signiicant role in the students’ decision about where and what to study While initially such an ailiation is important and while one may want to argue that those students could be enslaved by their perceived Western superiority and perhaps a sense of blindness, my interviews with many of them have showed that blindness may play a role but it transforms into vision hat vision does not necessarily contradict the initial blindness hose students’ senses of themselves evolve and occur in many directions along the way, and these directions have never simply been just one thing which is submitting themselves to the West or the idea of the West To many students, ater the initial attraction to the ailiation with the ‘West’, then their teachers, classmates and physical surroundings of their university become their main points of attachment and identiication So in other words, we engage with complexity and processes Example he third example refers to my project concerning pedagogy and value negotiations among teachers of English in various contexts I want to focus speciically on some nuanced perspective shared by a group of international teachers working at language centres in English-speaking Western countries, who have described their experiences as being “linguistically discriminated against by native teachers of English” hey blame native teachers for using colloquial English in the staf room and associate this habit with ‘linguistic discrimination’ and ‘native speaker ignorance of others’ One international teacher elaborated this concern, saying “English is an international language, a lingua franca, but we ind native speakers use their own version of English that is not comprehensible to us Colloquial English is a too speciic particular kind of English that only native speakers can access I’ve talked to many nonnative teachers of English here and we’re very upset about the situation” When asked “What you mean by English as an international language or English as a lingua franca?”, this teacher then stated “It is Standard English We want Standard English, not colloquial English International teachers understand and relate to Standard English Standard English should be promoted and used in our everyday exchanges Colloquial English is not common and not international” his example is powerful in capturing inherent paradoxes in current EIL, ELF and WE literature While such literature has been promoting the appropriation © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company All rights reserved English and identity 353 of various varieties of English and arguing for the legitimization and validation of Englishes regardless of social class, originality and history, those international teachers mentioned above seem to feel discriminated against by the very positionality and sentiment that they are supposed to be empowered by Likewise, although the notion of ‘standard English’ has been iercely criticized by such literature, many teachers in their everyday classroom teaching and interacting with colleagues still seem to ind ‘standard English’ useful and see it as a common property shared by international users of English In the same vein, in the light of ELF, then colloquial English is supposed to have its own logic, life, meanings and culture that should not be in any way inferior to other Englishes I wonder then why and how colloquial English used by native speakers of English is most oten criticized and problematized for being discriminatory and intolerant of other Englishes I also wonder why, at the same time, other Englishes used by supposedly those speakers other than conventional native speakers of English tend to be applauded by most EIL/ELF literature as being assertive, creative and an act of identity and meaning making Wouldn’t it make more sense to treat all usages of all Englishes as acts of identiication and identity building practices? Perhaps in the most liberal possible sense of EIL/ELF, no speakers of English should feel more important than others Again, at this point, the existing literature has yet been able to engage with these questions in any way in-depth Example We now land in the last research site with teachers of English teaching in EFL countries While these teachers have been excited about the international role of English and the prospect that they use English mostly with nonnative speakers, as teachers many have confessed they not want to teach non-standard and nonnative Englishes to students who can now access so-called American and British Englishes via numerous channels and mediums Many teachers push themselves even further towards mastering standard English because their students are in the race too hese teachers seem skeptical about the beneit of levelling all Englishes in their teaching when it comes to empowering themselves and students More questions and more nuances for future research to consider So at this point, I want to link all the above four examples together and pose more questions Why has there been a tendency to associate the preference for a particular kind of ‘native’ English with being colonized and enslaved or with worshipping © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company All rights reserved 354 Le Ha Phan native speakers of English? How valid and accurate is it to assume that teachers of English are servants of so-called native and standardized English if their justiications of their preference are not in line with progressive views of language equality? How to deal with the fact that most if not all discussion on EIL/ELF and language equality has been done exclusively in standardized formal Englishes endorsed by all educational systems and by education activists? How and what could be done to carry forward such progressive views when the means to voice them is so conined, restrictive, and could well be subject to peer judgemental evaluations? What are the implications of these limitations for identity and empowerment? I would like to reiterate that while the above questions are still let underresearched, they are at the same time inluenced and shaped by two parallel forces, namely the appropriation and taking ownership of English and the increasing promotion of native-speakerism in English education around the world hese questions and these processes are all interactive Elaborations on this argument can be found in my work By now I can further argue that future work in ELF and EIL must not exclude so-called native speakers of English and native-speaker varieties of English he ield of TESOL in general and scholarship in ELF and EIL in particular need to embrace, not exclude It is important that the ield moves beyond making polarized assumptions about English language users’ identity positionings based largely on moral and ethical judgements of one another’s ideologies I would urge the ield to encourage more rigourous research and to deal honestly with positions that may seem ‘odd’ in the current atmosphere of empowerment Likewise, how and what ought to be done to confront the fact that most if not all worldwide educational entities are operating by norms and rules that demand the use of Standard English? At the same time, as more and more countries and territories promote English in their educational systems, they are participating in spreading English and the role of English as a lingua franca However, these countries also make it clear as to what English they want their students to learn and acquire hese two processes are taking place alongside each other hough they may seem contradictory, they actually can enable space for serious engagement in TESOL Another point I want to highlight is that as much as the ield promotes EIL and ELF, the industry is endorsing native-speakerism at a similar pace herefore, it does not make sense if the ield continues to advance ideological scholarship while staying disengaged with the everyday ELT industry Neither does it make sense if the ield promotes something that the industry does not respond to herefore, being able to make the connection between and across all the above mentioned tensions and competing practices would be helpful in understanding the complexity of the identity formation journeys of speakers of English from all walks of life On this occasion, I agree with Tupas (2015) and O’Regan (2014) that we © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company All rights reserved English and identity 355 have unequal Englishes; and so as long as scholars continue to debate among themselves using the highest form of English in the rank out there, ELF and EIL speakers will continue to see this practice as a realistic model for success and empowerment As ironical as this may sound, this reality is hard to die! And so the yoga and English metaphor I discuss in the beginning continues to persist References Chowdhury, R., & Phan, L.H (2014) Desiring TESOL and international education: Market abuse and exploitation Bristol: Multilingual Matters O’Regan, J.P (2014) English as a Lingua Franca: An immanent critique Applied Linguistics, 35(5), 533–552 doi: 10.1093/applin/amt045 Phan, L.H (2008) Teaching English as an international language: Identity, resistance, and negotiation Bristol: Multilingual Matters Phan, L.H (2009) English as an international language: International students and identity formation Journal of Language and Intercultural Communication, 9(3), 201–214 doi: 10.1080/14708470902748855 Phan, L.H (2013) Issues surrounding English, the internationalisation of higher education and national cultural identity in Asia: A focus on Japan Critical Studies in Education, 54(2), 160–175 doi: 10.1080/17508487.2013.781047 Phan, L.H (2016) Transnational education crossing Asia and the West: Adjusted desire, transformative mediocrity, and neocolonial disguise New York: Routledge Tupas, R (Ed.) (2015) Unequal Englishes New York: Palgrave McMillan doi: 10.1057/9781137461223 Author’s address Le Ha Phan University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Education University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu HI 96822, USA halephan@hawaii.edu © 2016 John Benjamins Publishing Company All rights reserved ... lingua franca?”, this teacher then stated “It is Standard English We want Standard English, not colloquial English International teachers understand and relate to Standard English Standard English. .. original words) Yoga and English he above two anecdotes have tempted me to make analogies between English and yoga and between teachers of English and yoga instructors hese analogies are relevant... speakers can access I’ve talked to many nonnative teachers of English here and we’re very upset about the situation” When asked “What you mean by English as an international language or English as a