7^th Webinar – May 24^th 2022, 7.00 pm (Ukrainian time)

“MY English – Empowering foreign language learners to make the target language their own”

Kurt Kohn, University of Tübingen, English Department

LINK TO ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/74169734738

ABSTRACT

The Standard English (SE) preference firmly anchored in many English teachers’ attitudes and practices has been identified as a major problem hindering speaker-learners from developing competence for emancipated Global Englishes (GE) and English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication. In this webinar, I will address the issues involved from a social constructivist perspective according to which speaker-learners acquire the language taught by developing their own MY English version in their minds, hearts, and behaviour. Orientation and guidance are mediated through their requirements of communicative and communal success and their quest for speaker satisfaction. Critical is not the English taught but what speaker-learners are pedagogically allowed and encouraged to do with it. Intercultural virtual exchanges enable ELT students of different linguacultural backgrounds to communicate with each other using their English as a pedagogical lingua franca. Communication monitoring and pedagogical mentoring help them develop their own voice. In short, GE/ELF pedagogy meets ELT!

The webinar has an open and interactive format. All participants are invited to contribute and discuss their views and experiences. Here is a quote from my article below that might serve as a discussion opener:

“The emancipatory project of GE/ELF pedagogy thus shifts from liberating speaker-learners from SE to empowering them to make it their own. It is their social constructivist capability for MY English communication and learning that incorporates the possibility of non-native speaker emancipation.”

Kohn, K. (2022). Global Englishes and the pedagogical challenge of developing one’s own voice. ASIAN ENGLISHES, p. 6. [https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2022.2056795]

Biodata Kurt Kohn

Kurt Kohn is Professor Emeritus of English and Applied Linguistics at the University of Tübingen (Germany). His professional interests include intercultural communication and foreign language learning, virtual exchange and telecollaboration, English as a pedagogical lingua franca, and foreign language teacher education. Recent publications include:

“A pedagogical lingua franca approach: Emancipating the foreign language learner”. LEARN Journal, 13/2 (2020), 1-14. [https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/LEARN/article/view/243683]

Global Englishes and the pedagogical challenge of developing one’s own voice. ASIAN ENGLISHES (2022). [https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2022.2056795]