Stephen van Vlack
Sookmyung Women’s University
Graduate School of TESOL
The History of the English Language (English and Globalization)
Spring 2015 - Syllabus
Week 1 - March 4
Introductions; to me, to the course, to the materials, and the topic at large.
Discuss elements of the winter reading project
Homework: Get all the materials.
Finish write up of winter reading project.
Read Crystal (2003), Chapter 1, pp. 1-28.
Week 2 - March 11
Winter reading projects due
Crystal (2003) Chapter 1 - Why a global language?
This week we take a look at the rapidly changing world and the need for a global language.
We will discuss the need for a global language and how this global language has to be
adopted as part of a growing part of global multilinguality.
Homework: Read Crystal (2003), Chapter 2, pp. 29-71.
Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 1, pp. 9-23.
Week 3 - March 18
Crystal (2003) Chapter 2 - Why English? The historical context
This week we look at the physical spread of English across the globe. We look at how the
colonizing armies, settlers and business people of the UK and later various former colonies
managed to inject the seed of English to different places. How this was achieved physically
will be discussed.
Shaules (2007) Chapter 1 – Intercultural contact in the global village
This week some of the basic recurring ideas of this book are introduced, most importantly the
idea of deep culture.
Homework: Read Crystal (2003), Chapter 3, pp. 72-85.
Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 2, pp. 24-36.
Week 4 - March 25
Crystal (2003) Chapter 3 - Why English? The cultural foundation
This week we look at the other side of the spread of English - the economic/cultural side. We
will take a critical look at the industrial revolution in the UK and how this affected and
continues to affect English language use all over the world.
Shaules (2007) Chapter 2 – Objections to culture
This week we explore some of the difficulties people have in defining and recognizing culture
in a globalized world. We further explore the causal nature of culture on beliefs and behavior.
Homework: Read Crystal (2003), Chapter 4, pp. 86-122.
Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 3, pp. 37-64.
Week 5 - April 1
Crystal (2003) Chapter 4 - Why English? The cultural legacy
In this class we bring the past into the present by discussing how English-speaking countries
have come the be the world leaders in most areas of economic/cultural endeavor by looking
at ten different cultural legacies from the past and how they work and affect our lives in the
present.
Shaules (2007) Chapter 3 – Understanding the deep structure of culture
In this chapter we take a careful look at the concept of deep culture, the aspects of human
behavior which are not amenable to simple explanation through rules and maxims.
Homework: Read Crystal (2003), Chapter 5, pp. 123-191.
Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 4, pp. 65-82.
Week 6 - April 8
Crystal (2003) Chapter 5 - The future of global English
In this class we try to determine some of the possible future developments of English as it
becomes even more entrenched as a global language. We discuss the diversification and
possible changes in the English language. This has a direct bearing on the type of English we
are going to teach in the classroom.
Shaules (2007) Chapter 4 – Deep cultural difference and increased prejudice
This week we explore the phenomenon of increased prejudice as a result of deep cultural
exposure. This is an intriguing and sadly, often common phenomenon for language learners
as well.
Homework: Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 5, pp. 83-104.
Week 7 - April 15
Shaules (2007) Chapter 5 – What is successful cultural learning?
In this chapter we take a careful look at what it means to be a successful learner of a culture.
Different aspects of cultural competence are described.
Homework: Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 6, pp. 105-136.
Read Blommaert (2010), Chapter 1, pp. 1-27
Week 8 - April 22
Shaules (2007) Chapter 6 – The process of intercultural learning
In this week we look at some of the different models which have taken a stab at describing
the process of intercultural learning. In a global world, where we are teaching English, in part
to better develop our students as global individuals we would expect our students to go
through some of these stages.
Blommaert (2010) Chapter 1 – A critical sociolinguistics of globalization
In this introductory chapter Bommaert explains his view of how the field of sociolinguistics is
changing and in response to globalization. He sees this as a sociolinguistics of mobility and
he lays out the idea here.
Homework: Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 7, pp. 137-149.
Read Blommaert (2010), Chapter 2, pp. 28-62
Week 9 – April 29
Midterm Project due.
Shaules (2007) Chapter 7 – The deep culture model
This week we reexamine the process of cultural learning – intercultural development – from
the deep culture model, where things are not nearly so straightforward. Our goal is to try to
evoke a classroom atmosphere where such learning will ensue.
Blommaert (2010) Chapter 2 – A messy new marketplace
In this chapter Blommaert explores the spaces and the ways in which English is used as a
marketing tool. The chapter reveals the high level of complexity in the use of English and
introduces some effective ways of talking about this.
Homework: Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 8, pp. 150-165.
Read Blommaert (2010), Chapter 3, pp.63-101
Week 10 - May 6
Shaules (2007) Chapter 8 – Resistance to change
This week we take a careful look at the idea of resistance to cultural change. This chapter
forms a nice bridge between what we have seen in our other readings.
Blommaert (2010) Chapter 3 – Locality, the periphery and images of the world
In this chapter we look at the use of English in the periphery and how this operates by looking
at literature. This opens the larger issue of language use in the periphery and how we assess
and value that with our centrist views.
Homework: Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 9, pp. 166-179.
Read Blommaert (2010), Chapter 4, pp. 102-136
Week 11 - May 13
Shaules (2007) Chapter 9 – Acceptance of difference
In this chapter we explore the role that acceptance of differences plays in the development of
cultural competence as well as linguistic development. It is hypothesized that this forms a kind
of threshold, turning-point level for both.
Blommaert (2010) Chapter 4 – Repertoires and competence
In this chapter we engage on a genre study of fraud to get a feel for how global English is
used and evaluated in the real world.
Homework: Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 10, pp. 180-197.
Read Blommaert (2010), Chapter 5, pp. 137-152
Week 12 – May 20
Shaules (2007) Chapter 10 – Adaptation and cultural identity
This week we look at the effects that adapting to new cultural norms may have on one’s
identity. The basic idea is that there are vast differences among learners, as we shall see next
week, but what we do as teachers and course designers/implementers also has a huge effect
on how our students deal with this internally.
Blommaert (2010) Chapter 5 – Language, globalization and history
In this chapter we look at the way sociolinguists look at language use and changes in
language use synchronically and diachronically. Blommaert makes an important distinction
between short and long histories which we will explore.
Homework: Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 11, pp. 198-212.
Read Blommaert (2010), Chapter 6, pp. 153-179
Week 13 - May 27
Shaules (2007) Chapter 11 – Resistance and rapport – Why not everyone reacts the same
One of the greatest truisms which cognitive neuroscience has brought us is the unavoidable
realization that students all react differently to the same input. This, of course, applies not only
to linguistic input but to the cultural aspects of such input as well. Understanding such variant
reactions and why they might occur is important for language teachers in a global world.
Blommaert (2010) Chapter 6 – Old and new inequalities
In this chapter we look at the power that states have over language development in their
respective domains. This main seem like an obvious thing, but by breaking down and looking
carefully at aspects of this we get a better idea of how relative power plays out in the global
world.
Homework: Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 12, pp. 213-225.
Read Blommaert (2010), Chapter 7, pp. 180-198.
Week 14 - June 3
Shaules (2007) Chapter 12 – Beyond adaptation
This week we look at cases of individuals who have gone beyond the stage of adaptation of a
new culture to become almost fully integrated within it. As this is often espoused as a terminal
goal by students, teachers, and societies, it is something which we need to understand.
Blommaert (2010) Chapter 7 – Reflections
In this final chapter we try to tie many of the disparate ideas presented in Blommaert together.
He argues that envisioning globalization as entailing a shift from language to resources is
paramount in understanding the effects globalization has had on states, groups and
individuals.
Homework: Read Read Shaules (2007), Chapter 13, pp. 226-236.
Week 15 - June 10
Shaules (2007) Chapter 13 – Implications for the ‘global village’
In this last chapter we try to tie everything together by expanding out the notions we have
discussed for integration into the classroom based on ideas of a global community which is
currently led by English and Anglo-American culture.
Week 16 - June 17
Make up week!
**Final Project is due at the symposium on June 13th. (This date is subject the change)