1. ENGLISH 540 SEMINAR IN
LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE STUDY:
Intercultural Rhetoric and Discourse:
Issues and Perspectives

2. AGENDA
1. Welcome Back!
2. Who are we? Six Word Memoir
3. Goal of the class: Rationale, course materials
4. Introduction of Modules
5. Description of Course Projects
6. Key concepts : Standard English, Standard English Ideology and World
Englishes
7. In-class reading and discussion:
Pennycook, A. (2008). Translingual English. Australian Review of Applied
Linguistics, 31/2.

3. SIX WORD MEMOIR
For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.—Hemingway
Lost voice. Gone to find it.
Suddenly everyone seems younger than me.
Mother, teacher, writer. In this order.
My resolutions melted faster than snow.
Well, I am still here, are you?
Source: http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

4. COURSE RATIONALE
This course provides an introduction to cross-cultural approaches to rhetoric,
language and literacy. Examining the effects of globalization on the use of
English, we will discuss various questions such as: How do people construct
written and spoken texts across linguistic, cultural and disciplinary boundaries?
How do our literacy practices (both first and second language) shape, and are
shaped by the discourse communities in which we participate? What are some
of the complex politics surrounding contrastive rhetoric? Understanding
language and rhetoric in terms of performativity and transculturation, the
main goal of this course is to construct a strong understanding of cross-
language and cross-cultural relations and promote more equitable discourses
and access to knowledge and knowledge construction. The approaches
covered in this course are grounded in the works of scholars in the areas of
critical applied linguistics (e.g., Canagarajah, Kachru, Matsuda, McKay,
Pennycook,), intercultural rhetoric (e.g., Atkinson, Connor, Kubota, Yu)
educational ethnography (e.g, Heath, Street, Bloome), and theories of critical
literacy as social justice (e.g., Street, Gee, Labov, Smitherman).

5. INTRODUCTION OF MODULES
MODULE # 1: Translingualism and global Englishes.
Week 1-4
MODULE # 2: From contrastive rhetoric to intercultural rhetoric.
Week 4-9
MODULE # 3: Ethnographic approaches to cross-cultural literacy practices.
Week 11-15

6. MODULE # 1: TRANSLINGUALISM
AND GLOBAL ENGLISHES
1. Diversity among language varieties: English versus Englishes How do
certain discourses denigrate vernacular varieties? How are the “acts of
identities” (LaPage, 1985) affirmed or marginalized? What are the
educational implications of privileging Standard American English over
other vernacular varieties (even languages)?
2. Language as performance: how do postcolonial speakers of English
shuttle between communities? What’s the politics of English as a global
language? What’s the role of popular culture in language change?

7. MODULE # 2: FROM CONTRASTIVE TO
INTERCULTURAL RHETORIC
1. Cross-cultural issues in second language writing: How does culture matter
in writing? How can we balance the complexity of vernacular culture with
the expectations of the target audience (e.g. Standard Academic Writing)
What are the implications of world Englishes on writing? How can we see
language difference as a resource rather than a deficit?
2. Methods in cross-cultural analysis: Text analysis, genre
analysis, ethnographic approaches to text and context analysis.

8. MODULE # 3: ETHNOGRAPHIC
APPROACHES TO CROSS-CULTURAL
LITERACY PRACTICES.
1. Literacy, discourse and politics: Debunking the myth that literacy as a
mental phenomenon: What does the word literacy mean?
2. Discourse Analysis and Ethnography: how do we make sense of social
languages and literacy practices in cross-cultural settings? How does
ethnography help researchers understand complex issues around literacy
and language? What are the difficulties of conducting ethnographic and
discourse analytic approaches?

9. COURSE PROJECTS
Discussion Facilitation
Reading Responses
Book Club Activity
Intercultural analysis of spoken or written discourse
Final Project

10. KEY CONCEPTS FOR MODULE # 1

11. ISSUES REVOLVING AROUND
“STANDARD ENGLISH”
S h a r e yo u r d e f i n i t i o n o f
Standard English.

12. THE MYTH OF STANDARD
ENGLISH
The English with respect to spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary
is substantially uniform though not devoid of regional differences, that is well
established by usage in the formal and informal speech and writing of the
educated, and that is widely recognized as acceptable wherever English is
spoken and written-Merriam Webster

13. DEFINITIONS BEAR
SIMILARITIES…
Carries the most prestige
The dialect of the educated
Variety of English that is employed in written discourse
Grammar and lexical forms typically used by educated Native Speakers

14. LIPPI GREEN SAYS…
“ a picture begins to emerge, Standard US English is the language spoken and
written by persons:
• With no regional accents;
• Who reside in Midwest
• With more than average or superior education;
• Who pay attention to speech; and are not sloppy in terms of pronunciation or
grammar
• Who are easily understood by all.” (p. Green, 1997. 58)
• “Standard and non-standard dichotomy is firmly entrenched both in literature
and in the minds of the speakers, it is not possible to simply replace it.
Mainstream English, as it is defined here, is an abstraction. It is an attempt to
isolate from the full set of all varieties of US English those varieties which are
not overtly stigmatized.” (p. 62)

15. STANDARD LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY
A bias toward an abstracted, idealized, homogenous spoken language which is
imposed and maintained by dominant institutions.
Day-to-day devaluation of non-standard Englishes as “illogical”, “ugly”,
“unacceptable”, “incoherent”
How is this ideology maintained and promoted?
See the handout for Lippie Green’s language subordination process

16. WORLD ENGLISHES
Different varieties of Englishes around the globe--Linguistic diversity in
present-day English use.
There are 350 million native English speakers living in the inner circle
countries
There are 700 million non-native English speakers in the expanding and outer
circle countries.
More non-native speakers than native speakers: About 80% of the English
speakers of the world are non-native speakers (Braine, 2006)
The concept of WE allows for varieties in English usage. It allows us to
pluralize English--Englishes

17. WORLD ENGLISHES
The Expanding Circl e
Chin
China, Egypt, Indonesia,
The Outer Circle
Israel, Japan, Korea,
Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, India The Inner
China, Egypt, Indonesia,
Israel, Japan, Korea,
Ghana, Kenya, Circle
Nepal, Saudi Arabia,
Nigeria, Malaysia,
Taiwan, Russia,
Zimbabwe, South Africa, USA
Caribbean Islands Pakistan,
(EFL)
UK
Taiwan, Russia,
Philippines,
Zimbabwe, South Africa,
Canada
Caribbean Islands
(EFL) Singapore, Sri
a, Egypt, Indonesia,
Israel, Japan, Korea,
Lanka, Tanzania, Australia
Nepal, Saudi Arabia,
Taiwan, Russia,
Zambia New Zealand
Zimbabwe, South Africa,
Caribbean Islands
(EFL)

18. KACHRU (1986). THE ALCHEMY OF
ENGLISH
“ Knowing English is like possessing the Aladdin’s lamp, which
permits one to open, as it were, the linguistic gates to
international business, technology, service, science and travel”
(Kachru, 1986; p.1)

19. How many Englishes are there?
MacArthur’s
circle of
English

20. HOW ABOUT PIDGINS AND CREOLES?

21. EXAMPLE FROM HAWAIIAN
PIDGIN (A PRAYER)
God, you our Fadda. You stay inside da sky. We like all da peopo know fo shua
how you stay, An dat you stay good an spesho, An we like dem give you
plenny respeck. We like you come King fo everybody now. We like everybody
make jalike you like, Ova hea inside da world, Jalike da angel guys up inside da
sky make jalike you like. Give us da food we need fo today an every day.
Hemmo our shame, an let us go Fo all da kine bad stuff we do to you, Jalike
us guys let da odda guys go awready, And we no stay huhu wit dem Fo all da
kine bad stuff dey do to us. No let us get chance fo do bad kine stuff, But take
us outa dea, so da Bad Guy no can hurt us. Cuz you our King. You get da real
power, An you stay awesome foeva. Dass it!”
Check out the speech archive:
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse.php

22. PENNYCOOK ARTICLE ON
TRANSLINGUALISM
Read & Discuss Pennycook’s Translingualism article
(American Tongues—if time allows… if the majority did not see the
documentary before…)