Written Assignment #1: English-Learning, Culture and Identity

Student’s Name: ________________________________________________ Turn-in Date: ________________

INTRODUCTION
1. Answer the following questions:
a) What language(s) were you exposed to when you were growing up?
b) How were you first exposed to English?
c) When did you begin to study English?
d) What did you think about the English language then?
e) What is English to you now?
f) What do you think people learn English for? Name a few reasons.

READING COMPREHENSION
2. Look at Source A. What type of text is it?
 a story
 a news article
 a biography
 a poem
 an informative piece

3. Read the text quickly. What is its main focus?

 How the expansion of English in China happened
 The consequences the expansion of English in China has had
 Who was responsible for the expansion of English in China

4. The text presents different views of the English language from the perspectives of different groups. Match each
view to the paragraph that discusses it.
English as a way to know other cultures Paragraph 1
English as the key to a higher education Paragraph 2
English as an ideological tool of Imperialism Paragraph 3
English as a threat to the country’s identity Paragraph 4
English as a work-related necessity Paragraph 5

5. Read the text again and answer the following questions:

a) Why was learning English dangerous in China before the mid-1970s?
b) What is the China Daily?
c) What is The Wall Street Institute?
d) What is the main goal of private bilingual schools in China?
e) How has the expansion of English changed modern Chinese language?

6. Now read Source B. Which of the views from act 4 appear on it?

7. Write a short paragraph in Spanish summarizing and comparing the two texts. Bear in mind the answers you
gave on acts 4, 5 and 6.

8. Which of the views discussed in the texts do you agree with the most?
GRAMMAR
9. Look at the underlined words in Source A. What types of words are they?
 language: _________________
 advanced: _________________
 rapidly: _________________
 usually: _________________
 they: _________________

10. Match the following sentences taken from Source A with their tenses.

In China today, most school children learn Past Simple referring to a finished event from the
English. past.

Present Perfect referring to a situation that started

Mao Tse-tung died in 1976.
in the past and continues into the present.

The arrival of multinational companies has led Present Continuous referring to an ongoing
to a growing interest in English. process.

Many English words are replacing Chinese

Present Simple referring to a current situation.
terms.

11. Complete the following text. Put the verbs in brackets into a suitable tense.

The English language ____________________ (become) the dominant language through several
economic, political and social changes. It _______ (be) no longer the language of the conquerors from the
previous century, but a modern linguistic and communicative tool. Because of this, teaching it can’t be the
same as it was twenty years ago.
In the past, English teaching ____________________ (focus) on ‘technical’ knowledge about grammar,
and students ____________________ (learn) through repetition. But this model can’t be applied now.
Teenage students nowadays ____________________ (interact) with the language constantly through
technology, so they ____________________ (need) a practical way to learn the language and make it their
own.
Source A

THE EXPANSION OF ENGLISH IN CHINA

In China today, most school children learn English. But until the early 1970s, China was largely isolated from the
world and very few people could speak English. “When I was a child, people viewed the English language almost as
a tool of Imperialism, because we knew that Americans spoke English and the British spoke English” says Bob Shi, a
40-year old Chinese art dealer and entrepreneur. “None of us in our family – actually, in the entire neighborhood –
ever believed that we would end up speaking English later on. All foreign languages were prohibited, so it was
actually very dangerous to be able to speak any language other than Chinese”.
China began to open up to the outside world in the mid-1970s. Mao Tse-tung died in 1976, and subsequently a
market economy was introduced in China. The pace of change increased rapidly and in 1981 a new English-language
newspaper, China Daily, was established. Li Xing, the current Assistant Editor in Chief from the China Daily,
comments that “after the reforms, a lot more Chinese people started to learn English because they saw it as a way,
not only to communicate with the outside world, but also to enrich themselves; because English opens you to a
world of cultures, not only the American and British cultures but also the whole wealth of Western civilization,
technology and advanced ideas”.
With the rapidly developing economy, English was increasingly recognized as the language of opportunity. The
arrival of multinational companies has led to a growing interest in English. Many big corporations now have offices
in China where day-to-day business is conducted in English. Because of this, Chinese people now view English-
speaking as a necessity. Due to this new enthusiasm for English, a great number of language schools have appeared
and rapidly grown over the last few decades, with many catering mainly to young professionals. One of these
schools is The Wall Street Institute, based in Beijing. Tim Russ, the institute’s Regional Operations Director, says
“twenty years ago, you could get a job in almost any company you wanted to just by being able to speak English.
Now, especially in the premier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Canton, young professionals going into the corporate
world have to learn the language, and they feel a strong pressure to constantly increase and improve their English
level”. He believes that “in the next five, ten years this phenomenon will probably expand to less populated cities,
so we hope to open about a hundred new schools in this period”.
The demand for English has also created many private middle schools with a focus on bilingualism. Parents who
send their children to these schools are usually not able to speak English, so they pay for this type of education
because they want to provide their kids better opportunities in life. A major priority of these schools is to give their
students the possibility of entering a prestigious foreign university, usually in America or England. Parents usually
make it their children’s aim to study in one of these universities and then come back to China to look for a good job.
Some people, though, think that this enthusiasm for English will have a negative effect on the Chinese language.
A lot of linguistic experts in China are seriously worried about this possibility, and they point out to the fact that
many English words are slowly replacing Chinese terms, especially in the fields of technology and economy. Another
change that they mention is that people are beginning to speak and write in a more ‘simplified’ way, more related
to an ‘English style’ of thinking than a ‘Chinese style’. Some even fear that an excessive focus on English-learning
will worsen or limit the way in which Chinese people learn their own mother tongue. For all these reasons, they
consider the expansion of English as a possible threat to the Chinese identity. As Yi’an Wu, a professor from the
Department of English and Applied Linguistics of the Beijing Foreign Studies University puts it, “language, thought
and culture are tied to each other. Your language is a big part of who you are”.

Adapted from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM-p_kMv_jg

Source B

[…….]
El objetivo de la Escuela Secundaria es preparar a los estudiantes para ingresar en instituciones terciarias y/o
universitarias o en el mundo del trabajo, sin descuidar su formación integral como ciudadanos. Este tipo de escuelas
brinda importancia a los conocimientos generales de matemáticas, ciencias, computación, lenguaje y, además,
propone una educación común con especificidades propias de cada escuela.
La presencia del inglés como lengua extranjera en este nivel tiene como propósito desarrollar el pensamiento
crítico de los alumnos para que ellos puedan adoptar una visión amplia del mundo, mediante la reflexión de los
códigos de la lengua inglesa y los trabajados en Prácticas del Lenguaje acerca de su propia lengua. Se trata, entonces,
de contribuir a la formación de un egresado de escuela secundaria que conozca y respete el espíritu de otras culturas
y la diversidad, sin poner en riesgo su propia identidad.
Ante la necesidad de insertarse en un mundo cada vez más globalizado, la enseñanza del inglés tampoco debe
limitarse al estudio de su estructura sino a la utilización de la lengua inglesa en contextos que permitan a los
estudiantes apropiarse de significados y desarrollar competencias comunicativas para responder con flexibilidad a la
realidad a la cual tendrán que enfrentarse.
La lengua inglesa se ha convertido en lengua predominante a partir de los cambios económicos, políticos y
culturales. Ya no se trata de la lengua de los colonizadores del siglo pasado sino de la herramienta lingüística y
comunicativa utilizada en los procesos actuales de expansión económica, tecnológica, científica y cultural. Los
alumnos adolescentes están expuestos al idioma inglés en la mayoría de las actividades de su vida diaria. A modo de
ejemplo, se puede mencionar los medios de comunicación y las nuevas tecnologías. Según Roxana Morduchowicz:
“los jóvenes de hoy son la generación multimedia no solo por la variada oferta mediática de que disponen, sino y
muy especialmente por el uso en simultáneo que ejercen de ella”. Dentro de este nuevo marco de comunicación –
donde los estudiantes leen pantallas, escriben utilizando teclados, escuchan con Ipod y hablan por celulares–, la
enseñanza del inglés como herramienta de comunicación adquiere una mayor relevancia porque los alumnos logran
ponerla en práctica en contextos reales.
Desde este posicionamiento en la enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera se posibilitará que el egresado de
la Escuela Secundaria estará en condiciones de:
 insertarse en el mundo del trabajo globalizado que los espera al egresar del nivel;
 acceder a los avances de la ciencia y la tecnología;
 obtener información actualizada desde su fuente original;
 ampliar su competencia comunicativa;
 afianzar su propia identidad y desarrollar la comprensión de otras culturas;
 desarrollar el pensamiento crítico.
[…….]
Fragmento del Diseño Curricular para la Educación Secundaria 6o año: Inglés

Versión digital disponible en

http://servicios2.abc.gov.ar/lainstitucion/organismos/consejogeneral/disenioscurriculares/secundaria/sexto/materias%20c
omunes/ingles_6.pdf