Wang 1

Hanzhi Wang

Professor Samantha

ENGL 106

April 21, 2017

Embrace the Complexity

There is an article written by Matsuda and Mastsuda to discuss about the current

situation of English as a commonly used world language. In the article, the author points out

that English is a complicated and integrated language, which includes not only complicated

grammatical construction, but also complex amount of contents that might be absorbed from

other languages. As Matsuda and Matsuda state in the article that many English language

users today use this language as a medium of international and international communication,

often in tandem with other languages. With the growing understanding of the complexity of

English, there has been an increasing interest in considering the pedagogical implications of

World English (WE) (Matsuda, 370). In a word, the articles overall statement is that

English has a difficult system in terms of linguistic and functional varieties.

In the article, the authors present five principles for readers to know how the English

teaching functions. The first principle is Teach the Dominant Language Forms and

Functions. For this perspective, the author believes that one of the English teachers

obligations is to help students discern the standard English from discursive amounts of

English accessible. Though Matsuda believes that it is important to help students to

understand the privileged status of some certain various English, however, the authorization

of these standard English might lead to economic and social marginalization of other

languages and even other English varieties as a result (Matsuda and Matsuda, 372). As far

as Im concerned, I am one of the supporters of the opinion in Matsudas principle one, which

is English learners should respect other varieties of English while at the same time embrace
 Wang 2

the standard Englishs contribution to the globalization and improvement of productivity due

to the effectiveness of communication among workers from different cultural background.

I also a proponent of Matsuda and Matsudas principle two, which is Teach the Non-

Dominant Language Forms and Functions. For my opinion, to be able to know how English

functions in various cultural situations is one of the best ways for English learners to develop

comprehensive understanding of English. According to Matsuda and Matsuda, To overlook

alternative uses of English can actually work against the goal of helping students develop an

accurate understanding of how the English language works and how it changes over time

(Matsuda -372).

Overall I am in favor of the five principles in the article, because I think that the five

principles are listed in an order of English progressing step by step. For instance, you have to

learn the basic structure of the standard English as stated in principle one, then you can move

on to other dialects of English, which is supported in principle two Teach the Non-dominant

Language Forms and Functions. With familiarity with both standard English and extended

English, learners start to have the ability to distinguish the boundary between descriptive

English and prescriptive English, which is supported in principle three Teach the Boundary

Between What Works and What Does Not. Furthermore, when we are familiar with the the

fixed pattern grammatical perspective, we should move on to the practical use of English,

indicated in Teach the Principles and Strategies of Discourse Negotiation, so that we can

use English as a tool to get what we want. When we become more specialized in English, we

can delve into the details of English and correct the possible mistakes, so that we can support

the principle five Teach the Risks Involved in Using Devotional Features.

As a learner who takes English as an additional language, though I usually indulge

myself in the standard use of English while I am chatting with native speakers, I dont think

that native speaker pronunciation should be taught as a model in an English course. For my
 Wang 3

own experience, I used to listen to BBC News broadcast before I go to sleep, but I failed to

understand the content on VOA News when the BBC News application on my mobile phone

didnt work. According to Matsuda and Matsuda, English teachers dont have to only teach

dominant English because non dominant forms also have different and valuable social

meaning, the reason why non dominant forms are also works for international student who

learn English as an additional language like me is varieties of English, the important idea

about learning English is make English become more familiar to me, not learning how to

make me like a native speaker. (Matsuda, 372).

The reason for which I prefer to get to know more than one kind of standard English is

that more and more people from all over the world learn English now, and there is no one

specific pronunciation or usage of English can apply to all of these English learners. In order

to show how important it is for English to be flexible, Rhode points out that For every

native speaker, there are three nonnative speakers As China continues to grow, meanwhile,

some fear that a form of Chinese could replace English as the world's global language within

three generations (Rohde, 1995). These evidence shows that more and more people learn

English, therefore, it is hard to standardize their learning materials.While that happens, the

hardest truth is if English keeps being unchanged, there might be possibility that other

alternative would replace the Englishs dominant position.

I have potential specialty in this subject because I have a friend who speaks English with

Arabian accents, so I can take him as a subject of English as second language learner and

myself as a subject of English as foreign language learner. When I am having daily chat with

my Arabian friend, both of us might have usual difficulties understanding each other fully

even if both of use produce correct and meaningful sentences during our conversation. There

was one time I failed to understand my study partners meaning when we talked because he

speaks Arabian accent English and I usually listen British accent English as a practice. Also
 Wang 4

only knows about British accent English isnt enough for me, so I always wanted to learn

American accent when i was in my high school, but it is too expensive so I postponed it until

college and found it late to correct the subtle Chinese accents.

Overall, it is worth noticing that standard English does play an important role in

constructing the dominant position of English as a world language. However, we should also

see that what distinguishes English apart is its speakers tolerant and embracing minds.

Therefore, we should embrace the complexity of English varieties and enhance Englishs

flexibility.

Work Cited

Matsuda and Matsuda. World English's and the Teaching of Writing, 2010.

Rhode, David. As English Spreads, Speakers Morph It into World Tongue, 1995.