EIL (国際語としての英語) をめぐる議論と英語教育 : 英語 (音声) 学習モデルに関する中・高教員とALTの意識をもとに

type:論文

Now people in ever-increasing numbers are using English all over the world, and English is often perceived as a "Worldwide Common Language" which serves as a tool for both intranational and international communication. With this spread of English throughout the world, the majority of English users have shifted from "native speakers of English" to "non-native speakers of English." With this background, some linguists and educators have begun to insist that English should no longer be viewed as the exclusive asset of "native speakers" but as an international possession referred to as EIL (English as an International Language) or EFL (English as a Lingua Franca). At the same time, there has been a growing sense that World Englishes, the new varieties of English mainly spoken in the Outer Circle countries (Kachru, 1985), should be respected as "proper" Englishes as much as "native varieties of English." On the contrary, despite the growing spread of English outside the Inner Circle countries, other linguists and educators still believe that English language teaching should continue to adopt an ESL (English as a Second Language) model or an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) model which are based on ENL (English as a Native Language) as an exclusive norm. This belief implies that the implications of the changing function of English and the values of EIL and World Englishes are still not recognized, let alone accepted. This study discusses the significance of EIL and World Englishes in today's international communities and in the Japanese context. Specifically, the final purpose of this paper is to try to establish a better framework for teaching the phonology of English for Japanese learners by incorporating "EIL/World Englishes" perspectives. For that purpose, the first chapter begins with an overview of the studies on EIL/World Englishes both inside and outside Japan. The second chapter focuses in greater detail on the controversies over the ideal model for teaching English, namely 1. an Exonormative (Native Speaker) Model, 2. an Endonormative (Nativised English) Model, and 3. a Lingua Franca Approach.The third chapter discusses the effects of LFC (Lingua Franca Core) which is proposed as a yardstick of EIL (EFL) in Jenkins' epoch-making book, The Phonology of English as an International Language(2000). The fourth chapter introduces the results of the author's research on Japanese English teachers' and ALTs' perceptions of the model for teaching the phonology of English used in the Japanese English classroom. The fifth chapter tries to propose a hybrid framework for the better model of teaching English based on the implications from EIL/World Englishes studies.