Faces of English language research and teaching

Abstract

Faces of English may seem a strange title for a book on language educa tion. Perhaps it encour ages you, as a reader, to envis age the diversity of the some 1.5 billion people said to be learn ing the language, or the multiple ways it is used around the globe, from order ing a meal in a Singapore food court to giving a Nobel acceptance speech. It might also make you think of the diverse concep tions of English found in the liter at ure, where it is seen as a lingua franca between inter locutors who share no other language, as an inter na tional language of busi ness, tourism, and schol ar ship, as a tool of repres sion, as a marker of social class, or as a resource for making one’s way in a world which requires it for profes sional trans ac tions. However, as we under stand it, English is always used in partic u lar local contexts by social groups trying to achieve some purpose or other. We use the language to commu nic ate not with the world but with other members of our social groups, whether these are social, profes sional, or academic; and this not only means there are many Englishes, but also that the one we choose to use at any given time marks us out as a certain type of person: as, for example, an engin eer, dock worker, loving husband, or exchange student.