Class Note
Worldly Words
English 332: The Global Spread of English
English is a global language, but some varieties used around the world are unrecognizable to native speakers from the West.
“What many Americans and British consider ‘their’ language has been moving steadily around the world, being taken up and shaped and used in ways quite different from the English with which they are familiar,” says Jane Zuengler, a UW-Madison professor of English.
Zuengler gives her students a firsthand view of that phenomenon through a pilot course she is developing with Hassan Belhiah MA’98, PhD’05, a professor at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco. Videoconferencing melds two classrooms — more than four thousand miles apart — into one, with help from UW Learning Support Services and funding from a UW Faculty Development Grant.
Students also share stories by photo blogging, creating online profiles, and posting videos to a community Web site, all of which can become course material. Zuengler’s class explores dynamic issues surrounding who “owns” English, what happens to local languages as more people learn it, and what is
considered standard or correct usage.
In many countries, hip-hop artists mix English with local languages to create their songs, and students view some examples of the cultural mash up on YouTube. Students also study more formal efforts, such as in Singapore, where the government’s “Speak Good English” campaign strongly encourages citizens to reduce their use of Singlish — a local variety of English that includes words from Chinese, Malay, and Indian dialects.
“The questions we address in the course are ones with a global scope that many students tell me they have never considered before,” Zuengler says.
— Jenny Price ’96