As an international language with a long history in many different parts of the world, English has developed into many different forms. Some of these forms are spoken as a first language (as in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand), some are spoken as national languages (as in Hong Kong, India and South Africa), and some are spoken as second languages in other parts of the world with strong international connections. The result of this diverse use of a single language is a huge variety of sounds, words, phrases and other features being used within the same broad language - English.
Having a good understanding of the ways in which English is spoken around the world, and the various purposes that it is used for in different countries, can inform our teaching and help us to put students; language use into context. Teachers (especially first-language English teachers) have a tendency to mark certain localised features of English as ‘wrong’, and try to correct ‘errors’ made by their students, which form part of the type of English spoken in that part of the world, or for that specific purpose. However, if the goal of English use for students is intelligibility (being understood by the people they speak or write to), the definition of what is an ‘error’ and what is an acceptable variation depends on the type of English expected by their audience. In exam preparation, for example, a particular level or variety of features may be desirable to cultivate, whereas in business communication, the ‘acceptable’ type of English may be quite different.
First, let’s think about aspects of language which can vary according to speaker, and how we can define them.
Accent and dialect
The main differences between forms of English (or any other language, for that matter) are accent and dialect. Accent refers solely to the sounds which are used to speak English. Accent is a phonological feature, where certain patterns of sound are used to speak certain words. An example of this would be the Standard British and Standard American English pronunciations of the word ‘bath’:
Standard British English: /bɑːθ/ (with an ‘a’ sound as in ‘arm’)
Standard American English: /bæːθ/ (with a long ‘a’ sound as in ‘at’)
However, within British English, there are different accents, which also pronounce ‘bath’ as /bæth/ (Northern British and Scots English) or /bæ:th/ (Southwestern British English). This purely sound-based variation is the essence of an accent of English.
Dialect, on the other hand, is a variation in the actual words used for things, regardless of how the words are pronounced. For example, the different words that are used internationally for summer footwear:
British English: flip flops
Australian English: thongs
New Zealand English: Jandals
South African English: Plakkies
These different names arise and disappear according to historical usage, names borrowed from different languages, and how much they ‘stick’ in a certain culture at the time that they are introduced.
Varieties of English
A variety of English is the combination of all the factors mentioned above: the accent, dialect and usage of sounds, words and meanings, in a geographically specific way. A variety of English is defined when these patterns of use become notably different enough from another form of the language, to be classed as distinct version, or variety of English. Each variety of English has its own features of pronunciation, vocabulary and even grammar, which are mutually comprehensible within and to a greater or lesser extent, across varieties. This means that a speaker of Indian English can understand a speaker of Singaporean, American or Korean English, albeit with some need for clarification on specific points which may vary strongly between the two varieties.
Any country or language environment may have varieties of English which arise from the language features of the local first language, or the specific language items needed for local purposes. However, the most commonly defined varieties of English are:
American English
Arabic English
British English
Canadian English
Caribbean English
Chinese English (Chinglish)
Hiberno (Irish) English
Hong Kong English
Indian English
Korean English (Konglish)
Malaysian English
New Zealand English
Philippine English
Scots English
Singaporean English (Singlish)
South African English
Spanish English (Spanglish)
African varieties of English
Implications for teaching and learning
So having defined the different aspects of World Englishes which contribute to accent, dialect and variety, how does this affect what we do in the English Language classroom? Should we correct features of a variety of English in the same way as an error in accuracy or pronunciation? Should students be made aware of different varieties of English? Should we be aiming for a global standard variety of second-language English? The answers to these questions depend on the situations where English is being taught, and the purposes for which it is being learnt.
A common example of this is represented by the ‘th’ sounds in English: /θ/ (as in ‘throw’) and /ð/ (as in ‘these). ‘Th’ sounds are complex to pronounce, involving an amount of effort from the voice and breath control to force the air through the gaps between the tongue and teeth. For this reason, most languages in the world outside of Northern Europe do not have this sound. If you listen to a French, Russian, Arabic, Chinese or Indian language speaker (and speakers from many other language backgrounds) pronouncing this sound, it is likely to be formed as another sound from the speaker’s first language which takes its place, and so which is less effortful to pronounce - usually /z/ or /s/, /d/ or /t/, as in:
Throw (Standard English: /θrəʊ/) : frequently pronounced as: /srəʊ/ or /trəʊ/
These (Standard English: /ði:z/): frequently pronounced as: /zi:z/ or /di:z/
So should these variations in pronunciation of the ‘th’ sounds be treated as errors? After all, they are used by the vast majority of English language speakers in the world (remembering that Chinese English speakers alone outnumber all the first-language English speakers in the world). In fact, using /s/, /z/, /d/ or /t/ in place of ‘th’ sounds does not impede communication significantly, as there are very few words which sound like ‘th’ words with the ‘th’ sound replaced. The words ‘tree’ and ‘three’ are the only common example of this, and this does not affect communication significantly. We can easily understand whether a speaker is referring to a large plant in a forest or a number from the context of the sentence.
Many teachers will spend hours teaching the correct formation of the ‘th’ sounds and correcting students on this point, with little effect. My question is: would the same teachers correct a speaker of Irish English, or Caribbean English, who used the same variety of ‘th’ pronunciation? Both of these accents of English, along with others, produce the ‘th’ sound as /t/ and /d/, and are first-language features of these varieties of English.
Other, more common sound varieties, such as inconsistent use of the short /ɪ/ and long /i:/ sounds, are more problematic. As common vowel sounds, there are significant meaningful differences between words which differ in just these sounds, which can impede communication. Despite being a feature of a local variety of English, teachers may want to consider correcting these and working towards a clearer distinction between these sounds (particularly to talk about sheets and beaches, for example). Intelligibility and clarity of meaning are probably the most important reasons to work with (or not) pronunciation and vocabulary variations.
A final consideration is the purpose for which students will use their English at the end of their period of study. As you can imagine, relocation to an English-speaking country represents a very different range of language use as compared to working in a company which deals with international transactions with one or two other second-language English speaking countries. Studying in an English language environment in a student’s home country versus studying in an English language speaking country will involve very different language environments and expectations, so perhaps the way in which we address the issue of variety/accent/dialect/errors should be adapted accordingly.
The most important thing when working in this area is that the learner gets what they perceive that they need according to the expectations that they have of how they will need to use English in the future, and that they retain a strong, confident identity in their English, whether that is in their local variety, or in a way that works towards the features of a specific first-language accent or dialect of English. The next time you question whether to correct or focus on a region-specific feature of grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation in class, think: is this worth highlighting, or is there more useful work to be done in other areas?
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