Why universities shouldn’t mark down international students for using non-standard English

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This process has created not one English, spoken around the globe, but many Englishes.

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Provider:

The Conversation

URL:

https://theconversation.com/why-universities-shouldnt-mark-down-international-students-for-using-non-standard-english-226770

Retrieved on:

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Information

Tags:

Language, Student, Education, Thought, Travel, Singapore English, Research, University, Government, Vocabulary, Management

Geotags:

CHINA, ENGLAND, UK, INDIA

Summary

Key Points:

This process has created not one English, spoken around the globe, but many Englishes.
This has implications for universities that teach in English, and may have many non-native English speakers as students.
Universities and lecturers should consider what their approach should be to marking work written in non-native or non-standard varieties of English.

Hierarchies of English

For some, native speaker English is still seen as the “correct” variety, with native speakers seen as holding sole authority on how the language should be spoken.
Even within England, regional dialects may be seen as inferior to “standard” English.

In our current research, we focus on a specific world English – China English.
While based on standard English, China English has its own specific and identifiable use of grammar and vocabulary, which is predictable and systematic.
China English has its own expressions, such as “paper tiger”, meaning something that appears powerful but is in fact weak.
This predictability distinguishes China English from “Chinglish”, which refers to translation errors from a Chinese language (usually Mandarin) into English.

Nothing to disclose Alexander Baratta and Paul Vincent Smith do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.