World Englishes: Lesson 3

Hi everyone, 

We've now started to learn about the different varieties of English, and started with British English in today's lesson. 

Krachu's Circle of World Englishes:
At the beginning of our lesson, we looked at the spread of modern English. We can divide this spread into three stages: Inner Circle, Outer Circle and Expanding Circle. 

In the Inner and Outer Circles, you can find standard varieties. In the Inner Circle, English is used as an official language, such as in government, education and everyday life. In the Outer Circle, English is used in addition to an official language. For example, in Malaysia, the official language in Malay, but English is used in many facets of society. 

For the Expanding Circle, this means English is in the process of standardizing. It is taught in school, but it is still not used in everyday interactions in society. 

British English:
We watched a short video on the variety of dialects used in the U.K. There are a minimum of 30 different dialects, each with its own pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary use. However, we focused on Received Pronunciation (RP) or Standard British English. 

We had a variety of activities to show how British English differs in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary from American English. This will help you identify some of the features of British English in the videos you have to watch for homework. 

Homework:
1. Lecture preparation #3

• chapter 5 notes (down worksheet for questions in the Lecture Preparation section)

2. Listening Tasks British English #1 a, b and c

• watch videos and complete worksheets (see the Listening Homework section for videos, etc.)