Natalie Brentano

C&T 491
Dr. Cho/Dr. Peter
8 May 2015
Canagarajah
1) What issue or concept did Canagarajah raise in this article that resonated most strongly
with you, in terms of either changing or challenging your thinking about English as an
international language?
The issue that Canagarajah raised in this article that really resonated with me was the idea
that language is what someone makes of it. By this, I mean that while there are language
standards such as grammar and rules within the language, I feel like the article really
emphasized the idea that even with rules language is unpredictable. I think this matches up
exactly with my beliefs as English as an international language, because different parts of the
world use different rules and stylistic points to make the language their own.
2) What is your impression of this paradigm shift Canagarajah presents: from viewing World
Englishes and English as a lingua franca as fixed forms versus viewing global English use as
translingual practice?
The paradigm shift that the article proposes illustrates that language is unpredictable and
regardless of how well you know and understand grammar I think the article was trying to
say that its important to understand context and be able to adapt according to the situation
that one is in. Learning grammar and learning the rules only allows someone to do so much,
but I think that it's important to understand that language doesn't always follow the rules,
especially when it comes to interpersonal communication. I think it's more important to
understand how to adapt rather than memorize rules, and not know how to relate and adapt
accordingly.
3) If communicative competence in a foreign language includes grammatical competence,
sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence, as proposed by
Canale and Swain, and if, as Canagarajah states, it is strategic competence that helps
interlocutors achieve success in translingual practice, what does that do to your thinking
about the English teacher in Koreas role?
In this situation the teacher would understand that their students will not understand
everything. There will be times of confusion and issues that arise with these confusions and
the teacher would need to be prepared to explain and alleviate these situations.
4) What do you think would be the reaction by your Korean colleagues if you were to
propose that the EFL classroom become a contact zone where students bring [] in certain
negotiation strategies from outside the classroom to navigate the mix of languages and

cultures within?
I think that if this were to be proposed, my Korean colleagues would not receive this well
because of the school structure that they have in place in Korea. The idea in Korea is less
about understanding and comprehending the information to where you feel confident about it,
the way I perceived it was that it's more about memorizing and how well you can regurgitate
information for the test. I think that if an EFL classroom were to be more about what the
students wanted to know, I think it would result in more retention by the students and would
illustrate that they have a better understanding of the language and be more confident if they
were required to speak English.