"We will abstain from eating any kind of food at the hotel": On Analyzing and Teaching Pragmatic and Other Aspects of English as a Global Language

Abstract

The article deals with aspects of analyzing and teaching English as a global language. Apart from a few remarks on phonetics, lexis and morphosyntax, its specific focus are pragmalinguistic issues. After a brief state-of-the-art, analyses of both natural and experimentally elicited language data from oral and written contexts are presented. The analyses rest on both qualitative approaches (VOICE and You Tube clips) and quantitative approaches (one type of DPTs, two types of MJTs and one type of semantic differential). The studies show that quantitative analyses with experimental methods often falsify hypotheses that have suggested themselves from prior qualitative research ("let-it pass principle" among natives and non-natives) and from normative language guides ("learner-book illusion", "complex-is-polite principle", "middle slots relevance"). The article then shows how the linguistic findings from such experimental designs can and should be rendered into principles and components for Teaching English as a Global Language, which would require constant work-in-progress models. Concrete examples are given from Basic Global English (BGE), which aims to prepare for global citizenship by incorporating transculturally effective strategies at the elementary level.