Downshifting discourse: Revitalizing BASIC ENGLISH 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working-class literacy
My core postulate is that there is a widening chasm between small islands of privileged middle-class learners of EFL across the developing world, the EFL haves – and the masses of working-class and ordinary learners, often ‘low achievers’ in school parlance, the EFL have-nots. ‘Money talks English’...
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Universiti Malaya
2017-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Modern Languages |
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| Online Access: | http://borneojournal.um.edu.my/index.php/JML/article/view/3313 |
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| author | Bill Templer |
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My core postulate is that there is a widening chasm between small islands of privileged middle-class learners of EFL across the developing world, the EFL haves – and the masses of working-class and ordinary learners, often ‘low achievers’ in school parlance, the EFL have-nots. ‘Money talks English’, and generates vast topographies of inequity in global discourse. Basic human discourse rights within a TESOL of equity and solidarity in the 21st century suggests that ideally, all individuals on this planet should have the right to learn an efficient, compact lingua franca for trans-cultural and trans-national communication, in effect ‘reclaiming the commons of discourse’ through pedagogies for plainer talk. I present a vintage model for building solid competence in a simpler, leaner mini-form of ELF, adapting Ogden/Richards’ BASIC ENGLISH (850 headwords, www.basic-english.org), developed in the 1930s, as a sustainable foundation and ‘target’ plateau level for L2 English literacy needs for the ‘Two-Thirds World’ of ordinary workers (Finn, 1999), the bottom 4 billion of humanity. BASIC can also be used for vertical translation, to sensitize native speakers to the ‘meaning of meaning’ in Ogden’s classic sense (Templer, 2012). And is a power tool for democratizing knowledge, creating a large library of classics and more complex discourse translated vertically into BASIC 850 for extensive free voluntary reading by the masses. Necessary is a research center exploring simplified modes of English for the social majorities (Templer, 2011, 2012).
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-70f66c3df212436e8a3d3e0789ea78d3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1675-526X 2462-1986 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
| publisher | Universiti Malaya |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Modern Languages |
| spelling | doaj-art-70f66c3df212436e8a3d3e0789ea78d32024-11-27T19:00:21ZengUniversiti MalayaJournal of Modern Languages1675-526X2462-19862017-06-01221Downshifting discourse: Revitalizing BASIC ENGLISH 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working-class literacyBill Templer0Shumen, Bulgaria My core postulate is that there is a widening chasm between small islands of privileged middle-class learners of EFL across the developing world, the EFL haves – and the masses of working-class and ordinary learners, often ‘low achievers’ in school parlance, the EFL have-nots. ‘Money talks English’, and generates vast topographies of inequity in global discourse. Basic human discourse rights within a TESOL of equity and solidarity in the 21st century suggests that ideally, all individuals on this planet should have the right to learn an efficient, compact lingua franca for trans-cultural and trans-national communication, in effect ‘reclaiming the commons of discourse’ through pedagogies for plainer talk. I present a vintage model for building solid competence in a simpler, leaner mini-form of ELF, adapting Ogden/Richards’ BASIC ENGLISH (850 headwords, www.basic-english.org), developed in the 1930s, as a sustainable foundation and ‘target’ plateau level for L2 English literacy needs for the ‘Two-Thirds World’ of ordinary workers (Finn, 1999), the bottom 4 billion of humanity. BASIC can also be used for vertical translation, to sensitize native speakers to the ‘meaning of meaning’ in Ogden’s classic sense (Templer, 2012). And is a power tool for democratizing knowledge, creating a large library of classics and more complex discourse translated vertically into BASIC 850 for extensive free voluntary reading by the masses. Necessary is a research center exploring simplified modes of English for the social majorities (Templer, 2011, 2012). http://borneojournal.um.edu.my/index.php/JML/article/view/3313Basic English 850, TEFL, English as a lingua franca, Simplification, Discourse equity |
| spellingShingle | Bill Templer Downshifting discourse: Revitalizing BASIC ENGLISH 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working-class literacy Journal of Modern Languages Basic English 850, TEFL, English as a lingua franca, Simplification, Discourse equity |
| title | Downshifting discourse: Revitalizing BASIC ENGLISH 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working-class literacy |
| title_full | Downshifting discourse: Revitalizing BASIC ENGLISH 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working-class literacy |
| title_fullStr | Downshifting discourse: Revitalizing BASIC ENGLISH 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working-class literacy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Downshifting discourse: Revitalizing BASIC ENGLISH 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working-class literacy |
| title_short | Downshifting discourse: Revitalizing BASIC ENGLISH 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working-class literacy |
| title_sort | downshifting discourse revitalizing basic english 850 as a leaner lingua franca in global working class literacy |
| topic | Basic English 850, TEFL, English as a lingua franca, Simplification, Discourse equity |
| url | http://borneojournal.um.edu.my/index.php/JML/article/view/3313 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT billtempler downshiftingdiscourserevitalizingbasicenglish850asaleanerlinguafrancainglobalworkingclassliteracy |