Psychological damages of global english
editNowadays English is considered the main language of communication throughout the world. In the 21st century being able to speak English means having more opportunities, in the field of work life and in the social one. People are becoming so addicted to language learning that they put English above all, accepting to get English language proficiency at any price. Today, the more you know it the more you will have a profitable life.This current need to know the language, on the one hand increases the general level of culture, but on the other hand causes significant mental health risks. In fact, people who do not know this international language feel a sense of inferiority. “It is the global “system” of English-related discourses and practices that produces these deformities. The linguistic inferiority complex of peripheral speakers are actively produced in discourses of linguistic shaming.”[1]
Psychological damages may have different facets. One high-profile example of a satirical one concerning accent issue, it was clearly shown by former Argentine's president Cristina Kirchner statement. In 2015, during a business trip in China, she tweeted "Más de 1.000 asistentes al evento… ¿ Serán todos de “La Cámpola” y vinieron sólo por e aloz y el petlóleo? ..." [2] that in English sounds like "More than 1,000 participants at the event... Are they all from the Campola and in it only for the lice and petloleum? ". With this tweet, President Kirchner suggested that for Chinese people it was difficult to pronounce words like "Campora", "rice" and "petroleum".
In 2001, at University of Sydney, a foreign student from South Korea drop like a “loser” who did not have enough English to achieve his goals. She felt guilty of “betraying” her parents with her mediocre English. Her English completed admission requirements at the university so her problem was not her control of English language but her belief that her English was not satisfactory enough and her unrealistically expectations until the quality of her English was high. Learning English can be very aloof, as explained by sociologist Karuna Morarji's developmental perspective in rural India[3]. Education is an economic problem and a psychological problem. They believe that knowledge of the English language is promising, creates opportunities and open doors. Many students have to deal with cognitive dissonance, which is that learning English does not open the door for them.
A study [4] conducted between 2005 and 2010 in an elementary school located in a district in southern Arizona, investigated the psycological impact of english-held lessons on a class of monolingual Spanish-speaking students. These students were born in south America, and knew little to no english. By law of Arizona, and regardless of the wishes of the parents, only children who had met a high standard of proficiency in English were allowed to enroll in the school’s dual language program. For this reason, these children were taught every subject in English only, pursuant to a full immersion program designed in these cases. Findings from this study revealed that students participating in english immersion programs exhibited the following maltreatment symptoms: excessive worry about school performance, verbalized fear that the teacher will hurt the children and nightmares and/or sleep disturbances, change from positive to negative self perception, worse school performance from previous years, excessive crying and other symptoms of depression, headaches, stomach aches, decreased functioning in social situations, school avoidance, and self isolating behavior.
English is the main language of communication spoken by one person in three. People are strongly motivated to learn it because it provides you more chances for your future. Nevertheless, English knowledge can be a problem for not-speakers: adult workers sometimes do not get a career development because of their lack of education in the linguistic field and consequently they feel socially weaker.
See also
editReferences
edit- [5]Ingrid Piller "Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice" Chapter 1
- [6]Ingrid Piller "Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice" Chapter 2
- [7]Ingrid Piller "Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice" Chapter 7
- ^ Pennycook, Alastair (2017). The cultural politics of English as an international language. Routledge. ISBN 978-1351847353.
- ^ Press, Associated (2015-02-04). "Argentina's president Cristina Kirchner attacked for 'racist' Chinese joke". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
- ^ Krishna, Anirudh (2018-01-25). "The state of education in rural India". Retrieved 2018-12-17.
- ^ Parra, Elena B.; Evans, Carol A.; Fletcher, Todd; and Combs, Mary C. (2014) "The Psychological Impact of English Language Immersion on Elementary Age English Language Learners," Journal of Multilingual Education Research: Vol. 5, Article 4.
- ^ 1967-, Piller, Ingrid (2016). Linguistic diversity and social justice : an introduction to applied sociolinguistics (First ed.). Oxford. ISBN 9780199937264. OCLC 922220208.
{{cite book}}:|last=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ 1967-, Piller, Ingrid (2016). Linguistic diversity and social justice : an introduction to applied sociolinguistics (First ed.). Oxford. ISBN 9780199937264. OCLC 922220208.
{{cite book}}:|last=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ 1967-, Piller, Ingrid (2016). Linguistic diversity and social justice : an introduction to applied sociolinguistics (First ed.). Oxford. ISBN 9780199937264. OCLC 922220208.
{{cite book}}:|last=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
edit- BBC News. (2018). Argentine leader's tweet ridiculed. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31142819 [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018].
- Krishna, A. (2018). The state of education in rural India. [online] https://www.livemint.com/. Available at: https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/1km3nIazOPD0JgDwqKjz8J/The-state-of-education-in-rural-India.html [Accessed 17 Dec. 2018].