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FollowingMartinWedell’spiece“Localteacherornativespeaker?”nowisperhapsagoodtimetoexplorethediscomfortovertheuseof“Nativespeaker”(NS)and“Nonnativespeaker”(NNS).Thediscomfortnay,stempartlyfromthefactthattheword“native”issometimesmisguidedlyusedtomeanaprimitivesortofsavage;alsopartlybecausetherewillbeanincreasingnumberofexpertEnglishusersallovertheworldwhodidnotstarttheirlivesspeakingEnglish.Theexpression“mothertongue”maybesufferingthesameguiltcomplex.IsitfairtobrandagirlaNSRSofEnglishbecausehermotherwasaFrenchspeakerwhileherfatherspokeEnglish?“Fathertongue”then?Orshouldithavebeen“motherlandtongue”?Fairerevenmightbe“environmenttongue”forchildrengrowingupinanEnglishspeakingenvironment(eventhoughtheirparentsmightspeakanotherlanguageathome).
StudentsoftentellmethattheycometotheU.K.becausetheywanttolearn“pure”Englishinthe“original”environment.WhileIagreethatlearninginanEnglishenvironmentleadstomoreeffectiveEnglishlearning,this“purity”isadangerousconceptandIbelieveitiscloselylinkedto“mother”valuesandtheterm“nativespeakers”.
“Motherland”and“fatherland”implyapatrioticloveforone’scountry,butlanguagecannoteasilyworkinthisway,particularlywhenitisa“worldlanguage”wearetalkingabout.True,languageiscloselyrelatedto“culture”but,formostmodernusersofEnglishintheworld,languageismoreaboutinternationalcommunicationthannationality.
Termssuchas“monolingual”,“bilingual”and“multilingual”maybemoreappropriateforthefuture.Orperhapsthefairestwayistoeliminatealtogethertheneedfortheseterms.ThereissomeconcreteevidencethatNNSand“mothertongue”arealreadylosingtheirinfluence.
TostudyfortheRSACambridgeCertificateorDiplomainTeachingEnglishasaForeignLanguagetoAdults(CELTAorDELTA),teachertraineesnolongerneedtohaveEnglishastheirfirstlanguageandthereisnomentionofNSorNNS.TheCELTArubric,forexample,statesthatparticipantsmustbe“abletousewrittenandspokenlanguageintheclassroomwhichisclearandcoherentandessentiallyfreeofmistakesinspelling,punctuationandgr