Despite English’s status as a lingua franca, language courses, schools and materials are still marketed using anachronistic images of ‘Englishness’ and targeted at purely aspirational audiences. This talk analyses those contradictions, using examples from different sources: the cultural content of course books, advertising and news media, in which the native speaker model retains real power in a globalised world that at the same time undermines it. Finally, an alternative approach is suggested, promoting the need for learners to occupy their own space and fashion their own voice in an English-speaking world that is rapidly changing.
Click here to see the handout for the talk.
Click here to see an abridged version of the Powerpoint.
Click here for a link to ETP magazine where an article based on the talk appeared.
Some of the adverts used in the talk.
