Multiple Englishes: multiple ways of being in the world (A conversational inquiry)

ABSTRACT

This essay emerges from an ongoing conversation between us while collaborating on various projects that have explored the role that English plays in people’s lives. One of us is an English teacher educator from Australia, the other an EFL educator from Iran now working in Hong Kong. Our conversation prompted us to reflect on English as a medium of communication between us that has enabled us to transcend the division between so-called native speakers and those who speak English as an additional language, without denying the differences between us. To take our conversation further, we set each other the task of writing an autobiographical vignette to inquire into how the English language has variously shaped our sense of self and our relationships with others. We thereby attempt to re-envision English as a relational and historically situated phenomenon in order to think again about our common project as English language educators.

KEYWORDS:

• Global English
• Standards-Based Reforms
• EFL/ESL
• Native-speakerism
• Ownership of English

Acknowledgment

We wish to thank the editor and reviewers for enabling us to write an essay that is much better than the one we initially submitted. Brenton also wishes to thank Jenna Mead for commentary on an early version of his autobiographical vignette.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brenton Doecke

Brenton Doecke is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. He has published widely in the fields of English education, teacher education and literary studies. His most recent publication is a co-authored book entitled Literary Knowing and the Making of English Teachers: The Role of Literature in Shaping English Teachers’ Professional Knowledge and Identities (Routledge, 2023). He is a co-editor of Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education.

Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini

Seyyed-Abdolhamid Mirhosseini is an Associate Professor at The University of Hong Kong. His research areas include the sociopolitics of language education, qualitative research methodology, and critical studies of discourse in society. His writing has appeared in journals including Applied Linguistics; Language, Identity and Education; Critical Inquiry in Language Studies; and TESOL Quarterly. His most recent book is Doing Qualitative Research in Language Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), and he is co-editing (with Peter De Costa) a forthcoming volume on Critical English Medium Instruction in Higher Education (Cambridge University Press).