I joined JALT a little belatedly and when I did, I was surprised to see that there wasn’t a SIG for Global Englishes (GE). Consequently, I moved to establish one and to find supportive and like-minded people who were also interested in building the community. These key people became the founding officers without who the SIG could not have come into existence. They kindly introduce themselves below.
Scope and activities
GE is a broad field, so not everything can be attended to here, or in any depth, but hopefully there is enough to convey a general understanding of the situation.
GE brings together the two prior concepts of world Englishes and English as a (multi) lingua franca (ELF). The former, sometimes referred to as pluricentrism, is the notion that English now exists beyond the original linguacultures of its mother tongue communities in varieties that should be considered equivalent, both factually and evaluatively. The pluralization expresses the belief that such Englishes are independent and autonomous of English in its mother tongue communities yet remain identifiable as English despite any differences. Regardless of these theoretical claims, the way English is used globally varies from its original linguacultures to some extent is anyway self-evident. The question then is what that means for teaching.
Turning to ELF, it is premised on the fact that foreign language speakers of English are now the majority type of speakers of English, and that most English interactions are between them. The addition of multi to lingua refers to the possibility that English may be used in combination with other languages in various global situations. As second language speakers may express themselves differently to those for whom English is their first language (native speakers), this has potential implications for what should be taught. There is already a significant body of research into ELF and its pedagogical implications.
The GE SIG has an annual conference and an annual research journal. Please feel free to make submissions in Japanese or English. If you are interested in getting involved (we are especially keen to find a new membership chair), or you would like to know more, please contact us via the email on our website (https://jaltgesig.wordpress.com/).
Officers
Tim Andrewartha (Publicity Chair) became interested in GE while doing his MA in TESOL and teaching at an English conversation school in Japan. Since then, he has taught at several universities, where he has conducted research into implementing GE in the classroom. He currently teaches at Asia University in Tokyo.
Ma Wilma Capati (Program Chair) is currently an assistant professor in the Essential English Center at Kanazawa Institute of Technology. She earned her master’s degree in TESOL from Soka University, Tokyo. Her research interests include gender in education, multilingualism, and translanguaging. She is also interested in task-based learning (TBL) and teaching presentation skills to Japanese university students.
Gregory Paul Glasgow (Member-at-large and founding Treasurer) is an associate professor in the Department of English at Kanda University of International Studies. He is a critical applied linguist who combines insights from postcolonial theory, critical realism, and contemporary sociolinguistics to examine language ideologies, policies, and practices in TESOL. He is also interested in GE pedagogy. He holds a PhD in applied linguistics from the University of Queensland.
Gareth Humphreys (Publications Chair) has worked in higher education in the UK, Spain, Vietnam, Angola, and Japan. He teaches on English communication and intercultural educational programmes at Sojo University, Kumamoto. In 2020, he completed his PhD at the Centre for Global Englishes, University of Southampton.
Ben Joicey (Coordinator) teaches at Asia University. His teaching interests include lexical development, critical thinking, TBL, SLA, and the relevance of GE to pedagogy. His theoretical interests are in the mereologies of linguistics and sociolinguistics and their ontological and ethico-political entailments. In addition to a MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL, he has a MA and a MphilStud in Philosophy.
Andrew McMahon (Membership Chair and Treasurer) first began thinking about the unique status of English in the modern world while teaching French and German at the secondary level in the UK. He now enjoys working with colleagues and students from all corners of the globe as an English lecturer at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Oita.
Additionally, recently we have been joined by Saran Shiroza and Chie Tsurii as Japanese publications editors.