JoLIE 2:1 (2009)

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How can teaching English help to promote national and regional heritages?

On Basic Global English (BGE) And “Advanced Global English”*

 

 

Joachim Grzega

University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany

 

 

 

Abstract

 

Since English is the most prominent European and global lingua franca, there are reasons to respect this role of English also in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). While TEFL in Europe is oriented toward bringing learners’ competences close to either standard American English or standard British English and the respective cultures, a concept of TEFL especially for compulsory stages of language learning may opt for including cultures, without focussing the American and the British ones. The contribution will illustrate the concept of Basic Global English (BGE), which was created for learners at level 0 to prepare them for communication with people of other mother tongues in general, which includes looking at communicative strategies and cultural aspects from regions and nations that the group of learners choose on their own. This way English becomes not a threat to other cultures, but a door-opener to all kinds of national and regional cultures. From these, learners  may then select one or two for getting to know this culture and its language more thoroughly. The contribution presents recent developments in the project on “Basic and Advanced Global English”.

 

Key words: English as a lingua franca; Multiculturalism; Teaching English as a Foreign Language; Intercultural Communication.

 

 

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How to cite this article: Grzega, J. (2009). How Can Teaching English Help to Promote National and Regional Heritages? On Basic Global English (BGE) and ‟advanced global English”. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 2(1), 49–62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2009.2.1.4

 

 

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