Usage of English Among International Students

By Ekin Orer
11/2/2012 I owe great to this project. I always wanted to conduct a research about language. This project is directly relevant to the issues in class, even though it is not an ethnographic essay. I cant think more beautiful way to honor English class by doing a research about English. The reading assignments helped me a lot while beginning and developing the research. I tried to adopt the methods used in Mirabellis Learning to Serve. I worked on my interview questions very well. They were not vague and actually, they were almost in a shape that allowed the interviewee to comment on the questions while being specific. This project unfortunately doesnt fit the given assignment because it is not an ethnographic essay but I think it will outshine among other researches. I used my methods very strictly and scientifically. All interviews were professional and I achieved my pre-research goals as I expected. My assignment could be successful example to how a student should be prepared to a research. I didnt only used references from my observations and interviews. I believe that an observer is always an observer in life. I must admit that I had a very short amount of time to write but I tried to make it formal. I read articles about how I should write my research, although I couldnt manage to do a secondary research. I really enjoyed the interviews because all the subjects were my friends and it was not strict. The main part that really was difficult about my project was I couldnt fully evaluate my interviews because of the given time. Moreover, I felt very lazy to make specific connections between the research and the interviews. I used generally direct observations and primary data to develop my project. This makes my project authentic in some ways but it lacks at secondary data and references. I learned to organize and gather information during this project. I know that this project is not an ethnographic essay but it has many important information in it. It does not end with a definitive conclusion but the body part gives some facts which are more important. Thanks to Mr. Kenzie for making this project possible, Ekin Orer

Usage of English Among International Students by Ekin ORER

Introduction
Todays circumstances requires a child to learn English whether he\she is American, British or Korean. Because in order to have your kid well-educated, you should give him some qualities like mathematics, physics, and geometry. English is now among them and perhaps one may think that it is more important than math or physics. But why English has such importance even in the countries which is not directly needed. The answer is simple: English speaking countries have the most economic significance and affect globe significantly. Learning English is not a quality of a person nowadays; it is a must criteria. Anyone who doesnt know English encounters with countless problems in their lives. For example consider a typical day of a middle-class family in Bulgaria. This family uses computer so they have to now English keywords to run it, or when they are watching a film together it is probably a Hollywood movie and requires English to watch. A person in Finland listens rock music and todays popular music culture consists of 90% English. An old man in Thailand wants to enter social network and the whole system operates in English. If a child in Turkey wants to play video games he has to learn English and the list goes on My general interest about these conditions in real life was simply because I was curious. In Purdue, the international students, like me, should have gone through similar or at least some occasions that improves and adapts English to their lives. When I first decided to pursue this curiosity, I knew that language itself is always going through a dynamic process; in other words, it evolves in time but I found this challenging. When I started to talk with students about my research, I understood that the relation between international student and English is directly affecting how English is used among native English speakers. America is a garden for globalization so I chose not to interview with any American because even small effects of the alien speakers can be seen in the English that Americans use. I wanted to learn how other English speaking countries react this situation. My project is about uses of texts and languages within Purdues International Students. This research will divide into two parts: 1. Utilize of English in English speaking communities like UK Ireland etc 2. Usage of English as a second language The main focus point of the project is in what ways English affects peoples lives and how English is affected by this process.

Methodology
I used two different methods: interviews and observations. Since, I know many international students it was not hard to arrange the interviews. My interviews were approximately twenty minutes long, I chose my questions very carefully because I didnt want to offend any student or any questions they didnt want to answer. The interviews held place in isolated places which is really good for my research because I want the subject to focus on my topic. The dynamic interview systems developed the project because my observations are about the interviews too. I think it is essential to observe them while they are aware of the situation because I can tell what they think about language and how they react and think on a question that they have never thought about. My observations took place in public

Usage of English Among International Students by Ekin ORER

places like dining halls and lounges. I collected some personal notes about them: how they start a conversation or how much they are confident talking with other students.

A Brief Background

Year 2012, Location: Purdue University. This university hosts great amount of students, professors and faculty members. As we can imagine there are all sorts of backgrounds. One professor is from India; he came from a village which is really poor in economy and education. His dream is to become an eminent figure in his field of study. One undergraduate student is from Indiana; he is from middle-class and his father is a contractor, while her mother looks after his two younger sisters. His dream is to graduate as soon as possible and marry with the girl in his dreams. One master student is from Germany, she came here with an exchange program. Even though her father never supported her to go US, her mother convinced him because she saw the spark in her daughters eyes. But among all of these myriad scenarios there is a major factor which allowed them to come. This factor is of course English. Before discussing about my research, I want to give some information about English which are related to this research. English is a West Germanic language whose roots are from Old Saxon and Anglo-Frisian. English became a worldwide language with the expansion of British Empire. Growing industrial revolution drove Britain into a competition with France, Portugal, Nederland, Spain and Germany. Britain colonized almost every land in Africa and North America as well as Australia. In almost two centuries English became an independent organism in the world. Despite of the French Revolution and the independency of USA, English resided in these old colonies as an official language. By the way I learned from my Irish friend, Tyler, that Great Britain has no official language. After French Revolution and Industry Revolution, capitalism reign over the world with the help of USA. This is probably the main reason why we need to speak English whether we are from an English-Speaking Country or not.

Speak or Not to Speak

From Canada to Australia, From USA to United Kingdom, there are at least ten major dialects in English. From my interviews I learned that: for students this dialect changes doesnt affect them much because they grew up in an environment which has a capacity of hearing different dialects every day. This is clearly because of todays global conditions. There is not a place you cannot hear English. When I observed the people in dining courts, I was surprised that even though most of the students have different accents because of where they come, they seemed very relaxed to use daily popular American Language. For example an Indian guy starts the conversation with: Dude, did you know what

Usage of English Among International Students by Ekin ORER

happened? This observation in my research is crucial because all the students I interviewed with had a formal English learning process. If they come from a background that had in English in it, it is expected from them to try to speak like a native talker. These students at the dining courts however choose not to speak like an American or British. They choose to speak the way that they wanted. They seem more relaxed when they use daily language. It is also fascinating that they adopt these words (For Example dude) like it is one of their own. It is what makes English so successful. In all of my interviews, the conversation came to a point that we discussed how it is really easy to derive new words. Every guy from Spain to Ireland agreed that it is one of the fundamental reasons why English is so popular right now. English is like dough, you can create new things with the same ingredient. I think this is why English is changing almost entirely in every 50 years. As mentioned before, English is an expanding self-power factor. I mean, English is not a property any more. It evolves as the mankind evolves. We can clearly see that English is changing because of the internet, global communication and media. This alteration in the language allows more people to participate in the usage of the language. Today, children who can play games and enter social media learns how to use English because, many software is developed in English. For example, when I was five, my parents bought me a Nintendo Gameboy which has Pokmon game in it. The purpose of the game was exploring the Pokmon world, catch every monster and become a master. In order to achieve these goals, I needed to learn some specific keywords like: Mart, fight, run, tackle etc. As I progress in the game, it became more crucial to learn English because if I cant understand the dialogues, I cant know what to do. This example is not only limited with games, I recall that all the manuals, directives and webpages were English. English was the only shortcut to access the information in those days so it became a requirement to learn the language.

Give me an English, Bartender!

English education was an advantage 25 years ago in most places but it is a formality right now. Anyone who doesnt know English is an anomaly in the system. Anyone who cant understand English cant fit in the world quietly. The reason I chose this sub-title is because the metaphor is equivalent to 500 words. English is like James Bonds Vodka Martini, in every occasion you cant do it without it. (The fact is James Bond drinks scotch more, but Vodka Martini is his trademark so I chose V.M)In this chapter I will discuss the education and affections from environment. All of my interviewees had a family member that can speak English. From here I can assume that most of the parents have already seen how it is important to learn English. It is very reasonable that every parent wants a good life for their children so they saw English as a quality of person. Most of the students in Purdue started to learn English around 7 or 8 years old. It is surprising to see that most of them didnt start their English education in elementary school. Some of them started to learn from their siblings and others started with private teachers. There are, of course, some students that started English in elementary school but they are not the majority. I found this situation perplexing in some aspects because I have never thought that families had time to give some basic instructions

Usage of English Among International Students by Ekin ORER

about English. I started to learn formal English when I was in the first grade though I had the same situation in French. My mother knew that I would learn English in school so she started to teach me French but in that time I had no intention to learn language whatsoever. I understood when I was 14 that I should have paid attention more. Now I can practice my French with my brother because he goes to a school in French Embassy. English is generally the first learned second language by far so I was curious about which dialect is taught to the students of Purdue. Almost every one of them said American English and this is related with many factors. First, America is the worlds only superpower and they hold substantial place in the world economy. Second America is affected by so many different accents that it is adapted itself in the most comprehendible way. Third, 90% of the popular culture is from America. The music we listen or the films we watch are originally from United States. This is a brief way to say America holds worlds socioeconomic balance. On the other hand, I am an exception to this rule because I learned to write British English; my mother wanted me to learn British English also I watched BBC a lot. I can say that it is not an advantage to learn British English. My Northern Irish interviewee confirmed that the exposure to American culture confuses most of the UK speakers. Beginning to use American grammar and British grammar at the same time results with a fusion between these two dialects which is not right in both ways. Education of English in English Speaking Countries is a whole different level. My research was not directly relevant to this question, though I wanted to compare the English grammar level between a native speaker and a secondary user. My concern was there was no proper comparison system to measure the differences so my discussion about this problem is only superficial. I can say that most of the native English speakers are very confident about their grammar level but they also admit that they dont use these skills in their daily life. The interesting thing about Irish people, especially, we speak a completely different dialect than what we (are) writing-we can write proper English but when we speak it, we dont said Tyler Ferguson. Another aspect of my interest was about the vocabulary. I think that I have good terminology and vocabulary knowledge in Turkish but also I had a bad time while learning new vocabularies for SAT so I wanted to get an opinion about their vocabulary knowledge and its daily usage. Native English speakers say that they really try to use new vocabularies that they learn. Some even say that they use it so much it becomes boring. I got almost the same answers with the secondary users too.

Ingls, Anglais, Englisch

The English language is like London: proudly barbaric yet deeply civilized, too, common yet royal, vulgar yet processional, sacred yet profane. Each sentence we produce, whether we know it or not, is a mongrel mouthful of Chaucerian, Shakespearean, Miltonic, Johnsonian, Dickensian and American. Military, naval, legal, corporate, criminal, jazz, rap and ghetto discourses are mingled at every turn. The French language, like Paris, has attempted, through its Academy, to retain its purity, to fight the advancing tides of Franglais and international prefabrication. English, by comparison, is a shameless whore. Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within

Usage of English Among International Students by Ekin ORER

The quote above is an excerpt from, one of the most successful English comedians, Stephen Fry. This passage has a strategic purpose in my research: First, the passage itself articulately emphasizes the importance of English language. Second, it clearly states the versatility of English. Third, it compares English with another language. Fourth, this article was becoming too boring for the reader as well as the writer, thus it will bring more color to the writing. This section is about English in world and other languages. It was stated in this article that there are at least 10 major dialects in English, although what do students think about these dialects? Diversity is one of the main reasons why English is so popular nowadays. I asked Purdue Students what they thought about the diversity. Then I understood that that was a bad question because the answers were not longer than two words. The longest reaction I received was: I dont know which was equal to three words. What I really wanted to know was the popular usage of English. I thought that English is down falling because of its popularity. For example, in social media, the words and their structure changed a lot. Almost everybody makes a spelling mistake, and it started to be on purpose. When I look the posts on internet it reminds everything except English. One of the new trends is to write English phonetic. It reminds me of Turkish so I asked native speakers how they handle this situation. Unexpectedly the results were surprisingly optimistic. Most of the native speakers think that it is just another phase English is going through. They dont approve most of the corrupted grammar not because they are traditionalist but the mistakes come often from ignorance. One of my interviewees said that (which I think is very true) it is just evolution. probably a person from 16th Century wont approve our language too. English has its own fame in the world and native speakers in Purdue like that. Most of them are proud of it is spread across the world. If more people learn English, countries like United States of America and United Kingdom will turn the cultural disadvantage to their advantage. The more people learn English, the more it becomes Capital. There are some students who dispute this idea; they think that English is the aggrieved. They are somehow right because English is losing its values. It became a global property. I am repeating English over and over again but (probably because it is about English) there are other languages in world. In a world that almost everyone knows English, it is a quality to know other languages too. In Purdue, Spanish is a common second language among native English speakers and English is a common first secondary language in foreign students. It is clear that foreign students have to learn other languages to develop but as a researcher I have to implement this question through other perspectives. The main problem I observed in America is that most of the people do not find learning other languages important. It seems understandable but it will be a huge problem in US, if students keep on thinking that way. In my interviews, most of the students told me that they want to learn other languages but it is not a priority for them. I observed them they are really shy while pronouncing other words in other languages. My last topic about English around the world is the contribution of English in foreign languages. Sergio Vilches from Spain tells that: In Spanish computer is ordenador but Mexicans use it as computadora. Chris Knebel from Brazil says that: Italians dont use fin de semana anymore, they just

Usage of English Among International Students by Ekin ORER

call it weekend. It is impossible to find a language which is not affected by English. One of the main reasons to that is it is really is to derive new words in English. Every word can be changed into a noun, adjective, adverb, pronoun etc Native speakers use that a lot. I saw a very good example in famous CBS show How I Met Your Mother. They use Ted as a verb which means to correct someones fault immediately.

Inception What is the most contagious virus in the world? - An idea!

- Cobb, Inception

If you have seen Christopher Nolans famous movie Inception, you would have loved it. In the movie the main idea was implementing a new idea to someones brain as if it was a pure inspiration. I primarily wanted to conduct my research about how English affects the people in their way of thinking. But there was a problem, this question is purely subliminal and I am not Freud or Lacan. If I have ever started this research, it would have taken many years and I would have won the Nobel Prize. It is very interesting when someone starts to think in a different language, and it requires a brief time. Most of the students in Purdue said that, they started to naturally react English in less than a month but they also said that they never utterly think in English. The Lacan in me said that, I should research how grammar structure affects the cerebral structure. For example, Turkish is a composed of long words but short sentences. This feature makes me more articulate rather than aesthetic. Moreover, it is also phonetic too hence what you write is what you read. This enhances your reliance on your empirical senses. When I asked this to the other students, they failed to answer this question which really disappointed me.

If I had a Conclusion I would apply for PhD in Linguistics

English is growing up day by day. There is no mountain, no ocean nor force that can stop it from evolving and adapting. Even though English is so popular in todays circumstances, it is really hard to write research paper in 3 weeks. Purdue has a wonderful environment to conduct a research like this. There are more than 10,000 international students and it is not hard to find some students to make interviews. Generally, popular culture is what makes English so successful around the world. If you dont learn English in school, you would definitely learn because of the exposure of social network, media, movies, music, books and many more tools. Although English seems really out of control, Purdue students handle this situation well. When they talk, they try to be objective as well as respectful. I have only one outcome which I think it is not arguable: If you are making a research about diversity of a language, there is no better place than an academic environment.

Reference
Stephen, F. (2005). The Ode Less travelled: Unlocking The Poet Within. (1st Ed.). London, England: Hutchinson.

Usage of English Among International Students by Ekin ORER

Wikimedia Corporation(2012), English Language. Retrieved From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language