Video 6: David Crystal: The Effect of New Technologies on English:
It is true that technology has the ability to change and create new languages and develop the way in which we speak. Crystal mentions how we speak differently when we text rather than speak, as the shortage of characters we are given, for example on twitter means that we have to be more creative in the way we talk to each other to get our message across which is why we use abbreviations and non standard english.
He also puts forward that when twitter first began it urged people to tweet in first person by posing the question "what are you doing?" and later changed it to "what is happening?" which changes the language to third person. This is a clear example of how technology and especially twitter has changed the way we speak and talk to each other in real life and online and I personally think it is a good thing that we have technology that gives us the ability to change the english language and make it more exciting.
Crystal's observations about the influence on language of a particular technological medium are very interesting, and also the idea of how a very minor change in a question, or sentence expecting a response, can so very dramatically influence the response itself and the language used.
It is also noteworthy what Crystal says about the timescale of observing the influence of technologies like the internet, and how it will take a very long time for us to actually see any prominent changes to the structure of the language- that it could be a relatively temporary phenomenon, but that we will not know for certain for a long time.
Video 7: David Crystal: The Biggest Challenge for English Language Teachers in the times of Internet:
The English as a foreign language should be taught as a consequence of English becoming a global language and its being spoken in different parts of the world. David Crystal’s statement that the ‘the greatest challenge for the teachers’ is that ‘they must keep pace with the language change, given that languages change so fast’, it is studied and used everywhere in the world, and the need to eliminate the mismatch between the language taught in the classroom and the language spoken by natives or in professional environments. The present study is focused on the discussion of textbooks, the variety of English to be taught, cultural background, and pronunciation issues.
David Crystal recognized that even the best teaching materials provide learners with texts which are far from the real, informal kind of English, which is used very much more than any other during a normal speaking lifetime.
This is the greatest challenge faced by teachers as they must ’keep pace with it and expose the learners to it’. According to Crystal, the fast language change is the result of two reasons: the first reason is represented by the internet, which is fostering new varieties of language and experiences, thus exposing the learners to language varieties which are more frequently used or which the learners prefer. These varieties are not controlled by any grammatical correctness filter and thus generate new word forms or uses which may not necessarily conform to accepted grammar rules.
The second reason which accounts for the fast language change is the globalization of English. This phenomenon has also had many effects on language teaching. Thus, amid this phenomenon the teachers may be confused and overwhelmed and the question they may ask themselves is ‘What is the language variety that should be taught?’ The answer to the question was given by Crystal in his speech on ‘English as a global language’.
Video 8: David Crystal: Texting is 'Good' for English Language
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