Humanising Language Teaching
Year 4; Issue 2; March 02

Dear Mario,

Yup, Im still on for the article I promised you.
I had it all in my head when I woke up on Sunday morninng. It unfolded: I felt I was giving a talk. The ideas went pop-pop-pop.
Stupidly, I didn't reach for a pen and paper.........

Abigail Acton

Dear Mario Rinvolucri,

Thank you for another very interesting edition of HLT! I should have written much earlier to let you know that I have really enjoyed reading all the articles included in the various issues of HLT. When I have a bit more time, I will try and send you something related to my work. I look forward to the next issue and wish you every success for HLT and the Pilgrims summer courses.

Birgit Winkler

Ed: Alan Maley's article in the November issue of HLT, TEACHING ENGLISH IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES provoked a lively debate over on the DOGME website in December-January. To see what was said go to < www.groups.yahoo.com/group/dogme > Below, Alan responds to a letter we published in the January 2001 issue of HLT, a letter from David Kellogg.

Dear Editor,

Thank you for offering me the opportunity to respond to Mr Kellogg's piece. It might have been preferable if his letter and my response had appeared together, but it is now too late for that. Anyone who wishes to make sense of this correspondence will now need to refer back both to my original article and to Mr Kellogg's letter.

I would also like readers to be aware of the fact that you have heavily edited Mr Kellogg's original letter by removing sections which were chiefly remarkable for their vituperative personal animosity towards me.

So what is Mr Kellogg saying in his (edited) letter?

1. Maley is playing the demagogue, which is a dirty trick. I can only ask readers to return to my original article to check their own interpretations against Mr Kellogg's idiosyncratic reading of it.
   
   
2. International publishers are depriving those in need of books of an affordable resource. I will try to respond to this below.
   
   
3. Maley and people like him who publish books are neo-colonial profiteers. They should waive their royalties so as to reduce the price of books. (See below also.)
   
   
4. The issues of: linguicide, preferential hiring of expatriates, preferential buying of First World books are important.

Let me try to respond to each of these points in turn:

Point 2. Yes. It is true that most books published by international publishers are beyond the reach of teachers and learners in many countries. There is no simple solution to this fact. International publishers are part of the global consumerist scenario. They invest heavily in their 'product' and expect to make a handsome profit. This is regrettable, especially since many of the 'products' may not be suitable for the 'markets' in which they are promoted and sold. What are the options?

Piracy. Another word for theft. This usually means that a local publisher makes a profit from the breach of international copyright by printing more cheaply. It does not mean that the books are free. I am not competent to comment fully on the legal or ethical issues piracy raises. The Society of Authors might wish to respond in detail on the intellectual property issue.

Photocopying. No one makes a profit except the person who charges for the use of the photocopier and the multi~national paper manufacturers. The author and original publisher of course do not make a profit on their labour.

The Internet. Increasingly, books and journals are available on line. Some publishers (eg OUP) now make out~of~print titles available free on their websites, with the permission of authors.

Subsidised books. It is unfortunate that initiatives such as the Low Priced Books Scheme previously operated by ODA have now gone out of favour.

Discounting. Many publishers are obliged to offer large discounts in certain markets if they want to sell any books at all. This should reduce the price of books to the customer. It does not always work like this however, since local booksellers do not always pass on the discount to their customers.

Local editions. Increasingly, especially in countries such as China, international editions are published locally, usually with a local publisher.

Local publishing or co~publishing. This is also on the increase, China being a prominent example. The effect should be that the 'product' is both more relevant and more affordable than those on offer in the international market. It is for users to say whether this is in fact the case.

Do readers have any other ideas?

Point 3. Mr Kellogg makes a number of naive assumptions:

• that the authors of ELT books make a lot of money from their published work. The vast majority do not.
  
  
• that by waiving their royalties, the price of books would become affordable. Authors' royalties make up only a small percentage of the sale price, and a royalty waiver would not make a significant difference to the cost to the buyer.
  
  
• that writing and publishing a book is not the sort of work for which the author deserves to be paid. Try telling that to an author who has spent most of his or her spare time, after regular work, over a period of two or three years writing a book, for which the financial gain is already disproportionately small!

Mr Kellogg singles out for criticism myself, the Hadfields, and 'people like' them. To me this sounds like (to use his own term) a 'cheap and dirty' ploy. Everyone who publishes a book is 'like' them (including the editor of HLTmag). How many of them waive their rights to hard-earned royalties? Does Mr Kellogg waive his rights to his expatriate salary in Korea?

Point 4. The issues of linguicide, preferential hiring of expatriate teachers, and preferential purchase of First World books were not directly raised in my original article. They are however, as Mr Kellogg rightly says, important issues. Let me therefore comment briefly on each of them:

• Linguicide. If we believe that the teaching of English globally is a factor in language death, then we are all in some sense accomplices including Mr Kellogg with his 12 years in China and his current job in Korea. The issue of language death is not a simple one however, and before leaping to any conclusions, it might be helpful to read David Crystal's excellent and carefully argued recent book on the subject. (Crystal 2000). My own view is that we have a duty to develop in our students a resistance to the more insidious effects on them of learning our language, and a pride in their own cultures and languages. I think this is a view widely, and increasingly, shared.
  
  

• Preferential hiring of expatriate teachers. Again an important issue, carefully and incisively analysed by, among others, Peter Medgyes (Medgyes ). Whatever we know to be the case, it is often difficult to argue against the prejudiced preferences of institutions, sponsors and even students themselves for native speaker teachers. Those of us native speaker teachers who have taught overseas have all (including Mr Kellogg himself) benefitted in some measure from this prejudice. That does not relieve us of the responsibility of trying to correct the misguided impression that native speakers are best. My institute in Bangkok employs one each of the following nationalities on its post~graduate courses for teachers: Australian, Burmese, Dutch, English,Indian, Italian, Singaporean, Thai. Leading by example is perhaps the best way of reversing the trend referred to by Mr Kellogg.
  
  
• Preferential buying of First World books. Again, it is often difficult to persuade teachers and students that West is not always best. Once again, local preference for foreign goods often overrides clear evidence that such books are not always (perhaps only rarely, in fact) relevant or suitable for the students who are asked to buy them. And international publishers spend large sums on marketing their books ~ all part of the global consumerist agenda. It is possible to change awareness at least to a limited extent by helping both trainee and practising teachers to develop a critical approach to materials selection and to encourage them to create context-sensitive materials themselves. On our MA course in Bangkok, for example, we run a module on Materials Development in the Asian Context. No big deal, as no doubt Mr Kellogg would hasten to object, but at least something. It would be interesting to know what other teachers and trainers are doing in this direction in other parts of the world. No doubt MATSDA would have a contribution to make to this debate.

Mr Kellogg has raised some important issues. It is unfortunate that he has done so in a mildly insulting, 'ad hominem' manner, and without really addressing any of them in terms of suggesting possible practical courses of action (other than waiving authors' royalties.). I have tried to correct this omission by focussing on the complexity of reality, rather than on shouting slogans. Over to the readers to continue the discussion if they wish.

Alan Maley
Assumption University
Bangkok
Thailand.

References:

Crystal, David. (2000) Language Death. CUP.

Medgyes, Peter. (1992) Native or non~Native: who's worth more? in ELTJournal, Vol. 46/4, Oct.1992.

Additional Reading:

Matei, Gabriela,S and Peter Medgyes. (2001) Teaching English is a Political Act: a non~PC dialogue. in Alan Pulverness (ed) IATEFL 2001.Brighton Conference Selections. IATEFL.

Watts, Eleanor. (2001) Missionary or Teacher? The communicative language teacher outside Europe. in Alan Pulverness (ed.) IATEFL 2001. IATEFL.

Notes: MATSDA (Materials Development Association). (President. Brian Tomlinson b.tomlinson@lmu.ac.uk )

The Society of Authors. (Director. Kate Pool. www.societyofauthors.org)

Global Issues in Language Education Newsletter. JALT, Japan. (Kip Cates. kcates@fed.tottori_u.ac.jp )

Global Issues Special Interest Group. IATEFL ( Co-ordinator, Wolfgang Ridder jwh.ridder@t-online.de )

The Journal of Engaged Pedagogy. dsnagatomo@bekkoame.ne.jp

HLT Editor owes Kellogg an apology.

Dear Editor,

I read Mr. Kellogg's letter: Reaction to Maley's article in HLT, Nov 2001, Teaching English in difficult Circumstances: Who needs a health farm when they're starving?

And your response: ( Editorial note: the themes raised by this letter are major ones which is why HLT has published the letter despite not finding David's logic everywhere easy to follow. What are your thoughts on these issues, dear Reader?)

However, I also read Mr. Kellogg's letter as he sent it to you. I think you did him a great injustice by hacking his letter up beyond recognition and then criticising him! These are my thoughts: you certainly owe him a prominent apology whether or not you agree with his views!

Sincerely,
Brian Perkins