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English in Cambodia: changes and challenges
Author(s) -
MOORE STEPHEN H,
BOUNCHAN SUKSIRI
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.2009.01628.x
Subject(s) - english language , english as a foreign language , test of english as a foreign language , relation (database) , english studies , language assessment , psychology , teaching english , pedagogy , mathematics education , sociology , linguistics , computer science , philosophy , database
This paper reports research undertaken at a prestigious university in Phnom Penh in late 2007. The views of lecturers who teach the BEd (TEFL) degree and their students were canvassed in relation to the status of English in Cambodia. The students completed a questionnaire probing their views on the notion of a Cambodian English, as well as their preferences for learning different varieties of English. The lecturers discussed similar questions to those of the student questionnaires, but with more probing of actual changes in English usage in Cambodia since the country opened up to the outside world in the early 1990s. The analysis suggests some evolution of the status of English from English as a foreign language (EFL) towards English as an international language (EIL) and, surprisingly, to English as a second language (ESL). Challenges of this evolution for teachers in Cambodia are also discussed.