Around the Block and Around the World: Teaching Literacy Across Cultures

As the use of English spreads around the world, it is important to remember that there is not now just one English but multiple “world englishes.” Many scholars and teachers have argued that language changes to adapt to different cultural contexts. This world of rapid cross‐cultural communication is the world in which our students read and write. In fact, many students, through e‐mail, instant messaging, or online games, are already engaged in reading and writing with young people in other countries. They live their literate lives with increasing contact with people in countries they may never visit, and their literate identities will be read by people in cultures unfamiliar to them. Such literacy practices should make teachers question how best to teach reading and writing in an age of cross‐cultural communication. We need to help students explore how multiple world englishes influence how standardized English is taught and how it is affected by issues of language, culture, and power. Finally, we must find ways to use the new technologies that allow us to communicate across borders as pedagogical tools to teach students about writing and reading in a cross‐cultural world.