Basic Global English

Basic Global English, or BGE, is a concept of global English initiated by German linguist Joachim Grzega. It evolved from the idea of creating a type of English that can be learned more easily than regular British or American English and that serves as a tool for successful global communication. BGE is guided by creating “empathy and tolerance” between speakers in a global context.

Concept

The concept of BGE is to provide learners of this language with a “communicative competence” that enables the speaker to successful communication. This applies to the context of global communication, where different speakers with different mother tongues come together. BGE aims to develop this competence as quickly as possible. The creator of BGE, Joachim Grzega, especially criticizes that regular English language teaching is almost always related to a corresponding culture, e. g. learners will either deal with American English and therefore with American culture or British English and therefore with British culture. Joachim Grzega tries to break this affiliation between English and a corresponding culture with his concept. He is not criticizing normal English teaching in general, but that in a global context, different types of English are used, which in turn often leads to an insufficient communication.

Basic Global English is a concept that is supposed to solve this problem by creating one collective version of English. Additionally, it is a system that is suited for self-teaching as well as regular teaching.

Main characteristics

BGE is based on 20 elementary grammar rules that provide a certain degree of variation. For example, regular as well as irregular formed verbs are accepted (kept as well as keeped; saw as well as seed). Another example would be that if one wants to express what someone is doing at the moment, one doesn't necessarily have to use be + the basic form of verb + -ing, if one includes words like now or at the moment. According to Grzega, this will not lead to miscommunication.

Pronunciation rules are not as strict as in British or American English, so there is a certain degree of variation for the learners. Exceptions that cannot be used are pronunciations that would be harmful to mutual understanding and therefore minimize the success of communication.

Basic Global English is based on a 750-word vocabulary, which is compulsory for everyone. Additionally, every learner has to acquire the knowledge of 250 additional words. These words can be chosen freely, according the specific needs and interests of the learner himself, for example special terms for a certain profession, personal hobbies, etc. In order to enable the future speakers of BGE a communicative competence, additional word-formation patterns are provided. These help the learner to form new words without having to learn them individually.

Another important trait of BGE is that it not only provides basic language skills, but also so called “Basic Politeness Strategies”. It often comes to misunderstandings when speakers from different cultural backgrounds communicate with each other. Over-politeness as well as under-politeness can be damaging to the success of the communication itself.

In the following list are some examples from the BGE strategies:

• Creating a positive atmosphere: the speaker should always remain polite, even if he has to react negatively to something. Instead of using the word “bad”, for example, use “not (so) good”.
• Offers: either accept an offer with “Yes, please” (or "yes, thank you") or refuse an offer with “No, thank you”; for things other people do to you, you answer with “Thank you.” or “Thank you very much.”
• Small talk: if you want to make small talk in an international context, you best stick to topics like the weather, positive travel experiences and sports. Topics to avoid are religion, politics, sexuality and very personal questions. Be careful with humor and compliments; they might be different in different cultures.

You can also see the freedom of learners in the choice of topics. There is no specific country, for example, that is compulsory to read and learn about. The learners themselves can choose which country they would like to deal with. However, this has not to be a country where English is spoken as a mother tongue, but for example also countries where English is used as an official language. Additionally, according to Grzega, non-native forms or utterances should not be classified as right or wrong, but as successful or unsuccessful in communication.

Connection with the concept of "learning by teaching" (German: Lernen durch Lehren)

Joachim Grzega is a supporter of the concept "learning by teaching". He connected the concepts BGE and Learning by teaching and developed a program for English learners at beginner level. This means, for example, that tasks like presenting the family, participate in discussions, writing e-mails etc. should be an integral part of the BGE teaching from very early on. In the context of teaching BGE in school, students play the role of mini-teachers and revise important grammar or vocabulary. The mini-teachers then should encourage an active participation, instead of merely presenting the revision.

Field test

Basic Global English has already been tested in two elementary schools in Germany. For the practical test of BGE, 12 lessons were prepared in order to cover half of a school year.

The results of this test phase were quite good. After the BGE teaching, students were already able to answer questions about themselves, their family, their hobbies etc. Additionally they were able to form questions themselves about the same topics. Besides that, they also learned the numbers from 1 to 31 and vocabulary including things in their school bag and in their classroom.

The students as well as the parents had a positive impression of the project.

Sources

• Berger, Lutz, Joachim Grzega, and Christian Spannagel, eds. Lernen durch Lehren im Fokus: Berichte von LdL-Einsteigern und LdL-Experten: epubli, 2011. Print.
• Grzega, Joachim, and Marion Schöner. “Basic Global English (BGE) as a Way for Children to Acquire Global Communicative Competence: Report on Elementary School Project.” Journal for EuroLinguistiX 4 (2007): 5–18. Print.
• Grzega, Joachim. “Globish and Basic Global English (BGE): Two Alternatives for a Rapid Acquisition of Communicative Competence in a Globalized World?” Journal for EuroLinguistiX 3 (2006): 1–13. Print.
• Grzega, Joachim. “LdL im Englischunterricht an Grund- und Hauptschulen.” Lernen durch Lehren im Fokus: Berichte von LdL-Einsteigern und LdL-Experten. Ed. Lutz Berger, Joachim Grzega, and Christian Spannagel: epubli, 2011. 39–46. Print.
• Grzega, Joachim. “Towards Global English Via Basic Global English (BGE): Socioeconomic and Pedagogic Ideas for a European and Global Language (with Didactic Examples for Native Speakers of German).” Journal for EuroLinguistiX 2 (2005): 65–164. Print.
• Article on Basic Global English in the magazine "The Linguist": Mechan-Schmidt, Frances. “Basic Instincts: Frances Mechan-Schmidt discovers a new teaching method that reduces English to just a thousand words.” The Linguist 48.2 (2009): 18–19. Print.

External links

• Basic Global English Homepage

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