TELLISI (Teaching English Language and Literature In the Society of Iran) is the name referring to an international linguistics congress which was held at the State University of Guilan, located in the Caspian Sea bordering city of Rasht, from October 8th, for two days.
One hundred seventy English language scholars and researchers from US, UK, Romania, South Africa and Egypt gathered in Iran and presented their lectures, posters and addresses in TELLISI congress up to October 10th in the auditoriums of humanities faculty of Guilan University.
The congress, which is said to be the first one of its type in the northern Iran, had three honorary guests from the US, Russia and UK, all of them among the world-renowned linguistics scholars and professors.
Prof. Vivian J. Cook from the Newcastle University of England, who is the editor of Oxford-affiliated journal of "Writing System Research", was the most distinguished guest attending the congress.
Cook is the author of several books on various branches of linguistics, and his last book named "Second Language Learning and Language Teaching" was published on 2008 by Hodder Educational publications.
I found a short interlude between his lectures and talked to him on various subjects, topics of his presentation, his viewpoint of Iran and his personal observations in Rasht.
Our conversation began with a comparison between the 22nd largest University of Iran (Guilan University) and the English universities, which Prof. Cook had attended.
"In comparison with the some of the universities where I teach," Dr. Cook said, "the Guilan University has some evident privileges and advantages. The most eminent of them is the structural environment of this Iranian University. I see the corridors are wide, the faculties are large and constructions have beautiful architecture with bright and appealing appearance.
"But in some of our national universities, the academic buildings are a bit aged and not constructed exclusively for academic purposes; therefore it is slightly difficult for both the academic staff and students to adapt themselves with the environment and constructions," he added.
Perceived Image of Iran Changed
Due to the intense black propaganda on Iran and the unclear view given to him by the English media, Cook refused to answer any political questions, but added in the meanwhile that his observations of Iran are totally different to his personal perceptions shaped when he was about to travel to Iran.
"Prior to this, I was in many countries of four continents, but seems that Iran is different to all of them," he said. "In Japan, for instance, everything happens swiftly and in a strange manner but in Iran, I feel more familiarity with people and the environment ... the airports, restaurants, hotels, towers and buildings are calm, familiar and understandable in Iran, especially in Tehran where I arrived first.
"The talent and aptitude of Iranian people is really appreciable because of the evidences I was given; the Persian carpet, the Persian tea, cuisines etc" he said, adding that "mainly the background information of English people on Iran and its culture is very insignificant and also mixed with the political stereotypes provided by the media, so it is better to witness by your eyes and discover the realities."
Cook described the details of the presentation titled "the English writing system". He explained his three assumptions.
"The first of them is that the basis for teaching is the spoken, not the written language," he said. "The second one is that the aim of language teaching is to make students like native speakers, and the final one is that teachers and students should use the second language rather than the first language in the classroom."
He also gave several reasons and traditional claims to prove his pretensions and finally concluded that "language teaching methodology should examine its assumptions taken over from the 19th century to see whether they fit the language teaching goals and classrooms of today."
The English Languages Expansion
"Languages are changing rapidly," Cook said. "I think that some historical accidents led to the English language became the hyper-central and international language, which is widely being used all around the world. ... [The[ English language did not become popular in the world just because it was easy to learn. We have many other easy-to-learn languages that are not surviving anymore. Maybe it was a lucky for English to become an internationally consumed language beside of some historical reasons that made the Great Britain a powerful and influential country which expanded its monarchy worldwide."
But meanwhile he said he believes that the growth and enhancement of English language does not threaten the local dialects and languages in ancient countries such as China, India or Greece.
"It is necessary for every student to learn a new and foreign language and today," he said. "English is that L2. which students in most of the countries try to learn, but it is also possible that another dominant language would be replaced in the next years, so the internationalization of a specific language is not going to dissolve the other local dialects and languages."
"The technology comes from countries that speak English as a native language, such as US, and people are today familiar with keyboards that have English scripts and letters on them," Cook said. He said that he believes that technology was a main factor that caused the English language to be internationally recognized and accepted "countries that are keen to promote their languages internationally and introduce their cultures to a wide range of global audiences must exploit the power of technology and sciences which would help them succeed. In fact, it is a way of motivating people to learn and use your language"
Cook invited all of the language students, professors and researchers worldwide to submit their contributions, papers and manuscripts to the "Writing System Research" Journal, which
was established less than a month ago and is being managed by an editorial team consisting of people from UK, Japan, China and Italy.
He also announced that all of the Iranian linguists, students and academicians are welcomed to dispatch their researches, articles and manuscripts to the Writing System Research journal for consideration.
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Kourosh Ziabari - Journalist
published on: 15th October 2008
