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Linguistic imperialism alive and kicking


linguistic imperialism alive
Export ... ELT advice from agencies such as the British Council is called into question. Photograph: Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters

Opinion

Topics reported on recently in Learning English give me grounds for concern about internationally driven efforts to strengthen the learning of English. They suggest strongly that Tesol/ELT is part of the problem rather than the solution. There is increasing evidence that what is on offer may in fact cause educational failure.

Is Anglo-American expertise really relevant in all such contexts? In fact educational "aid" worldwide does not have a strong record of success. There is scholarly evidence, for instance from Spain, that primary English is not an unmitigated success story: quite the opposite.
For Namibia a great deal of educational language planning was undertaken at the United Nations Institute for Namibia prior to independence. I summarised this in my book Linguistic Imperialism (OUP, 1992), quoting solid evidence that an over-reliance on English was inappropriate. Yet this is what British Council "advisers" in independent Namibia were instrumental in implementing.
British policies in Africa and Asia have aimed at strengthening English rather than promoting multilingualism, which is the social reality. Underlying British ELT have been key tenets – monolingualism, the native speaker as the ideal teacher, the earlier the better etc – which the same book diagnoses as fundamentally false. They underpin linguistic imperialism.
British goals both in the colonial period and today are primarily political and commercial. The British Council's Annual Report 2009-10 states that for the equivalent of every $1.60 of taxpayer's money it receives, it earns $4 through its English teaching and examining worldwide. ELT is of massive importance for the British economy. This underlies expansion efforts in India and China, where it has had very mixed success, except perhaps in commercial terms. David Graddol's 2010 report English Next India, commissioned by the British Council, uses similar arguments to those articulated 180 years earlier by Thomas Babington Macaulay, a senior British administrator, in making a case for British involvement in Indian education. Influence on the learning of English may be as ineffectual as in Namibia, in this very different context.

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Quebec tuition fee protests should make Canada sit up and listen


Quebec student protests flare
Students protests in Montreal, Canada, over Quebec's plans to raise tuition fees. Photograph: Rogerio Barbosa/AFP/Getty Images
In Montreal, hundreds of thousands of students have been taking to the streets for weeks, often facing off against riot police. The province has been inundated with news, seemingly by the hour, of shifting tactics and the back-and-forth discussions between striking student groups and the government. Outside, unrest continues. There were more arrests, violence and property damage this week. It's a hell of a story. It's also one few Canadians outside Quebec actually care about. Maybe we should.
The students' grievances aren't just financial, but that's a good place to start: Quebec recently announced a 75% tuition fee increase over the next five years. That came as a shock to Quebecers and the province's powerful student movement, both of whom regard its current cut-rate fees as almost an issue of nationalist pride – a hangover from the province's Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, when Quebec emerged from "la grande noirceur" of the Maurice Duplessis government and the firm grip of the Catholic Church, and started demanding more autonomy.
On the surface, such an extreme bump in fees sounds like something worth protesting against, perhaps even smashing a window for. Certainly it's enough for thousands of students to don a small red square – thesymbol for how the move could put them "squarely in the red", or "carrĂ©ment dans le rouge" – on their lapels in a show of solidarity. But Quebec has the cheapest fees in Canada, and what the rise means in real dollars is part of the reason the rest of the country is indifferent to the plight of Quebec's students.
The rise translates into an extra $325 each year, for a total increase of $1,625 per student. It means that in five years, Quebec students will pay just under $3,800 a year for a basic undergraduate degree – still one of the lowest rates in the country. But those low tuition rates also don't do much for university enrolment. Roughly 30% of Quebecers go to university, compared with just over 50% in Atlantic Canada and over 40% in Ontario and the west – regions with much higher average annual fees. A year of undergrad studies in neighbouring Ontario, for instance, will probably set you back around $5,000.

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Advanced Methods for Success in Affiliate Marketing

You can use affiliate marketing to your advantage if you know what to do. If you find the right program, you can build a great base of clients. For example, email marketing can be a great opportunity to stay in touch with your customers. Check out this article for more powerful ways to to really make your methods more sensitive to the needs of your client base.

Email is an effective method for marketing your business. Invite your customers to join your email list any time that you sell a product. Do not require it though. Keep the process of signing up easy by simply asking for their name and email address. Never spam your customers with too many emails, and make sure every one contains information of value to them. You can purchase software to assist you in the sometimes daunting task of sending out mass emails. Whenever you have a sale or offer a special deal, send an email that includes a blog link or an article to those on your list. Increase your email customers by informing them of specials for subscribers only. You can also use email to thank loyal customers who do business with you.

To keep ahead of the game, find out what your visitors want and what your rivals are doing. Visit a competitor's site and pretend you're a customer. This will help you see where your customer service could use some improvement. Create a survey for customers to find out how they perceive your website. Trial and error, common sense, and logic will quickly become your cohorts as you refine your Internet marketing strategy. In the long run, you will find out what works best for your audience and your business.

Your affiliate marketing adventures should always be inventive. Your customer base is key to your success, as well as looking for new customers. When coming up with your affiliate marketing strategies, keep these tips in mind.

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Advanced Approaches to Successful Affiliate Marketing

The time has come to take your affiliate marketing program up a notch. Finding a good program and making a few sales is only the tip of the iceberg. It's possible to already have a customer base. Find out how to add to your customer base and inspire confidence and loyalty in your products with the effective tips below. Creating email campaigns that provide your customers with what they need will go a long way towards building customer loyalty.

Making an email list is not viable these days. Customers now expect businesses to offer them a chance to opt-in to email notifications about special promotions and sales. Offer or require an email list subscription when your customers make a purchase. Make sure they have the option to unsubscribe. The content of your emails should include sales incentives and information the customer will find useful. Your customers will do the work for you.

You should learn as much as you can about your target audience before making efforts to reach them through advertising, so you can ensure your efforts are relevant and applicable. Young people are using Facebook and Twitter 24/7, while the older generation will probably stick to email a bit more. Do some research among your own family and friends to ascertain how they search for new products when using the internet. Consider issuing a customer opinion survey to ascertain their wants and needs as well. When deciding which specific marketing strategies to employ, make sure that they are appropriate to your products and services. For those that have customers prone to discretion, social media would not be the best marketing tool. You must experiment to find out which marketing strategies reap the most benefits for your business.

Affiliate marketing requires you to constantly change your strategy while keeping in mind what your customers are looking for. While it is important to get yourself fully established, don't forget to talk to your existing customers as well. Be sure to listen to feedback, as well, and then implement the suggestions made. This process boosts your reputation and entices new customers, as well as maintaining the loyalty of your established clientele.

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Affiliate Marketing: Advanced Tricks of the Trade

Are you looking for a solid way to expand upon your affiliate marketing methods? Once you have settled on an effective affiliate marketing strategy, you should focus on the size and quality of your customer base. This article will teach you what you need to know about building up a client base with different marketing methods. You will learn all you need to know from email marketing to customizing your own strategies.

Simply making an email list for marketing purposes is not the best option in today's e-commerce environment. The market has trained your customers to expect a periodic newsletter to keep them informed about new products or services and where they can receive special offers for being a valued customer. The most effective way of doing this is to give your customers the opportunity to sign up when they buy from your site. Be sure to offer them the option to opt out whenever they want to. Be sure to include great deals and offers in your emails to encourage your customers to return to your site. Also, provide valuable free information. The customers almost do the work for you in this marketing campaign.

Knowing who your target audience is will enable you to customize your techniques specifically to them. Younger people may like networking more than email, and they will enjoy communicating with you via social media. Make sure you know what your competitors are using for their marketing strategies. You could pose as a potential customer and test out their services. This will allow you to see how they handle problems. Try to get your customers to fill out surveys in which you ask details about them and what they like. Another option is to try several different approaches and see which ones generate the most favorable responses from your customers. Certain strategies might not be appropriate, depending on the types of products you sell.  Social networking sites might work better for some products than others that are more personal. Just keep trying things and iteratively refine your marketing process.

When involved in affiliate marketing, it is important that you are always aware of the current trend. Be sure that you continue to talk to your customers and see if you can use their suggestions. Follow the helpful guide below to create a successful affiliate marketing strategy.

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A Deeper Look at Successful Affiliate Marketing Strategies

Are you ready to be successful in affiliate marketing? The key steps that you'll want to learn about are finding a program that fits your situation, building your customer base and attracting new clients. This article gives you advice that will help you accomplish those steps by using email marketing and other advanced marketing techniques.

Email marketing is very effective, so be sure to approach your customers and invite them to sign up for your mailing list. Also, put a subscription location on your website so that your customers can opt-in for emails. Make sure that email addresses are protected. It's a good idea to personalize your emails. Customers are more inclined to open emails that address them by name. Your emails may include information about special deals and offers, or they may simply thank the recipient for doing business with you.

You will be able to adapt your marketing strategies successfully after researching your specific niche. For example, different demographics prefer different marketing approaches. Many potential customers are easily reached through Facebook, Google+ and other social sites. Ask them key questions about their habits, including what types of websites they visit daily, as well as their use of email and popular social media platforms. Use the survey answers to determine which kinds of marketing best suit your customer base. Your marketing should reflect the unique wants of your customers and should also fit your products and services. For example, people who buy healthcare or medical products may prefer an email message rather than a friend request on a social networking site. Check out your competitor's methods, and maybe you'll find an approach you can try, or perhaps learn from their mistakes and connect with your clients in a way that other companies have not thought of. You should keep records of your successes and failures, and refer to it often. This will help you figure out which venues are working best for your business, and allow you to adjust your efforts to eliminate unsuccessful ventures.

Affiliate marketing requires you to constantly change your strategy while keeping in mind what your customers are looking for. Once you are established, it is important to pay heed to the needs of your customers. Listen to your the feedback your customers provide, and develop plans based on their responses. This will make your current customers happy, and it might get you some new ones too!

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Advanced Ideas for Expert Affiliate Marketers

A commitment to affiliate marketing can provide value to your business operations on the internet. If you find the right program, you can build a great base of clients. This article will teach you how to build relationships with customers, and expand your audience using strategies such as e-mail marketing. If you want to start employing some advanced affiliate marketing strategies, read this article.

Email marketing can be very successful, just make sure to ask all customers if they would like to be added to the email list. You should consider adding a separate page or section to your website that is devoted to your email marketing efforts. This will make it easier for customers to find and subscribe to your content. Make sure that email addresses are protected. Try to personalize the emails that you send to your customers. If your email looks like spam, they will not open it. Mix up your content by saying thanks for the business, offering special promotions, discounts, and deals.

Determining the interests and preferences of your target market is critical to the success of your marketing campaign. Individuals who fall into a younger age bracket may like to communicate via social networking sites. Look at what your competitors are doing to attract customers. Doing this helps ensure that you are doing everything you can to stay one step ahead of the competition. In order to know what your customers are looking for, ask them to fill out a survey. This research will help you assess your strategy and figure out if it is really working.

A consistently changing plan is the most effective way to serve your customers best with affiliate marketing. Be sure to consider the words of your customers once you have established yourself and your business. Be sure to listen to feedback, as well, and then implement the suggestions made. By doing this, you will attract new customers whilst still ensuring that existing customers feel valued.

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