Changing English

Studies in Culture and Education

ISSN: 1358-684X (Print) 1469-3585 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ccen20

Kachrus Three Concentric Circles and English

Teaching Fallacies in EFL and ESL Contexts
Betsy Hu Xiaoqiong & Jiang Xianxing
To cite this article: Betsy Hu Xiaoqiong & Jiang Xianxing (2011) Kachrus Three Concentric
Circles and English Teaching Fallacies in EFL and ESL Contexts, Changing English, 18:2, 219-228,
DOI: 10.1080/1358684X.2011.575254
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1358684X.2011.575254

Published online: 29 Sep 2011.

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Changing EnglishAquatic Insects

Vol. 18, No. 2, June 2011, 219228

Kachrus Three Concentric Circles and English Teaching Fallacies

in EFL and ESL Contexts
Betsy Hu Xiaoqionga* and Jiang Xianxingb
Foreign Languages College, Three Gorges University, Hubei, China; bShenzhen Polytechnic
School, Shenzhen, China

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This paper attempts to introduce and explain the famous Three Concentric Circles proposed by Kachru, namely, the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle and the
Expanding Circle. Based on Kachrus theory, the paper proceeds to discuss four
fallacies in EFL and ESL contexts, which are (1) English learners in the Outer
and Expanding Circles learn English essentially to communicate with people
from the Inner Circle; (2) a native speaker model is the only appropriate model
for all learners of English; (3) all native speakers of English can go to teach in
the Outer and Expanding circles; (4) English is a tool for understanding and
teaching American or British cultural values.
Keywords: Kachrus Three Concentric Circles; English teaching fallacies; EFL and
ESL contexts

1. Introduction
The word English is always associated with people from America, Britain,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where English is their native language. However, English is now being learned and used worldwide. It is spoken everywhere.
Crystal (1997) contends that a conservative estimate of the number of speakers of
English today with a native or native-like command of English would be 670 million. He says:
If we go to the opposite extreme, and use a criterion of reasonable competence rather
than native-like uency, we shall end up with a grand total of 1,800 million. A
middle-of-the-road estimate would be 1,2001,500 million, and this is now commonly encountered. (Crystal 1997, 61)

Crystal estimated the number of English speakers more than 10 years ago. The
number has now surely gone up further as English is increasingly used to communicate across international borders. Therefore, it is an established fact that English has
become the most important international language today. As we can see from the
gures given above, all told, there are over 2 billion people who can make use of it
to varying degrees in their everyday lives. As English has become world English,
international English, global English or the lingua franca, English should not be

*Corresponding author. Email: huxiaoqiong@yahoo.cn

ISSN 1358-684X print/ISSN 1469-3585 online
2011 The editors of Changing English
DOI: 10.1080/1358684X.2011.575254
http://www.informaworld.com

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B. Hu Xiaoqiong and J. Xianxing

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the property of the native speakers any more. Instead, it should belong to all the
people who use it. As McArthur (2004, 5) put it: since 1967, world English has
meant all English: standard and non-standard, mother-tongue and other tongue, dialect, pidgin, creole, lingua franca, and, importantly, such anglo-hybrids as
Hindlish and Spanglish, . . . world English is both shorthand for English as a world
language and a superordinate term for Australian English, British English, Irish
English, Nigerian English, and the like.
Undoubtedly, the force of English in globalization is beginning to have a deep
impact on English language teaching across the globe. We need to rethink some of
our traditional aims and objectives of English teaching.
2. Kachrus Three Concentric Circles
As English is being spoken by such a vast number of people, its varieties are
increasing as well. British English and American English, which have been traditionally regarded as the only two varieties of standard English, are in fact but two
World Englishes among many. According to Kachru (1992), World Englishes fall
into three categories (see Figure 1):
1. the Inner Circle, where English is the mother tongue and includes countries
such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Britain and America;

Figure 1. Kachrus Three Concentric Circles (1992, 356).

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2. the Outer Circle, which uses English as an additional institutionalized,

ofcial language, though not a mother tongue the countries include
Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. People in these countries can use English uently for virtually
any type of communication;
3. the Expanding Circle, which refers to English as a foreign language, the
countries being mainly China, Korea, Nepal, Russia, Saudi Arabia and several in South America.
Kachru (1992) holds that the current sociolinguistic prole of English may be
viewed in terms of these three circles. The circles represent the spread, the patterns
of acquisition, and the functional allocation of English in diverse cultural contexts.
The Inner Circle represents the traditional cultural and linguistic bases of English.
The Outer Circle represents the institutionalized non-native varieties (ESL) in the
regions that have passed through extended periods of colonization. If only 10% of
the population in the Outer Circle use English, it accounts for about 110 million
speakers. The Expanding Circle includes the regions where varieties of the language
are used essentially in EFL contexts.
From the above circles, we can see that the Inner Circle is the smallest, containing only ve countries, with a total population of 350 million, while the people
from the other two circles far outnumber the people from the inner circle. As
McArthur put it (2003, 2): India and China apparently already account for at least
half a billion users and learners of English, a total that (before seeking to bring in
equally soft statistics from elsewhere in Asia) could make the continent, in demographic terms, the heaviest consumer of English in the world and even if this is
not so at the time of writing, it is likely to become so in the not far distant future.
Kachru (1992) thinks the term English does not capture this sociolinguistic reality,
whereas the term Englishes does.
The wide use of English indicates that the varieties of English have multiplied. Those who speak English in the Outer and Expanding Circles have their
own local histories, literary traditions, pragmatic contexts and communicative
norms. But the multiple identities of English havent caused consequent changes
to English teaching in ESL and EFL contexts. The implications of this sociolinguistic reality are not recognized, and a number of fallacies are still in existence
in ESL and EFL contexts. Regarding the users and uses of English, Kachru
(1992, 3578) mentions six fallacies. This paper, based on Kachrus thoughts,
attempts to discuss four fallacies in terms of English teaching and learning in
ESL and EFL contexts.
3. Fallacies in English teaching in ESL and EFL contexts
Fallacy One: English learners in the Outer and Expanding Circles learn English
essentially to communicate with people from the Inner Circle
In China, if a parent says I want my child to study abroad, it undoubtedly means
that I want my child to study in a western English-speaking country. For many
students in the Outer and Expanding Circles, the expression go abroad is synonymous with going to the WEST. When they were asked about their interest in

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foreign countries, it was usually the US, western European countries and Canada
that were mentioned. Asian, African and Central and South American countries are
mentioned less often, and when they are, it is after students discuss North American
and European countries (Matsuda 2002, 4367).
But given the lingua franca status of English, it is clear that much of the world
needs and uses English for instrumental reasons, such as academic studies, commercial pursuits and professional contacts. Therefore, more and more people learn
English within the Outer and Expanding Circles to use among themselves. English
becomes the main vehicle for interaction among the non-native speakers with distinct linguistic and cultural backgrounds, such as Koreans with Japanese, Chinese
with Vietnamese, Germans with Danish and so on.
A typical example illustrates this phenomenon well. The rst authors university,
China Three Gorges University (CTGU), has, in the last ve years, established
exchange programmes with a number of countries. Every year, some CTGU students are sent to these exchange universities, and they study there from half a year
to one year. So far, 75 students have experienced study and life in the exchange
universities (see Table 1).
From Table 1, we can see that 71 (94.7%) out of the total go to study in the
Expanding Circle countries, whilst only four (5.3%) go to America, the Inner Circle
country.
How relevant, then, are the conventions of British politeness or American informality
to the Japanese and Turks, say, when doing business in English? How relevant are
such culturally-laden discourse samples as British railway timetables or American
newspaper advertisements to industrial engineers from Romania and Egypt conducting
technical research in English? How relevant is the importance of Anglo-American eye
contact, or the socially acceptable distance for conversation as properties of meaningful communication to Finnish and Italian academicians exchanging ideas in a professional meeting? (Alptekin 2002)

Since English is so widely spoken by people from different cultural and ethnic
backgrounds, who, then, is the real native speaker of English who can use it accurately and appropriately? Paikeday (1985) in his book entitled The Native Speaker
is Dead! shows native speakership as a linguistic myth, and argues that its true
meaning is no more nor less than a procient user of a language. If people from
the Outer and Expanding Circles learn English not necessarily to go to the Englishspeaking countries, then the norms and standards established by the so-called
Received Pronunciation and General American should be questioned.

Table 1. Destination of exchange students from China Three Gorges University.

Country
South Korea
Denmark
Austria
France
America
Total

Number of exchange students

58
4
2
7
4
75

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Fallacy Two: A native speaker model is the only appropriate model for all learners of English
This claim has no empirical validity. Kachru (1992) holds that the Inner Circle is
only in a very marginal sense a model provider. In the Outer Circle, the local
model has been institutionalized, and the educated varieties of such models have
always been used in the classroom, in various interactive contexts. As a matter of
fact, countries such as India and Singapore have already set up their own models
and norms of English, which have begun to be accepted and recognized. The concept native speaker is not always a valid yardstick for the global uses of English
(Christopherson 1988).
English has become an international language. In dening an international language, Smith (cited in McKay 2003a, 139146) suggests that in the acquisition of
an international language:
a. learners do not need to internalize the cultural norms of native speakers of
the language, the ownership of an international language becomes denationalized, and
b. the educational goal of learning the language is to enable learners to communicate their ideas and culture to others.
We believe it is time for English teachers in the Outer and Expanding Circles
to realize the importance and necessity of their own varieties as well as other
varieties of English. They should teach their students knowledge of World Englishes, so that students will not perceive American English and British English as
the only two standard varieties, thereby avoiding stereotypes and prejudices
against other English varieties. Teachers, educators and researchers should integrate other Englishes into textbooks and other teaching materials and ensure that
the content of English materials is not limited to the American or British cultures.
As Matsuda (2002) put it, when students are exposed to a limited section of the
world, their awareness and understanding of the world also becomes limited. Students may not desire to further explore those parts of the world they are not
familiar with.
Confusion or resistance may result from an incomplete presentation of the English language. When students are confronted with different types of English users or
uses, they may be shocked by varieties that deviate from Inner Circle English.
Viewing them as decient, they may lack respect for such varieties and their users.
Therefore, the language teaching curriculum must expose students to local cultural
content and its English variants in various parts of the world.
In the world English context the uniqueness of the native speaker and his/
her mother tongue becomes totally irrelevant when we consider the spread of
World English. A monolingual speaker of English may actually turn out to be
at a disadvantage when attempting to get by in World English. Being monolingual, they are likely to be monocultural and carry with them prejudices about
their own Anglo cultures (Kirkpatrick 2006). Given the native/non-native
speaker ratio of 1:2, one can imagine the native speakers predicament when the
ratio reaches 1:10 in the not-so-distant future, due to the millions of people in
Asia, Africa and Latin America eager to learn the language. No longer the
model speaker of World English, the native speaker will probably not retain his/

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her former privileged status as an EFL professional. Being a monolingual

speaker may actually turn out to be a hindrance. However, at present, the English teachers employed to teach English in the Outer and Expanding Circles are
mainly from the Inner Circle.
Fallacy Three: All native speakers of English can go on to teach in the Outer
and Expanding Circles
In many ESL and EFL countries, native speakers of English are frequently given
preference in English teaching. Although a large number of them are not professional and not well trained, native speakers are often believed to be experts, are
better paid and command greater respect than their local colleagues. Often they
dont know how to teach and have very little knowledge of Asian culture.
Nevertheless, it is often believed that having teachers from Inner Circle countries
makes the teaching programme in a university or school appear to be of better quality. But the reality is that many native-speaking teachers cause a variety of problems
for their employers. The native speakers reasons for teaching in ESL and EFL
countries may be motivated by the desire to travel, the acquisition of employment
qualications in their own country or an uncertainty about what career to embark
on. The reason most universities or schools hire a foreign face is that the university/school will look better or more prestigious. As a practical matter, foreign teachers dont contribute much to an ESL/EFL programme.
In addition to the reasons mentioned above, native English speakers are still
overwhelmingly welcomed in the Outer and Expanding Circles as a result of the
rapid and vast expansion of the English language, in particular in the Expanding
Circle countries. In China, for example, even kindergartens now have English
courses. China needs about 100,000 English teachers every year. The number of
Chinese English teachers cannot satisfy this need, so a large number of native
speakers from the Inner Circle are recruited. Most professional and experienced
teachers from native-speaking countries are not willing to teach in developing countries, so those hired are usually young and have no prior teaching experience. The
following two advertisements were posted on the Internet for the recruitment of
native speakers of English as teachers in China (www.esl-job-china.com):
A school in Hebei, China, looking for a native speaker:
. . . (after introducing the school, foreign teachers work schedule, salary, accommodation, etc.), it is my pleasure to welcome you to teach in our school. However, please
provide us the following:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

Your resum.
Copy of the rst page of your passport.
Copy of your highest degree and teaching certicates, if any.
When will you be available to start teaching.
One recent colour photo of yours.

Another school in Weifang city, Eastern China, looking for native English-speaking
English teachers. The following information is all that the school offers:

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Vacancies: 3
Contract length: 1 year

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Students: primary schools

Classroom hours: 20 hours per week
Salary: 45006000 RMB per month
Free well-furnished apartment offered
Round trip airfare provided
Requirements:
Native English speakers
Bachelor degrees nished.

This kind of advertisement looks very attractive to those native speakers who
have just graduated from universities and to those who are waiting for job opportunities or hope to travel to Asia and gain some work experience for their future
careers. These foreign experts, having a beautiful dream of going to the east to
travel, away from their families for the rst time, very soon nd themselves in
awkward situations due to cultural and language shocks. Some of them never nish
their contracts before eeing back home. The authors university experiences this
kind of problem very often.
The rst author of the paper conducted a survey among 589 Chinese English
teachers at the tertiary level (Hu Xiaoqiong 2005). One of the questions was how
do you, as a Chinese English teacher, view your own strengths and weaknesses in
relation to native English-speaking teachers? Do you think it is necessary to introduce native speakers to your university?
The results show that, in general, Chinese English teachers view their strengths
as easier to communicate with students as we share the same culture; students nd
it less difcult to understand our China English and vice versa; sometimes we
can use Chinese in class if something is difcult to explain in English, which saves
time; we know English grammar better than native speakers and we can explain it
to students more easily; we can be bilingual and help students do translations,
which is impossible for native speakers. They view their weaknesses as we cant
speak as accurately, spontaneously and uently as native speakers; they know their
own cultures; foreign teachers can equip students with more up-to-date materials,
help them to keep in touch with current affairs, introduce alternative teaching methods and provide the necessary insights into English-speaking cultures. When asked
if they think it is necessary to hire native speakers for their country, a total of 309
(52.8%) of the teachers supported the idea, giving as reasons that both Chinese
teachers and students can improve our English; we can know more about foreign
cultures from them; we can make friends with each other and get to know each
others cultures; we can have the chance to learn different teaching styles. The
remaining 276 (47.2%) rejected the idea, saying that a lot of foreign teachers are
not professional and not well trained. They dont know how to teach and students
complain about their poor teaching competence.
As a matter of fact, in the era of World Englishes, non-native English teachers
in the Outer and Expanding Circles have more advantages over the native English
teachers. As Kachru puts it: In reality, the native speakers have an insignicant role
in the global spread and teaching of English. ... They have not passed any examinations to verify their prociency in the language, have not achieved the distinction

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of having learned English successfully themselves, and may therefore lack a certain
empathy with their learners. Moreover, those who have actually studied the
language and achieved hard-won excellence in it may provide a far more constructive model for learners to aspire to (Kachru 1992, 356362).
McKay (2003b, 94) contends that native speakers know the destination, but not
the terrain that has to be crossed to get there: they themselves have not travelled
the same route. Non-native speakers, on the other hand, know the target language
as a foreign language. Unfortunately, this is often perceived as a weakness,
although it should be accepted and used as an important resource.
We must value teachers according to their professionalism, not their place of
birth. If local English teachers know, as well as respect, their strengths as nonnative speakers, they will not focus only on American and British-oriented cultures.
They will attach more importance to the input of other cultures, particularly the
input of their own culture.
Fallacy Four: English is a tool for understanding and teaching American or
British cultural values
In the multilingual Outer Circle, English is used as an important tool to express and
impart local traditions, conventions and cultural values. In the course of doing so,
many linguistic innovations are added to English which reect the unique local cultures and the ways of thinking of the local people. Why does this happen? According to Kachru (1992), this is due to the non-contextuality of English in relation to
the local and national languages and the use of English in multilingual contexts. In
many places of the Outer Circle, English is the only language that cuts across languages, and regional and national boundaries. And in its localized variety, English
is the language of higher education, national and international business, literary creativity and the media.
Some people consider target language-based cultures to be essential in order that
foreign language learners participate fully in the target language culture. The target
language culture and its native speakers are considered to be elements that are crucial to the success of the teaching model. It is thought that learners not only acquire
accurate forms of the target language, but also learn how to use these forms in
social situations in the target language setting to convey logically consistent, appropriate, and effective meanings to the native speakers. In this manner, learning a foreign language becomes a kind of acculturation, in which one acquires new cultural
frames of reference and a new world view, reecting those of the target language
culture and its speakers. Students are required, by their teachers, to learn English so
that they can use English to perform like the native speakers, including their body
language, tune and cultural values. This is simply a Utopian view of English teaching (Alptekin 2002, 58).
Fortunately, this situation is beginning to change. More and more people now
begin to think that they learn English in the hope that they can have easy access to
the outside world and can have more opportunities to introduce their local cultures
to the world. McKay (2003a) made a survey of some of the Chilean English teachers about the role that culture played in English language teaching in the Chilean
context. One of the questions was Which type of cultural content would you prefer
to use in your class and why? The three choices given were: (1) Content that deals
with local Chilean places and people; (2) Content that deals primarily with aspects

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of United States or British life and culture; (3) Content that deals with the life and
culture of various countries around the world. The majority of teachers preferred
content that deals with the life and culture of various countries around the world,
and to our excitement, there were indeed some teachers preferring content that deals
with local Chilean places and people by saying that it is important to keep alive
the Chilean culture in young people and to reinforce the values of our culture.
Those who supported the use of various cultures offered reasons like this may help
students feel that they can use English everywhere and in any situation, and students have a global vision of the world in which they live.
Coincidentally, the rst author of this paper (Hu Xiaoqiong 2005, 301) asked
the Chinese English teachers similar questions, and the answers shared some similarities too. Most of the Chinese English teachers attached great importance to multicultural input in their classroom teaching in China, with a particular focus on
Chinese culture. It is regrettable that, at the moment, this kind of change has not
yet found its way into the teaching syllabus or the textbooks.
It is well worth recalling the fact that since the colonized countries obtained
their political independence from Great Britain, English in these countries has
begun to show its differences from the Received Pronunciation and has established its own localized acknowledged varieties which reect the cultural values,
identities and unique ways of thinking of the once colonized people. These people
even take much pride in speaking their deviate English, as a Singaporean messenger announced at the United Nations: I should hope that when I am speaking
abroad my countrymen will have no problem recognizing that I am a Singaporean
(Strevens 1992, 39).
4. Conclusion
The Three Concentric Circles have illustrated that English has now become an
international language. Therefore, English can no longer be linked only with the
Inner Circle cultures, but must adapt to the Outer and Expanding Circle cultures as
well. Based on this change of perspective, we should abandon the current teaching
fallacies. Instead of using the Inner Circle norms and standards to instruct our
teaching syllabus, teaching content and teaching methodology in ESL and EFL,
people from the Outer and Expanding Circles should adjust their teaching staff,
teaching models and teaching contents to their own varieties of English and to their
unique cultures. As Kramsch and Sullivan (1996) have rightly pointed out: an
appropriate pedagogy for the teaching of EIL (English as an international language)
depends upon local ELT professionals thinking globally but acting locally.
Notes on contributors
Betsy Hu Xiaoqiong is professor of linguistics in the College of Foreign Languages, Three
Gorges University, China. More than 40 of her papers have been published in a variety of
Chinese and international journals. Her interests include applied linguistics, second language
acquisition and cross-cultural communication studies.
Jiang Xianxing is an associate professor of Shenzhen Polytechnic, China. She has had more
than 20 articles published in different journals in China. Her research interests include
English language teaching, teaching ESP (English for Special Purposes) and cross-cultural
communication studies.

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