ENGLISH NEXT

Higher education
Higher education is becoming globalised alongside the economy, and English is becoming a
key ingredient. To understand why, we have to talk about:
1. The globalisation of universities, because it is one of the most important drivers of
global English. Traditionally, universities have been national institutions, but now
they compete at a global level. Firstly, it’s important to say that two-thirds of the
world’s top 100 universities are in English-speaking countries. This is one reason why
English is used more and more as the medium of education in universities across the
world. The “Bologna Process” was an agreement signed originally in 1999, now
involving 45 countries. It has the purpose to approach university education in Europe
along the lines of the British model. This process also wants to facilitate movement
of students within Europe and to make European higher education more attractive
to students from other countries.
2. International student mobility: the number of international students coming to
English-speaking countries seemed to be constantly growing and English itself is seen
as a key educational investment. Between 2 and 3 million of students each year
travel to another country, especially to USA and UK, in fact these two countries
together have over a third of all international students in the world. Unfortunately,
some studies in 2005 reported a drop in international student number, in fact
students from China, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were down by 50%, due to
the visa regime imposed after the terrorist attack in New York or to health fears
rising from the outbreak of SARS in Asia. However, a reason can be also the growth
of new competitors: for example, China became a new exporter of higher education
in 2006, receiving many students from Korea, Japan, Thailand and India. So, it’s clear
the rise of the number of international students studying in other languages than
English.
3. Transnational education: at the end of the 1990s, there was a big optimism in how
the internet could transform education. In fact, virtual universities became the
flavour of the day. In UK was created the eUniversity, conceived as a marketplace
and a technology platform for online degrees, approved by an individual institution.
But, in only 4 years, the global adventure of the education through the Internet was
over because this universities were established by people who didn’t understand the
business and, in addition, at that time there was a profound scepticism about
eUniversity role in higher education. Even if virtual universities failed, English-
speaking universities had a Plan B, that was overseas branch campuses, which would
allow them to reach international students. The UK’s University of Nottingham, for
example, opened two Asian campuses in September 2005: Nottingham Malaysia and
Nottingham Ningbo in China. These new overseas campuses attract students from
elsewhere in the region, helping to provide an international intellectual
environment.
 Learning English
There isn’t a single way of teaching and learning English and a single motive for doing it. A
‘model’ isn’t a variety of English, such as British or US, but a complex framework which
includes issues of methodology and variety, including other dimensions of the context and
practice of learning English. There are many members involved in the teaching and learning
process:

 learners
 their families
 teachers
 governments
 employers
 textbook publishers
 examination providers.
There is of course a great debate about the best method for teaching English:
1) the teaching of English as a FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL);
2) the teaching of English as a SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL).

EFL It is a 19th century creation that highlights the importance of learning the culture
and society of native speakers. This method approaches the position of the learner as an
outsider, as a foreigner. The learner is considered as a linguistic tourist, allowed to visit, but
without rights of residence and required always to respect the superior authority of native
speakers. However, EFL learners focus on the language with attention on things as
grammatical accuracy, native-speaker pronunciation and literature and when EFL learners
measure themselves against the standard of a native speaker, few EFL learners will be
perfect. So, we could say that this model may have historically evolved to produce a failure.

ESL Teaching English as a second language recognises the role of English in the society in
which it is taught. In ESL countries children usually learn some English informally before they
enter school, so the role of the classroom is often to extend their knowledge of the
language. A characteristic of ESL is code-switching, speakers will often switch between
English and other languages, even with a single sentence. Often, exist local and ethnic
varieties of English, such as Indian or Jamaican English in London. In this communities, the
code-switching is important to communicate.

CLIL (Content and language integrated learning)

CLIL is an approach to bilingual education in which both curriculum content (such as Science
or Geography) and English are taught together. The difference is that in the simple English-
medium education isn’t necessarily that the learner has the English abilities required to
cope with the subject before studying. CLIL was born from curriculum innovations in Finland
and it has been adopted in many European countries, mostly in connection with English. In
most cases, CLIL is used in secondary schools and English teachers have to work closely with
subject teachers to ensure that language development is appropriately created. So, they
lose their subject in the timetable space and take on a support and remedial role. For these
reasons, although CLIL seems to be growing quite fast in some countries, it is difficult to
practise unless the subject teachers are themselves bilingual.

ELF (English as a lingua franca)

Supporters of teaching English as a lingua franca suggest that the way English is taught
should reflect the needs and aspirations of non-native speakers who use English to
communicate with other non-natives. Understanding how non-native speakers use English
has become a serious research area. Researchers are identifying also a “Lingua Franca Core”
which provides guiding principles in creating syllabuses and assessment materials. The
target of English (in the ELF system) is not a native speaker but a fluent bilingual speaker,
who owns a national identity in terms of accent and who has the special skill required to
understand another non-native speaker.

EYL (English for young learners)

English learners are getting younger. Across the world, English is being introduced in primary
schools. It’s important to teaching languages to young children because they find it easier to
learn languages than older students. In addition, one practical reason for introducing English
to younger learner is to ensure that they have a longer school careers to master the
language. EYL is often not only an education project, but also an economical and political
one, in fact a lot of governments show the need to learn a foreign language and the
ambition to make their country bilingual. The European project is to create plurilingual
citizens.

English in Europe
Common European framework is the new European model. It represents a wider ideological
project to improve citizens awareness of the multilingual nature of Europe and to promote
the learning of many languages. European citizens should learn 2 languages in addition to
their mother tongue. The benefits of this programme are a better understanding between
neighbouring nations and a sense of European identity. One of the weaknesses of the
European project is that all languages have a ‘home’ in one or more member countries. In
theory, English has no greater status than French or Swedish but in practice, English has
become a common working language. Across Europe, English has become the first foreign
language in education systems, often replacing language from that position.

English as an Asian language

English has been spoken in India from colonial days and has featured in Indian education.
It’s important to say that over one third of Indians claimed to be able to read English but
less than half of those also claimed to speak English. India is not the only Asian country
which counts English as a colonial legacy, there are also Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. We can say that English is becoming an even more
important lingua franca in Asia. In 2001, China decided to teach English in primary schools
from Grade 3. A lot of people are now learning English in China than in any other country
and it’s possible that within a few years there will be more English speakers in China than in
India.

A new hegemony of English

One problem with the idea that English is turning everyone into “wannabe” Americans is
that the rapid diffusion of English is occurring at the same time as the USA is losing
international prestige. In addition, cultural flows are no longer unidirectional as they used to
be, because now:

 Chinese viewers are more interested in soap opera from Korea than the USA;
 Japanese Manga comics are being taken up in Europe and the USA;
 “Bollywood” influence is being felt around the world.
 Even in the USA Hispanic influence is increasingly felt thanks to “telenovellas”
So, we can say that the US-dominated phase of globalization is fading.
The economic raise of India and China has been fuelled by TNCs who set up a business
facilitate by English. Such arrangements are regarded as a WIN-WIN situation, providing
profits for the TNCs, economic growth in developing countries and growth with low
inflation in countries already developed. TNCs have no concern to promote national
interests, but maintaining a unique cultural identity is a key part of the globalisation
strategy.
In every world region, English already finds itself in a different mix and a lot of countries
are trying to strengthen their capacity in Mandarin.

The Native speakers’ problem

Native speakers of English have enthusiastically promoted the learning of their language
abroad. By the end of the 20th century, learning English became an urgent economic need.
Native speakers were considered as the gold standard, but in the new climate native
speakers are identified as part of the problem rather than the source of a solution because
they bring with them the cultural baggage in which learners aren’t interested, their accent is
too remote and native-speakers teacher haven’t some skills required by bilingual speakers
(for example translation). In addition, native speakers are a hindrance because their
presence intimidates non-native speakers in a meeting and because few native speakers
belong to the community of practice, which is developing amongst lingua franca users. So,
we can say that their presence blocks communication. In several Asian countries the
definition of “native speaker teacher” now includes also teachers from India and Singapore.

Protecting local languages and identities

In response to the spread of English and multilingualism, many countries have introduced
language laws in the last decade, in which the use of another language rather than the
national language is banned in public spaces, such as advertising. It’s difficult for native
speakers of English to maintain the purity of a language, because English is one of the most
hybrid and rapidly changing languages in the world. For example, Shakespeare added much
to English by borrowing words from Latin, Greek and French. In addition, English has never
had a state-controlled regulatory authority for the language, like for example the Academie
francaise. In general, the need to protect national languages is a recent phenomenon,
especially the need to ensure that English doesn’t take over too many domains.
The importance of early education in the mother tongue has been recognised and it is
important that this isn’t relegated only to the nursery and kindergarten. There are,
however, problems that the spread of English ignore: first, bilingualism needs to be
recognised as a normal condition and second, mother tongue education isn’t the education
of the language spoken at home. The argument about the language of education is also an
argument about national identity and about developing skills of children, in fact, for
example, cognitive skills to learn Chinese are difficult to reconcile with those needed to
learn English. So, arguments about the priorities of different languages in education and the
best age to start learning them hide issues about cognitive learning styles and expected
relationships students-teacher.
As English becomes more widely used as a global language, speakers will signal their
nationality through English.

Beyond English
Countries like India are discovering that they need more languages beyond English. In
general, there is a renaissance in foreign language learning driven by economic realities.
Immigrants to English speaking countries may need to learn the language of their host
society, but that is insufficient because they live and work with other ethnic communities, so
they have to learn other languages as well. Also, in UK about 1 in 10 children speaks a
language other than English at home and this is seen as an educational and social problem,
but in really should be a cultural and economic resource. On the contrary, USA recognised
the importance of foreign languages beyond English, in fact President Bush announced a
plan to support America’s foreign languages education.

Managing the change

Innovations can magnify inequality. The global English model may be problematic because it
has the capacity to make the poor poorer in absolute terms. As English becomes a basic skill,
success in other areas becomes dependent on success of English. There is the possibility of
catastrophic failure in which national identity and economy are put at risk and this is one of
the reasons why CLIL is a HI-TECH approach to the curriculum. In order to work well. It
requires collaboration between subject specialists and language specialists, enough funding
and effective and timely training. If a country decides to make English their second
language, this project will take 30-50 years to mature. An issue is how long it takes to create
a new generation of teachers who are proficient in English. In fact, language education
requires commitment and consistency and an approach which is flexible and responsive to a
fast-changing world. These two are difficult to reconcile. However, it’s impossible to avoid
partial implementation and this leads to a multi-speed approach. It’s inevitable that urban
areas will be more successful.
 The economic advantage ebbs away
The cost of learning English is low, at the contrary the cost of learning other languages is
high. English has become a new baseline, in fact without it you aren’t in the race. Comparing
the difference in expenditure in foreign language education in Europe, we can see that the
dominance of English represented a net annual payment to the UK of 10 billion euros. As
English became a lingua franca, learning it became easier and its benefits rise; the reverse
happens for the learning of other languages. In addition, learners who have learned English
and are bilinguals find easier to study another language because they already have
language-learning skills. There are signs that the British are taking language learning more
seriously, in fact some surveys have shown that UK citizens desire to learn languages and
the rise of other world languages, like Spanish and Mandarin, is helping. At last, as
transnational education grows, the UK economy will not benefit from students’ expenditure.
 FUTURE OF ENGLISH
The Legacy of history
Britain’s colonial expansion established the pre-conditions for the global use of English,
taking the language from its island birthplace to settlements around the world. As a world
language, its history began in the 17th century with the foundation of the American
colonies. Also, other European powers were expanding, but in the 19 th century, thanks to
the British empire was consolidated the world position of English. During the middle ages,
power was distributed between Church, sovereigns and local barons, but in 17 th and 18th
centuries there was the rise of the nation state and every state required an international
lingua franca which could be an emblem of national identity. So, National languages were
born. Then, the English language was expanded and reconstructed to serve this purpose of
national language: new words and new ways of writing were developed. In addition, for a
time, the Latin was the lingua franca but with its decline, people were searching also a
language for international communication. The attempt to fix the English language during
the 18th and 19th centuries wasn’t completely successful because the language continued to
adapt itself to news circumstances and people, in fact there were a lot of national varieties.
English is a hybrid and permeable language as result of contact with other languages, and
this explain its success as a world language. About its history we can say that there are
seven ages of English:
1. Pre-English period: at the time of the Roman Invasion, the language of Britain was
Celtic, but the Romans made Latin an official language, so many communities in
Britain became bilingual Celtic-Latin. Later in the 17th and 18th centuries, the use of
Latin declined.
2. Early Old English: the English language developed with the Anglo-Saxon invasion,
when the Romans left Britain and new settlers brought Germanic dialects from
Europe. Latin was still an important written language because of the Church, but
English developed a new form, in fact the first English literary text appeared.
3. Later Old English: this was the time of Vikings’ invasion from Scandinavia. So, dialects
of English were influenced by Scandinavian languages and King Alfred concerned
about education, translating many Latin texts into English.
4. Middle English: with the Norman Conquest there were many linguistic changes:
French became the official language in England and the grammar of English was
transformed. It was a flourishing period for English literature, with for example
Chaucer, whose language was beginning to look like modern English.
5. Early Modern English: this is the period of the Renaissance, the Elizabeth era and
Shakespeare. The role of the Church and Latin declined and theoreticians like Isaac
Newton started writing their discoveries in English rather than Latin. In addition,
Britain grew economically and acquired overseas colonies.
6. Modern English: English became national language and it was fixed thanks to
dictionaries and grammars. While the international use of French declined, the
international use of English was growing.
 7. Late Modern English: after World War II, the USA were a global economic presence
and American English became another dominant language.

English in the 20th century

During the 19th century, there were two other European language which could have
established themselves as the global lingua franca, that are French and German. Today, only
Chinese has more first-languages users than English. Then, behind English, there are Hindi,
Arabic and Spanish. Regarding world institutions, the most use English as working language.
Especially in Europe the hegemony of English in very high. So, French is the only rival of
English as a working language of world institutions even if the world position of French has
been in decline after the World War II. Also, regarding the world of culture, English is the
most common language. For example, many journals in different countries shifted from
publishing in their national language to publishing in English; a medical journal in Mexico
change its name to an English name; in books, in general, English is the most popular
language of publication. The position of English in the world can change with any shift in the
role of USA in the world.

Who speaks English?

There are 3 types of English speakers in the world:
1) First-language speakers, that are who speaks it as a first language. These native speakers
live in countries in which the culture is based around English and we can find English spoken
as first language in over 30 territories;
2) Second-language speakers, that are who speaks it as a second language. Area in which
English is used as a second language have different varieties of English, that reflect other
language used alongside English.
3) Who learn English as a foreign language. A consequence of this is the creation of new
hybrid varieties of English called creoles. In general, the number of people who learn English
is rising in recent years thanks to changes in public policy, such as lowering the age in which
English is taught in schools.
These tree groups have become known also as “inner circle”, “outer circler” and “expanding
circle” and native speakers are at the centre of the global use of English, but this model
won’t be useful to describe the use of English in the next century because who speaks
English as second language will outnumber the first-language speakers and will decide the
future of English.

Language hierarchies
The ideal bilingual speaker should be a monolingual in two languages at once, but a lot of
bilingual or multilanguage use their language for different purpose. In fact, in multilingual
areas, languages are often organised in a hierarchical order. For example, in India exist 200
languages. At the pyramid base there are over 190 local varieties used with family and close
friends, higher up the pyramid there are languages used in formal and public domains,
above these there are languages used in official administration, secondary school etc, at the
top of the pyramid there are Hindi and English, languages used for international
communication. Generally, in multilanguage areas the first language is used in intimate
situations, while English is used in formal situations. It possible to create a world hierarchy
where French and English are at the top, but French is declining and English is becoming the
lingua franca and then there are Arabic, Chinese, German, Russian and Spanish.

The global media

The BBC world service was one of the few broadcasting institutions with Worldwide reach at
the end of the 20th century. Now it’s only a small part of a massive industry: a lot of national
media are scrive on a global scale. One of the most notable is News Corp.
Satellite television creates a greater linguistic and cultural diversity and it’s supportive of
local languages. When global satellite TV channels were first established, economic logic
required the use of big languages such as English. In fact, Star Tv, based in Hong Kong, was
one of the first of the global operators with most of its programming in English or Mandarin;
but recently it has promoted local languages.
The word “localization” is on the lips of every marketing manager because it helps
increasing marketing penetration. To achieve localization has been possible thanks to
technology: digital systems have expanded, and now multiple streams can be carried at high
speed and at low cost.
Europe may be different in the way that satellite TV is encouraging the use of English.
Throughout Europe, 70,2% of the population understands English enough to follow and read
TV news or newspaper, 43,8% can do it in French and 40,2% in German.
The growth in satellite TV also permits diasporic linguistic groups to receive programming in
their first language. It isn’t only English language providers who can play the global-alliance
game.
One of the global oldest forms of media localization is the dubbing and sub-titling of films. In
Britain sub-titling is preferred to dubbing because it has a linguistic effect, affecting the
pragmatic of other languages. Expression like “hello”, dubbed into Italian, have equivalents
like “Buongiorno” or “ciao” but they don’t easily match lip movements or length of the
English expression. Hence “Salve” has become popular. Dubbing allows the English media
industry to maximize profits by selling to new audience.
The global media industry has complex effects on languages and cultural identities. Whereas
national broadcasting services have played an important role in the creation of a national
cultural identities, satellite TV may encourage a cultural fragmentation. The effects of
satellite TV and cultural identity lie in the extent of Cable TV. In some countries, cable TV is
the most popular way of receiving satellite transmission. Cable provides a solution to
political and technical problems. The transferring of satellite programming to terrestrial
cable system brings broadcasts under the regularity control of the State. In addition, cable
can offer local services, such as advertisements for local shops or announcements.
 Youth culture
Peter Swarth describes the emergency of the “global teenager” as a “new driving force”. As
the west’s previous baby boomers have influenced manifacturing of clothing, leisure and
employment culturally, they have brought new waves of music, world outlooks and political
attitudes. In the non-Western world (India, China and Brazil) there’s an influential
generation emerging equivalent to those that have passed in the west: it represents a major
demographic shift in global youth. It’s well documented that the teenage years are sensitive
one for adult identity development and are an age where language shift occurs. There is a
big difference between new generations and those before: identity in the future will be
acquired and negotiated in a cultural context which has global dimension. Young people
with enough income belongs to what might be called the “Sony-Benetton” culture.
Electronic media will become not just a means of communication, but a generator of global
style.
Global marketing is helping to establish a recognizable youth culture worldwide. It provides
the comfort of a shared experience and a shared meaning to the products with the implied
opportunity for building lifestyles and identities around them. English plays a complex
function in global culture even if translation companies have no loyalty to this language:
they just follow the market. The logic of globalization is to sell more widely by localizing
products. New technology allows localization to be accomplished more rapidly and more
cheaply than ever before.
There is alongside the trend towards global homogeneity, a trend towards diversity. It may
be that the ability to speak languages becomes a distinct style advantage.
Young people within native-speaking English countries experiment with varieties of English
in order to present or experience particular social identities. Non-native forms of English
also may acquire identity functions for young people.

Internet communication
The Internet is regarded as the flagship of global English. English is the medium for 80% of
the information stored in the world’s computers. Moreover, the growth of computer use
came with the growth of network, these linked into the global structure of the Internet. A
major reconsideration of intellectual property in connection with electronic texts has been
provoked as a result of the way information and ideas now circle the world. The Internet can
carry the English language services into every country and into people’s home. It’s the
language most widely used because 90% of the world’s computers connected are based in
English-speaking countries. If users in other countries, working in other language, are
communicating through cyberspace, they must use English.
As Internet becomes more widely used, it’s natural to expect that a wider range of
languages will be employed. The largest Internet community is expected to be based in
Germany, followed by the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden. Elsewhere, connections to the
Internet are rising rapidly.
Local communities are expected to grow more rapidly than the Internet: action will be local
in the sense that most communications will be used to contact someone on the other side
of town rather than the other side of the world.
Electronic mail is expected to be a dominant activity that creates a considerable traffic
between members of self-selected groups.
It’s predicted that English on the Interne may fall to 40% because other languages are being
used: it’s probable that in future the Web will be in Spanish to a Spanish speaker for
example. In addition, it won’t be necessary to create pages in different languages because
there will be a translation software available on every computer.