Unit 2:

The Global Spread of English:

The Cultural Foundation
Warm up

What cultural factors make English a Global Language?

Political
Development

International Access to
Travel Knowledge

ENGLISH AS
GLOBAL
LANGUAGE

International
Education Relations

The Media
Main Contents

1. Political developments

2. Access to knowledge
Home readings

Unit 2: The global spread of English: The cultural foundation

Q1: What were the political developments that resulted in global status of
English?
Q2: What was the “access to knowledge” factor that resulted in global status of
English?
Home readings

What we have learnt in the first two weeks:

• The historical account of geographical spread of English:

à Help us see historical events that led to the spread of English in the colonies
of British Empire

What we are going to learn in the next two weeks:

• A socio-cultural account of the global spread of English:
à Help us explain this process and make predictions for the future trend
1. Political Development

Some quotes with triumphalist attitudes towards the eminent position of

English among modern languages:
“I love Rome, but London better. I favour Italy, but England more. I
honour the Latin, but I worship the English”
Mulcaster, 1582
1. Political Development

Some quotes with triumphalist attitudes towards the eminent position of

English among modern languages:
“I do not think that any language is better able to utter all arguments,
either with more pith or greater plainness, as our English tongue is.”
Mulcaster, 1582
1. Political Development

Some quotes with triumphalist attitudes towards the eminent position of

English among modern languages:
“I have undertaken to write a grammar of English because there is clearly
a great demand for it from foreigners, who want to be able to understand
the various important works which are written in our tongue...All kinds of
literature are widely available in English editions, and without boasting, it
can be said that there is scarcely any worthwhile body of knowledge which
has not been recorded today, adequately at least, in the English language”
Wallis, 1765
1. Political Development

Some quotes with triumphalist attitudes towards the eminent position of

English among modern languages:
“Let the French, therefore, triumph in the present diffusion of their
tongue. Our solid and increasing establishments in America...promise a
superior stability and duration to the English language.”
David Hume, 1767
1. Political Development

Some quotes with triumphalist attitudes towards the eminent position of

English among modern languages:

“English is destined to be in the next and succeeding centuries more

generally the language of the world than Latin was in the last or French is
in the present age. The reason for this is obvious, because the increasing
population in America, and their universal connection and
correspondence with all nations will, aided by the influence of England in
the world…”
John Adams, 1780
Þ18th century: Latin was still being widely used as a scholarly lingua franca
1. Political Development

Some quotes with triumphalist attitudes towards the eminent position of

English among modern languages:
“of all modern languages, not one has acquired such great strength and
vigour as the English…[It] may be called justly a language of the
world…destined to reign in future with still more extensive sway over all
other parts of the globe”

Grimm, 1851
1. Political Development

And what does David Crystal say...

• Their views were expressed with an extravagance…suggesting that there was

something intrinsically superior about its pronunciation or grammatical
construction”

Crystal, 2003

• Is it the intrinsic features of English that made it well spread and adopted
around the world?
1. Political Development

What made English a global language according to David Crystal?

1. Political Development
What made English a global language?

• Power of people who speak it

• Unrelated to the intrinsic features of the language

• Power means different things at different time:

Ø Political power of British Empire

Ø Power of science and technology: Britain as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution (18th century) –
then America in the 19th century: 2/3 of inventions made through the medium of English

Ø Economic power of Britain (peak at 18th, 19th century) and then America (19th, 20th century-now)

Ø Cultural power: 20th century – most major modern inventions

1. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
1. Political Development

Q1: What were the political developments that resulted in global status of English and
how did this process occur?

a. The growth of the British Empire

• covered nearly 1/3 of the earth’s surface

• British subjects were nearly 1/4 of the population of the world

Þ The intensity English was spread around the globe

b. English as a means of British Empire to conquer the colonies

1. Political Development

...if many schools were established in different parts of Asia and Africa to instruct the
natives, free of all expense, with various premiums [prizes] of British manufacture to the
most meritorious pupils, this would be the best preparatory step that Englishmen could
adopt for the general admission of their commerce, their opinions, their religion. This
would tend to conquer the heart and its affections; which is a far more effectual conquest
than that obtained by swords and cannons: and a thousand pounds expended for tutors,
books, and premiums would do more to subdue a nation of savages than forty thousand
expended for artillerymen, bullets, and gunpowder.
Russel, 1801, p.93
1. Political Development

Q1: What were the political developments that resulted in global status of English and
how did this process occur?

c. The language as a guarantor, as well as a symbol, of political unity

• A unifying force in colonies with diverse ethnicities and languages

As we link Calcutta with Bombay, and Bombay with Madras, and by roads, railways, and
telegraphs interlace province with province, we may in process of time fuse India into unity,
and the use and prevalence of our language may be the register of the progress of that
unity. (White, 1872)
1. Political Development
Q1: What were the political developments that resulted in global status of English and
how did this process occur?
c. The language as a guarantor, as well as a symbol, of political unity
• The desire for international linguistic unity
• Reflects the bonds between that colony and the home country
• English: these bonds were of special significance, because of the special nature of the
historical period during which they were being formed.
Þ Immediate access to a culture which had been mainly associated with the Industrial
Revolution.
1. Political Development

Q1: What were the political developments that resulted in global status of English and
how did this process occur?

c. The language as a guarantor, as well as a symbol, of political unity

• A unifying force in many newly independent multilingual countries, especially in Africa,

India, or Singapore

• Language as a political symbol still emerges every time people perceive the unity of their
country to be threatened by minority movements, e.g. the case of the USA in recent
decades
2. ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
2. Access To Knowledge

Q2: What was the “access to knowledge” factor that resulted in global
status of English?
a. By the beginning of the 19th century:

Britain - the world’s leading industrial and trading nation.

• Most innovations of the Industrial Revolution were of British origin

• Famous names: Thomas Newcomen, James Watt, Matthew Boulton, Michael Faraday,
Humphry Davy, Thomas Telford, Henry Bessemer.

• New terminology of technological and scientific advance

2. Access To Knowledge
2. Access to Knowledge
Q2: What was the “access to knowledge” factor that resulted in global status of
English?

b. the American research is added to the British:

• 1750-1900: about half of the influential scientific and technological output would
have been written in English.

• Famous names: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Samuel Morse, Robert

Fulton, Nikola Tesla...

• 45% of the people: work routinely in an English-language environment,

• several more people: collaborate with English-speaking scholars

2. Access To Knowledge

Q2: What was the “access to knowledge” factor that resulted in global status of
English?

• Developments that made the new knowledge widely available:

Ø Steam technology revolutionized printing and mass of publications in English

Ø Progress in transportation: new transport systems, e.g. the steamship, railway

Ø New communication systems such as the telegraph, the telephone, road network

Ø Development of giant organizations and groups in natural resources, finance

Summary

What made English a global language?

• Power of people who speak it

• Unrelated to the intrinsic features of the language

• Power means different things at different time:

Ø Political power of British Empire

Ø Power of science and technology: Britain as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution (18th century) –
then America in 19th century: 2/3 of inventions made through the medium of English

Ø Economic power of Britain (peak at 18th, 19th century) and then America (19th, 20th century-now)

Ø Cultural power: 20th century – most major modern inventions

Home readings:

Unit 2: The global spread of English: The cultural foundation p.86 - 100
Q1: What were the “international relations” factors that resulted in global status
of English?
Q2: What were “the media” factors that resulted in global status of English?
 UNIT 2
THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF
ENGLISH:
THE CULTURAL LEGACY
Main Contents

1. International Relations

2. The Media

3. Education

4. International Travel
1. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. International Relations

The post-war period witnessed the establishment of many international

organizations. Can you name some of them?
1. International Relations

• The League of Nations: founded at the • The European Union

Treaty of Versailles (1920) • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• The League replaced by the United Nations • The Organization of Petroleum Exporting
(UN) in 1945 Countries (OPEC)
• The Association of Southest Asian • The European Free Trade Association
Nations (ASEAN)
• ...
• The Commonwealth

• The Council of Europe

1. International Relations
English is
• a lingua franca

• the official or working language of almost all major international political gatherings

• used as the only language by a third out of 12,500 international organizations (1995-6)

• the dominant lingua franca in Europe

• the “interlingua” in certain events

Þ the intermediary language between languages

E.g. Finnish => English => Greek.

2. THE MEDIA
2. The Media
Can you name some communication and media inventions?
2. The Media

the press

What factors of
popular
the Media have advertising
music

contributed to the MEDIA

spread of English?
cinema broadcasting
2. The Media

a. The press
• English has been an important medium of the press for about 400 years.
• Early 17th century: newspapers first appeared in Europe
Þ grew strongly in Britain and in the U.S.
E.g.
The UK: The Weekly Newes (1622), The London Gazette (1666), Lloyd's News (1696), The
Times (1788), The Observer (1791)
The US: Boston Newsletter (1704), The New York Gazette (1725), The New York City Daily
Advertiser (1785)
2. The Media
a. The press
• 19th century: new printing technology and new methods of mass production and transportation
Þ the development of independent press
Þ massive circulations
The USA - the New York Herald (1833), New York Tribune (1841);
The UK – The Times + popular journalism – The Daily Mail
• Mid-19th century: the invention of telegraphs
Þ the growth of major news agencies (e.g. Reuters)
Þ Information transmitted via the telegraph wires of the world was mostly in English.
2. The Media

a. The Press:
Nowadays

• An estimate of the global influence of individual newspapers

(e.g. The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal – US;
The Times, The Sunday Times - Britain)
• Newspapers intended for a global readership (e.g. International Guardian)
• A quarter of the world’s periodicals (e.g. scholarly journals) are published in
English-speaking countries.
2. The Media

b. Advertising
2. The Media
b. Advertising:
• Late 19th century: dramatic increase in advertisements in publications, esp.
in industrialized countries à why?
Reasons:
ümass production à increased flow of goods and competition + growing consumer
purchasing power + new printing techniques
üincome from advertising à lower selling price of magazines ("ten-cent magazines”)à
increased circulation, glossy magazines
• Advertisements using English appeared very soon (e.g. London Gazette (1666)
à developed very fast & in new forms (e.g. posters, bill boards, shop signs)
à 19th century: special boost of household names (e.g. Ford, Coca Cola, Kodak)
2. The Media

Nowadays, advertisements using

English travel around the world.
Can you give some examples in
Vietnam?
Can you explain this phenomenon?
2. The Media
2. The Media

c. Broadcasting
• 1895: Marconi’s first transmission of radio signal
• 1906: English was the first language to be transmitted by radio
In the USA
• By 1922: over 500 broadcasting stations
• By 1995: 5,000 stations
In Britain
• Until 1954: the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) – a monopoly
• the concept of public-service broadcasting – to inform, educate, and entertain.
2. The Media

c. Broadcasting

• Early 1920s: English-language broadcasting began in Canada, Australia,

New Zealand & most European countries.
• Dramatic growth of public television
E.g. the USA – 200 million TV receivers by 1990
Britain – 300,000 TV licenses by 1950
2. The Media

c. Broadcasting
How do these media developments influence the growth of world English?
• In 1994: about 45% of the world’s radio receivers were in English-status
countries
• Broadcasting aimed specifically at audiences in other countries,
E.g. the international-oriented broadcasting of BBC programs, the Voice of
America (VOA)
 2. The Media
c. Cinema
• 19th century: the discovery of
electric power => Cinema
• From 1915: European film
industry passed to America, based
in Hollywood, California
• In late 1920s: sound added to the
technology
=> English language dominated the
movie world
2. The Media

Can you name some Hollywood blockbusters?

2. The Media

c. Popular music
At the end of the 19th century: the rapid growth of the recording industry

• In 1877, Thomas Edison devised the phonograph

Þ the first words to be recorded were English.

Þ All subsequent technical developments took place in the U.S.: the magnetic tape
(1927), the long-playing disk (1948)

Þ English was a prevailing language to be recorded.

• All major recording companies in popular music had English-language origins.

2. The Media

c. Popular music
• Many people make their first contact with English through popular music broadcast on
radio.

• From the 1960s: Mass audiences for pop singers all over the world

ÞPop music spreads the English language so rapidly and pervasively

• These days: many English songs are popular all over the world.
1
Listen to the following song. Do you know the songs and singers?

Where do they come from?

2 3
Can you name some popular English songs?
2. The Media

Watch the following

music video.
• What is the meaning
of this song?
• What effects can it
bring to listeners?
2. The Media
c. Popular music

English songs can spread

popular culture.
• To what extent do you agree with
this statement?

• Can you give similar examples of

popular music that can spread
popular culture and its influences?
3. EDUCATION
3. Education

Why has English become the dominant language learnt around

the world?
How many learners of English are there in the world now?

• The ELT industry has developed remarkably worldwide.

• In many countries: English - an official language/ chief FL in schools

3. Education

Q1: Why has English become the dominant language learnt

around the world?
• How about the development of ELT in Vietnam?

• Before English, what languages were chosen as the main foreign languages to
be learnt?

• What factors could have shaped our policies towards foreign languages?
3. Education

Q1: Why has English become the dominant language learnt

around the world?
“…learning and using English will not only give us the much-needed unifying chord but
will also land us into the exciting world of ideas; it will enable us to keep company with
kings in the world of ideas and also make it possible for us to share the experiences of
our own brothers in the world…”

Black South African writer Harry Mashabela

3. Education

English is…
• the medium of a great deal of the world’s knowledge
• the language of most research papers
• believed to have the dominant roles in world media, communications, access
and progress (A 1995 study by British Council).
4. INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
4. International Travel

a. The global spread of English is reinforced by the rapid growth of

International travel.
• What are some reasons for the growth of international travel?

Þ increased globalization and international relations

Þ increased movement between nations

• People travel for various reasons. Can you give some examples?

E.g. Business trips, holidays, religious pilgrimages, sports, conferences, competitions,

education, military movements
4. International Travel

b. English is often used for international travel

Can you give some examples of the uses of English for international travel?

E.g. At tourist spots: shop signs, menus, credit cards, selling artefacts

Transportation and accommodation: safety instructions, directions

Þ increased mobilization

Þ people’s increased need for English to integrate into the global world.

Þ the expansion of English

4. International Travel

English is a means of controlling international transport operations

• the language of international aircraft control emerged after the Second

World War.

Reasons: Leaders of the Allies, major aircraft manufacturers, and most of the
post-war pilots in the West were English-speaking.

• the language of international transport (e.g. air or sea travel) despite some
arguments for bilingual traffic control
4. International Travel

Some characteristics of English used for air or sea traffic control

• The language must be clear and unambiguous, using standardized
terminology and phrasing (Seaspeak, Airspeak, or Police Speak)
E.g. "What did you say?", "I didn't hear you."; "Would you please say that once
more?",
Seaspeak: "Say again."
4. International Travel

Some characteristics of English used for air or sea traffic control

• Restricted vocabulary

E.g. Roger, Wilco, Mayday

• A poor command of English => disasters in air traffic control.

• Pilot-controller miscommunication during 1982-1991 contributed to 11% of

fatal crashes worldwide. à Importance of intelligibility
Summary: The right place at the right time

ENGLISH is a language that has repeatedly found itself in the right place
at the right time

1960s, 1970s-now:
independence
movements of many
18th, 19th century & countries + the
mid-20th century: electronic revolution
language of leaders of (computers, the
17th - 19th centuries: the industrial Internet, social
language of the revolution – Britain & networking sites)
leading colonial the USA: new
nation- Britain technologies,
international org.
Home readings:

Unit 3: English in Australia and New Zealand

Q1: What are some features that distinguish Australian and New Zealand
Englishes?
Q2: What are varieties of Australian English and New Zealand English?