Esguerra, Jairus Omar M.

2/2/2024

BSEDED 1-1 Language, Culture and Society

Should English be thought as a global language?

Nowadays, it is imperative that everyone speak English well, and it is indisputable that

teaching English is important for professional purposes. Because of its unique qualities, English

knowledge is necessary in all professional domains (Simion,2012). The global importance of

languages varies greatly due to historical, demographic, political, and technological factors (Ronen et

al., 2014). The dominance of World English in the media, academia, entertainment, and global

business has made EFL instruction an essential curriculum component in emerging countries'

educational systems. Therefore, learning English has been portrayed as either an essential skill that

definitely leads to professional success or as something that oppresses us under the global market,

neoliberalism, and capitalism (Guilherme, 2007; Haidar & Fang, 2020).

While English is widely viewed as a lingua franca for its simplicity and global utility, this

trend raises concerns about its potential impact on native languages, suggesting a risk of killing off

such languages. Furthermore, the dominance of English may lead to laziness in the acquisition of

other languages.

English has been a part of some counties’ education system because of their history with it,

like in some countries being a colony or a territory of that English speaking country for years, its been

a part of their system for the practicality of it in the global aspect. For the Philippines, as stated by

Mahboob and Cruz (n.d.) “it is inextricably linked with the country’s colonial history and its

postcolonial or neocolonial efects”. The history of English language learning in the Philippines as

cited by Martin (2014) and reiterated by Hajan and Turmudi (2020), English has been in the education
system since 1898 and was brought by American soldiers who were teaching Filipino students in

Corregidor.

So with some vast languages that the Philippines have within its territory such as, Tagalog,

Bisaya/Cebuano, Ilocano and others, for sure there will be miscommunication in some sides as there

are some words in Tagalog that are offensive in Bisaya and vice versa. English can serve as a bridge

for these languages to promote communication, ease miscommunications and such. With that, English

is widely spoken and understood, making it a practical choice for international communication. As a

result, many people are learning English as a second language, which can contribute to the decline of

their native languages.

The impact of the media, especially in emerging nations, is another element. English is

frequently used in the mass media as the principal language of communication, which may cause

some people to prefer it over the native tongue (Crystal, 2000, 2012). Which can result in a decline in

the use of the local language, because there will be no need to use the native language if they will be

communicating in English instead.

In conclusion, while English is widely viewed as a lingua franca for its simplicity and global

utility, this trend raises concerns about its potential impact on native languages, suggesting a risk of

killing off such languages. Furthermore, the dominance of English may lead to laziness in the

acquisition of other languages. Throughout the paper I discussed English as a language is being used

in multiple aspects in all professional situations. The wide use of English in almost all academic, mass

media and entertainment sectors has garnered the need of English being integrated onto some

educational curriculums. While a risk of killing the native language arises in the wide use of English

we can’t really say for sure because learning and using English in all aspects will kill of a native
language. Many languages continue to be used by their respective speakers, despite the rise of English

as there are some native words that can’t be thoroughly expressed through English. But still, in the

case of the Philippines in Tagalog to Bisaya or in some other language within the country perhaps, the

need to use English to patch some gaps in communication is also widely used making the native

language disregarded to an extent.

References: Sir yoko na.

Crystal, D. (2000). Language death. Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (2012). English as a global language. Cambridge University Press.

Guilherme, M. (2007). English as a global language and education for cosmopolitan

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Haidar, S., & Fang, F. (2019). English language in education and globalization: a

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Journal of Education, 39(2), 165–176.

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Hajan, B. H., & Turmudi, D. (2020). Premise: Journal of English Education and Applied

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THE PHILIPPINES: IMPLICATIONS FOR INDONESIAN EFL LEARNING, 84.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606138.pdf

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that speak: The global language network and its association with global fame.

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