English as an International Language free essay sample

This paper is intended to raise awareness on the aspects which define English as an international language, by examining the characteristics of an international language, the number of users, how it spread to reach global status, what factors may impede its continued spread and what dangers are involved in the development of English as an international language. English’s international status is determined by a constellation of political, economic, demographic and social factors being a communication bridge across linguistic and cultural boundaries. English is a language studied by more and more individuals as an additional language, it is central cu a growing global economy and it is the major language of a developing mass culture The main point of this paper is the idea that learning an international language is different and has other implications than learning other foreign languages. It has the particularity of belonging to the people who use it, not to only one country. People tend to adjust English to the needs of their specific communities and hence, reflecting their unique social identity (Shi, 2008). With that, I strongly agree that English has not only undergone the process of re-nationalisation as ‘its use is no longer connected to the culture of inner circle countries’, its ownership also becomes de-nationalised as ‘it no longer belongs just to the inner-circle countries but to everyone who speaks it, irrespective of their linguistic and socio-cultural histories’ (McKay, 2002, Jenkins, 2003). Speakers from the Outer-circle and Expanding circle countries do not need to always make reference to native-speaker norms and furthermore, they have a right to contribute to the development of English. In this essay, I will examine and evaluate the arguments for and against internalising the cultural norms of Inner-circle countries and discuss how English has been re-nationalised and de-nationalised with references to its linguistic, cultural and teaching environment.