Globalization is taking place in which more people than ever are learning English. This is because it has become the planet’s language for commerce, technology and also empowerment. According to a recent report from the British Council, two billion people will be studying English and three billion people will speak it in ten years. Linguistically speaking, it is a totally new world. At the moment, there are more nonnative speakers of English than there are native speakers; the ratio is 3:1. By the most common estimates, 400 million people speak English as a first language, another 300 million to 500 million as a fluent second language, and perhaps 750 million as a foreign language. For the first time, there is a language that is being spoken by more people as a second language than as a first. The largest Englishspeaking nation in the world, the United States, has only about 20 percent of the worlds English speakers. In Asia alone, an estimated 350 million people speak English, about the same as the combined Englishspeaking populations of Britain, the United States and Canada (Crystal, 1997). All these new Englishspeakers are not only using the language, they are also shaping it. The terms Japlish (mixture of Japanese and English) and Hinglish (mixture of Hindi and English) refer to new varieties of English that came into being all over the world. In SouthAfrica, many blacks have adopted their own version of English including many indigenous words. Naturally, all languages are work in progress but the globalization of English is a process the world has never seen before, a change whose effects we can only imagine. Experts talk about a future triEnglish world in which speakers of English will speak a local dialect at home, a national variety at work, school or university and some kind of international Standard English to talk to foreigners. Several decades ago, English was considered a foreign language like any others, which meant that learning English was to imitate their culture in using the language. In fact, language learners must study the culture of the same language to behave appropriately communication with its people. For example, if a Vietnamese talks to a Japanese in Japanese, culture and rules of Japanese will be surely applied. Conversely, if they communicate in Vietnamese, the priority will be Vietnamese culture. That is a feature in intercultural communication. However, people now have a totally different behavior with English as a global language. It is a shortcoming if someone thinks learning English in the context of globalization is just to communicate with the British or the American. Having been used by too many people from different cultures, English becomes an important tool of communication instead of the language of AngloSaxon identity. Indeed, there is no reason for a Vietnamese communicating to a Spanish in English uses British culture, or two Asians talking to each other in English use American culture. Therefore, Larry Smith makes several important assertions regarding the relationship of English as an international language and culture: (a) Its learners do not need to internationalize the cultural norms of native speakers of that language, i.e. for greeting, AngloSaxon people say “How are you?”, but the Vietnamese can say “What are you doing?” or “Where are you going?” (b) The ownership of an international language becomes “denationalized” (c) The educational goal of learning it is to enable learners to communicate their ideas and cultures to others. Since among the millions of Englishspeakers around the world, there are relatively few native speakers, it is likely that students will not learn Standard English but will be encouraged to embrace their own local versions. Thus the English language no longer belongs to its native speakers but to the world, just as organized soccer, say, is an international sport that is no longer associated with its origins in Britain. “The people who were once colonized by the language are now rapidly remaking it, domesticating it, becoming more and more relaxed about the way they use it,” (Kramsch, 1998). In other words, a great number of cultures using English transform English into a language of saturation, which differs from any specific cultures. As an English learner at University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), I realize that the more English is used globally, the less its own cultural characteristics are preserved. Sadly, ULIS’s students have not conducted any studies about this issue, which could be considered as the major motivation to this study. Besides, my awareness of the significance in teaching and learning English as a global language could also be partially regarded as inspiration of this thesis. Therefore, I choose this topic, and my hypothesis is that English becomes increasingly culturefree in the global context to satisfy all English users.
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale for the study ! " #$ %&' ()) %))*)) +*), # -./) 0 1 %*) # -.!2!'33+4# 5265 472674 1.# 8 6 # . 1 . 1 ,69 555 ! 9 9 7 1 6: 7 #.619 . " . & 24 1 #.6;7<= 9;><=;><= 24 ;#= 24 . # . ??: 2 ; 6 = 2@'33A41 -"1. 2-"1.41 .-"1. : 1 # 6 1.2. Aims of the study , # 86 BC& • >;#=< • > < 1.3. Scope of the study 3 # # .6 #.6# 8 1.4. Significance of the study 1C 1 # 6,6 6 6 1C 1 # B 4 # 1.5. Methodology 1 6. 1.5.1. Research methods C 1.5.2. Data collection instruments 8 D! : @E 6 # 1.5.3. Procedures of data analysis & • 5 • • 1.6. Design of the study & Chapter one (Introduction) Chapter two (Literature review and theoretical preliminaries)F ## Chapter three (Analysis from models of EGL and discussions) C # C Chapter four (Implications) " Chapter five (Conclusion) B 6 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES G# ,6 # . 6 : 2.1. Previous studies 7 # ;= 1'3+H" .;6= '3A/;>"= I>JB K@ ;.& =1'3A3@; = 1 '33+ D ! # ;=1;= D86/))/;1 "&I=B@.";>& = #5I 7 ;F## =,.2/)''4197992/))'4 ;9LMNMOPMQPR9S8= 2.2. Key terms and issues related to English as a global language 2.2.1. What is English as a global language (EGL) or an international language (EIL)? 2.2.1.1. Definition of a global language !2'33+4; =2/4. .2'3+H4;= ; =2%A4 @2'3AH'33H4 !!2,'4 1!G!6!; C =2@'3AH'//4 2/))'4C &241! 2"'4# 8 ! -@ 8T$24G! 2"/4B.U1 @$246!8 !@52,"4 Figure 2.2.1.1:@ 6 9 Expanding Circle 100-1000 million Outer Circle 150-300 million Inner Circle 320-380 million 2.2.1.2. Why so many names for English as a global language? 2/))*$B/))(4" 1"21"4>> . 2.4 # " , ",2",4 & • • • " # 2'33+4"/"' 2.2.1.3. Characteristics of EGL .2'3+H4 2B@/))/4& 10 [...]... rise of major cross-linguistic and cross-cultural attributes, which together resulted in the changed profile of English as a pluricentric language This pluricentricity, he asserted, “is not merely demographic, it entails cultural, linguistic, and literary reincarnations of the English language” (Kachru, 1996, p 136-137) Bhatt (2001) echoed this notion, citing the development of “regional-contact varieties... Australia, and New Zealand) (b) The Outer Circle (L2) represents countries where English is institutionalized as an official language and learned as a second language (ESL) such as Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, India, and Kenya (c) The Expanding Circle (L3) includes countries such as Sweden, China, Korea, and Japan, where English is a Foreign Language (EFL) English users and anywhere from100 million... communication” (p 25) This legitimization of non-L1 speakers is in 22 direct opposition to Kachru’s (1992) model where it is assumed that L1 speakers are proficient and norm production is restricted by geographical location Modiano argues that English by definition as a globally functioning language can no longer be conceptualized as restricted to any particular place There is an emphasis on the democratic