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Introduction: the process of globalisation has strengthened the position of the English language as a means of communication in all spheres of life, including scientific communication. The expansion of one language not only necessitates changes in the status of other national languages and the emergence of a hierarchical relationship between them, but also significantly affects the political and economic balance of power in the world. The global dominance of English in science not only confers distinct advantages on its native speakers but also discriminates against scholars from non-Anglophone societies. As a result, a threat arises concerning the loss to humanity of unique, culture-specific ways of understanding reality. Materials and Methods: on the basis of an analysis of modern trends and literature review, such mani¬festations of linguistic imperialism in the field of academic communication as the IMRaD format, CLIL teaching technologies and English academic writing centres are revealed. Subsequently, these phenomena are investigated using empirical sociological methods: in-depth expert interviews, participant observation and the content study of chemistry papers indexed in Scopus. Results: it is demonstrated that the Anglophone societies use the global distribution of the English language to advance their competitive advantage in the field of science. The implementation of English language instruction in higher education and Anglophone communicative patterns in scholarly communication – particularly with regard to the representation of research results – might have a negative effect both on the development of researchers’ competencies and their future effectiveness in advancing science. Discussion and Conclusions: it is concluded that an increased awareness of potential threats caused by the dominance of the English language in scientific communication is needed among all the participants of scientific communication, including higher school lecturers. This can be achieved by using bilingual and bicultural educational approaches.

Colonialism and imperialism have enormous impact on every aspect of human life including languages, which is one of the significant markers of cultural identity. Often the colonial subjects had to face suppression of their languages by imposition of the language of the colonizers. When a language that has never been written down dies, it is as if it never existed. Imperialism or colonialism has always been at the heart of the murder of languages. The “linguistic imperialism” is not a modern phenomenon but it has been a reality throughout the history and all over the globe. The underlying reason for this sabotage is that the more linguistically coherent the society is, the easier it is to control. Take away a person’s language, and one robs them of the ability to express unique cultural concepts. The people in ancient Israel became one of the victims of this language incursion. This paper critically examines the impact of colonialism and imperialism on the gradual decline of Hebrew as spoken language during the Hellenistic period by analyzing the archaeological and epigraphic evidence as examples and illustrates the extent of the impact of “foreign” languages on Hebrew that eventually paved the way for its demise. The study further proves that colonialism and imperialism have been functioning throughout the history in a similar pattern to subjugate the “other,” and to exercise their power and interests over the “other.”

This study explores the role of the Korean military as a bridgehead for the spread of English through the lens of English Linguistic Imperialism (ELI). In so doing, it is particularly concerned with the question of how Galtung`s (1980) four distinct categories (cC, pC, cP, and pP) of the structure of imperialism, or the Center-Periphery dichotomy, can apply to the introduction and expansion of English in the socio-historical and political contexts of Korea during the nation-building period (1945-the 1960s). The U.S. Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) (1945-1948) declared English to be the official language of Korea and, in modernizing the Korean military, paid special attention to English education. Connected with the dominant power of the USAMGIK (cC), the Korean military became the new elite group (cP) in Korean society. Enjoying supremacy over the civilian sector, the Korean military committed to playing a pivotal role in spreading English into the civilian sector (pP). Not only anglocentricity, or the supremacy of English, but also professionalism, typically represented by the English Language Teaching (ELT) method of audiolingualism, was widely disseminated from the U.S. military to the Korean military, and then to the Korean public. Though short-lived, the language policy and practices of the USAMGIK have had a long-term effect on English education in Korea. The spread of English in Korea, in this sense, cannot be disassociated from the military as one of the social institutions.

A language is said to be dominating and prevalent when the military and economic forces of a powerful country make it either control or endanger the language(s) of less power countries. As such, the heavily supported spread of English language by UK and USA and duly the importance granted to the language as a lingua franca have made English acquire the label of global linguistic imperialism (LI). This research attempts to shed light on the LI aspect of English as a foreign language in Iraq from educated Iraqis’ viewpoint. It further aims to answer the following prime question: Has English language acquired a “LI” aspect in Iraq after 2003; the date of American occupation, in the light of the evasive and dominant nature of its use in the different domains of Iraqis’ life? Accordingly, a questionnaire of 25 items was first presented to a panel of jurors to approve its face and content validity. It was then administered to a sample of 200 educated Iraqis chosen randomly from different academic and social sectors to test its reliability. The results show that educated Iraqis opined the existence of a LI aspect of English in Iraq after 2003. Furthermore, their views did not vary with regard to the wide use of English in the different domains of the Iraqi society.

Early American archives abound with references to episodes of communication, translation, and interpretation, and with a diverse array of Native-language texts. They provide evidence both of practical and philosophical colonial projects and of the ways in which Native people used their languages to mediate colonization. Scholars have uncovered a range of methods that diverse peoples employed to communicate with one another, the contexts that shaped the meanings of the words and messages exchanged, and the broader significance of those exchanges for figures far from the point of encounter. The texts and commentaries that flowed from efforts at language learning and linguistic collection bear testimony to ways Native languages shaped Euro-American intellectual, cultural, and religious history. They also transform previous rubrics for understanding American Indian resistance to linguistic imperialism into a social fact with an archive and a material history. Colonial-indigenous language encounters influenced the cultural and intellectual history of Native individuals and communities, providing new media for linguistic expression and new frames through which to consider their own tongues.

In his book Metaphor, Zoltan Kovecses (2010) explains how metaphors allow us to compare abstract concepts with more concrete terms in order to make sense of our world. Using his theoretical framework and definition of conceptual metaphors, this chapter treats Lawino, the main character in Okot p’ Bitek’s Song of Lawino as a “mega metaphor” for African indigenous languages and argues that the properties and characteristics of African indigenous languages are understood in terms of the characteristics of Lawino. Lawino’s trials and experiences are compared to those of African indigenous languages in contemporary Africa. This chapter argues that it is possible for African language users to embrace and support a peaceful coexistence of both indigenous African languages and languages of wider communication.

This paper presents the synthesis of a study on the English language ideologies (ELI) underlying the Federal Program entitled “Languages without Borders-English” (LwBE). The investigation draws on texts from the legal, educational, and journalistic spheres about the enactment of the Program. Using NVivo 11 software, these texts were stored and categorized in the light of the Policy Cycle Approach and Critical Discourse Analysis. The overlapping of six ELI - standard language, English language as a commodity, native-speakerism, instrumentalist, global language and linguistic imperialism - is conceived as a common trait of LwBE in discourses, displaying tensions between the ratification and the questioning of English hegemony in the language policy engendered by the Program, within the context of the internationalization of Brazilian higher education. RESUMO Este artigo apresenta a síntese de um estudo sobre ideologias da língua inglesa (ILI) que permeiam o Programa Federal “Idiomas sem Fronteiras - Inglês” (IsFI). A pesquisa analisa textos das esferas legal, educacional e jornalística que tratam da realização do Programa. Utilizando o software NVivo 11, os textos foram armazenados e categorizados segundo pressupostos da Abordagem do Ciclo de Políticas e da Análise de Discurso Crítica. O entrelaçamento de seis ILI - língua padrão, língua inglesa como mercadoria, falante nativo, instrumentalista, língua global e imperialismo linguístico - é tomado como característico do IsFI em discursos marcados por tensões entre ratificação e questionamento da hegemonia do inglês na política linguística engendrada pelo Programa, no âmbito da internacionalização do ensino superior brasileiro.

In this paper, Bergen explores the affects of colonialism on language rights in Ghana. With approximately eighty languages spoken, Ghana is a linguistically rich and diverse country with a colonially-imposed language as the only state-sponsored language. By examining the linguistic, political, economic, educational, and cultural context of what was once the Gold Coast the paper discusses the factors that keep a system of linguistic imperialism in place. Secondary research is used to provide an introduction to the genealogical language families present in post-colonial Ghana and the customs and laws that govern their usage. By identifying the nuances that keep this linguistic structure in place, the paper aims to open the discussion on the lasting effects of colonialism as well as the ties between language and cultural and national identity.

Background: In South Africa, and in many other African countries, official language-in-education policy supports the use of learners’ primary language(s) in early schooling. In reality, texts in the language(s) of the former colonial power are dominant, with high-interest texts in languages familiar to young learners in short supply or non-existent. Where government education departments have begun to address this shortage, it is mainly by producing graded readers in the ‘standard’ variety of a language. Aim: The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate how quality texts can be provided in a wide range of African languages to stimulate children’s interest in reading, across the African continent and beyond. Setting: The African Storybook (ASb) initiative of the South African Institute of Distance Education (Saide) aims to provide illustrated texts in local languages and language varieties that enable children to read for pleasure and for learning. This is done through a publishing model that makes these texts available, cost-effectively, as needed, by teachers, librarians and caregivers. Methods: Internal reports, external evaluations, two interviews with the initiative’s co-ordinator and a review of selected texts on the ASb website provided data for analysis. Results: The analysis enabled reflection on the challenges faced and the successes achieved, identification of factors that have enabled many of the challenges to be addressed and finally consideration of what the initiative offers as a model for supporting literacy development in local languages. Conclusion: While the paper tells a story that includes elements of a cautionary tale, it is primarily a story that offers inspiration and guidance to other organisations already involved in, or wishing to embark on, the important project of providing texts for young readers in a wide range of languages.

Discourse is often defined as social meaning-making practice, including but not limited to the linguistic. Even if language is seen as dominant, discourse analysts have found it necessary to analyze non-linguistic data such as images, video, music, architecture, monuments, spatial configurations, or toys. This chapter covers arguments for analyzing multiple types of data: first, within the linguistic domain, e.g. different genres, or spoken and written text; second, different modes as defined in Multimodal (Critical) Discourse Analysis. The analysis of such varied data must address the specifics of each type and offers the potential benefits of triangulation. Critics have argued that such work may require an interdisciplinary team and risks incompatibilities between methods and underlying epistemologies, impressionistic analyses, reinventing the wheel, or propagating linguistic imperialism.

This study explores in a descriptive way the overlapping relation between culture and English-language teaching. It lays out the different points of view and interpretations of linguistic researchers about the hot debate of the importance of introducing culture into ESL/EFL classrooms. While some believe that the current age of globalization needs us to expose our ESL/EFL learners to foreign cultures in their ESL/EFL learning, others disagree and deny the importance of doing so. Some go more radical and consider it as linguistic imperialism that should be excluded. The current study also discusses the opinions and views of researchers on the integration of language teaching and culture with some empirical studies.

Adopting a multilingual perspective, this empirical paper explores the varied use and meanings of referents of leadership and management among 24 Welsh senior managers. We argue the importance of recognizing the linguistic imperialism of the English language – and its dominant leadership discourse of the heroic individual leader – over locally signified referents of leadership and management in other languages and discourses. At present, the lexical item leadership lacks evaluation of its relevance and meaning within other languages and multilingual contexts. We add to this gap through a discussion of research that analyses 24 Welsh senior managers’ reflections on referents of leadership and management and their varied meanings in their two official workplace languages, namely, Welsh and English. Based on the findings, we explore linguistic power dynamics represented in their reflections on this language diverse work setting and conclude with implications for the practice of leadership and management.

Since its unification in 1971, the United Arab Emirates has experienced tremendous growth. Wealth generated by the oil industry has helped the country rapidly develop all levels of the educational system along with the economy (Davidson in After the Sheikhs: the coming collapse of the Gulf monarchies, Hurst, London, 2013). English has become prominent in the domains of business and education (Burden-Leahy in Comp Educ 45(4):525-544, 2009), in part as a result of powerful de facto policy (Shohamy in Language policy: hidden agendas and new approaches, Routledge, New York, 2006) from the increasingly neoliberalized economy. As the UAE government struggles with the roles of Arabic and English, it has recently developed policies promoting English as the sole language of science in grade school while simultaneously formulating the Arabic Language Charter. This paper analyzes the UAE’s past and present policy choices and investigates the nexus that has developed between business, language and science education in the country. Considering processes of neoliberalization (Harvey in A brief history of neoliberalism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005; Kanna in cult Anthropol 25(1):100–129, 2010) and linguistic imperialism (Karmani in J Lang Identity Educ 4(2):87–102, 2005a; Phillipson in Linguistic imperialism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992), the paper examines the rise of English as a language of science globally, focusing on the particular challenges faced by Arabic speaking countries. It then outlines the development of the Emirati educational systems and draws on sociolinguistic studies conducted in the UAE to explore the relationship that Emiratis have with English and Arabic. Finally, the paper assesses the potential of the new Charter to shape the nation’s linguistic and scientific future. It highlights key areas of concern that must be addressed if the Charter is to become more than an empty promise in the face of an Arabic language continuing to lose its viability in key domains of Emirati society.

An investigation of Native English Speaking Teachers’ performance in schemes in six Asian contexts, commissioned by the British Council, and undertaken by three British academics, is subjected to critical evaluation. Key issues for exploration are the issue of a monolingual approach to English learning and teaching, and the inappropriate qualifications of those sent to education systems when they are unfamiliar with the learners’ languages, cultures, and pedagogical traditions. Whether the schemes involved constitute linguistic imperialismis analysed. Whereas the need for multilingual competence is recognised as desirable by some British experts, the native speakers in question seldom have this key qualification. This is even the case when the host country (Brunei) aims at bilingual education. It is unlikely that the host countries are getting value for money. Whether the UK and other ‘English-speaking’countries have relevant expertise is questionable. There is therefore a definite need for a change of paradigm, one based on principles for effective foreign language teaching. Some but far from all Western ‘experts’ recognize this need, whereas scholars and teachers elsewhere do. Five fallacies that underpin the linguicism of British pedagogical expertise are generally involved in native speaker export businesses. They underpin a hierarchy with under-qualified native speakers projected as superior to local teachers who are seen as in need of foreign ‘aid’. In view of the British bodies involved openly declaring the economic and geopolitical agenda behind this English teaching business, there is clear evidence of linguistic imperialism in the functions of this global professional service. These activities serve to strengthen Western interests.

In recent years, Creative Writing has spread far beyond its origins in the Anglophone higher education institutions of the global north. Positioning Mark McGurl’s much-lauded The Program Era in the global(-ized) arena, the essay asks: how, why, and to what end might the Creative Writing Program influence global literary production, given the cultural and historical particularity of its teaching models and craft devices? Moving beyond a discourse on pedagogy, the essay draws on wider debates around cultural and linguistic imperialism, as well as literary production in the global marketplace. It uses the key example of the subject’s recent expansion into China, and focuses on the ‘workshop model,’ writing anthologies, and ‘plot’ as it is articulated in canonical writing guides. The essay argues that the subject must better articulate its historical and cultural particularities. If not, it risks enacting a form of cultural imperialism on the production of future ‘World Literatures,’ limiting the potential for experimental writing in a globalizing world.

I am grateful to Anna Kristina Hultgren for launching a debate on these important issues, and giving me an opportunity to contribute. Hultgren’s argument suffers, in my view, from a failure to define global English stringently or even to specify what specific characteristics of the use of the language she is most concerned about. Her essay raises many important issues, but each is in brief summary form. It strikes me as academic discourse that remains detached from the existential challenges that most work in language education and language policy engages in. What Hultgren refers to as applied linguistics (which is inexplicably capitalised, unlike other disciplines that the text refers to) is not rigorously specified. Nor is social justice exemplified or defined. Some of her argumentation consists, in my view, of dubious over-generalisations—which I will exemplify—embedded within pretty robust denunciations of applied linguists who are caricatured as out to ‘save’ and ‘salvage’ the world, no less!

English, as one colonial’s legacy, is a lingua franca. It connects people with different first languages and cultures around the world. As the demand of 21st century learning, the learning of English in EFL speaking classes has changed. It no longer focuses on how to speak like native speakers, but to speak like an educated person; to speak in English confidently and fluently, demonstrating good grammar and correct pronunciation. Therefore, World English with different accents and dialects exist. Furthermore, to explain the nature of English which is the result of Western dominaton during colonialism and imperialism, Postcolonial theories can explain the significance of World English in EFL speaking classes. This library research, then, aims to answer this research question: ‘How do postcolonial theories contribute significances to the use of the World English in EFL speaking classes?’. From the theoretical analysis employed from experts, important figures, and previous prominent theories and findings on discussing the same topic, there are two postcolonial theories which contribute to the existence of the World English in today’s EFL speaking classes. First, English Linguistic Imperialism which influenced the Other, East, or Orient to feel it was compulsory to speak in English like natives in the past. Second, Bhabha’s hybridity and Fanon’s cultural resistance which help to give an understanding about accepting mixed cultures and identity. Finally, the discussion of the study will raise an awareness of how Postcolonial theories relate to the presence of the World English used by non-native English speakers and give an insight to EFL learners and practitioners about the World English in speaking classes.

Russian: A Monocentric or Pluricentric Language?All the world’s ‘big’ languages of international communication (for instance, English, French or Spanish) are pluricentric in their character, meaning, that official varieties of these languages are standardized differently in these states where the aforesaid languages are in official use. The only exception to this tendency is Russian. Despite the fact that Russian is employed in official capacity in numerous post-Soviet states and in Israel, it is still construed as a monocentric language whose single and unified standard is (and must be) solely controlled by Russia. From the perspective of sovereignty, this arrangement affords Moscow a degree of influence and even control over culture and language use in these countries where Russian is official. This fact was consciously noticed and evoked some heated discussions in Ukraine after the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014. However, thus far, the discussions have not been translated into any official recognition of (let alone encouragement for) state-specific varieties of the Russian language. Rosyjski: język monocentryczny czy pluricentryczny?Wszystkie „duże” języki komunikacji międzynarodowej na świecie (na przykład angielski, francuski lub hiszpański) są pluricentryczne, czyli oficjalne odmiany tych języków są inaczej standaryzowane w tych państwach, w których te języki są używane jako oficjalne. Jedynym wyjątkiem w tym zakresie jest język rosyjski. Pomimo faktu, że rosyjski funkcjonuje jako język oficjalny w wielu państwach postsowieckich oraz w Izraelu i Mongolii, to nadal uważa się go za język monocentryczny, którego normatywnie jednolity standard jest (i musi być) kontrolowany wyłącznie przez Rosję. Układ ten sprzeczny jest z zasadą suwerenności, bowiem zapewnia on Moskwie wpływ, a nawet kontrolę nad kulturą i używaniem języka w tych krajach, w których rosyjski to język urzędowy. Fakt ten został świadomie zauważony i wywołał gorące dyskusje w Ukrainie po rosyjskiej aneksji ukraińskiego regionu Krymu w roku 2014. Jak dotąd dyskusje te jednak nie przełożyły się na żadne oficjalne uznanie przez ukraińskie władze (nie mówiąc już o konkretnymwsparciu) ukraińskiej odmiany języka rosyjskiego.

This article examines the colonial legacies shaping current language requirements for immigrants applying for settlement or citizenship in Britain. The article argues that common sense understandings of ‘national language’ and monolingualism/multilingualism were developed in the context of imperial expansion, the legacies of which resonate today in a disdain for multilingualism and other Englishes conceived as hampering cohesion. Put simply, other languages and other English are spoken here because English was there. Drawing on interviews with applicants and English teaching professionals, the article discusses how participants variously experience English language requirements. The analysis shows how the colonial legacies supporting the rise of English as a ‘world language’ cast it as the locus of a regime of audibility that establishes a hierarchy between ‘the English’ and the ‘anglicised’. In today’s Britain, the multilingualism of the other is not external and prior to Britain, but rather speaks volumes to and about contemporary Britain.

Trabajo de fin de Grado. Grado en Estudios Ingleses. Curso académico 2017-2018, [EN]The main purpose of this dissertation is to examine the most relevant publications of the recent native/non-native speaker debate in ELT in order to highlight a little-known form of discrimination that affects non-native teachers when they apply for a job in ELT. Native teachers are benefited from ideological tenets such as the native speaker teacher fallacy and the monolingual fallacy, which contribute to maintain an imperialist vision of the language. This dissertation explores the problems of employment and identity that non-native educators find in their profession and proposes a way of escape to abandon linguistic imperialism: English as a Lingua Franca.[ES]El objetivo principal de esta disertación es examinar las publicaciones más relevantes del reciente debate del profesor nativo/no-nativo con el fin de resaltar una forma poco conocida de discriminación que afecta a los profesores no-nativos de inglés cuando solicitan un trabajo. Los hablantes nativos se benefician de falacias ideológicas como la falacia del profesor nativo y la falacia monolingüe, que contribuyen a mantener una visión imperialista del idioma. Esta disertación explora los problemas de empleo e identidad que los profesionales no nativos de inglés encuentran en su profesión, y también propone una forma de escapar del imperialismo lingüístico: el inglés como lengua franca.

Resumen: Este trabajo presenta los hallazgos de una investigación relacionada con las concepciones de un grupo de profesores de inglés venezolanos sobre la expansión y el uso del inglés como idioma internacional. Los participantes fueron 78 profesores de inglés de San Cristóbal, estado Táchira, Venezuela, quienes se desempeñaban, en el momento de la investigación, en los niveles de educación media general y educación universitaria de varias instituciones públicas y privadas. Como instrumentos para la recolección de los datos se utilizó el cuestionario y la entrevista en profundidad. El análisis de los datos se realizó mediante el método de comparación constante, siguiendo los pasos de la teoría fundamentada, con el apoyo del software Atlas.ti versión 6.0 para el análisis de datos cualitativos. Como resultado emergieron tres categorías: visión colonial de la expansión del inglés, visión acrítica y apolítica de la expansión del inglés, y visión positiva y neutral del inglés y su expansión. De acuerdo con los hallazgos, se evidencia que los participantes perciben la expansión del inglés como positiva y beneficiosa, que les brinda mayor prestigio y acceso al capital. Esta concepción revela desvinculación del idioma con las implicaciones socioculturales, políticas e ideológicas asociadas a la hegemonía del inglés en el mundo. Abstract: This paper presents the findings of a research work examining the views about the spread and use of English as an international language among a group of Venezuelan English teachers. Participants were 78 English teachers from San Cristobal, Táchira State, who worked in several high schools and universities, both private and public. A questionnaire and an in-depth interview were used as data collection instruments. Data were analyzed using the constant comparison method, following the steps suggested under Grounded Theory. Atlas.ti was used to help analyzing data. The resulting categories were: views of English expansion as colonial, apolitical and acritical, or positive and neutral. Findings show that participants perceived the expansion of the English language as positive and advantageous, since they gave them prestige and access to capital. This view suggests the use of the English language is dissociated from sociocultural, political, and ideological implications, which are associated to worldwide English hegemony. Résumé: Cet article présente les résultats d'une recherche visant à découvrir les conceptions d’un groupe de professeurs d'anglais vénézuéliens sur la diffusion et l'utilisation de l'anglais comme langue internationale. Les participants étaient 78 professeurs d'anglais de San Cristobal, État de Táchira, Venezuela, qui ont travaillé dans plusieurs lycées publics et privés et des universités. Un questionnaire et une entrevue approfondie ont été utilisés pour recueillir des données. Les données ont été analysées en utilisant la méthode de comparaison et en suivant les étapes proposées par Grounded Theory. Atlas.ti a été utilisé pour aider à l'analyse des données. Les catégories émergentes étaient : la vision coloniale de l'expansion anglaise, la vision apolitique et acritique de l'expansion anglaise, et la vision positive et neutre de l'expansion anglaise. Les résultats révèlent que les perceptions des participants reposent sur des opinions positives sur l'anglais et son expansion, considérant l'anglais comme un avantage et une possibilité d'accéder au capital culturel. Cette conception indique que l'anglais est isolé des implications socioculturelles, politiques et idéologiques associées à l'hégémonie anglaise.

Since 1997, children in Lebanese state schools are taught most of the curriculum in English or French. The children’s first language, Arabic, may be used even less in private schools, which educate 70% of children. In many countries, mother tongue education is seen as a right but in Lebanon it is taken for granted that children are taught in English or French. Written opinions were collected from seventy-five university students who were asked about the language in education policy. The results of a thematic analysis were discussed with a focus group of eight students. Findings point to a widespread acceptance of the policy, partly based on an underlying belief in the unsuitability of Arabic for the 21st century and a perception that the Lebanese are culturally predisposed to learn languages. Using the concept of linguistic imperialism, we discuss these results with reference to French colonialism and the global spread of English medium instruction. We also use a critical definition of ideology to discuss how a discourse in favour of the language in education policy, which actually favours the interests of the Lebanese elite, has been internalised by the students who see emigration as their only future.

A summary of the book Linguistic Imperialism, by Phillipson (1992) is presented here. The purpose is to highlight its current scope and permanent values in consonance with intuitions, criticism and alternatives proposed by Latin America Modernity/coloniality Group. Criteria of analysis are based on a re-reading of the work in the light of the decolonial perspective, with the aim of proposing pedagogical insights which guide language and literature teachers in approaching their study contents with a critical vision. The idea is to remark the role of English Language Teaching for the maintenance of power structures and for its potential for creating new epistemological approaches to language teaching and learning. An epistemological turnaround in the linguistic formation of future educational personnel is a must for that end. Resumen Se presenta aquí una recapitulación de la obra Linguistic Imperialism[Imperialismo lingüístico] de Phillipson (1992) con la finalidad de destacar sus alcances y valores permanentes en consonancia con las intuiciones, críticas y alternativas que propone el grupo latinoamericano modernidad/colonialidad. El criterio de análisis se basa en una relectura de la obra a la luz de la perspectiva decolonial, con la finalidad de proponer planteamientos pedagógicos que orienten a los profesores de lengua y literatura en el abordaje de los contenidos de estudio con una visión crítica. Concretamente, se trata de destacar el papel que la enseñanza de lenguas juega tanto a favor del mantenimiento de las estructuras de poder como su potencial para gestar aproximaciones epistemológicas alternativas. Se concluye que la formación lingüística del personal de educación requiere de un giro epistemológico para alcanzar ese fin. Resumo Este trabalho apresenta uma recapitulação da obra Linguistic Imperialism [imperialismo lingüístico] de Phillipson (1992), a fim de destacar o seu alcance e os valores permanentes de acordo com as ideias, críticas e alternativas propostas pelo grupo modernidade / colonialidade latino-americano. A fundamentação para o critério de análises é baseada em uma releitura da obra à luz da perspectiva descolonial, a fim de propor abordagens pedagógicas que orientem os professores de língua e literatura. Dentro de este enfoque, a proposta é unir ao conteúdo do estudo uma visão crítica. Especificamente, este trabalho quer realçar o papel que o ensino de línguas desempenha, tanto para a promoção das estruturas de poder como também enfatizar seu potencial relacionado as abordagens epistemológicas alternativas. Em conclusão, a formação linguística dos profissionais da educação requer uma mudança epistemológica para alcançar esse fim.

This chapter presents a critical description of language education policies in the Philippines from 2001 to 2009. During this period in Philippine education history, the privileging of the English language was evident in government pronouncements, directives, practices, and teaching materials. The chapter discusses five archival documents from the period, and they point to the facilitation of linguistic imperialism (Phillipson 1992), which promotes unsafe beliefs about English language teaching. In the end, this chapter makes a case for the continued use of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) in Philippine education.

The rapid, and hitherto unprecedented, spread of, and changes within, the English language across the four corners of the globe have been the subject of investigation of linguists, sociologists, philosophers, culture theorists, and scholars in diverse fields. This paper examines the study of glocalized varieties of English, first focusing on a description of research on New Englishes over the past several decades. Next, the author focuses on the attitudes of students and teachers across the world to New Englishes scholarship as it pertains to the language classroom. The paper concludes with a reflection on the legitimacy of calls for a wider acceptance of glocalized varieties of English, even within academic contexts. Focusing on the impact of scholarly debate on the use of glocalized Englishes in different contexts on the actual stakeholders—students of English in different parts of the world—the author questions the seriousness of the voices advocating for the wider recognition and use of glocalized Englishes, when these same voices do not use the glocalized varieties in their own writing, preferring, instead, to follow the conventions of standard written English.

Berger’s work (1980, 2009) provokes us to adjust our frames of attention both within, and beyond, an anthropocentric lens. In this chapter two climbing plants: Monstera deliciosa (The Swiss Cheeseplant) naturally found in South-American rainforests and Hedera helix (Common Ivy), which occurs across Europe, are used as focal points from which to consider ‘plant blindness’ (Wandersee and Schussler, 1999,2001). As Berger has noted, ‘our customary visible order is not the only one: it coexists with other orders’ (Berger, 2009, p.10). Time-lapse photography has enabled the private lives of plants, and plant movement, to become more visible to humans (Attenborough, 1995) and yet we still appear to render plants, and their movements, invisible. No less so than in and around our homes. Schiebinger affirms the act of naming ‘as a deeply social process’ (2004, p.195) and speaks of the ‘linguistic imperialism’ of binomial names developed by the Swedish botanist, Linnaeus. However, an even greater act of imperialistic enclosure is embodied in the aforementioned climbing plants; one has a long-history of life in captivity as a ‘house-plant’; the other is commonly viewed on an antagonistic continuum between an ‘attractive’ plant, which can make shady walls interesting and a self-clinging, rapid-growing ‘nuisance’ on homes and walls (RHS, 2016). Climbing was one of the plant movements that fascinated Charles Darwin. In his desire to study this aspect of ‘plantness’ (Darley, 1990) he used the walls of his own home as an experimental plane upon which to watch the ‘twitchers, twiners, climbers and scramblers’ (Browne, 2003, p.417). In so doing he became increasingly intimate with the diverse strategies plants employ to sense structures that can aid their clamber away from the dark towards the light. And yet these complex morphologies and behaviours are often reduced to simple everyday categorisations, as in the case of Hedera helix (Common Ivy) or creating a functional need (a plant support) in their care, as in the case of Monstera deliciosa (The Swiss Cheese Plant). Berger suggests, in The Field, that our observance of a ‘first event’ can lead us to observe other events, which result in us being ‘within the experience’ (Berger, 1980 p.196-197), thus Darwin, through his lengthy observations of climbing plants became familiar with the subtle nuances of plant movement and came to understand the ‘quietly complicated lives of plants’ (Browne, 2003, p.163).

The major objective of African Union is to have a united and strong Africa. This objective manifests in their anthem. One of the major media of unification, identification and development amongst a group of peoples is culture which embodies language. This paper attempts to investigate the linguistic culture of African Union (AU) and to find out whether language and culture go a long way in fostering unity, identity and development among member states of AU. The data were collected from the AU deliberations which were applied to the present day situation of AU. The finding show that the AU is still under linguistic imperialism; that the African identity has eluded AU and that the quest for African development is still a mirage. The suggestion then, is that AU should go back to the drawing board and be linguistically liberated and independent so as to foster real unity, to have real identity which will ignite reasonable technological, scientific and manpower development.

As I sit down to write these words in late October 2014, my Latin American news digest has just informed me that archaeologists in Peru have confirmed that toolmaking human beings lived in settlements 14,700 feet above sea level in the Andes over twelve thousand years ago, a thousand years earlier than anyone was known to have lived at such altitudes (Ritter). The goalposts marking the longue durée in the Americas have been receding continuously in recent years. Until the 1990s, received wisdom had it that human beings arrived in the Americas no earlier than thirteen or fourteen thousand years ago, across the Bering Strait land bridge, which disappeared underwater a couple of thousand years later. But in the late twentieth century archaeologists began finding human remains over fourteen thousand years old, like those in the 14,800-year-old settlement at Monte Verde, far south on the coast of what is now Chile. There had to have been migrations well before the fourteen-thousand-year mark. Since the discovery in Chile, human remains more than twenty and even thirty thousand years old have repeatedly been found. Aggressively defended by archaeologists, the accepted story held up longer than it should have, but accumulating evidence has finally dislodged it. How and when the Americas were populated by human beings remains a terrain of lively controversy.

Minority Education in China: Balancing Unity and Diversity in an Era of Critical Pluralism, edited by James Leibold and Chen Yangbin. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2014. xx + 405 pp. HK$250.00/ US$35.00 (paperback).In addition to the Introduction, this book comprises 15 original studies which probe the states ongoing educational projects and their discursive and practical reception among Chinas minority populations. The 21 contributors include an unusually high number of scholars based in China, several of them belonging to ethnic minorities, who present a broad spectrum of perspectives. Most authors rely on empirical methods of data collection (interviews rather than anthropological fieldwork) and on the theoretical insights of international scholarship into educational reform, minority policies and multiculturalism. James Leibold and Chen Yangbin set the scene by pointing out the tensions created by the states simultaneous emphasis on national unity and its recognition of Chinas ethnic and cultural diversity.The papers in Part One look at the broader theoretical issues surrounding minzu policies. Gerard Postiglione warns that the conservative model of "plural monoculturalism", based on a fixed and rigid minzu identity, entails the entrenchment of ethnic identity among minorities, privileges assimilation over diversity in policy, and undermines the very aims of the educational reforms, namely, better educational outcomes and ethnic harmony, both indispensable for the realization of "harmonious multiculturalism". Especially in Chinas western periphery, among the Tibetans and Uyghurs, ethnic relations have reached the phase of "critical pluralism", characterized by an increasing emphasis on ethnic differences among minorities as a result of "growing economic disparities and unequal opportunities in the marketplace, workplace and school" (p. 31). He Baogang argues that, rooted in the historical spread of Chinese characters closely accompanied by cultural and political expansion, Chinese linguistic imperialism constitutes another obstacle to the realization of a truly multicultural education system in China. The Mongolian scholar Naran Bilik suggests that the homogeneous notion of monocultural centrism which informs current educational policies can be corrected by familiarizing Han students with both the diversity and the value of different cognitive systems, as exemplified in his chapter through the complexity of the semantic fields of Mongolian terms for concepts such as Zhongguo and minzu.The five papers in Part Two focus on case studies situated in Chinas western periphery. Ma Rong's analysis of bilingual education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region highlights the conflicting opinions of minority parents and state officials concerning education. He contends that bilingual education should be adjusted to local conditions, but insists that failure of minorities to learn the majority's language is a recipe for ethnic conflict. Focusing on the challenge of providing modern education to nomadic groups, the contribution by Postiglione, Ben Jiao, Li Xiaoliang and Tsamla suggests that vocational training, culturally sensitive textbooks and a teaching design planned with the involvement of the households concerned could ameliorate the situation. Relying exclusively on official statistics, Zuliyati Simayi, a Uyghur scholar from Urumchi, makes a case for individualoriented rather than group-based education which, she argues, would result in better educational outcomes for minorities and the creation of equal citizens across ethnic boundaries. Discussing prevailing conditions for trilingual education in southern Xinjiang, Linda Tsung blames the inadequate distribution of resources for the unequal educational attainment in English between Han and Uyghur students, and characterizes current linguistic education in China's northwest as colonial. In contrast to her outspoken criticism, Teng Xing, Yang Hong and Yang Qixue, all from Minzu University, present a successful nine-year-long experimental project, supported by the Ford Foundation, among Lahu girls in Yunnan who have been able to integrate successfully into mainstream society and who simultaneously take pride in their minority language and culture. …

Η παρούσα διατριβή εξετάζει το πολυγλωσσικό καθεστώς της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης και τον τρόπο εφαρμογής του στην ευρωπαϊκή διακυβέρνηση, αλλά και το φαινόμενο του γλωσσικού ηγεμονισμού μέσα στην Ένωση με την αγγλική γλώσσα να είναι η “lingua franca” της Ευρώπης. Η πολυγλωσσία στα θεσμικά και επικουρικά όργανα της Ε.Ε., οι εκπαιδευτικές πολιτικές για την πολυγλωσσία και τη γλωσσομάθεια που εφαρμόζονται από την Ε.Ε., η γλώσσα της μετάφρασης που λειτουργεί ως μέσο επικοινωνίας των ευρωπαϊκών θεσμών και λαών είναι όψεις της πολυγλωσσικής Ένωσης, που δεν μπορούν, όμως, να αναχαιτίσουν τον ηγεμονισμό της αγγλικής γλώσσας. Η ήπια ισχύς των Η.Π.Α., η επιτυχής άσκηση πολιτιστικής διπλωματίας του Βρετανικού Συμβουλίου και η παγκοσμιοποίηση είναι οι παράγοντες που έχουν οδηγήσει στον γλωσσικό ηγεμονισμό της αγγλικής μέσα στην Ε.Ε., που δύσκολα θα ανατραπεί από την επικείμενη αποχώρηση του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου από την Ε.Ε. Εν τέλει, η Ευρώπη των 27 κρατών- μελών και των 23 επίσημων γλωσσών, θα είναι ένας οργανισμός που ουσιαστικά αμφιταλαντεύεται ενώ επιχειρεί να ισορροπήσει ανάμεσα στην πολυγλωσσία και τον ηγεμονισμό της αγγλικής γλώσσας., The present dissertation examines the multilingual regime of the European Union and the way of its implementation in the European governance, as well as the phenomenon of the linguistic imperialism within the Union with the English language being the “lingua franca” of modern Europe. The multilingualism in the institutional and subsidiary bodies of the E.U., the educational policies on multilingualism that are implemented in the E.U., the language of translation that functions as a means of communication for the E.U. institutions and the E.U. people are aspects of the multilingual Union, that cannot, therefore, restrain the linguistic imperialism of the English language. The soft power of the U.S.A., the successful cultural diplomacy of the British Council are the factors that have led to the linguistic imperialism of the English language in the E.U., which is very unlikely to be tumbled by the imminent secession of the United Kingdom from the E.U. Finally, the Union with the 27 member states and the 23 official languages will be an organism that essentially wavers while trying to balance between the multilingualism and the linguistic imperialism of the English language.

This chapter introduces the book by providing an overview of the new and quite contemporary lines of argument on the social and political histories of the covered southern African languages. It draws attention to the book’s role as a probe into the generalized neglect of the region’s indigenous languages, official or not. In its entirety, the volume hopes to convince researchers to work on the political and social history of the region’s other languages, and that eventually southern Africa’s politicians and speech communities may decide to give more attention to their indigenous languages. And last but not least, we foresee that this work may help western scholars venture outside the narrow confines of Europe (or Eurasia) so that they could embark on genuinely global-wide comparisons within the field of the world’s political and social history of languages.

The purpose of this chapter, written for the volume in honor of a colleague in the field of applied linguistics and English Language Teaching (ELT) is to view through personal lenses the “missionary” aspect of ideas and behavior of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and teacher trainers. The inspiration for this paper has been drawn from Bill Johnston’s (2017). However, while Johnston uses the term mission in a literal religious sense of the word, I am using it more metaphorically, as the imposition of one’s ideas and practices upon one’s colleagues. This chapter is a case study based on a few accounts of encounters with native and non-native ELT professionals, which serve as illustrations of “missionary” approaches in our field. It focuses, firstly, on the perceived “missionary” approaches of ELT activities of the British Council in Poland in the 1990s, secondly, on the inherent “missionary” aspects of an intercultural EFL project carried out by this author in Ukraine and, finally, on a recent cooperative ELT to senior students project, in which we have liberated ourselves from the “missionary” approach.

Since ancient times India has been a multilingual society and languages in India have thrived though at times many races and religions came into conflict. The states in modern India were reorganised on linguistic basis in 1956 yet in contrast to the European notion of one language one nation, majority of the states have more than one official language. The Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) conducted by Grierson between 1866 and 1927 identified 179 languages and 544 dialects. The first post-independence Indian census after (1951) listed 845 languages including dialects. The 1991 Census identified 216 mother tongues were identified while in 2001 their number was 234. The three-language formula devised to maintain the multilingual character of the nation and paying due attention to the importance of mother tongue is widely accepted in the country in imparting the education at primary and secondary levels. However, higher education system in India impedes multilingualism. According the Constitution it is imperative on the “Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India … by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.” However, the books translated into Hindi mainly from English have found favour with neither the students nor the teachers. On the other hand, the predominance of English in various competitive examinations has caused social discontent leading to mass protests and cases have been filed in the High Courts and the Supreme Court against linguistic imperialism of English and Hindi. The governments may channelize the languages but in a democratic set up it is ultimately the will of the people that prevails. Some languages are bound to suffer a heavy casualty both in the short and long runs in the process. Із давніх часів Індія була багатомовним суспільством, і мови в Індії процвітали, хоча й виникали конфлікти серед багатьох рас і релігій. Штати сучасної Індії були реорганізовані на лінгвістичній основі в 1956 році, але на відміну від європейського поняття однієї мови для однієї нації, більшість індійських штатів мають кілька офіційних мов. Лінгвістичнe опитування Індії, проведене Грірсоном в 1866–1927 рр., дало змогу виокремити 179 мов та 544 діалектів. Перший індійський перепис після здобуття Індією незалежності (1951 р.) визначив 845 мов, включаючи також діалекти. Переписом 1991 року було визначено 216 рідних мов, тоді як в 2001 році їх кількість становила 234. Тримовна формула, що спрямована на збереження багатомовності нації та приділення належної уваги важливості рідної мови, широко прийнята в країні на рівні надання початкової та середньої освіти. Однак система вищої освіти в Індії перешкоджає багатомовності. Відповідно до Конституції: “Держава має сприяти розповсюдженню мови гінді, розвивати її так, щоб вона могла слугувати засобом вираження для всіх елементів складної культури Індії ..., шляхом залучення, де це необхідно або бажано, її словника, головним чином на санскриті, а далі вже на інших мовах”. Проте книги, перекладені на гінді переважно з англійської, не користуються популярністю ні серед студентів, ні серед вчителів. З іншого боку, переважання англійської мови в різних конкурсних іспитах спричинило соціальне невдоволення, яке призвело до масових акцій протесту, а також подання нових справ на розгляд до Вищого та Верховного судів проти мовного імперіалізму англійської та гінді. Влада може визначати мови, проте в умовах демократії переважає думка народу. Незважаючи на це, автор зазначає, що деякі мови приречені зазнати важкої втрати як у короткостроковій, так і в довгостроковій перспективі.

In this chapter, I will look back at a particular point in my early career as an English language teacher in the 1990s in Seoul, South Korea. Using auto-ethnography as a lens, I will consider the role of English language teachers and the ELT profession in globalization. I will revisit some of the uncomfortable moments that I faced during that time in terms of the global spread of English, the palpable demand for English teaching I sensed and the way in which I was positioned as an English language teacher. As I transverse through my career as an applied linguist, I continually relate concepts and theories that I encounter to my experience in South Korea – which means that they continue to gain meaning for me. In this chapter, I will attempt to highlight some of these, including linguistic imperialism and the role of the native speaker English teacher. I will explore how I was affected by the spread of English and the idealization of the native English speaker in the global English teaching industry. It is my hope in doing so that readers will find ways to relate their own experiences to the discipline of applied linguistics, no matter in which stage in their career they currently find themselves.

Research has established that successful foreign language students often seek out opportunities to supplement their language studies with out-of-class language practice. Little is known, however, about the forms of out-of-class English studies in which successful English learners in Taiwan engage with the reasons for these particular choices being especially unclear. To address this gap, this project considered the out-of-class English learning choices of 79 university English majors in Taiwan. Findings based upon ethnographic interviews with these individuals indicate that they believed out-of-class English practice to be important due to the limitations associated with their formal language study. Despite this impetus, their choices of settings and interlocutors for English practice were constrained by beliefs about language circulating in the society, in particular social censure associated with English use in public places and with other Taiwanese. As a result, they tended to practice English in online venues, within the confines of the home, with like-minded peers, and with those perceived as foreigners. These results extend our understanding of out-of-class English study by addressing it as a socially-situated phenomenon, foregrounding the sorts of constraints that even highly-motivated language learners may face in their efforts to build their language proficiency.

As a third world country and a former British colony, Bangladesh has seen a dramatic upsurge in the use of the English language. Built on the concept of imperialistic aspects of the English language, this paper draws on responses from anonymous survey results and interviews and attempts to provide deeper insights into the global aspects of English as a language and the credibility of this language in the minds of the populace. This paper assesses the English language as a feature of globalization where English is considered to be of the utmost value. Questionnaires were designed and interviews were arranged to evaluate the commercial and linguistic aspects of English in Bangladesh to reach a conclusion whether the mass perceives this very language as it should be or there are any other economic and cultural aspects. The findings were presented graphically and the study showed that English fails to meet the expectations of the stakeholders and policy makers of Bangladesh. The paper concludes with some recommendations that could help resolve the situation and present English to the people in a better light.

Research from a variety of frameworks suggests that appropriate use of first language can aid second language learning. However, researchers and professionals often assume that the use of student language is always bad and should therefore be reduced wherever possible. We conducted a simple experiment that suggests that the use of student language does not necessarily cut down on time spent speaking the target language. Spoken language production was tested in a variety of conditions both with and without first language support. There was no significant difference in the amount of target language produced. If these results are accepted, it is difficult to ignore the possibility that first language use may be useful in second language acquisition by facilitating control in oral language production.

The English language is seen by the Chinese as a tool of significant pragmatic value, both by the individual and the state. Discourse on English language education within China has, both historically and at present, pitted the pragmatic value of English against concerns of cultural and linguistic erosion and imposition. Concerns over the corrupting impact the English language may have on the Chinese language, and further on Chinese culture, uneasily coexist with an acceptance of the English language’s role as the key to modernization and economic development. Voices of past and present, have at their core a desire for the protection of a reified cultural identity or essence. However, cultural and linguistic influence has not merely been imposed upon China from external forces, but has been actively drawn in by domestic forces. Such domestic forces range from foreign language education policies that meet the demands of a globalized market-driven economy, to a market demand for English language media such as TV programs, movies and literature. Ultimately, the presence and significance of these domestic forces undermines a view of the English language as a vehicle of cultural imperialism in China.

The chapter analyses how English became dominant and the implications of the expansion of dominant languages for the linguistic and cultural ecology and biodiversity. English has expanded through the imperialist and linguicist policies of the UK, the USA and the World Bank. Key structural and ideological parameters are identified. In postcolonial contexts, language in education policies remain largely unchanged. Linguicism can lead to linguicide. The need for terminological clarity is stressed: for instance “lingua franca” should not imply that language is unconnected to power. A multidisciplinary approach to analysing the relationships between linguistic and other diversities is needed. There is hard data on ecolinguistic impoverishment: diversity of all kinds is seriously endangered. Examples are given of mother-tongue-based multilingual education in Africa and of Nordic policies to maintain the vitality of local languages. However, these are up against the market forces behind English and European Union policies that strengthen English.