English as Imperialism? (original) (raw)
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The global spread of English and the resultant explosion of English Language Teaching in many parts of the world have been termed as "Linguistic imperialism" by Phillipson (1992). According to his theory, English has been cleverly promoted around the world by the British and American agencies with the sole intention of increased profit and continued domination of third world countries. This view also holds that this spread is detrimental to the local languages and cultures. Many other scholars and academics from all over the world have joined the debate bringing to the fore issues such as nature of domination, ways of resistance, cultural and linguistic hybridity and pluralization, identity politics, representation and appropriation of English, etc. The reactions to Phillipson's top-down structural view of domination have thus been marked by competing narratives and interpretations. In this paper I review the debates and make an attempt to characterize the opposing positions pertaining to the global spread and role of English today.
Education and Imperialism: A Critical Study of English Language Teaching
This article is my small contribution in the field of linguistics. This oversight obtains readings of the historical record of language education policy and present practice in the context of Pakistan. To illuminate this, I structure the article in six parts. I begin by introducing the general concepts about education and imperialism. Second, I review the historical development of English Language Teaching (ELT) in the light of Robert Phillipson. Third, I contribute to that debate by quoting Gandhi and my own experiences related to education and culture. Fourth, I explain three major phases of education life and I elaborate its social, ideological and linguistic dynamics. Fifth, I explore ELT policies and its support for only elite culture. Finally, I elaborate the effects of science and media on local culture.
Linguistic Imperialism & Cultural Politics in English Language Teaching World
The article reviews the deeply embedded imperialistic history in the language teaching and learning landscape. It critically looks into two identical articles yet thematically quite disparate angles that reveal the most pressing and talked about concerns around the imperialist institutions since the incipience of the idea of linguistic imperialismas well as subconscious subscriptions to secret following of the colonizers’ cultural nuances by non-native teachers and learners through teaching and learning materials made available by the UK and USA. It concentrates its focus on age long topics such as the tendency among no-native learners and teachers towards perfecting and prioritizing phonology, near-native proficiency, and inclusion of native culture in their conversation, teaching, and reading. Finally, the wilful evasion of the admission by non-native speaker teachers and students alike to the consequences of being subtly inculcated into western culture due to the West’s strategic launching of discipline like TESOL to silently avoid thewatch of non-native speakers is discussed with much greater profoundness.
This study intended to investigate the imposition of values and ideological patterns of particular societies affecting learners' identity as a result of globalization and linguistic imperialism in the internationally distributed textbooks which are developed to meet the English language needs of international learners and are broadly used in Islamic countries like Iran. For that reason, critical discourse analysis (CDA) with its theory and procedures, as developed by , used in conversations, illustrations and reading passages in Interchange, Four Corners, Top Notch and American English File series and three meaning dimensions-the textbooks content, the social relations of the characters in the textbooks, and their subject positions-were classified and analyzed statistically. Overall, the findings of this study represented that these ELT books are by some means unfair and inclined to signify a specific discourse type, that is, the Western culture discourse, ideological patterns, and consumer societies, which can impose the Western view and have different effects on students' identity in Islamic countries.
The Dialectics of English Dominance
Society Register
The Hegemony of English across the world cannot be overstated (Macedo, Dendrinos & Gounari 2016). More and more nations are encouraging, if not mandating through compulsory education requirements, that their citizens learn English (Xue & Zuo 2013). This demand for English is rising even among countries who have few native speakers of English. Importantly, making any language learning a national project carries a critical message about that language and its power. Robert Philipson (2011) points out that this growing demand and compulsory establishment of English (through schooling) can be nothing less than linguistic imperialism, with the World Bank re-introducing the historical colonial order. Nations are clamoring to learn English as quickly as possible in the hopes that doing so will boost their competitive edge on the global market (McCormick 2013). Indeed, there is evidence that English proficiency elevates the status and power of specific nations and provides individuals greate...
Myths and realities of ‘global’ English
Language Policy, 2016
The expansion of English worldwide tends to be both seen and marketed uncritically, as a universally relevant lingua franca and medium of education. The post-1945 expansion of English was a deliberate policy of the US and UK governments, foreseen in a speech by Churchill. Elsewhere Churchill endorsed university academic freedom and autonomy, which neoliberal forces currently constrain. Imperial languages are promoted by means of linguicism, which many contemporary policies exemplify. Increased use of English results in a macrosociolinguistic tension between national linguistic capital accumulation or dispossession. European colonisation was legitimated by the fraudulent myth of terra nullius. Americanisation worldwide is furthered by projecting US norms and lifestyle as a cultura nullius for all. English is marketed as a lingua nullius, for instance in British promotion of English worldwide, as though English is a universal 'basic skill'. This is false argumentation that echoes colonial discourse. Privileging English intensifies the gaps between the world's haves and have-nots. This is also now in effect in the countries of the European Union. Critical scholarship is needed to connect macro-level analysis with micro-level conceptual myth-making promoting global English. KEYWORDS academic freedom; British Council; global English; imperialism; linguicism; linguistic capital; terra nullius Language has always been the handmaiden of empire. Antonio de Nebrija, 1493 2 Contrary to the wording affirmed in the Bologna Declaration, the reform of higher education serves the purpose of replacing the linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe by an English linguistic monopoly.
Imperialist Desires in English-Only Language Policy
2017
This article tackles the questions around the efficacy of the English language in educational contexts.1 The author argues that the answer to these questions has nothing to do with whether English is a more viable language of instruction or whether it promises non-English–speaking students full participation both in school and the society at large. This position, in the author’s view, would point to an assumption that English is, in fact, a superior language and that we live in a classless, race-blind society. He proposes, instead, that the attempt to institute proper and effective methods of educating non-English–speaking students rests on a full understanding of the ideological elements that generate and sustain linguistic, cultural, and racial discrimination, which represent vestiges of a colonial legacy in our democracy.
LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM IN ENGLISH-MEDIUM HIGHER EDUCATION
The Routledge Handbook of English-medium Instruction in Higher Education, 2024
The text starts with a history of scholarly languages, and continues with a Table that relates the central constituents of linguistic imperialism to the impact of English in higher education and the consequences for other languages. There are examples of this during colonisation and current neoimperialism. The agenda of British promotion of English-medium is presented, and related to the politics of knowledge, and the need to decolonise higher education.
International Journal of Social Science and Human Research, 2023
The positioning of the English language as the world's lingua franca has led to the prioritization of an English monolingual ideology, which has, over the years, promoted the English language as a product to be manufactured, sold, and continuously promoted in capitalistic spaces and neoliberal markets as a tool of upward mobility. This paper presents a university teacher-educator project that is continuing to implement an alter-globalized framework in language education. The project focuses on utilizing translingual practices to create more context-based and liberating learning environments for students and teachers, with a recognition of how these practices can empower people beyond schooling. The paper maintains that by shifting away from globalized perspectives rooted in imperialism in language education, the English language can be repositioned as one tool among many for international cross-cultural communication.
The global spread of English and the resultant explosion of English Language Teaching in many parts of the world have been termed as "Linguistic imperialism" by . According to his theory, English has been cleverly promoted around the world by the British and American agencies with the sole intention of increased profit and continued domination of third world countries. This view also holds that this spread is detrimental to the local languages and cultures. Many other scholars and academics from all over the world have joined the debate bringing to the fore issues such as nature of domination, ways of resistance, cultural and linguistic hybridity and pluralization, identity politics, representation and appropriation of English, etc. The reactions to Phillipson's top-down structural view of domination have thus been marked by competing narratives and interpretations. In this paper I review the debates and make an attempt to characterize the opposing positions pertaining to the global spread and role of English today.