Perspectives on the role of English

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Perspectives on the role of English
as an International Language.
Paul Moritoshi
November 2001

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Contents
Title
Contents
1 Introduction
1
2 Clarification of terms
1
3 Language in the development of society
3
3.1 Modernisation
3
3.2 Leisure and career opportunities
4
4 Language in the development of culture
6
4.1 Indigenous value-systems
6
4.2 Indigenous languages
8
4.3 Indigenous literary arts
9
5 Language in the maintenance of society and culture
10
6 The need for appropriate and adequate language planning
12
7 Implications for ELT professionals in Japan
13
8 Conclusion
14
Appendix
15
References
16

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1
1
Introduction
Historical events such as the Pilgrims’ emigration to the Americas, the wholesale
transportation of British convicts to Australia and the expansion of the British empire,
initiated the spread of the English language to territories which Britain claimed as its
own. However, it is only relatively recently, since the 1920’s (Kachru, 1994: 137), or the
end of World War II (Kaplan, 1987: 138), that the influence of English as an international
language (EIL) has extended to most other parts of the world. Indeed English is now so
widespread and considered so influencial that the ‘BANA’ countries (Britain and the
Australasian and North American nations) (Holliday, 1994: 4), which use English as their
first language, are often charged with hegemony (Kaplan, 1987: 139) and ‘linguistic
imperialism’ (Phillipson, 1992).
In section 2, I will provide functional definitions for some of the concepts central
to this paper. Sections 3-5 then discuss the roles played by EIL and local languages in the
development and maintenance of society and culture. These sections present the view that
while EIL can positively develop both a society and its culture, social and cultural
maintenance is best performed by the local language. Section 6 highlights the need for
language planning which balances the use of EIL for development on the one hand, with
the use of local languages for maintenance on the other. Finally, section 7 outlines some
of the implications of these issues for English language teaching (ELT) professionals in
Japan.
It is necessary to concede at this point that this paper cannot possibly cover the
full range of issues pertaining to the EIL debate. The field is simply too vast. Instead, I
have tried to take a balanced selection of views on issues which help to illustrate the
points I wish to make in response to the question.