Global TESOL for the 21st Century. Heath Rose

to English language are interconnected with push and pull factors associated with prestige and power. That is, English speakers are pulled to emulate the language used by powerful communities, which often develops the perceived standards. Furthermore, the standards are pushed onto other communities through the education system and other societal factors, thus strengthening their status as a standard. Thus, it is worth exploring further how push and pull factors were associated with the dispersion of English. The global spread of English has been attributed to various movements including colonialism, economic power and globalisation (Barnawi, 2018).

      Colonialism

      Colonialism has played a crucial role in contributing to the spread of English, which peaked towards the end of the 19th century (Crystal, 2018; Pennycook, 1998). The growth of the British empire contributed to the strong ties between the use of English and power. In most colonies, the main institutions, such as the governing bodies, government agencies, the civil service, the law courts, national religious bodies, the schools and higher educational institutions, operated in English (Crystal, 2018), which saw powerful standards of English pushed into multiple parts of society. As a result, those who spoke Standard English had greater access to more and better jobs, leading to pull factors towards prestige varieties of English. This resulted in strong incentives to learn British English and created a preference towards British native speaking teachers and British English norms (McKay & Bokhorst-Heng, 2008). This historical perspective explains the continued prominence of British English in TESOL today.

      Economic power

      As indicated in Chapter 1, the success in securing the status of English as a global language was attributed to the economic conditions that created commercial supremacy of the United Kingdom and especially the United States later in the 20th century (Brutt-Griffler, 2002; Crystal, 2018). Due to this dominant economic position, English became the language of international business and trade. As commerce expanded and English became a key to connect all parts of the world market, the use of native speaker English gave organisations access to international markets. Tourist and adverting industries were especially dependent upon English (Crystal, 2018). During this era, the United States contained nearly four times as many native English speakers as the United Kingdom, and these two countries grew to comprise 70% of all native speakers across the world (Crystal, 2018). Having the largest number of native speakers of English, economic and political underpinnings allowed the United States to influence global ideas of an English language standard. This economic power, and the pull of many speakers towards it, helped establish American English as a perceived standard in many parts of the world. Nevertheless, taking into consideration the growing number of non-native English speakers in rising economic powers, the United States’ level of dominance has been changing (Graddol, 2006).

      Globalisation

      In the era of globalisation, many people desire and think it is important to learn English because of a belief (sometimes unrealistic) in the power of the English language (McKay & Bokhorst-Heng, 2008). Knowledge of English may bring economic, educational and social advantages (McKay, 2012); and English is often regarded as a key to personal success. Kachru (1986) used the term ‘the alchemy of English’ (1986: 1) and wrote ‘knowing English is like possessing the fabled Aladdin’s lamp, which permits one to open, as it were, the linguistic gates to international business, technology, science and travel. In short, English provides linguistic power’ (1986: 1). As a result, there has been a rapid increase in the number of non-native speakers of English across the world, who were pulled towards the learning of English because of globalisation. Thus, a growing role of EIL can be seen in various fields. The fields more likely to be relevant to English language learners (education, international business, media and entertainment and technology) are explained in the following section.

      Education

      The number of international students going to English-speaking countries is growing. At the same time there has been an increase in students who are taught in English, as more and more Outer Circle and Expanding Circle countries in Europe and Asia, are offering courses taught through the medium of English (Graddol, 2006; Galloway et al., 2017). English is a means of attracting both international and domestic student communities, teaching staff and researchers in order to gain international experiences (Graddol, 2006; Galloway et al., 2017). Furthermore, the use of English as a medium of instruction allows students to gain access to content knowledge as well as to improve English language proficiency and international competencies and to establish contacts ultimately contributing to their employability (Galloway et al., 2017). Thus, there are more opportunities than ever before for non-native speakers to use EIL, which contributes to establishing new English language standards.

      Education has been a powerful factor that has established the notion of a written academic English as a standard in this domain. In terms of academic publications, frequently popular handbooks and scholarly aids are available in English. The relevant terminology is often better established and recognised in English than in the local language. Thus, there has been a significant increase in the use of English in publications especially in science, such as biology, physics, medicine, mathematics and chemistry (Crystal, 2003). English is frequently used by non-native English speakers in order to maximise the potential readership. International scientific projects also are carried out by using English as a shared language (McKay, 2012). The establishment of a standardised English used in such publications, has seen the rise in courses that teach English for Academic Purposes (EAP). As academic English is nobody’s native language, L1 and L2 speakers must learn the features of this perceived standard, giving rise to EAP-style courses in L2 classrooms, and composition-style or genre-informed courses in L1 classrooms.

      International business

      Although native English facilitates the activities of many transnational corporations, especially for business outside of English-speaking countries, fewer interactions now involve native speakers (Graddol, 2006; Paradowski, 2008). The number of businesses outside English-speaking countries is on the rise and non-native speakers who use English to communicate with other non-native speakers are growing. For example, workers at Daimler-Chrysler are required to learn English as their working language. In the Czech Republic, Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile assembly plant workers have to use English as an in-house cooperate language of the Japanese, French and Czech staff. In these contexts, the standards used are often much more dynamic and emerge according to the communicative needs. To the extent that this trend continues, a working knowledge of English is essential to be employed in transnational corporations. The desirability of English is also seen in the outsourcing services, since most of the offshore contracts come from English-speaking corporations (Graddol, 2006). Call centres are in distant locations such as India because of the abundant supply of professionals with a high level of English language skills.