Characteristics Of English As An International Language

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Register to read the introduction… The term of ‘bilingual users of English’ is used to describe individuals who use English as a second language. Jenkins (2000) attaches this term to both native and non-native speakers. Bilingual users of English make use of the language for restricted and formal purposes, in order to meet their communication needs. McKay (2002) points that in pedagogy and research there is an assumption that the goal of bilingual users of English is to reach the level of a native-speaker. However, there is a category of individuals who use English as a language of wider communication, therefore they don’t need higher competence in …show more content…
Graddol (1997) points some interesting aspects concerning bilingual users of English; he considers English a language with a large number of speakers that are not first language speakers and highlights the European concept of ‘bilingualism’, where each language has a geographical ‘home’. He continues by defining the bilingual speaker as a person ‘who can converse with monolingual speakers from more than one country. The ideal bilingual speaker is thus imagined to be someone who is like a monolingual in two languages at once.’ (Graddol l997: …show more content…
2002. World English: A Study of its Development. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Crystal, D. 1997. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Graddol, D. 1997. The Future of English. London: The British Council. Kachru, B. B. 1989. ‘Teaching world Englishes.’ Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15/1: 85-95. Krauss, M. 1992 ‘The world’s languages in crisis.’ Language 68/1: 7-9. Martin, R. 2000. ‘Temple University Japan, summer seminar project assignment’, unpublished manuscript. McKay, S. L. 2002. Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches. New York: Oxford University Press. Phillipson, R. 1992. Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smith, L. 1976. ‘English as an international auxiliary language.’ RELC Journal 7/2:38-43. Swerdlow, J. L. 1999. ‘Global village’, National Geographic 196/2: 2-6. Tollefson, J. W. 1991. Planning Language, Planning Inequality. London: Longman. Widdowson, H. G. 1997. ‘EIL, ESL, EFL: global issues and local interests.’ World Englishes 16/1:

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