English as an international language

Tollefson (1991)…

…notes that, because E is typically acquired in school context, this situation can lead to significant social inequalities. As he puts it,

Those people who cannot afford schooling, who do not have time to attend school, who attend substandard programmes, or who otherwise do not have access to effective formal education may be unable to learn E well enough to obtain jobs and to participate in decision-making systems that use E.

Because education is a major concern of the state, this fundamental shift in the manner of acquisition means that state policies play a decisive role in determining who has acess to the institutions of the modern market and therefore to political power. This shif to school-based language learning is a worldwide phenomenon, and so language policy plays an important role in the structure of power and inequality in countries through the world.