English as an international language

Cultural topics

• Currently, many ELT materials use cultural topics related to native English-speaking countires on the grounds that learning English should entail knowledge of native English-speaking cultures.
• Is such an approach appropriate in the teaching of an international language?
• What do you think?

1. ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

• DEFINING AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
• For some, an international language is equated with a language that has a large number of native speakers.
• In this sense
• Mandarin,
• English,
• Spanish,
• Hindi, and
• Arabic,
• the 5 most widely spoken mother tongues in the world today, might be considered international languages.
• However, only if spoken by a large number of native speakers of other languages, the language can serve as a language of wider communication.

• English is, in this sense, the international language par excellence.
• A language achieves global status when it develops a “special role that is recognized in every country” and this special status can be achieved either by :
• a)making it an official language of the country or
• b) by a country giving special priority to English by requiring its study as a foreign language.