Dörnyei et al. (2006) stress the importance of global English in the reconceptualisation of integrativeness in the L2MSS. They claim that the growing use of English for international purposes suggests a reconceptualisation of the ownership of English. The notion of global English has started to be less associated with any L2 specific community, and is more and more linked to a cosmopolitan, global community. The changing role of the ownership of English has had important consequences in L2 motivation research, because the lack of a well-specified target language community undermines the validity of Gardner’s integrative motivation, which focuses on attitudes to the target culture. For this reason, the aim of this section is to provide information about English in terms of globalisation and its culture, as this process is important for the L2MSS.
As Crystal (2003) observes, English is a global language. We hear it on television used by politicians all over the world; wherever we travel we come across English signs and advertisements; and whenever we visit a hotel or restaurant in a foreign city they can understand English. As Crystal (2003) suggests, if English is not your mother tongue, you might be strongly motivated to learn it, because knowing it will help you to communicate with more people than any other language.
As Holliday (2005:8) explains, Graddol demonstrates that the majority of the use of English is outside the English speaking West. Graddol (2000) stresses that English is now used for more purposes than ever before, as it is the leading
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language for technological and scientific development, new thinking in economics and management, and new literature and entertainment genres.
Brumfit (1995:16) suggests that English has been an international language for the last half century. As Brumfit (1995:16) further suggests, English is no longer associated with a national community due to its international position, therefore the ownership of English has also become international.
Seidlhofer (2001:141) explains that English serves as a lingua franca, and thus is the most useful instrument for communication that cannot be conducted in the mother tongue. As Siedlhofer (2001:141) further explains, in its role as a lingua franca, English is used for business purposes, casual conversations, science or politics, on television or on the internet, between non native speakers around the world.
Galloway and Mariou (2015) write that, in the world today, the number of people who speak English as a first language is between 320 and 380 million, and the number of people who speak it as a second language is between 300 and 500 million, while nearly one billion people speak English as a foreign language. According to Crystal (2003), English is now the language most widely taught as a foreign language in over 100 countries, such as China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt and Brazil. It is the leading foreign language to be taught in schools.
Crystal (2003) remarks that, starting from 1945, many international bodies have appeared, including the World Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The pressure to have a single lingua-franca, to accelerate communication in such contexts, is thought to be remarkable and important. Crystal (2003) shows that the need for a global
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language is especially welcomed by international academics and business groups.
Besides these roles, as Meganathan (2011:28) shows, English has a unifying role. For example, in India there are many different regional languages, but there is no need to look for a national language because English meets this need. According to Meganathan (2011:2), in India, English is seen not only as a useful skill, but also as a symbol of a better life, an exit from poverty and oppression. Similarly, Williams (2011:7) indicates that the unifying role of English applies equally to Africa, giving examples from Zambia and Malawi. Williams (2011:7) explains that in Zambia, for instance, instead of using a child’s mother tongue, governments prefer using a known language. He quotes a Zambian Ministry of Education document (1976, para 47), which states, “For the sake of communication between Zambians whose mother tongues differ, it is necessary for all Zambian children to learn the national language (i.e. English) as early as possible, and to use it confidently.” (Williams, 2011, p.7). For the Malawi example, Williams explains that “although English was not regarded as the sole linguistic means of fostering national unity, it was an official language, and it is clear that within the upper levels of state institutions English was intended to play a unifying role” (Williams, 2011, p.7).
As Higgins (2003:617) suggests, English as an international language has created a need to re-examine the classification of English speakers around the world. Higgins (2003:617) further states that English as an international language has also created a new paradigm, known as the new Englishes paradigm. Higgins (2003:617) explains that the new Englishes paradigm examines the forms and functions of English speakers outside the traditional native contexts, such as
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Australia, Canada, the United States and Great Britain. As Higgins (2003:617) states, this framework is rooted in the work of Kachru (1992). Therefore, Kachru’s (1992) classification of English speakers around the world will now be presented.
Kachru (1992) presents the spread of English around the world in three frameworks. The frameworks are presented by taking into consideration the historical, the sociolinguistic and the literary contexts. Kachru (1992) distinguishes between the inner, outer and expanding circles of English speaking countries. His inner circle is the circle in which English is the native language. This circle includes the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Kachru (1992) describes the outer circle as the one in which English is regulated as an additional language, and it serves as the language of government and its institutions. This circle includes India, Singapore, the Philippines, Ghana, Malaysia, Kenya, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Tanzania and Bangladesh. The average number of English speakers in this circle is 130 million. The last circle is an expanding one. It includes the rest of the world, and in this circle English is the primary foreign language. This circle includes China, Russia, Poland, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Japan, and Turkey can also be accepted in this circle, because English serves as a foreign language taught at schools, and is regarded as the international language. Galloway and Mariou (2015) comment that Kachru’s (1992) model has been very effective in creating an awareness of the existence of varieties of English, but this model has been criticised for its excessive focus on geography and history, rather than on the sociolinguistics of English.
In short, in this part I have suggested that English has become the language of the world, with different roles in different parts of the world. Therefore, these ideas
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also contribute to the L2MSS’s suggestion that, today, English belongs to the international community rather than to any other particular native English speaking country. In the next part, two key theories of the L2MSS, the possible selves theory, which appears in Markus and Nurius (1986), and the self discrepancy theory, which was put forward by Higgins (1987), will be explained, and this will be followed by a detailed explanation of the motivational self system.