English As The World Language

The English language began its climb to world dominance with the rise of the British Empire in the 16th century. During this time English began to spread as the worlds lingua franca for business and trade. With the support of the United States, which at the time was one of the most successful nations in history, english was able to overthrow all previous lingua francas. However, english should not be considered as the “gateway to the world”. Although the english language is widely- spoken around the world, making english language the official language of the world will lead to diminishing cultural diversity.

Do you think Official English laws inflame prejudice against immigrants or provide all newcomers with a common standard of admission to the country’s political and cultural mainstream? That’s a good question because I was going to say if you go to another country to live; like say, Mexico, you should learn their language because if you don’t you are going to be lost in that country but Mexico isn’t going to force you to learn their language. I don’t think the United States should not force immigrates to learn English but if they are going to live, work and get out government benefits then yes thy should be taught

The debate on whether the United States should adopt English as the official language is a complex matter that has stirred controversy among political figures and American citizens. Though the United States does not have an official language, bills are constantly being introduced to the U.S Congress Houses to establish English as America’s official language. However, Congress has yet to come to a consensus which elucidates the complicated nature of the single language policy debate. Opposers of the English Language Unity Act argue that it is unconstitutional because it violates the first amendment. According to these opposers, constituting English as the official language of the country will create difficulty in the lives of millions of

Is it really necessary to have English as the official language? U.S has been trying to find the answer for this question for a long time. And they still didn’t come up with an answer. Presently, there are 23 states that actually wanted to have English as the official language. And it’s still not enough. I agree that there are some benefits for having an official language but we should also consider the disadvantages that are more than advantages.

Language is one of the most important tools people use in the United States of America, where language is the key that opens the door to all opportunities in this country –that can either unite or break our nation apart. The first time Congress proposed to designate English as the official language of the United States was in 1981, where Senator S.I Hayakawa, from California believed that English unified the American people. Hayakawa believed that bilingual education in the public school system was a threat to the nation itself, where language acted as a barrier that divide us a result of the friction between the public and minority language. Many states soon after, began to institute English-only law that restricted the use if other languages

English has undergone some changes in relation to its status in the world. Some years ago, it only became the first or second language for several countries. Nowadays, alongside with the development of information, communication, and technology the status of English becomes a lingua franca in the world. That is, a language that is used as a means of communication between people with different language. This change, of course, brings some impacts in the roles of English as a language. English is not seen as a language for identity anymore. Yet, it functions mainly as a means of communication. Added to this, the change of the English status as a lingua franca will also impact to the educational sector especially in English Language Teaching (ELT). With regard to this issue, this paper tries to present the notion of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and its implication to the teaching learning process especially in Indonesian context.

As far as traditional classroom teaching of English in the main body of the expense of home study, only emphasized the teachers on the knowledge of the systematic and integrity, which is a teacher-centered, knowledge-centered from the medieval “scholastic” teaching methods inherited One consequence of the neglect of student ability. The communicative teaching emphasizes the learner’s cognitive ability and operational capabilities, which allow the students themselves to think about and express their views, thus trained in real life the ability to use language to communicate.

Many Americans due to the fact that they have been in America they believe that the English language is easier to master than another language. Moreover, U.S college students believes that since they speak English frequently throughout the day they have mastered the English language. However, this may sound like common sense but it not true. Studies “from the U.S Department of Education shows that many high school seniors are graduating unable to read at grade level and one in four cannot read at even the most basic level” (abcnews.go.com). These studies completely refute the theory that mastering the skills of English is unnecessary. Malcolm X who “was one of the most articulate and powerful leaders of black America during the 1960s” even struggled with the English language (palomar.edu). In addition to that, he was born in America too. Evidence to the previous claim is in “Learning to Read,” where Malcom X said it himself saying, “Trying to write simple English, I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional.” Malcom X did not let that stop him. He performs some effective techniques in his pursuit of enhancement that college students emulate if they want to improve. Practicing, Reading, and learning new words are three effective techniques that college students should use to reach their mastery level of the English language.

Language spoken by different people of different nations is an international language. Society is made by a group of people who share the common values and culture. The process in which they interact and they relate information to each other to create a value in terms of efficiency and understanding is communication; through a common language. The total number of languages spoken in this world is estimated to be in between three to eight thousand. English language ranks only behind Spanish and Chinese Mandarin in terms of the first language used by people. However, the number of people who understand and can communicate in English is probably among the highest in the world leaving any languages far behind. Over the last decades English has undoubtedly established as an international language. (Adriana, T 2010)

America was founded on the principle of freedom and independence. According to the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.” Nonetheless, the U.S Naturalization Test requires the applicant to be able to speak and understand English in order to pass. Is the United States naturalization test defying the ultimate law of the land? Or are there exceptions to the first amendment?

English is a lingua franca (ELF) where the use of English language is a “common language between speakers whose native languages are different” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2015). However, this does not mean that ELF interactions are speaking what is considered proper English, but whether or not they effectively communicate. This does not exclude native speakers, but rather it places emphasis on the interactions between persons of different mother tongues and cultural backgrounds. While other scholars argue that ELF neutrality is cultural free or not (House 2003), Hülmbauer (2007) views it as multicultural because “it seems likely that the ELF users develop their own markers of identity (be they of a common ‘European’ or ‘international’ nature or more individual ones which are created online, depending on the community of practice they are emerging in).”

English is spoken in most parts of the world, for instance in Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in many more countries. Moreover in African states English serves as main form of communication.

Grammar teaching has an irreplaceable place in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) because of the fact that without grammar learners can use the language in a limited way; they may not achieve to fully express their intentions or meaning of the messages in a communication activity. It has been seen that throughout the history, the attention given to grammar teaching has differed from time to time. In the beginnings of the twentieth century, grammar teaching was regarded so essential that other aspects of language were ignored as it was thought that it was necessary to know the grammatical rules in order to communicate appropriately. This idea was criticized in 1970s and it was argued that knowledge of the grammatical system of the language was one of the many components which lies beneath the idea of communicative competence (Richards & Renandya, 2002). And in order to use a language competently, it is not enough for a learner only to know the grammar rules as she should also know how the rules are used in real communication. During this period, grammar teaching began to lose its popularity and even abandoned in some cases. Recently, grammar teaching has risen again in language curriculum by receiving considerable attention. It is regarded as a very crucial part of language which should not be overlooked by the researchers. Today, it can easily be asserted as true that the necessity of teaching grammar is not questioned; instead, issues such as the most effective ways and

Once there was a time in teaching English, when teachers had mainly followed the traditional approach of teaching in various universities, where the learner used to be dependent only on the lecture delivered by the teacher. The learners were not exposed sufficient practice on their own and the interaction among the learners in the classroom was almost absent. That time the main focus was on grammatical rules, memorization of vocabulary, translation of texts and doing writing exercises. Classes were also conducted in native language ‘Bangla’ with little or no use of English language.

Student also need English both for pursuing their studies and communicate in real life situation after they leave university. English needed to perform a large number of communicative acts i.e. comprehend and interpret professional material in English, read general books and magazines for information or pleasure, persuade people to do certain other activities. Our approach to language teaching should then be such that students are enabled to use English for the purposes they would need to use it.