Impacts of Globalization on English Language Education Across Inner, Outer, and Expanding Countries

Introduction

Language and the use of language constantly change. The changes and corresponding language pedagogy are closely related to national as well as international social, economic, and political agendas (Tsui & Tollefson, 2007). With the speedy process of globalization, issues related to changes in language teaching and learning, particularly the English language as the lingua franca, are crucial to discuss. Around the globe, communication and collaboration are taking place through the use of English. From a macro level, a country cooperates with other countries to seek efficient and comprehensive development via English; from a micro level, an individual is able to obtain more opportunities in career development and life quality by speaking English fluently. The development of both levels demands the establishment of a robust English language education (ELE) system. Today, out of 7.5 billion people living on earth, nearly one quarter (1.75 billion) speak English to a certain extent. The population of ELs (English learners) is only expected to keep growing (Beare, 2019). In order to provide effective English education, it is critical to analyze and compare ELE systems across different countries to identify the advantageous practices and avoid unsound moves.

Taking globalization into consideration, this chapter aims to address the impacts that globalization has had on ELE among six different countries that cover the Inner, Outer and Expanding Circles (Kachru, 1992). The six countries include the US, the UK, India, Singapore, China, and Turkey. Different aspects in ELE are analyzed, including educational policy, English curriculum designing, English teaching research, methods and techniques, English educators’ and learners’ perspectives, and so forth. Comparative investigation approaches are employed to review the impacts and changes more critically.

The discussion starts with the rationale for the selection of the six countries. Major aspects include but not limited to the general impacts of globalization on the country, the country’s position in attracting immigrants and international students, the country’s status in generating emigrants and sending out international students, and the country’s geographic, economic, as well as political importance in the world. In addition to the rationale, the status of English in the six countries and the local contexts of ELE is introduced. Next, in-depth description of each country’s ELE system and its changes in different aspects under globalization are presented. For individual countries, the description of the changes is conducted through multi-dimensional approaches which involves general perspectives and mentality towards ELE in each country, policy and curriculum designing in each country, and specific teaching techniques that have been used in each country. During the process of introducing individual countries respectively, synthesizing and comparing of the changes between different countries are emphasized as well. Throughout the descriptions and analyses of the changes in ELE, constant connections are conducted between globalization and the different changes in these countries. Reasons behind the diverse changes are discussed. The last section of the chapter serves as a summative section to conclude and critically reflect on the changes that have taken place in the target countries. From a collective perspective, the crucial role of globalization in the changes of ELE in these countries is examined one more time to unveil the close relationship between globalization and different aspects of ELE. Furthermore, the commonly positive adjustments and innovations in ELE among the six countries are identified. Meanwhile, unsuccessful attempts in the countries are concluded to draw attention from different parties in order to help other countries avoid unsound moves. In the end, future directions in improving ELE in the six target countries are addressed.