Week 11: English in The Era of Globalization

McKay Chapter One

At the beginning of the chapter McKay explained the purpose of the chapter was to examine how English has developed as a global language and how the development has impacted the status and use of English and other languages. How has English affected other languages?

The chapter explores how the spread of EIL affects local languages and how English has implications when we consider it the international language. I really enjoyed the way McKay displayed the reasons why English grew in status and power. The English language comes with great economic status and people view English speakers as having power and if someone doesn’t speak English then they are seen as a deficit in society. McKay also states that there are incentives for learning English. Some incentives are economic incentives, educational incentives, and mass media incentives.

“..it is essential that language educators work to ensure that the spread of English proceeds in a manner that supports the integrity and development of other languages” (p 1). This quote from the chapter really stood out to me because as a bilingual ed major I need to make sure that students learn English while also learning new content in the classroom. Most importantly it will be my duty to teach them to maintain their native language while acquiring English at the same time. 

For example, I can relate to the importance and status of English because my parents felt the need to learn English after arriving in the United States because only then would they be able to communicate with the rest of the people and because it was essential in the workplace. 

When interviewing the student for my cultural exploration paper she mentioned that many people in Korea learn English because they want to get good jobs and because then they will be able to better communicate with other people because everyone learns English. She also mentioned “Yes for their future to be successful. They think that in order to go to a good college and a get good job English is the language that you need to learn.” Most people learn English for the purpose of business and also travel.

English can also be seen as having a high economic status because some people might live in poverty and do not have the same opportunities to attend school institutions or to learn English. Moreover, McKay problematizes this idea by demonstrating the economical divide created when government institutions decide who should have the opportunity of learning English.