In this chapter, the author shows the reality of English. Some light is shed on the features of today's English. Then, the debate between monolithic standard and pluralist perspective is presented. The linguistic diversity of English is introduced. Based on this diversity, the aim of the study is to summarize the major studies about pedagogy for English as an international language (EIL). In concluding, the transdisciplinary approach is defined, and some ideas are given about how to implement this approach to unify the linguistic diversity of English.
TopFeatures Of Today’S English
Today’s English has changed. It becomes a global or an international language. Crystal (2003) declares that English is “a language [that] achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country” (p. 3). This language “belongs to all people who speak it, whether native or non-native, whether ESL or EFL, whether standard or non-standard” (Norton, 1997, p. 427). Similarly, Smith (1976) states that “It [English] is yours (no matter who you are) as much as it is mine (no matter who I am). We may use it for different purposes and for different lengths of time on different occasions, but nonetheless it belongs to all of us” (p. 39). There is a shift from a monocentric view of English as a foreign language (EFL) to a pluricentric view of English as an International Language (EIL).
Halliday, MacIntosh & Strevens (1964) assert that:
English is no longer the possession of the British, or even the British and the Americans, but an international language which increasing numbers of people adopt for at least some of their purposes. […] In West Africa, in the West Indies, and in Pakistan and India […] it is no longer accepted by the majority that the English of England, with RP as its accent, are the only possible models of English to be set before the young […] this one language, English, exists in an increasingly large number of different varieties. (p. 293)
Graddol (2006) refers to English as “a new phenomenon” (p. 11). It is multiple English which Kachru names “World Englishes”. WEs is defined as “indigenous, nativised varieties that have developed around the world and that reflect the cultural and pragmatic norms of their speakers” (Kirkpatrick, 2007, p. 3). According to Mackay (2002), EIL is “a language of wider communication both among individuals from different countries and between individuals from one country” (p. 5). WEs represents “the types of spread, the patterns of acquisition, and the functional domains in which English is used across cultures and languages” (Kachru, 1985, p. 12).
English becomes a semi-official language in more than 60 countries (Crystal, 2003, p. 1). Based on this view, there is a believe that the difference between native and non-native speakers becomes irrelevant. Some sociolinguists hold this view. Ferguson (1992), for instance, states that:
Some languages ... spread widely as lingua franca between speakers of different languages or serve as languages of special functions in communities of non-native speakers; this kind of language use merits the attention of linguists as much as do the more traditional objects of research. In fact, the whole mystique of native speaker and mother tongue should probably be quietly dropped from the linguists’ set of professional myths about language. (p. xiii)