There are over 6 billion people on this planet, and only 350 million of them speak a variety of English as their native tongue (Jenkins 15). More startling is the fact that soon, if not already, there will be more non-native (ESL/EFL) speakers of English than native speakers of this language. Negating the concept of “power in numbers,” McArthur raises the point that non-native speakers are almost always considered subpar to ENL speakers (16), further supported by Kachru’s argument that the “standards [are] set by native speakers in the Inner Circle” (20).
Yet the concept of the Inner Circle must be questioned as well, because no longer do we live in isolation from the rest of the world. Immigration, the spread of world markets, and the rise of international media and marketing have completely altered population demographics. For example, the U.S. may be an English dominant society, but in certain pockets of our nation, there is great diversity in language and culture. Even here in Bloomington-Normal, there is a large Spanish-speaking sector that does not know English or is currently taking ESL coursework. I know this because I work with these people, and every day my assumptions about the world and about our country change. The inevitable fate of the English language is that it will adapt and evolve as it—and every human language—always has, alongside the changing society that speaks it.
Thus, many questions begin to form: How do we determine what is ‘standard’ and what do we teach to our students? What linguistic and social environment will we be teaching in? Will our students learn English in a natural setting or as a foreign language? How will this impact their level of proficiency and our instructional methods? I think these are valuable questions to ponder as a future language teacher, and I hope to gain more insight into these issues through our coursework this semester.
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