English as a Global Lingua

Franca  
 

The Globalization of English (Part 1)

English-medium higher education

Elaine Espindola
The globalization of English
• Higher education

• Business

• Technological development
 Advantages of globalization

Free trade is said to benefit all countries by more efficiently

allocating resources.

Political and economic freedom are linked, it is argued, and

so free trade helps to spread of human rights and
democracy.

Globalisation is a way to fight poverty and provide the poor

with better access to the global economy.
 The Global Power of English
Despite the recent decline of English on the Internet, English
is still the world‘gatekeeper’ language:

v 98% of German physicists now claim English as their

working language. They are closely followed by chemists
(83%), biologists (81%), and psychologists (81%) (Graddol,
1997; Block & Cameron, 2002);

v 85% of all academic articles are published in English

(Crystal, 2003).
Composition of Hong Kong’s population: 1841-2011
6,800,000

6,400,000

6,000,000

5,600,000

5,200,000

4,800,000

4,400,000

4,000,000

3,600,000
Population

3,200,000

2,800,000

2,400,000

2,000,000

1,600,000

1,200,000

800,000

400,000

Chinese Non-Chinese
Census data on ‘usual’ language
100

90

80

70
Percentage

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1911 1961 1966 1971 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011

Cantonese Other Chinese Dialects English

Enrolments in government schools
in Hong Kong (1855-1930)

4500
4000
3500
Enrolments

3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1855 1870 1885 1900 1915 1930
Year

English Chinese
 The promotion of English
The promotion of English as the main working language
and medium of instruction has stemmed from the
government’s desire to

• maintain harmony in a multi-ethnic/lingual society:

English is perceived to be a ‘neutral’ lingua franca

• promote economic development: the widespread use of

English is believed to offer the city-state an advantage in
a rapidly globalising world.
English as a global lingua
franca: circa 1950-present
David Crystal identifies two factors
behind the rise of English as
a global lingua franca:

• The retention of English in

government, law, education, etc.
in post-colonial states
(1950s-1960s)

• The electronic revolution which

started in the USA (1970s)
Kachru’s ‘circles’ model
Inner Circle
• The spread of English via the large-scale migration of
mother-tongue speakers of English from the British Isles
and subsequent population growth

• Traditional English-speaking countries:

v United States
v United Kingdom
v Canada
v Australia
v New Zealand

• Destinations for ‘international students’ (i.e. generally

learning in a second language)
Outer Circle
• The spread of English to parts of Asia, Africa, the
Caribbean and the Pacific in consequence of British and
American colonial expansion

• Examples:

v Hong Kong
v India
v Kenya
v Nigeria
v Singapore
v Malaysia
 English in Hong Kong

English Language Education seeks to provide a curriculum framework

that contributes to enhancing the language proficiency of young people
for the following reasons:
• To enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong so that it will be able to
maintain its position as an international business centre and a
knowledge-based economy, capable of rising to the challenges of global
competition;
• To help our young people to develop a worldwide outlook through
broadening their knowledge and experience;
• To enable our young people to use English proficiently for study, work,
leisure and effective interaction in different cultural environments; and
• To help our young people succeed in life and achieve greater personal
fulfillment.

(Curriculum Development Council, 2000 p. 2)

The Expanding Circle
In these countries, English has traditionally …

§ played no institutional (e.g. in government, law) or social

role (e.g. as a lingua franca)
§ been learned as a foreign language (rather than through
its use as a medium of instruction) in the education system
§ Examples:
v China
v Germany
v Japan
v Brazil
v Sweden
 English in China
• a foreign language subject is compulsory for students
enrolled in all regular secondary and post-secondary
institutions.
• there are nearly 80 million full-time secondary students
learning a foreign language nationwide.
• of these students, about 350,000 study Russian and
another 160,000 learn Japanese.
• In other words, about 99% of the 80 million students study
English as a school subject.
(Adamson, 2001)
Country Grade level and Frequency of instruction Impact of English as a
age at which global language
English is
introduced as a
compulsory subject
China Grade 3, Age 9 Primary school: 2–3 . -age for compulsory
40-minute lessons/week; English lowered from 11 to
Secondary school: 5–6 9 in secondary school in
45-minute lessons/week September 2001
-- English becoming
increasingly significant as
university entry
requirement
- English enhancing
promotional prospects in
the workplace
Hong Year 1, Age 6 Primary school: 4–6 concern that Hong Kong
Kong SAR hours/week; secondary will lose economic
school: 7–9 hours/week advantage if English
language skills are not
enhanced
 Variation in English study in China

Students from rural areas mostly begin to study

English in the first year of junior middle school,
while students from urban areas have begun
English study from the third or fourth year of
primary school. The urban students tend to have
at least 2 years more English than their rural
counterparts.
 English in China
As early as September 2001:
v all colleges and universities under the control of the
Ministry of Education were instructed to use English as the
main teaching language in the following courses:
information technology, biotechnology, new-material
technology, finance, foreign trade, economics, and law
v the latest syllabuses are based on a functional/notional
view of English and refer frequently to concepts such as
communicative language teaching (CLT) and learner-
centeredness
v The latest university syllabuses refer to interdisciplinary
support between English and other areas, such as law and
commerce.
Higher education in
colonial India

• Establishment of English-
medium universities in
Bombay, Madras and
Calcutta in 1857 University of Madras

University of Calcutta University of Bombay

EMI higher education: Legacy of colonialism

University of
Colombo, Sri
Lanka
Makerere University
Uganda Founded 1921,
affiliated to
Founded as a technical University of
school (1922) London
 PolyU (1937)
EMI in Hong Kong

Different processes of
development:

HKU (1911)

CUHK (1963)
No. of full-time 1st-year undergraduates
in HK (1965-2009)  
18000  
16000  
14000  
12000  
10000  
8000  
6000  
4000  
2000  
0  
1965   1970   1975   1980   1985   1990   1995   2000   2005   2009  
 Growth of EMI higher education in
Expanding Circle

§ Continental Europe

§ East Asia

§ Middle East
The Bologna Process  
Objective:

• To ensure more
comparable, compatible
and coherent systems of
higher education in
Europe
• The  Bologna  declara,on  
signed  in  1999  aims  at  
crea9ng  a  European  Higher  
Educa,on  Area  (EHEA)  
through  academic  
coopera,on  and  exchange.
Extract from website

Study for a UK university degree in China

Receive a British education, right here in China. Students graduate with
University of Nottingham degrees, whether they complete their programmes at
our campuses in the UK, China or Malaysia.

Academics at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China are seconded from

Nottingham UK or are recruited from top universities and research institutions
around the world. Teaching programmes are subject to the same rigorous
quality assurance processes as at The University of Nottingham, UK.

Study in English in China

All our degree programmes are taught in English, all coursework materials are
in English and all exams and assignments are submitted in English. Our
students are encouraged to communicate with each other in English.
 Extract from website:

The global community at the University of Nottingham Malaysia

Campus includes students from over 70 countries, staff from over
20 countries

This provides students with a rich, multi-cultural student experience.

All of degrees are taught in English and the degrees awarded are
exactly the same as those in the UK.

Many ‘Anglo’ universities having campuses in international locations offer

English medium courses to ‘foreign’ students in their home countries
à economic motivation.
Many ‘Anglo’ universities having campuses in international locations offer
English medium courses to ‘foreign’ students in their home countries
à economic motivation.

Given this imbalance, some Asian states are striving to

become ‘education hubs’.
à to benefit from becoming receivers of international
students (and fees)
à to offer fee paying places to local students

• The  number  of  English  medium  courses  taught  at  university  level  is  
increasing.  

• China’s  joining  the  World  Trade  Organisa9on  (WTO)  boosts  further  the  
using  of  English  as  the  MOI  in  science  subjects  in  certain  universi9es.
 Hong Kong

• Among  the  8  government-­‐funded  universi9es:    
Ø only  CUHK  has  an  official  bilingual  policy;    
Ø only  HKIEd  has  an  official  trilingual  policy;    
Ø the  remaining  6  are  all  officially  English  medium  universi9es.    
à  an  imbalance

• Consequences:
Ø Strong  parental  demand  for  English  medium  educa9on  at  the  
secondary  level,  which  diluted  the  government’s  mother-­‐tongue  
policy.
Ø A  lack  of  non-­‐language  subject  teachers  with  adequate  English  
language  proficiency
Ø Huge  amount  of  pressure  on  students  adap9ng  the  English  
medium  classes
28
Influence of the adoption of
English as a medium
• The  dissemina,on  of  scholarship  and  the  
status  of  ‘local’  and  indigenous  knowledge  
are  affected  because  the  knowledge  may  be  
radically  altered  aKer  transla,on  into  English.  

• E.g.  the  moderniza9on  of  tradi9onal  Chinese  

medicine  (TCM)  
• E.g.  the  student’s  rela9ve  lack  of  reference  to  
Chinese  scholarship  in  the  wri9ng  of  thesis
29
Competition for English-
speaking countries
• Rapid expansion and reform of higher education in key source
countries means some students choose to stay at home.

• Countries such as China are repositioning themselves as ‘exporters’

of education.

• Countries in Europe (e.g. Germany) and Asia (e.g. Singapore, Hong

Kong) are attracting international students by offering programmes
and courses taught in English.

• Knight’s (2008) potential reasons for the universities’ adoption of

international education: political, economic, academic and
cultural.
Ranking of universities
Around two-thirds of the
world’s ‘top’ 100
universities are in
English-speaking
countries.

This helps to explain the

expansion of English-
medium university
education across the
world.
The top 100 QS World University
Rankings 2012  
US 31
United Kingdom 18
Australia 7
Japan 6
Netherlands 4
Germany 4
Switzerland 4
Hong Kong 4
Canada 3
Countries

China 3
Korea, South 3 Other
languages
Singapore 2
Sweden 2 English
Denmark 2
France 2
New Zealand 1
Belgium 1
Taiwan 1
Finland 1
Ireland 1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Number of universities
Scientific/academic publishing
To control the Anglo-Saxon paradigms over
higher education through
internationalization
Asian  states  and  Hong  Kong  need…  
• to  establish  and  implement  bilingual/mul,lingual  
language  policies  in  higher  educa,on;
• to  establish  and  promote  interna,onally  recognised  
journals  with  bilingual  publica,on  policies.  

• Hong  Kong,  par9cularly,  has  to  make  good  use  of  its  
talent  and  resources  to  take  the  lead  in  crea9ng  a  new  
type  of  interna,onal  educa,on  in  which  local  
languages  and  scholarship  are  promoted  and  where  
interna,onal  higher  educa,on  is  truly  mul,lateral.

35
English-medium education in post-colonial Africa and Asia – a legacy of
British colonial education – is an important factor behind the use of
English as a second language.
 School enrolments: 1931-1997
700000

600000

500000
Enrolments

400000

300000

200000

100000

0
1931 1937 1952 1960 1965 1970 1975 1985 1997

English (secondary) English (primary) Chinese (secondary) Chinese (primary)

Secondary enrolments (1960-2009)
100    

90    

80    

70    

60    
Percentage  

50    

40    

30    

20    

10    

0    
1960   1965   1970   1975   1985   1997   2009  

English   Chinese  
 Standard of English in Hong Kong
-Is English no longer important in Hong Kong as
being a part of China?
• What  standard  of  English  is  it  based  on?  
• What  exactly  are  the  criteria  for  being  English  proficient?  
• Demographically,  there  is  an  increase  for  approximately  37%  of  HK  
popula>on  who  have  knowledge  of  English  in  2011,  compared  to  that  in  1931.  
         à  A  posi>ve  result  aIer  decades  of  mass  educa>on  
         àThe  standard  of  English  on  the  whole  can  be  regarded  as  rising  instead  of  
declining,  given  that  a  larger  and  larger  popula4on  acquire  knowledge  of  
English.  
• English,  with  a  long  local  history,  remains  important  in  HK  as  the  second  
official  language,  even  though  there  is  a  rising  need  for  HKers  to  speak  in  
PTH.  
• Being  Chinese/Cantonese-­‐English  bi-­‐/tri-­‐lingual  is  one  of  the  strengths  of  HK  
and  HKers,  which  should  be  maintained  and  fully-­‐u>lised.  

40
 Consider  these  ques9ons  
• Did  the  expansion  of  English-­‐medium  
educa9on  in  Hong  Kong  during  this  period  
reflect  the  colonial  government’s  desire  to  
promote  the  use  of  English  in  the  territory?  
• Or    
• Was  the  government  responding  to  growing  
demand  for  English  in  the  community?  
• Or,  was  it  a  mixture  of  the  two  forces?