BOOK OF THE DAY : #16
ENGLISH NEXT - BRITISH COUNCIL
by DAVID GRADDOL
The growth of
the use of English as the world’s primary language for
international communication has obviously been continuing for several decades.
But even as
the number of English speakers expands further there are signs that the
global predominance of the language may fade within the foreseeable
future.
Complex
international, economic, technological and cultural changes could start
to diminish the leading position of English
as the language of the world market, and UK interests which enjoy advantage
from the breadth of English usage would consequently face new pressures.
Those realistic possibilities are highlighted
in the study presented by David Graddol. His analysis should therefore
end any complacency among those who may believe that the global position of English
is so unassailable that the young generations of the United Kingdom do not need
additional language capabilities. Foreword David Graddol concludes that
monoglot English graduates face a bleak economic future as qualified multilingual
youngsters from other countries are proving to have a competitive advantage
over their British counterparts in global companies and organisations.
Alongside that, many countries are introducing English into the primary
curriculum but – to say the least – British schoolchildren and students
do not appear to be gaining greater encouragement to achieve fluency in other languages.
If left to
themselves, such trends will diminish the relative strength of the English
language in international education markets as the demand for educational
resources in languages, such as Spanish, Arabic or Mandarin grows and
international business process outsourcing in other languages such as
Japanese, French and German, spreads.
The changes
identified by David Graddol all present clear and major challenges to the UK’s
providers of English language teaching to people of other
countries and to broader education business sectors. The English
language teaching sector directly earns nearly £1.3 billion for the UK
in invisible exports and our other education related exports earn up to
£10 billion a year more.
As the
international education market expands, the recent slowdown in the
numbers of international students studying in the main English-speaking
countries is likely to continue, especially if there are no effective strategic policies
to prevent such slippage.
Clearly,
the effect of developments in that direction would not be limited to the
commercial and educational sectors. Cultural and civil contacts and
understanding would also be diluted.
DOWNLOAD HERE: http://bit.ly/2VwbbFF
No comments:
Post a Comment