Practice Activities – M&R

SUBJECT PRACTICE ACTIVITIES:

ENGLISH IN THE COMMUNITY

Name and surname(s):Sheila Candinho de Almeida

Group: FP-TEFLl_2017-10_unini
Date:10/02/18

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Practice Activities

Graddol (2006, p.14) states as a key trend to be expected “the rise

and fall of learners”. That is, he claims that “a massive increase in
the number of people learning English has already begun, and is
likely to reach a peak around 2 billion in the next 10-15 years.
Numbers of learners will then decline.” (ibid, p.14)

Bearing in mind this statement, complete the following tasks.

Task 1 - (1 page)

More than 10 years have gone by since the original statement. Find updated
figures supporting or refuting the hypothesis. If possible, find sources for the
last five years.

- Justify the validity of your sources. To do so apply the CRAAP test proposed
by California State University, which can be found here.

Language speakers around the world

Total number of native speakers by selected language (in millions)

Source: Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.), 2016.
Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Nineteenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL
International.

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Source: Lewis, M. Paul , Gary F. Simons , and Charles D. Fennig (eds.), 2016.
Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Nineteenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL
International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.Data on Chinese unavailable.

Task 2 - (1 page)

Present the updated figures in table form comparing them to Graddol’s

statements and own figures. Analyze the evolution and state whether Graddol’s
hypothesis has been sustained or refuted. Bear in mind:
- How do you define English learners.
- How do your figures count English learners.
- Where do your sources come from (remember Task 1).
- Whether the trend has stop growing or not yet.

Graddol's (2006) (2016) information

Total number of native
speakers of English 300 millions 378 millions
language
Total number of second
language speakers 335 millions 600 millions

Task 3 - (1 page)

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Based on the figures you had, propose your own claim to the future development
of English as a Foreign Language. Take into account the figures you found, the
materials of the class, the readings available in the campus and other external
sources that you might deem relevant.

The pattern of rise and then fall in the numbers of people learning the language
would represent the number of ‘new adopters’. Although the rate of new adoption
declines as the ‘market saturates’, this does not, of course, mean that the total number
of English speakers declines.

English is spoken at a useful level by some 1.75 billion people worldwide – that’s one in
every four. In a globalized world, the number of English learners around the world is
only expected to further grow. By 2020, nearly 2 billion people will be using it – or
learning to use it. The reason for the decline is that there are some other languages,
such as Mandarin, Spanish, French, German or Japanese that are slowly gaining a
significant importance in the globalised world.

Firstly, English will change its role in the education field. It will move from the position of
foreign language into the position of the language of instruction for teaching the
common curricula subjects. Due to this fact – Content and Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL) is in the process of being developed. Many countries across the
world are now changing their Educational Programs and try to involve English as much
as possible in their school education. Because of this, the demand for English as a
Second Language teachers abroad has exponentially increased in recent years, with
countries from India to Somalia calling for teachers to travel abroad and share their
knowledge of English with them.

Non-native speakers now substantially outnumber native speakers and as a result,

English increasingly belongs to the world rather than to any one country at this
moment, but as Graddol (2006) stated that “a massive increase in the number of
people learning English has already begun, and is likely to reach a peak around 2
billion in the next 10-15 years. Numbers of learners will then decline.”

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References

(1) Graddol, D. (2006) “English next: Why global English may mean the end of ‘English
as a foreign language’.” British Council.

(2) https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/english-effect-report-v2.pdf