Tema 4

Cátedra Integradora: Educational

systems and educational policies in the
teaching and learning process of
English as a foreign language

Unit 4: Context of English Learning

Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE Unidad de Educación a Distancia

Index Page

Unit 4: Context of English learning

4.1 Introduction to English-speaking countries 3

4.1.1 Main English speaking countries 3

4.1.2 Over view of English-speaking countries 3

4.1.3 How was English spread around the world? 5

4.1.4 English and Globalization 9

4.2 English as a lingua franca 10

4.2.1 English as a Lingua Franca 10

Complementary resources 12

Bibliography 13

Self-assessment 14

Learning activities 16

Annex 18

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4.1 Introduction to English-speaking countries.

DISCOVER ALL ABOUT THE ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES
https://www.lingoda.com/en/english-speaking-countries

In 2015, there were 67 sovereign states and 27 non-sovereign entities where

English was an official language. Many country subdivisions have declared
English an official language at the local or regional level. The majority of
countries where English is an official language are former territories of the
British Empire.

The English language has approximately 400 million native speakers worldwide,
trailing only Mandarin and Spanish. However, it is also the single most popular
second language. As a result, when native and non-native English speakers are
combined, it is recognised as the single most widely-spoken global language.

MAIN ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES

Actually, English is the most commonly associated with the two largest English
speaking counties: The United States and the United Kingdom. It is believed
that there are around 230 million native speakers in the United States, making it
the largest English-speaking country, while the United Kingdom has around
approximately 60 million native speakers.

Canada is considered the third largest English speaking country, in fact,

Canada has two official languages: English and French, but English is more
spoken in this country, with somewhere in the region of 20 million native
speakers, while Australia is next in the list, with around 17 million.

Some of the other notable countries around the world where English is the
primary language include the Republic of Ireland, South Africa and New
Zealand. Combined, these three countries are believed to be home to around
13 million people who speak English as their first language.

OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES

Below, we provide a breakdown of some of the most significant countries that
have English as either a de jure or a de facto official language. The countries
have been sorted based on their geographical location. An official language is
defined as a language used by the citizens of that country during interactions
with their government.

It should be noted that some of the countries listed have more than one official
language and, therefore, English may not necessarily be their most common

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native language.

North America:
 United States
 Canada

Europe:
 United Kingdom
 Republic of Ireland
 Malta

Caribbean:
 Jamaica
 Barbados
 Trinidad and Tobago
 Bahamas
 Guyana

Oceania:
 Australia
 New Zealand
 Papua New Guinea
 Fiji
 Samoa
 Tonga
 Solomon Islands
 Micronesia
 Vanuatu
 Kiribati
Asia:
 India
 Pakistan
 Singapore
 Philippines
 Sri Lanka
 Malaysia
Africa:
 South Africa
 Nigeria
 Cameroon
 Kenya

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 Zimbabwe
 Ghana
 Rwanda
 Sudan
 Botswana
 Ethiopia

HOW WAS ENGLISH SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD?

Do to the fact of development of the societies and the identification of a

universal language for communication and trading, the British Empire helped
spread the Modern English around the world during the 18th and 19th centuries.

This is why many of the countries where English is an official language were
former British colonies, including Canada, Australia, South Africa and the United
States. Later on, English was introduced in regions like India and parts of Africa,
where it continues to be widely spoken. Although Hindi is the most widely-
spoken language in India today, English became the official language and still
remains in that condition in education, business and mainly in politics affairs.

Throughout the 20th century, the United States emerged as a major political
superpower, especially in the years after World War II. Its influence, combined
with Hollywood films and the journalistic work of the British Broadcasting
Corporation, are credited with the continued spread of the language throughout
the century.

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Video: English speaking countries. Taken from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hx0sEdPiK8

ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES

LIST OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES

Here is the list of countries where English is spoken as an official language and
used by the majority of speakers.

Country Region Population

Antigua and Barbuda Caribbean 85,000
Australia Australia 22,374,370
Bahamas, The Caribbean 331,000
Barbados Caribbean 294,000
Belize Central America / Caribbean 288,000
Botswana Africa 1,882,000
Cameroon Africa
Canada North America 33,531,000
Dominica Caribbean 73,000
Eritrea Africa 5,224,000
Ethiopia Africa 82,101,998
Fiji Oceania 827,900
The Gambia Africa 1,709,000
Ghana Africa 23,478,000
Grenada Caribbean 106,000
Guyana South America / Caribbean 738,000
India Asia 1,143,540,000
Ireland Europe 4,581,269
Jamaica Caribbean 2,714,000
Kenya Africa 37,538,000
Kiribati Oceania 95,000

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Kingdom of the Netherlands Caribbean (and Europe) 17,000,000

Lesotho Africa 2,008,000
Liberia Africa 3,750,000
Malawi Africa 13,925,000
Malta Europe 412,600
Marshall Islands Oceania 59,000
Mauritius Africa / Indian Ocean 1,262,000
Federated States of Micronesia Oceania 111,000
Namibia Africa 2,074,000
Nauru Oceania 10,000
New Zealand Oceania 4,294,350
Nigeria Africa 148,093,000
Pakistan Asia 165,449,000
Palau Oceania 20,000
Papua New Guinea Oceania 6,331,000
Philippines Asia 90,457,200
Rwanda Africa 9,725,000
Saint Kitts and Nevis Caribbean 50,000
Saint Lucia Caribbean 165,000
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Caribbean 120,000
Samoa Oceania 188,359
Seychelles Africa / Indian Ocean 87,000
Sierra Leone Africa 5,866,000
Singapore Asia 4,839,400
Solomon Islands Oceania 506,992
South Africa Africa 47,850,700
South Sudan Africa 8,260,490

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Sudan Africa 31,894,000

Swaziland Africa 1,141,000
Tanzania Africa 40,454,000
Tonga Oceania 100,000
Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean 1,333,000
Tuvalu Oceania 11,000
The United Kingdom Europe 61,612,300
The United States North America 309,442,000
Uganda Africa 30,884,000
Vanuatu Oceania 226,000
Zambia Africa 11,922,000
Zimbabwe Africa 13,349,000

Taken from: https://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/reading-english-speaking-

countries.php

Taken from:
https://www.google.com/search?q=english+speaking+countries+map&tbm=isch&source=univ&s
a=X&ved=2ahUKEwib0La9x4HkAhUOjVkKHby2C7wQsAR6BAgHEAE&biw=1600&bih=789#im
grc=fVeiD1IgYYft_M:

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ENGLISH AND GLOBALIZATION

The phenomena of globalization brought positive and negative aspects for
human beings in the world. According to (McLuhan, 1959), he stated that
English has contributed considerably benefits for human beings who inhabit the
petite global village. This positive aspect was seen in people with dissimilar
histories, races, cultural background in that epoch when not all inhabitant could
reach education. In fact, inhabitants on the globe are longing for and pursuing a
unified living style with a single social order (Wallerstein, 1979) that is expected
to be reorganized.

Hence, McLuhan (1959) declaimed, occurrence of globalization is a great

advantage for us, because people in all colors can get along more naturally
from perspectives of economy, health, education, industry, politics and so on.
Recently, people in five continents believing assorted religions are all greeting
this unending globalization of neo-liberalism, which exhibits a single living
formula and a benefit-exchanging rule. Actually, this is a great advantage
because it was necessary to conquer more lands without using lethal weapons
but the language.

Some organizations were set up to and global citizens should all be permitted to
join world unions, such as World Wild Animal Fund (WWAF), United Nation
(UN), World Health Association (WHA), and World Trade Organization (WTO),
which put forward means and speedy channels of intercontinental
announcement, conciliation, and collaboration. So globalization has transported
benefits or influences for human beings in divergent districts who exist in the
universal town, where their fates are connected with each other.

Through the status of globalization, the communication in English naturally

became fundamental and inescapable because it is people’s general tool of
universal contact. In order to update the English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
curriculum to accommodate to the neo-liberal order in the simplified
international social order, particularly for adult English learners in university,
English teachers are taking worldwide perspectives into consideration when
they write the curriculum.

Based on the theories of global educators, “A student does not need to travel
outside U. S. borders to meet the peoples or understand the issues of the global
village.” (Durtka, Dye, Freund, Judy, Harris, Kline, LeBreck, Reimbold,
Tabachnick, Tantala, Wagler, 2002, p. 5) A scholar can gain knowledge of the
world in his/her own classroom near home. What's more, in this day educators
are staying their conscientiousness of designing a curriculum related to all

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subject matters encompassing global challenges, global cultures, and global

connections (Durtka, Dye, Freund, Judy, Harris, Kline, LeBreck, Reimbold,
Tabachnick, Tantala, Wagler, 2002).

WHAT IS A LINGUA FRANCA?

It is defined as a language spoken between groups of people who speak

different languages in order to establish communication. So they can
understand each other.

According to (Worldatlas web page) a lingua franca is the term used to describe
a language systematically used to enable effective communication between
people with different native languages. It has been used for throughout human
history and was used for different purposes such as: business, diplomatic
purposes, studies, researches among others.

One of the most important characteristic of a Lingua Franca is the fact that is
not considered a dialect neither a formal or informal language spoken in a
geographical, cultural or linguist boundaries of the communities who identify as
native speakers of the language.

4.2 ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA.

According to Norquist , R. (2019), he says that The term English as a lingua

franca (ELF) refers to the teaching, learning, and use of the English language
as a common means of communication (or contact language) for speakers of
different native languages. This concept has a huge importance because there
is no way to get confused with a variation of language spoken in a definite area.

At the same time, Jenkins, J. (2009) A British linguist points out that ELF is not
a new phenomenon. English, she says, "has served as a lingua franca in the
past, and continues to do so nowadays, in many of the countries. As a matter of
fact it is true because English has become the language spoken by the majority
of people around the world.

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Taken from:
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1600&bih=789&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=zrtTXfvSDsWE5wKiiId
A&q=english+is+a+lingua+franca&oq=english+is+a+lingua+franca&gs_l=img.3..0i24.5176.5176
..6285...0.0..0.129.129.0j1......0....1..gws-wiz-
img.5XRu0zCuoOo&ved=0ahUKEwj78b7j7oHkAhVFwlkKHSLEAQgQ4dUDCAY&uact=5#imgrc
=v_CILRpY4CnMrM:

In this picture we can see that all nations speak English as the language of
communication, technology, science and basically trading.

Video: Lingua Franca. Taken from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9ZdC6wZnks

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Complementary resources
An Introduction to English Teaching A Textbook for English Educators
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED534554.pdf

English speaking countries

www.spssnina.edu.sk/orange/01an.ppt

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Bibliography
Durtka, S., Dye, A., Freund, J., Harris, J., Kline, J., LeBreck, C., ... & Wagler, M.
(2002). Planning Curriculum in International Education. Publications Sales,
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Drawer 179, Milwaukee, WI 53293-
0179.

Jenkins, J. (2009). English as a lingua franca: Interpretations and

attitudes. World Englishes, 28(2), 200-207.

Lambani, M. N., & Maluleke, M. J. (2019). The competence of first-year level

university students in the use of English irregular simple past tense. Gender and
Behaviour, 17(2), 12944-12952.

McLuhan, M. (1959). Myth and mass media. Daedalus, 88(2), 339-348.

Presentation of English-speaking cultures: upper secondary school textbooks of

English in the 1980s and in the 2010s. Taken from
https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/38046/1/urn%3anbn%3afi%3ajyu-
201206161881.pdf

Wallerstein, I. (1979). The capitalist world-economy (Vol. 2). Cambridge

University Press.

Video: English speaking countries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hx0sEdPiK8

Video: What is Lingua Franca?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9ZdC6wZnks

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Self-assessment
Answer these questions
1. What is Lingua Franca?
a) Language spoken between groups of people who speak different
languages in order to establish communication
b) Language spoken in the classroom in order to establish
communication
c) Language spoken in a region for specific purposes

2. Has Lingua Franca been used for throughout human history for different
purposes?
a) Yes, It does
b) Yes, It has
c) Yes, It is

3. Why has English become the language spoken by the majority of people
around the world?
a) Because English is used just in sports
b) Because English is used just trading
c) Because English is used for many different purposes around the
world

4. What are the two largest English speaking counties in the world?
a) The United states and the United Kingdom
b) The United states and France
c) The United states and Spain

5. What are some other notable countries around the world where English
is the primary language?
a) The Republic of Ireland, Portugal and Brazil
b) The Republic of Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand
c) The Republic of Ireland, Argentina and Ecuador

6. What countries do mostly speak English in North America?

a) Washington DC and Quebec
b) Ontario and Ohio
c) United States and Canada

7. When was English spread around the world?

a) During the 18th and 19th centuries
b) During the 20th century
c) During the 21st century

8. What was the effect of globalization in the world?

a) Globalization helped people make more and more allowance

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b) Globalization helped people get more naturally perspectives of

economy, health, education, industry and politics
c) Globalization helped people to settle in a definite region

9. What was the contribution of globalization in education?

a) It contributed in the curriculum to accommodate the social order for
children in schools
b) It contributed in the curriculum to endure new international social
order for adult learners
c) It contributed in the curriculum to accommodate international social
order, particularly for adult English learners in university

10. What are educators doing in the curriculum nowadays?

a) They are designing a curriculum related to all subject matters
including global cultures and global connections
b) They are designing new subject matters including old global
connections
c) They are designing a curriculum with the same contents as before

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Learning Activities 4.1

On line asynchronous class: Power point presentation, to explain the countries
where English is spoken around the world.

ACADEMIC FORUM.
1. Mention some countries where English is spoken as a mother tongue.
2. What do you understand as a Lingua Franca?

You are free to use the complementary information and your own sources as
well.

First of all, Read and watch these articles and videos as a source of
information to go through this activity.

 Presentation of English-speaking cultures: upper secondary school

textbooks of English in the 1980s and in the 2010s. Taken from
 https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/38046/1/urn%3anbn%3afi%
3ajyu-201206161881.pdf

 English as a Lingua Franca: interpretations and attitudes

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227663650_English_as_a_Ling
ua_Franca_interpretations_and_attitudes

 Video: English speaking countries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hx0sEdPiK8

 Video: What is Lingua Franca?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9ZdC6wZnks

Second take some notes to answer the questions

Finally post your meaningful ideas in the academic forum to enrich your
knowledge.

Date to hand in the activity

December 17th, 2019

Format
As document of word

Name of the file

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Full name

Criteria of evaluation
Rubric (attached document)

Maximum Length
One single paragraph for each question. Be concise in your responses.

Instructions
 Use academic language.
 You have to cite by using APA Style, sixth edition:
https://www.um.es/documents/378246/2964900/Normas+APA+Sexta+E
dici%C3%B3n.pdf/27f8511d-95b6-4096-8d3e-f8492f61c6dc
 Your participations will be graded by using a rubric.
 Show respect while participating

Best regards
Your tutor

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Annex
Rubric for Academic Forum

Taken from: http://blogs.elon.edu/technology/files/2012/02/EvaluatingForumResponses1.pdf

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