Linguistic Imperialism

Abstract

The study of linguistic imperialism entails analyzing the policies by which dominant languages, nationally and internationally, have been consolidated and what the consequences are for other languages. The presence of European languages worldwide reflects language policy as a key dimension of colonial empires—Anglo‐American, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish—both in countries where Europeans settled and in exploitation colonies. This entry presents the key constituents of linguistic imperialism together with some critiques of it. It gives examples of the way English was promoted in the UK and USA and how European languages were exported and consolidated worldwide, showing the devastating consequences for other cultures and languages. In the postcolonial age, the pedagogy promoted by the UK, the USA, and the World Bank for the learning of English was founded on five fallacies: the monolingual fallacy, the native speaker fallacy, the early start fallacy, the maximum exposure fallacy, and the subtractive fallacy. Elite formation in the age of globalization and neoliberalism also takes place in monolingual “international” schools, which are spreading worldwide. The ways in which English is privileged in education systems, and discourses justifying it, need critical scrutiny, as do the language policies of the European Union. Policies that strengthen linguistic diversity are needed to counteract linguistic imperialism. There are many places where linguistic imperialism is in full force, such as in Turkey and China.

Expanding the Language Teacher Identity Landscape: An Investigation of the Emotions and Strategies of a NNEST

“…This phenomenal growth in NNESTs in relation to NESTs (native English-speaking teachers) has resulted in more teacher identity work being conducted on the former group. Central to this body of NNEST literature is the problematization of the native speaker fallacy, which can be traced to seminal work by Phillipson (1992), Medgyes (1994), and Braine (1999). 1 Previously, in their review of the history and research of NNESTs, Moussu and Llurda (2008) pointed out that NNESTs are often treated as an entire group and noted that the term "does not identify any particular characteristic of this group except for the negation of their native speaker condition" (p. 337).…”

Understanding the peer review endeavor

“…In this Publons dataset, the peer reviews are typically performed for international journals, the majority of which are published in English. As a result, the so‐called linguistic imperialism (Phillipson, ) phenomenon exists in this context. Considering some countries do not use English as their official languages or commonly used languages, it is likely that reviewers in those countries tend to write less in volume in a language that they are not proficiently familiar with (Hinkel, ).…”

“One” But Divided: Tribalism and Grouping among Secondary School Students in South Sudan

“…As for the reason why students avoided English, it appeared that students perceived English as an alien practice to their daily interaction with peers. In Africa, English is often stigmatized given its connection to imperialism (Phillipson ). At the same time, however, number of African countries utilized it as a political and educational tool to unite their citizens and “de‐emphasize ‘ethnicity’” (Phillipson ).…”