Globalization and World Englishes

Pennycook’s idea of globalization as a form of resistance is a key point in order to understand the diversity of world Englishes. Globalization is also a representation of plurality, which promotes “local diversity by human contact across cultural boundaries” (Kubota 2002). Therefore, in globalization there is a place for “change, adaptation, reformulation” , in Pennycook’s words, there is a place for “wordliness” (2007). According to Kubota, there are several processes involved in globalization: increased local diversity, increased emphasis on English and increased linguistic and cultural nationalism ( Kubota 2002 in Pennycook 2009).

Globalization, thus enable us to transgress pre-existing knowledge and to explore “the boundaries of thought” (Pennycook 2009). In Pennycook’s opinion, both Fanon and Foulcault’s theories apply to its “Transgressive theory” in the sense that they both promote new frames of thought (2009).  One of the concepts of this Transgressive theory is translation because it enables us to look for meanings as an interpretative task across cultures. Writing, as a skill, shows negotiation of meaning as well. According to Bolton, transcultural writers represent the idea of WE when writing in English (2010).

As I have previously mentioned, this perspective on globalization should be the start point for teachers of English for speaker of other languages as it is the targeted element of one of the processes described by Kubota.  Matsuda, P.  and Matsuda, A. (2010) state that the majority of users of English have learned it as an additional language, not as their native language. Therefore, they claim that linguistic as well as functional varieties of English should be taken into account when teaching the language. They also propose several principles for teachers to have in mind: teach the dominant language forms and functions as well as the non-dominant ones, make it clear for learner to distinguish between what works in English and what leads to errors, teach the rhetoric strategies according to the context in which they linguistic exchange takes place and also help them be aware of the fact that there are power issues which will place them under a lower status than a native speaker has.