From Nationalism To Globalism:Development Of "Modern English" Education In Great Britain

English used to be the national language of an island country in the corner of Europe.Within several centuries,it had set off from Britain,spread over the“sun-never-setting Empire”,and is now an international language.The English language and the culture it carries are the asset of global value in the world,which has been inherited and developed through English education.This dissertation tracks the historical development of“Modern English”and analyzes the affecting factors to it in the framework of Discourse Theory,employing such methods as historical research,literature research and comparative research.To be more specific,on the basis of a review of the start-up of“Modern English”education in Britain,three main features of“Modern English”education in history---“nationalism”,“cultural colonialism”,and“globalism”---followed by a comment of its values and limits.Rooted in“Old English”(or Anglo-Saxon)and descended from“Middle English”in a long-time process of standardization,“Modern English”dates back to the 16th century,with“Early Modern English”defined between 1500 and 1800,and“Late Modern English”since 1801.This dissertation covers the period between 16th century and 19th century,which falls into six parts.Apart from the introduction and conclusion,the body consists of five chapters.Chapter Two is about the background,discussing how“Modern English”education flourished.Chapters Three,Four and Five analyze the various developmental features of British“Modern English”education in different historical periods.And Chapter Six gives an overall comments on British“Modern English”education.To be more specific,Chapter Two analyzes how“Modern English”education was put into practice on the basis of discussing of the establishment of the English nation state,the development of the English national literature,and the formation of English as its national language.With the establishment of the English nation state,English took the place of French as an official language;the development of English literature came to turn English from a daily language into a literary and academic language;and the standardization of English had led to the making of“Modern English”.Such factors as Renaissance,Reformation and the contribution of linguists had jointly brought about the development of“Modern English”education.Among the next three,Chapter Three looks into the feature of nationalism in the British education of“Modern English”.After assessing the language education policies and the actual circumstances of English education at different levels in early modern England,Wales and Scotland,as well as the language planning and language education policies for immigrants to Britain,we found that“Modern English”education in Britain had been not only trying to improve the public literacy,but also to promote the national awareness of the English people,to reconstruct the national identity of the ethnic minorities,and to develop their national recognition by means of national assimilation along with inheritance of the national language and culture,hence showing striking feature of nationalism.Chapter Four looks into the feature of cultural colonialism in“Modern English”education in the British colonies since 17~thh century.Along with the steps of British overseas trade,religions mission and colonial rule,the language and cultural assimilation policies in the early-stage British colonies had brought about serious impacts on the education of the vernaculars;and in the late period of colonization,the language education policies had been adjusted to cultivate the elite class through English education(e.g.in India)and construct the Anglicized mainstream class in the local society(e.g.in North America and Australia),as well as affecting,directly or indirectly,the reconstruction of the composition of the local society and the cultural identity of the local people,thus adding striking characteristics of cultural colonialism to the education of English in the colonies overseas.Chapter Five mainly focuses on the feature of globalism in“Modern English”education from the end of 18~thh century to the 19~thh century in Great Britain.Foucault's discourse theory is used to analyze the power relations among the discourse subjects in the English society in interpreting the affecting factors to the globalization of English education.During the long history,the language policies in Britain had changed from national assimilation to cultural tolerance,and the language education policies from monolingualism to bilingualism or multilingualism.And at the same time,owing to the multiple characters of English culture,English education attaches more importance to the cultural inheritance and the construction of cultural identity,indicating the obvious tendency of a cultural turn.Chapter Six serves as an overall evaluation of the British“Modern English”education.As an access to the language and culture,“Modern English”education,on the one hand,had proved to be of great value in spreading the English language and culture,and on the other hand,had borne bias in emphasizing too much on the linguistic form,its instrumental functions,and in being too much dependent on the social organizations(religious and/or private)and individuals.As a means of education for national identity,“Modern English”education had imposed positive influence on enhancing the social identity,cultural identity and citizen identity at home,indicating the uniformity of its national identity;but it had resulted in different effects in Anglicizing or localizing people in the colonies,indicating the complexity and diversity of national identities.In terms of national developmental strategies,“Modern English”education had contributed to various degrees in the historical periods of English Kingdom and the United Kingdom,the British Empire,and the Commonwealth of Nations respectively.Learning from the historical experience of British“Modern English”education,we believe that the national language planning should be in accordance with the social relations of the discourse subjects and the national strategies,that the language education policies should be beneficial to the strengthening of social identity and national identity of the discourse subjects,and that the language education strategies should be helpful to the reconstruction of the knowledge and belief system,and the cross-cultural communication.