Discussion And Reflection On The Spread Of English

English is not an indigenous language in England. It was brought there in about AD 500 by the Anglo-Saxons. The language did not step on foreign lands until from the 16th century, when Britain gradually rose to be the global maritime hegemony, and set 69 colonies around the world in the following centuries, including some current big nations, such as the USA, Australia and India. English spread to wherever the British troops and business companies arrived. English was set as the official language in the British colonies and imparted by missionary schools. By the beginning of the 20th century, English had established as an important language in global communication. The global political situations changed in the 20th century, especially after WWII, which had direct influence on the spread of English. Great Britain was on decline while the USA rose abruptly. Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the USA ascended to be the No.1 powerful country in the world. From then on, English was promoted mainly by the political, economic and cultural influence of the USA by means of the global econocultural system. English is one of the most influential common languages in the world now. Its importance in fields such as air and maritime traffic, scientific and technological research, and global cooperation is unlikely to be replaced in the near future. Just because of this, quite a few non-English countries set English as the first foreign language in their educational systems. As a result, English language teaching (ELT) develops into one of the most promising industries after WWII, which creates huge profit. However, while competence in English offers them more accesses to modern development, non-English countries also experience the negative influence brought by English spread, such as the accelerating decline and death of indigenous languages, impairment to cognition of their mother tongues, and marginalization of local cultures. These problems are arousing more and more attentions around the world now. In view of such observations, this paper intends to discuss the problem of English spread from a sociolinguistic perspective, including its current status in the world, the models and approaches of its spread, its impact on non-English-mother-tongue (NEMT) countries, and some reflection on these phenomena. The paper comes to the conclusion that English spread is a result of the prosperity of both Britain and the USA, and more importantly, of the formation of the global uniform market. The status of English changes in accordance with the change of the national power of English-mother-tongue (EMT) countries. It is unnecessary for NEMT countries to be panicked or enthusiastic to English education.