Linguistic Assistance Or Cultural Penetration?

As an international language, English can be found in many areas of the world, so do its effects and functions. It is widely used in the domains which are linked so closely with people's lives such as technology, science, finance, medicine, transnational business, diplomacy and education.Teaching the English language abroad started in the period when Britain promoted colonial policy overseas. During that period, people in colonized areas were mainly forced to learn English. Because of the English teaching policy adopted in these areas by the colonial power, those indigenous languages and cultures once faced the danger of disappearance. After World Warâ…¡, with the rapid economic growth of the United States and the development of globalization, the convenience and benefits brought by the English language learning has been much more obvious than before. People, especially those from the Third World counties (most of them were the colonized areas of Britain and the US) regard mastering the English language as the gateway to success, and English is even related to modernity and prosperity. Therefore, more and more people start to learn the English language vigorously, which results in the well-development of the English language teaching. Since Britain and the US play an significant role in the spread of the English language, they are more active in assisting the present development of English language teaching (ELT) in the Third World countries by the following means such as dispatching English teachers overseas, donating English textbooks, offering training for the teachers in the assisted countries.With the acquisition of the English language, learners are also learning English cultures, values, lifestyles, etc, consciously or unconsciously. The effects of the English language and culture can also be reflected from their words or actions. While the English language brings prosperity to those Third World countries, it also causes some disasters to their native languages and cultures. For this phenomenon, some scholars regard it as the inevitable result of the globalization process; while some other researchers hold it as the effect` of linguistic imperialism and cultural imperialism; they think that this kind of assistance in ELT is an alternative form of imperialism in the post-colonial era.Starting from the background, motivation, aim, promotion measures of the development of ELT on one hand, and combining the results and effects of ELT brought to the Third World countries on the other hand, the present thesis intends to figure out the following questions: why the English language learning is so popular in the Third World countries? What is the real purpose of ELT promoted by English-speaking countries (here, it mainly refers to Britain and the US), is it just a kind of well-intended help from these countries or does there exist another purpose? If there is a purpose, what is it? Finding out the real purpose, what should people do in the Third World countries?Since China has adopted the Opening-up policy and successfully joined in the WTO, the number of Chinese people who are learning the English language with enthusiasm has been growing dramatically, and there also arise the same problems like those in other Third World countries. Therefore, from this point of view, the research of the aforementioned problems will also benefit the development of the English language learning in China.