I am Ms. White.

I will be with you in this book. 

I will answer some questions about World Englishes. 

Now let's get started!

INTRODUCTION TO            WORLD  ENGLISHES

In the middle of the sixteenth century, relatively limited number of native English speakers who were born and raised on the British Isles’ coastlines. However, the majority of English speakers nowadays are individuals for whom the language is not their first language. 

Nowadays, English is used in about 75 different territories, either as L1 or as L2. The settings that English is used: Government, law, education, etc. 

Who speaks English?

The categorisation of English speakers is difficult. There are three different groups who speak English around the world. These groups are : ENL, ESL, and EFL. Also, there is fourth group. The group is: ELf. A fourth category of users is likewise disregarded by the categorisation. 

The difference between ENL, ESL, EFL, ELF?

   ENL: It stands for English as a Native Language. It is also known as English as a Mother Tongue. The students’, in ENL classrooms, mother tongue is English. In each ENL territory, the standard of English is different. 

ESL: It stands for English as a Second Language. ESL refers to instructing  students whose native language is not English.

EFL: It stands for English as a Foreign Language. EFL, usually refers to teaching English to people who speak another language other than English. 

 The difference between EFL and ESL: ESL classrooms consists of students from different countries and these students’ native languages are different from each other.

ELF: It stands for English as a Lingua Franca. It is the greatest group of English users. Those people use English for international communication. 

This model consists of three overlapping circles. These are: the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle. These three circles reflect the different ways of English is spread, the ways in which it is acquired, and the ways in which it is functionally assigned in cultural contexts. In these days, most of the scholars use this model. It shows variety of English uses. However, this model has some limitations. While using this model, there may be some difficulties defining the proficiency level of people using English language.

Mahboob’s Language Variation Framework: There are three components. These are continuums. The first one refers to English speakers. The second one is about how English is used. The third one is about the method of communication. 

When a language develops a unique role that is respected in every nations, it becomes a global language. A global language serves as a “Lingua Franca”, or a language that all people may use to communicate on a more or less equal footing.

The prominent characteristic of a global language is that it is the most widely used language in communication in most places in the world. People feel the need to master it for their life. As a global language, of course, English has certain countries wherein people speak it as a first language.