TheGlobalDiffusionofEnglishandItsImpact

【Abstract】With economic globalization and culture conflicts，a world language is sought for communication and cooperation across intra-nation or inter-nation.English，emerging at the right time，seems to the assessable one attributing to the five factors illustrated by Crystal.Besides，as it gets higher prestige，the diffusion of English seems to be faster than ever before，leading to modernization of the employed countries.Thereby，three countries，Singapore，Korea and China，are discussed and demonstrated on how such widespread English affects the development of linguistics and culture and some issues are raised to discuss on the obstacles of further diffusion of English in China.

【Key Words】 global diffusion； global language； English

Diffusion and Factors Leading to English as a Global Language

What factors contribute English to be a global language？ Undoubtedly，English has experienced such massive changes with a mere eye blink around a few decades for it always finds itself in the right time at the appropriate places.Based on Crystals （1997） illustrations，5 major reasons are found：two from Britain，two from America and the rest from the new independent countries.Simply，between 17 to 19 centuries，because of colonization and industrial revolution，English established its high status in its own or colonial nations as well as slowly spread to other parts of the world.However，in the late 19 centuries，even though the superior powers shifted to America，English was still the leading language around the world.Besides，with the diffusion of English in several independent nations and in the electronic revolution，it began to construct and consolidate itself as a global language.

The Impact on the Widespread English in Singapore

Throughout the history in Singapore，the turning point of English may be after the independence in the 1965.Before 1965，English was developed as a colonial language since the colonizers set up English-medium schools for people to learn English.Although they learned the standard norms of English，some sorts of varieties occurred.They might be a major substrate such as combination of “Baba Malay” and “Bazaar Malay” （Low，2010），which served as a low function of daily communication across inter-group.All these varieties were called Singapore and Malaysian English （SME） （Tongue，1994） （Cited in Low，2010）.

After gaining independence from Britain，Singapore began to construct its own language policies for unifying the whole nation.With the “pragmatic multilingualism” （Lim，2009） （Cited in Low，2010），English was claimed to be an official language，which still enjoyed high popularity among the community for both ethnic neutral and the needs to interact within the world.On the other hand，some English varieties like Singapore Colloquial English （Singlish） occurred.Distinct from the standard one，it serves as a lower function of membership maintaining as in the explanation of English variation in Alsagoffs Cultural Orientation Model （2007）.Singlish is more flexible and accessible，in which grammar，syntax，lexis or pronunciation will associate with local speech patterns and linguistic features.Take rhythm for example，Singlish prefers more on syllable –based patterns rather than stress-based patterns for the influences of local speech features.

The Impact on the Widespread English in Korea

Comparing to Singapore，the diffusion of English is quite distinct in Korea.Belonging to the expanding circle，English is taught as a FL in Korea，in which linguistic and cultural development are various.The spread of English started in Korea in 1883 as administrators realized that they needed to establish English language to train translators.With cultural exploration，both government and public raised the awareness that English was the main way of modernization or achieving success in the fiercely competing world.

Therefore，giving English a higher status，government tried to integrate English in educational systems and gradually strengthen it as a medium instruction of all subjects to help students “speak with foreigners without taking extra classes at private time” （Ilbo，2008）.Government also launched a “EPIK Programme”（NIIED，2008） for people to seek for an accurate and standard English within primary and secondary school.Furthermore，another significant linguistic and cultural development are the establishment of the English villages in Korea.Residents whoever children or parents can be provided opportunities to this “language immersion experience without needing to travel abroad”（Kim，2006）.

The Impact on the Widespread English in China

Unlike the above two countries，English has it got wide diffusion and given priority not until recent years.Chronologically speaking，the spread of English，throughout the whole Chinese history，probably experiences two important turnings：between late 20 century and early 21 century and from 21 century up until now.

With the open-door policy，English was declared to be a compulsory subject and should be learnt since grade 3 in primary school.In tertiary education，government also announced that English-medium instruction should be available to English majors or students of Service English （SE） in which it served as a useful tool for getting rapid development in foreign trade and modernization.

Apart from that，for meeting the demands of improving qualification of English teaching，more universities started to enroll postgraduate students in linguistic，English literature or methodology training courses.Except for those full time students，most working adults were still provided opportunities for English education，leading them to be more competitiveness or competent for their jobs.Thus，most of universities，like tv or spare-time universities were established and people were enthusiastic and rushed to them.The most apparent example was that over 30，000 working adult study English in such universities as evening universities in Guangzhou （China Youth New，1985） （Cited in Pride & Liu，1988）.

Moving to the third period，the impact of English seemed quite obvious since the second new millennium came.Not only it affects in the curriculum and media but also workplace or business trade.With joining WTO and awarding several international events，more proficient English speakers are need in the market to do business or exchange information across nations.Therefore，administrators start to consider to improve peoples proficiency by spreading English widely among public places （e.g.airport） or media （e.g.CCTV 9），but apparently seen was in educational systems.Similar to the second period，students are required to learn English in grade 3，yet，in larger cities，it is introduced much earlier，probably at the beginning of primary school.

As to the impact of linguistic development，English appears to be less impact on code-switching （Bolton & Tong，2002），but more on variations （Chinese English）.They can be easily seen in pronunciation，grammar，lexis and pragmatics.Simply，most Chinese people prefer to insert a vowel sound in initiate consonant clusters which do not exist in Mandarin，like /Other variations like in grammar，Chinese speaker would say “Yesterday，I go to see a movie” instead of “ I went to see…” .Probably，it was because there is no tenses and inflection in Mandarin.

Conclusion

As can be seen，during the past decades，China developed so fast and got great progress due to the diffusion of English.However，recently there have been some issues hindering the further spread of English in China and such ones are needed to be discussed as well as solve，just like the following two questions：（1） since more varieties of English are getting rapid increases，how do people deal with the misinterpretations of World Englishes？ （misinterpretations --- international English=standard English = British or American English between people）.（2） belonging to the expanding circle，how do we choose a sound and suitable norm to apply in educational systems，the exonormative native speakers one or the endonormative nativised one or the lingual franca （Kirkpatrick，2007）.

References：

[1]Alsagoff，L.（2007）.Singlish.In V.Vaish，S.Gopinathan and Y.Liu （eds） Language，Culture，Capital，Rotterdam：Sense Publishers.

[2]Bolton，K.，& Tong，Q.S.（Eds.）.（2002）.English in China[Special issue].World Englishes，21（2）.

[3]Chosun，I.（2004）.Tongue operations popular in Korea for English education，2 January.Retrieved from http：// English.Chosun.Com/w21data/html/news/200401/20040120031.htm.

[4]Crystal，D.（1997）.Watching world English grow.IATEFL Newsletter 10-11，February – March.

[5]Kim，M.–Y.（2006） “ English villages” in South Korea：What do they really promote？ NNEST Newsletter，8（2）.

[6]Kirkpatrick，A.（2007）.World Englishes：Implications for international communication and English language teaching.Cambridge，UK：Cambridge University Press.

[7]Low，E.L.（2010）.English in Singapore and Malaysia：Differences and similarities.In A.Kirkpatrick （Eds.），The Routledge Handbook of World Englishes.（1st ed.） （pp.229 - 246）.Abingdon，England：Routledge.

[8]National Institute for International Education （NIED） （2008）.English program in Korea.Online.Retrieved from http：// epik.go.kr/l.

作者簡介：

何麗君，女，1988年11月出生，漢族，廣東廣州人，碩士，主要研究方向：英語語言。