Abstract
Using the analogy of a monster from Greek mythology, the hydra, who would sprout two heads whenever one was cut off, the editors attempt to present a picture of how the global spread of English could be seen as a hegemonic predator in non-English speaking countries.
The book’s editors, Vaughan Rapatahana and Pauline Bunce, explain in the preface that their personal experiences of teaching English in non-English speaking countries contributed to the conception of this book. Having taught in several of these countries and enjoyed the prestige of being a native-speaking English Language teacher, Rapatahana felt that these privileges empowered him to live a comfortable life but there was no assurance that the students he taught would be, just like him and other native speakers, equally empowered by the English language. Bunce, who started ESL teaching without a language qualification, sees teaching English as ‘opening the flood gates of Westernisation’ (p. xix) and is concerned about the negative implications of an English-only education on non-native speakers as their indigenous cultures get eroded together with the local languages.
The collection of 14 case studies, written by indigenous writers as well as those who have spent time in these non-English speaking communities, serve to explore five themes related to the global domination of the English language: (1) The spread of the English language is insidious, pervasive and self-perpetuating; (2) the English language can be powerful, destructive and inimical; (3) the process of English language domination is complex and contradictory; (4) there are fight-backs against domination of the English language; and (5) the English language is not acting alone in its cultural thieving.
These themes tend to recur in all of the chapters, highlighting the pervasive negative reaction in non-English speaking countries as English is pushed into the education system and the society at large. For example, in the first chapter, ‘The Challenge – Ndara ya Thiomi: Languages as Bridges’, the author, drawing from his own experience of being a student in a colonized state in Africa, argues that colonization has led to an imbalance in the status of languages in many of these countries. He traces the discriminatory language policy of several colonized states and concludes that banning the use of indigenous languages during periods of imperial colonization has led to the domination of a few, mostly European, languages.
Similarly, in Chapter 2, the author, who aptly named his article ‘English Language as Bully in the Republic of Nauru’, provides a case study of linguistic imperialism in Nauru, an island country in the South Pacific. He argues that the native language, Nauruan, has become marginalized while English continues to dominate in this former British colony. The author concludes that a language policy that promotes additive bilingualism could ensure the maintenance of the indigenous language.
The domination of English as seen from the premise that a majority of ESL students preferred white native speakers over non-native speakers of English as their teachers (Amin, 1997) is also examined in this book. In Chapter 8, ‘English Language as Governess: Expatriate English Teaching Schemes in Hong Kong’, the author explains the ‘real’ reasons behind Hong Kong’s numerous Native English-speaking Teacher (NET) schemes. The chapter gives an interesting recount of the proliferation of the different NET schemes in Hong Kong despite the lack of success of these programmes in schools and discusses the irony of retaining such NET schemes particularly in post-colonial Hong Kong.
Another chapter which is worth noting is Chapter 13, ‘English and Mandarin in Singapore: Partners in Crime?’ This case study looks at the language policy of Singapore after independence and the impact it has had on the Chinese dialects. These dialects, such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka and Hainanese are the mother tongues of many of the ethnic Chinese population in the country. For pragmatic reasons, English, the colonizer’s language, has been adopted as Singapore’s de facto working language as well as the medium of instruction in schools. In addition, with the institutionalization and promotion of Mandarin, the use of Chinese dialects in Singapore has eroded significantly. Hence, it is interesting to note that in Singapore, English is not acting alone in marginalizing the mother tongues of the Chinese population, but Mandarin, another major world language can be considered ‘a partner in crime’.
Chapter 12 ‘English as Border Crossing: Longing and Belonging in the South Korean Experience’ is an interesting personal recount relating how the English language has impacted an individual who has been immersed in the English language and American culture from a young age. The positive and negative implications as well as the complexity and the contradictory nature of the domination of English, now seen from an individual’s point of view, is revisited in this chapter.
This book succeeds in painting a picture of the English Language as the Hydra. The case studies portray the spread of the English language in a negative light with English being metaphorically portrayed as a thief, a bully, a nemesis of indigenous languages and a partner is crime with no redeeming characteristics. Although the issues mentioned in the case studies are areas of genuine concern, the positive effects of learning English cannot be ignored and should also be discussed to give a more complete and balanced picture.
Overall, this book does offer a different perspective on the impact of learning English in non-English speaking countries. It gives readers another point of view as most might only look at the positive influence of English on the society in terms of the economic and social benefits, and overlook the negative impact it has on local cultures and indigenous languages. Hence, this book would be of interest not only to language policy makers but also English language teacher trainers and teachers who need to be aware of these important issues.