Essay Help On Impact Of Englishisation On Cultural Identity

English as a Language

English has the privilege of becoming a global language. There are about 380 million native English speakers. In addition, over 200 million people in the world have taken up English as their second language. There are still a billion people in the world who are still in the process of learning the English language. The English language is primarily associated with the western nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, or Canada.

The world has experienced massive globalization in the economic sector. Therefore, Englishisation has facilitated communication between people coming from different linguistic backgrounds. Educational sector has also been globalized where people move between countries to pursue higher studies. This has also resulted in the development of the English language.

English has the status of becoming the world’s first language used for communication. This is because of its primary use in various sectors, such as diplomacy, politics, technology, and commerce. English is everywhere around us. However, the effects of Englishisation has affected the society in a multitude of ways. The loss of cultural identity can be attributed to the globalization of the English language.  

Englishisation and its Effects on Cultural Identity 

There are a multitude of ways in which the globalization of the English language can be comprehended. For instance, English can be recognized as the creator of new class of inequality or the means of economic prosperity. It may also be understood as a tool for cross-cultural awareness and communication, or perhaps as one of the ordinary phases of lingua franca (Johnson, 2009). 

In the present world, the English language has a very strong foothold in the education system of China. Feng suggests that the inclusion of “reform and open-door” strategy in the education of English language in 1977 has significantly contributed to the modernization of China (2009). Wenfeng and Gao suggest that Englishisation has also opened up unprecedented socioeconomic opportunities to the individual learners (2008).

Currently, China forms the world’s largest English-learning population. In China, schools tend to emphasize the students to learn English at a tender age. This process of English learning is then concluded when the official English proficiency test is cleared by the students upon pursuing their college or university degrees.