Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

The English language has without a doubt became the official language of globalization. Great Britain’s imperialist expansion into other countries and the United States creation of the League of Nations spread English throughout the world in government and social manners. This phenomenon has since allowed members of different cultures to communicate with each other regarding business, political, economic, and even online affairs together. Most of international communication is spoken in English, for individuals to participate in the increasingly globalized world English must be learned from the ground level at a young age. This very first step of participating in a new era of globalization has proven to be an issue in some very important countries for various reasons. Proper English education is not available for all citizens and the trend of institutions teaching in English within non-native speaking countries does not always help students learn new information. The recent exit of Great Britain of the European Union also questions the future of English in Europe and the world. This paper will cite the specific problems of learning English in case studies within India, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, and the European Union as a whole. It will identify case studies to support the arguments and provide future areas of research to combat these problems. Finally, it will use the evidence to claim that although we are working towards a culturally hybridized world in which many people know the same language, there are still changes to be made. Unless all citizens are included in government decisions with English speaking countries, inequality will still be an issue and globalization will struggle to make future strives.