English in the World: Global Rules, Global Roles

English today, is a truly global language, which plays an important role in international communication, trade, diplomacy, sport, science, technology and culture. One of the consequences of the global predominance of English is that non-native speakers of English now outnumber native speakers. Unlike many international languages, English has no official body prescribing its norms and this has led to a complicated picture of English diversity. This collection of essays by internationally renowned academics brings together different theoretical perspectives that reflect this debate on norms. The first section examines different conceptions of English as an international language, looking at world Englishes, native-speakers and 'standard' English. The second section looks at the pedagogical implications of English as an international language, and addresses such questions as how can we design a curriculum for teaching English, what methods are most effective for teaching English, and what are the key considerations in the ESL classroom? "English in the World" will be of interest to students and researchers of world Englishes, applied linguistics and English as a second language.