1.3.2. Supporters of English spread
Proponents of English worldwide spread could be those actively
engaged in its use around the globe. The United States with its domination
presses heavily in favour of English especially in Asia (Phillipson, 1992;
Ajroud, 1994). The argument is that the introduction of English opens the door
for non-English speaking countries to receive American and British support and
aids. Even though there is no evidence of who these people are and/or what they
do exactly, it is said sometimes that history
repeats itself, which means, according to Ajroud's (1994)
contention, that «the bible and the sword have been replaced by the
language teacher and the IMF `aid'» (p. 111). Habib Ajroud (1994) is
making by this statement an analogy between the ancient religious crusades and
the actual linguistic ones. Receiving English language professionals and books
has been a pre-condition for receiving British and American economic aids as
implied by Battenburg (1997) who criticised Tunisian officials for using
language policy as a means to extort money from the Americans. Therefore, it
could be said that Britain and the USA have been engaged in promoting English
in Tunisia.
The British Council (BC) and TESOL international could also be
considered as agencies in support of English spread. The BC is a public
organisation that was founded in 1934 in order to spread the English language,
literature, and culture in the world for the sake of serving the interests of
Britain (Phillipson, 1992). Certainly, these goals are slightly different from
those recognized officially by the organization or said differently in order to
be easy to `swallow'. On its official website, the BC claims, however, that its
goals are related to establishing cooperation «increasing exchange and
mutual understanding» (The British Council Annual Report 2006-2007)
between the UK and other countries. In order to understand the deep and hidden
motives behind the creation of the British Council it could be resorted to what
the Prince of Wales said after its establishment in 1934. In fact, he said that
«the glories of our literature, our contribution to the arts and sciences
and our pre-eminent contribution to political practice... (the appreciation of
these) can be best achieved by promoting the study of our language abroad»
(qtd in Ajroud, 1994, p. 114). The repetition of the term `our' three times is
extremely meaningful as it shows whose interests the British Council is going
to serve. However, it could be said that this is normal since the matter
concerns British money that serves British interests.
Support to English spread comes also from English as a Second
Language (ESL) and an increasing number of EFL countries, which are promoting
the use of English in various domains for the reasons mentioned in the previous
section of this paper (historical, political, economic, and practical reasons).
Therefore, in the context of all of this support for English, one might wonder
about the future of this language. Such a question is going to be dealt with in
the forthcoming sub-section.
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