English as the third most common native

language in the world

360m native speakers use English a mother
tongue or first language
375m people use English as a second
language (ESL)
705m people use English as a foreign
language (EFL)
Official in 54 countries, 27 non-sovereign
entities, UN, EU, Commonwealth of nations,
Council of Europe

Source: Wikipedia
Countries Native
language
ESL EFL
United States
United Kingdom
The Philippines
Hong Kong
India
Canada
New Zealand
Fiji
Ghana
Korea
Thailand
Nigeria
South Africa
Countries Native
language
ESL EFL
United States x
United Kingdom x
The Philippines x
Hong Kong x
India x
Canada x
New Zealand x
Fiji x
Ghana x
Korea x
Thailand x
Nigeria x
South Africa x
South Asia,
South East
Asia, South
Pacific
North
America,
South Africa,
Australia,
New Zealand
Dialect: a variety of a language characteristic
of a particular group of the languages
speakers distinguished by grammar,
vocabulary and pronunciation
Standard and non-standard dialects
Standard dialects: supported by institutions
Non-standard dialects: not accepted widely
Used in international communication
Studied by a big number of countries
89% of schoolchildren in Europe
Taught in many countries in Asia
95% articles in English (in Science citation
index)



Whatever form is accepted as a national norm
South East England dialect in UK: received
pronunciation
General American English across America
Australian English in Oceania
Formal written English agreed upon by
educated speakers of English around the
world
A common means for communication among
speakers of different first languages
Contact for example between Malaysians with
Indonesians, Thai with Vietnamese
Focus on functions rather than form
Communicative efficiency is prioritised
ELF interactions are hybrid: code switching
may occur
you look very sad and he look very sad
our countries have signed agreement about this
youre very busy today, isnt it?
who = which as in the picture who or a person which
shift of patterns of preposition use as in we have to study
about
bare and/or full infinitive over gerunds, as in I look
forward to see you tomorrow
increased explicitness, for example how long time instead
of how long
exploited redundancy, such as ellipsis of
objects/complements of transitive verbs as in I wanted to
go with, you can borrow
(Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English)
ELF allows freer use than standards of English
ELF is multicultural instead of culture-free
Native speakers may not understand ELF
Some linguists claim that ELF is dangerous
and devoid of any patterns, so it is not worth
studying
Thinking about the position and development
of English in the globalised world, do you
think standards are still necessary for
teaching and learning the language?