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Running Head: ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE.
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ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
English as an international language
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The English language is regarded as one of the most widespread languages in the world. The word has spread not only to the nations that were former colonies of the European countries to the other countries which were not the settlements, an indication that it has expanded its boundaries to almost every nation. The continued use of the language is undisputable as it remains a strong tool of communicating with one another globally in various spheres of life including trade, academic field. It’s thus perceived by many individuals as investable in use especially when conducting transactions that are of global concern since it is the common language which is understood by many people thus making it an effective tool of communication (Brannen et al 2014). The word, however, comes with different versions across the world which originate from the first language and thus making it more diverse. However, despite these various versions of the same language that are in existence, it is easy to understand one another using those versions.
All those versions are most likely to have come into existence due to the presence of a vice known as mother tongue interference. This is defined as the resulting alteration of one language by the accent of the language which is the mother tongue of the individual. These interferences are common among the speakers who English is not their first language. The language also has got numerous relationships with other academic disciplines that are commonly studied by with inclusion of those that influence the lives of humans. For instance, since English is perceived as being an international language , it is an indication that it affects most of the cultural activities as people from all spheres of life converge and make a proper use of the language in communicating in bid to understand one another .This is an indication that cultural conceptualization has got many spheres where it relates to the English language and thus most studies tend t incorporate the two aspects without the urge to separate them especially when carrying out research on the English language( Richards & Rodgers 2014).
However, it should be noted that in recent times, the rate at which English as a language has been evolving in the matter concerning the communities and individuals who make use of the language around the world. The trend seems to have taken a positive direction with the number of the users and the learners of the language increasing tremendously across the world. Majority of those who are engaging in the study of the language are the non-native speakers of the English language .The increased number of participants in the trend at that has called for the restructuring of the key dimensions in the field of linguistics applicable in teaching of these learners. The increase in number of these complexities has resulted to the increase in number of cases regarding the best practices in teaching the language. The debate rotates in the influence of the English language by the politics and whether the old distinctions are held responsible for being the spear headers of the English language (Sharifian, 2013).
Also, on the issue of which language regarding native version and the nonnative one, by looking at which group has been affected by the changes in the language than the other one. By the fact that the people who have their origin from the so called nonnative speaking nations of English have been overtaken in form of numbers by the second users of the language, this has made the native users feel less involved concerning the use of their own language which in this case is English .This factor in return has resulted to the so-called debate as the natives can no-longer be relied upon to determine how the language should be used internationally .These has been the case as a result of increased dominance y the non native speakers of the language .These wider application of the language to a level of international concern also poses a challenge on the side of the cultural practices of different communities .By the fact that the English language has been in a position of penetrating the cultural barriers to an international level , it is an indication that the language has been able to gain familiarity among the many communities around the globe .This has been made possible through as process which is known as cultural conceptualization. This is also known as glocalisation ( Lantolf et al 2014)
The conceptualization of the cultural dynamics in the use of the language has been contributed by the increased cultural interactions which have increased recently due to the advancement of technological aspects which have resulted easier understanding among the communicators of the same language. However, the success of the language integration with the cultural aspects of various communities across the world .The aspects of language study that can be used to show clearly the success of language in terms of the intercultural success is determined by the multicultural competence and cultural linguistics (Tabari et al 2016).
Another aspect which has led to the spread of English language is as the process of localization of the language. This process entails coming up with a situation whereby the language is made a communicative tool by multilingual societies that are from different geographical locations. The conceptualization of this language in this case is a clear indication of how the language has been received and incorporated by the majority of the people in the world .One of the evidenced dilemma in the spread of English language is blurred act of distinguishing between the global version of English language and the local one( Alzubaidi et al 2016).The issue of distinguishing between the local and the international version of language but has been highly motivated by the issue of technology .Due to the technological advancements that have been taking place , the availability of the technological advancements have made it impossible to distinguish between the two .
According to Mackay the role that English plays as an international language has made it possible to say that the framework of the language is based on its effectiveness in terms of communication and the influence that it brings in return in form of the cultural distinctions of a given society .The relationship between the language and the cultural conceptualization is also availed in the situation whereby the intended sense of the English language globally is to aimed at enhancing communication , sharing of ideas and also his own practices as dictated by the cultural dimension of a language (Kumaravadivelu, 2012).
The intercultural communication has also been made possible by the presence of the language which in this context is the English language, For instance the English language having gained popularity among the non native speakers leads to interactions between learners of different spheres and as they learn this new language intercommunication is thus facilitated. The same case applies to teaching of the English language in the presence people who do come from different demographics , it aids communication thus conceptualizing those cultures to a natural point such that they do not affect that learning activity Lee et al 2013) .It is also via the English Language when used as international one facilitate the exchange of culture among .Even according to the definition to the word culture , it is evidence that it made up of the norms and beliefs o0f a particular society (Ting-Toomey & Chung 2012).The speaker of that particular society then are subjected to a situation whereby they are required to transmit it from one generation to another and thus majority of knowhow can only be done from a language point of view and thus English is believed to have its influence from the culture of the western people .However , the conflict over the language use of the English especially among the scholars who are of the first language seemed to possess the will and know how to contributing to the use of their language , an idea that made those from the foreign language feel frustrated and also with this kind of teaching model (Wegerif & Kaufman, 2015). This is an indication that there is the need to teach both societies a communication skill that are geared towards promoting a sound inter and multicultural relationships. Some of other factors that are also believed to be among the list of those that have enabled the use of the English land language to an international level and its ability to penetrate various barriers resulting from different cultures is attributed to the following;
The openness, curiosity and the attitude among the speakers the language has made it possible for them to overcome the barriers of the cultural beliefs. Also, by suspending their disbeliefs about the same particular culture, the same issue has been solved (Ellis, 2015). The idea of possessing known ledge which is capable of understanding how to make the language penetrate through the social groupings despite their practice with also putting into consideration other factors like the basic ideas of the interaction between an individual and that of the society at large.
They have also succeeded by the fact that they have been able to make good use of the skills that are necessary for the interpretation and of the information from the other cultures that do not own the English language. A good position of interpreting it and also relate it to that of the native community in the struggle to made it a more appropriate for use in the other cultures that do not have English as their native language .Another closely linked factor has been the ability of the English language promoters to be able to discover the acquire the knowledge , skills and attitudes of a language despite the constraints which occur as individuals engage in the real time conversation with one another( Sharifian, 2013).Also the creation of awareness among the individuals about their own culture also makes it possible for the non users of the language to be in a position of wanting to know more regarding the use of the language .
The above mentioned skills play a major role in ensuring that the idea of coming up with a more effective way of perceiving the use of the communicative skills that are basically meant to spread the language faster. It is also an indication of the close relationship that exists between individuals and their cultural ties which also includes language which is perceived as being the main tool of communication. Multidialectal competence has also been associated as being the main cause of the diversification of the English language which has seen the rise of various varieties of the English language (Mai, 2016).
These varieties of English thus pose dangers that in the long run, an individual will have to develop the capacity which is vital in ensuring that they learn how to negotiate the various diversities of the language in order to facilitate communication .The current increase in the nature of the intercultural communication is which has increased the relationship between the aspect of culture and language has also been influenced by other factors. For instance, some of the waves that have led to the increase are the increase human mobility and also migrations .The economic related reasons stated above have recently been associated with the increase rate if the language spread and thus their environmental pressure previously has made them use the language as a communicative tool towards the realization of better understanding between them and the natives ( Rogers et al 2015).
The broad understanding of English language in terms of its international dimensions and the conceptualization of culture can be clearly understood under the broad context of cultural linguistics .This is because it is via this sub branch of linguistics where the exploration of the relationship between the culture and language conceptualization .This leads us to another relationship that can be seen from the English language and the culture conceptualization as expressed in the field of cognitive linguistics .This branch emphasizes on the fact that the language is centered on the conceptual facilities while at the same time it places an emphasis on the fact that the cultural construction usually plays a major role in determining the nature of the conceptualization of the two aspects( Leung & Scarino , 2016).
The English language like any other language has got some links to the traditions of the native area of origin an idea that also applies to the aspect of cultural conceptualization .This interrelationship makes us to be in a position of understanding one aspect of the language in the likeness to the other one indicating that the two aspects are inseparable in use when describing them in terms of the linguistic perspective. Despite the variety of English in context, it is evident that these version in terms of conceptualization seem to be closely related to one another ( Assalahi & Rich, 2016).For instance the words like spending time and saving time which hare two versions with the initial referring to the British English version and the second one belonging to the America English version have got a conceptualization idea of time regarding commodity. Even according to the previous researches about the issues show that most of the conceptual metaphors that are currently present in the English language have got some cultural basis which show that the two share a close cultural relation in terms of the origin an idea which also makes it easy for the conceptualization process.
The English language also poses many features that show how it is closely associated with culture, a feature which is also common among other languages. Some of the visible reflections in the language show that the it reflects some cultural cognition that show its roots being based on the language spoken by the beginners of the language .To be specific , the cultural conceptualization of the English language usually feeds the pragmatic and the semantic meaning levels of the words used in that language( Leung & Scarino , 2016) .This in return creates a pool of meanings linked to the words in the same language that give the native speakers an opportunity to choose between the variety of the available words in the daily use of the English language .
Finally, as described in the above essay, the English language is undisputable language in use bearing in mind how it has been possible to come up with a mechanism of spreading globally .The language however needs to incorporate both native and the non native speakers in order to ensure that the language is structured in a way that would enable it be termed as being universally acceptable. The culture of the varied users of the language should however not be neglected a fact which is possible especially when the conceptualization process is factored, if the language is meant to incorporate culture there could be no clashes and even it would become easy to expand it more from the current level to more advanced levels .This in turn would make the journey of making the language multipurpose in use in the spheres of communication and technological gadgets come true.
References
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