Abstract
English dovetails with globalisation and now serves so many purposes in continental European countries and in the institutions of the European Union that it is becoming a second language. Some of the political, journalistic and academic marketing of English, is false. There are fundamental paradoxes in the ostensible commitment of the EU to maintaining linguistic diversity and the expansion of the uses of English. Many of the variables affecting the goals and forms of English learning are contrasted in a Global English Paradigm and a World Englishes Paradigm. The conflicting pressures and interpretations of what is at stake in changed uses and forms of English can be traced in its evolving hybridity, in trends towards diglossia, and mythology about how English functions as a ‘lingua franca.’ Research into the increased use of English in Germany and Scandinavia is reported on. Moves towards seeing English as detached from Anglo-American norms are scrutinized, and limitations in the existing research are identified. Efforts nationally and in the EU directed towards strengthening multilingualism in education need to address the political, economic and cultural aspects of Englishization and to engage with these more actively in language policy formation and the reform of language pedagogy if the language ecology of Europe is to flourish.
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Phillipson, R. (2007). English, No Longer a Foreign Language in Europe?. In: Cummins, J., Davison, C. (eds) International Handbook of English Language Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 15. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-46301-8_10
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