Browsing by Subject "World Englishes"

This thesis examines the connotations of the adjectives ‘international’ and ‘global’ in English textbooks for upper secondary level Swedish speakers in Finland. The goal is to investigate which kind of ideologically constructed entity does ‘English’ refer to in the textbooks. To narrow down the scope of the thesis, two subservient research questions are addressed: Which kind of internationalism and globalization is ‘English’ associated with in English textbooks, and how is the English language portrayed in English textbooks as part of the internationalization of Finland? The study is situated within the field of language ideologies. To answer the questions, multiple methods are used. A quantitative analysis shows that English is mainly connected to the inner circle and the expanding circle in Braj Bihari Kachru’s model of World Englishes. This means that English is constructed as a national language, the ownership of which belongs to Anglo-American countries (circle one). Moreover, English is also often portrayed as a lingua franca (circle three). Kachru’s circle two, comprised of countries formerly colonized by the United Kingdom, are seldom mentioned. This contributes to the mythification of the English language as naturally spread. Methods developed within cognitive semantics are applied and developed when scrutinizing the connotations of ‘global’ and ‘international’. The meaning of ‘international’ can be depicted as three different schemata: one reflecting the denotation of the word (‘inter’ + ‘national’), another reflecting inbound ‘international’ and a third reflecting outbound ‘international’. Outbound ‘international’ is connected to Finnish businesses, showing them as successful. Inbound ‘international’ forms an anonymous international domain, within which backgrounds of those joining international communities can be faded away. The study shows that English is mostly presented as a natural, neutral and beneficial language of globalization, as criticized by Alastair Pennycook. For their part, the textbooks can be seen as contributing to the mythification of the English language. Because the textbooks are significant agents in so-called Language Making, their scrutinization through an ideological lens is important.