World Englishes and Culture in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Education


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Ünal Gezer M.

An Examination of Cultural Elements in Literary Works, Movies, TV Programs and Advertisements, Servet Çelik,Ekrem Solak, Editör, Vize Yayıncılık, Ankara, ss.159-178, 2020

  • Yayın Türü: Kitapta Bölüm / Araştırma Kitabı
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Yayınevi: Vize Yayıncılık
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Ankara
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.159-178
  • Editörler: Servet Çelik,Ekrem Solak, Editör
  • TED Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The growth of English language use as the language of the world has been continuing for several decades. In this age, there are about 1.5 billion speakers of English language worldwide and majority of them are regarded as EFL speakers who are located in expanding circle as the British Council reports. The spread of English through globalization can be explained based on different perspectives: at one end the spread of the language homogenizes the world culture and on the other hand the globalization causes pluricentricism which results in world Englishes and varieties of English. As Brown and Lee (2015) point out, in the light of global population of English speakers and the proposed models for the global impact of English, one can understand English is popularly used by non-native speakers and more crucially, English is not for understanding or teaching American or British cultural values. “Instead, English has become a tool for international communication in transportation, commerce, banking, tourism, entertainment, technology, diplomacy, research, publishing, and information sharing on the Internet” (p. 163). All in all, English is a language that belongs to all of its speakers regardless their origin. English is the common language of choice among speakers of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds (Jenkins, 2009). This diversity calls for the integration of authentic, culturally-enriching, and engaging contexts.