Language and Education in Asia

Globalization and the Status of English in Asia

In Asia, English is well recognized as the language of global communication, and mastery of English is a much sought-after goal. The supremacy of English over other languages in Asian countries, as in other parts of the world where English is not the mother tongue, has important implications for the language policies of these countries. It has also generated heated debates about the impact of the hegemony of English on the sociocultural fabric of these communities.

The former British colonies in Asia that retained English as an official and working language after independence include Hong Kong, Singapore, India, and Pakistan. Alternatively, in countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Brunei, English has remained a prestigious language and medium of instruction for the elite in schools and universities. Asian countries formerly referred to by linguistics professor Braj Kachru as belonging to the “Outer Circle” of the English-speaking world, in particular China, Japan, and South Korea, have been pouring enormous amounts of resources into the teaching of English and the recruitment of English native-speaker teachers. In the last two decades, English learning has been advanced from Secondary One (Grade 7) to Primary Three (Grade 3) in China, Bangladesh, Japan, and South Korea. In some areas in China, English learning is taught in Primary Grade One—even in rural schools where trained English teachers are rare. In Vietnam and Cambodia, the influx of foreign investments and participation in international political organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), where English is the only official language, have increased the demand for English and displaced French as the most important foreign language.

The epitome of the supremacy of English in Asia was the reversal of medium-of-instruction policy in Malaysia in 2003, when English was reintroduced as a medium of instruction from primary school through university. In view of the fact that after independence from colonial rule, it had taken the Malaysian government 26 years of painstaking work to implement the use of Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction in the entire education system, this policy reversal was a major compromise.

The changes in language policies in Asian countries since the 1990s show that in Asia, regardless of whether nations are former British colonies, whether they have become or are rapidly becoming major players in the world economy, or whether they are still engaged in nation-building and suffering from poverty and a high proportion of illiteracy, they are all keen to participate in and stay competitive in the global economy and global politics. In order to do so, many of them have revisited their language policies accordingly.

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