Contending with Globalization in World Englishes

Reviews / Votes

What roles are English and World Englishes playing in globalization? What effect is globalization having on English and World Englishes? What effect is globalization having on other languages? Anyone interested in exploring these crucial questions will find this book a most helpful and stimulating companion. The editors have assembled an appropriately diverse all-star cast of contributors, each of whom approaches the topic from a refreshingly innovative standpoint. To paraphrase Omoniyi's poem which opens the book, readers will learn to 'waltz, salsa and lion-dance' (and hip-hop) their way through the complex cultural and linguistic steps of globalisation. -- Andy Kirkpatrick, Hong Kong Institute of Education The widespread variation in English as used for international communication has provoked a correspondingly wide variety of views about its significance. This collection is an impressive testimony to how varied these views are, and how diverse the theoretical and ideological perspectives that inform them. There is a good deal in this stimulating book that calls for the careful and critical reflection about established ways of thinking. -- Barbara Seidlhofer, University of Vienna, Austria This book is an overdue and welcome treatment of what global English stands for. It definitely pinpoints the shift away from colonialization, native-like measurement and materials promoting native-speaker hegemony. Speakers using English should be ready to use the language with whoever is also speaking it. "Contending with Globalization in World Englishes" should be of interest to all using English in international contexts and specifically to applied linguists, as the issues discussed are relevant at the current time. -- Katrin Volt, Estonia & France * Review published on dialogin - The Delta Intercultural Academy on April 2011 * There is a lot of interesting material collated in this book, and some of the contrasting approaches are thought-provoking...it presents some useful overviews about the current status of English in various places aroung the world, and furthermore it offers a valuable contrast between a range of approaches towards globalization, so it will certainly be appreciated by many researchers and students of World Englishes. -- David Deterding, Universiti Brunei Darussala, Brunei * English World-Wide 33:2 (2012), 235-239 *