Week 11: English in an era of globalization

Chapter one in Interaction English in Its Sociolinguistic Contexts talks about the English language in an era of globalization. There is this wide spread of English taking place all over the world. However, with that being said, homogenization is leading to the loss of other languages around the world. With the loss of languges comes the loss of culture. I agree with those stating that is devastating to see languages dying with the increase of English language speakers. This comes down to the fact that in order to save these cultures and languages they need to continue speaking it and spreading it. I see how this can be so hard when such a language as powerful as English is globalizing. What would happen if English eventually became the only language in the world?

I found it very interesting to read about the spread of English through colonialism. Also, I thougth that it was cool to read about all of the various incentives for learning English. The incentives included economic, education and mass media incentives.   It made me realize how much of necessity there is to speak the English lanuage. I had a flashback to my study abroad experience yet again while reading the section about music. The chapter states how English is the dominant language in popular music today. In many countries, the exposure to these popular songs has led to code-mixing in locally produced pop music. I remember my Spanish friends not being able to speak English however they were able to sing the lyrics of popular English sang songs. I thought it was funny how they would sing but didn't even know what the lyrics meant. They would then use those words in everyday speech. 

With the high demand of having the ability to speak English, monolinguism is an important factor to consider in all of this. Each and every person has these cultural layers and languages as they choose to learn another language. It seems as if these layers and beginning to fall off and they are being left with only the English language. I think that especially as future educators, we need to help students realize the beauty of having such a unique cultural identity. It is an incredible experience learning another language but that does not need to include losing native languages. I plan on helping my students to protect their cultural identity and stress the importance of keeping linguistic and cultural background.