Yasukata Yano

World Englishes in 2000 and beyond

Spreading at the present rate, English will further increase its importance as the global lingua franca in this century. At the same time, the rapid and extensive localization and nativization will accelerate the ramification of English into varieties in the ESL (English as a Second Language) regions. Our challenge then will be how to maintain common standards and mutual intelligibility among those varieties of English. The users of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) who are relatively free from the localization of English might be able to contribute to create, maintain, and develop the globalized standards of Englishes. Such Englishes would be characterized as simple, plain, and regular in their linguistic forms and socioculturally neutral in their interactional strategies. They would accommodate any variety of English as far as it is comprehensible to the educated users of any variety, native or not.

The Future of English: Beyond the Kachruvian Three Circle Model?

English has spread throughout the world and has developed into many local varieties for intra-national use as a second language. Economic globalization has also made English one of the most powerful means of international communication. The more people use English, the more people learn the language; many countries have introduced English into the primary school curriculum and young learners are rapidly increasing. The European Union primary schools teach English from Grade 1 as part of the ‘mother tongue plus two foreign languages’ policy (Kawahara and Yamamoto 2004: 95). In Malaysia, Singpore and other ESL countries English is also taught from Grade 1. EFL countries such as China and Korea teach English from Grade 3 onwards, and Japan will start teaching English at Grades 5 and 6 in 2011 (Honna et al. 2008). As Graddol (2006: 72) predicts, English might be a basic skill for all in the future. From the need to use English frequently and intensely within wider regions such as Europe and Asia rather than globally, however, English would be converged to major regional varieties such as Euro-English and Asian English in the near future (Yano 2001: 126). When and if English becomes a basic skill for all, the roles that native speakers provide norms, second language users develop norms, and foreign language users depend on norms provided by native speakers will be changed.

Larry E. Smith, co-founder of World Englishes, dies at 73

Larry Eugene Smith, co-founder of the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE) and co-founder and adviser to its quarterly journal, World Englishes, passed away suddenly of a massive heart attack on 13 December 2014 in New Delhi, India soon after his arrival there, in advance of the IAWE annual conference. He was 73. Smith, in collaboration with Emeritus Professor Braj B. Kachru of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, founded the field of English as an International Language (EIL) and developed it into the concept of World Englishes, which became a major area of academic inquiry both in its own right and in related fields, including English as an International Language, English as a Global Language, English as a Lingua Franca and Developmental World Englishes. A native of Arkansas, Smith graduated from Arkansas State University. After teaching English in Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer for four years, he came to the University of Hawai’i in 1967, where he worked towards an MA in sociolinguistics. In 1970, he joined the East–West Center (EWC) there, the US government-initiated cross-cultural and educational institution, and later served as Dean and Director of its Institute for Culture and Communication (1993–1999), where he developed and implemented programs for EIL and cross-cultural communication. In 1999 he retired from EWC and established his own consulting firm, Christopher, Smith & Associates LLC, specializing in leadership education. He did, however, continue to serve EWC as President of the Friends of the East–West Center, and maintained close ties there and ran workshops at the EWC through the Global Challenge Program, an initiative which he developed to promote programs such as ‘Living World Englishes’ in connection with several Japanese universities. At the same time, he worked tirelessly to continue to grow and develop the International Association for World Englishes (IAWE), the academic organization he had co-founded with Professor Braj B. Kachru, up to his final day. Wherever the site of each year’s IAWE Conference, and as Braj and the late Yamuna Kachru became less able to travel, Smith was the key adviser whom local hosts relied on to ensure that the conference would run smoothly. He also helped to develop scholarship funds within the IAWE, to help young scholars from developing countries be able to attend the conference, and created the Braj B. Kachru award for the best paper given at the conference by a young PhD candidate. Hawai’i held a special place in Smith’s heart. Once having arrived, he never left the islands for long. The meeting place of East and West, and the land of racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity, it suited him well. In these islands of internationality, multiculturalism and harmony, he developed the concepts of English as an international language, World Englishes, cross-cultural communication and intelligibility in English across cultures – where English is no longer the sole property of native speakers. He continuously transmitted these concepts and their application to the