- Doing any critical analysis with English and English Language Teaching (ELT) requires a critical examination of the language and related matters. - First, the English language has a long history of evolution and people all over the world have been speaking English as a first language, second language or an important foreign language. - The United Kingdom, its former colonies and the United States of America are the starting points of the popular diffusion of English language. - Thus, they are either native speakers of English or competent English users. - This paper presents a brief discussion of the present use of English and the growing tendency of this language use. - It also looks at the teaching of English language as a political undertaking. - To think about what a critical analysis should involve, we recall the introduction to the Quartely Journal for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages and of Standard English as a Second Dialect (TESOL), where Alastair Pennycook, acting as an editor for the works of critical approaches in English language teaching, focused on three main themes with these questions: the domain of interest, a transformative pedagogy and a self-reflexive stance on critical theory [1]. - For me, to lay a foundation for a critical analysis of the English language and English Language Teaching (ELT), it seems necessary to define critically the language itself, the native speakers of the language and the politics of that language education. - Studying these will help us go in the right direction of a work of critical analysis. - English language and native speakers of English The discussion of English language with its increasing power is worthwhile.English is one of about 4,000 languages all over the world. - Anyway, English is not the most popular native language in the world in comparison with Chinese, spoken in eight varieties, by about 1.3 billion people in China alone). - Bhatt [3] wrote about "English language complex", about the increasingly spread of English with varieties of English in the world or 'World Englishes'. - The metropolitant standards, the standards of the "mother city/city-state" in relation to its colonies, once has been applicable to British English but today indicating at least two standard varieties: British and American English norms. - There are varieties of English as a second language in the colonies (e.g. - English is used as a foreign languages in the countries where there is no direct influence of the British (and US) settlement where English serves international purposes. - About "the native speakers of a language” and "native speakers of English”, there are a lot of debates. - The non-native speaker does not have the same automatic fluency of the language in comparison with a native-speaker one because that person only learns the second or other language(s) after his or her mother tounge. - However, they further added that the above definition will be true only in mono-lingual societies because a child, in some societies of multilingualism, might speak several native languages, where: ...the order of acquisition not being an indicator of ability. - Multilingual speakers may switch languages according to situation in a way that monolingual speakers switch styles of the same language"natively” (Scotton 1985). - The difference between “nativeness” and “non-nativeness” may be related to different attitudes of the speakers and hearers. - is interwoven with issues of race and ethnicity, as one’s nativeness as a speaker of English is often assumed to correlate with the paleness of one’s skin. - The populations of the five countries in the "Inner Circle" namely UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are taken to be "the true native speakers" of English. - First of all, those people bear the hallmark of the native speakers of English. - Although these native speakers of English in different countries do not share the same economical, geographical, cultural or political conditions, they have many characteristics in common. - A Singaporean may speak English, Tamil, Chinese or Malay at the same time, and nobody would regard them as native speakers of English. - Only these countries will provide the world with the best metropolitan standard norms of English. - Perhaps, this is part of the reasons why the native speakers of English language become 'hegemonic'. - Thirdly, in a new phase, it is the countries in the Inner circle, especially USA and UK, as the native speakers of English, acting as the elite leaders of the world in term of economics, science and technologies and, hence, politics and military. - It is these countries that are pushing the speed of the globalization of English by official organizations and documents, computers, banking, trading products and by their foreign policies. - In short, the countries in the Inner Circle are playing the primary roles in the growth of English as providers of English standards (British or American ones). - In the Outer Circle are the former colonies of Britain and USA where English is additionally introduced for education, law, administration, newspapers etc. - Actually, only in the Outer Circle and Expanding Circle, there are about 800 million people using English together with other languages to communicate. - The fact is demanding an examination of the present use as well as the future growth of this language. - English today and in the future More about same circles of World Englishes, Yamuna Kachru and Larry E. - Smith [4] explained the diffusion of English mechanism, a kind of ' chain reaction' with new varieties, a process in which local multilingual populations, in their turn, are spreading this language. - They showed that the use of English in those three circles (two diaporas of English in B. - Krachu's words) related to the spread of English worldwide. - In the Inner Circle (the first Diapora), there is a population of a monolingual English-speaking movement, responsible for the introduction this language to new locations (e.g. - In the second Diaspora (with other two Circles), this language was again reintroduced to new places through education, trades and missionary work. - Smith L.E said the main push for the adoption and diffusion of English came from the local multilingual populations. - And the language, once was established, was adapted to new uses and nativilized in the new contexts.. - signals use in the domain. - indicates no use in the domain. - points to the use of English along with other languages in the domain.). - Functions of English in the Three Circles.. - English is spreading and, anyway, it seems that only English can play that role in the 'linguistic market place'. - Bhatt [3] mentioned Truchot's statement that the spread of English was as a consequence of the internalization of society and globalization of exchanges. - Due to its superiority and advantages in terms of the number of populations, economics, wide colonial use, high technologies and the likes, English is in the leading position that no other languages can compete today. - Bhatt even went further to think of a possible dominance of English in future: In former times it was the brute force of colonization and conquest that destroyed viable language and cultural groupings in the Americas and Australasia. - Bhatt stressed that many people consider English to be "a killer language” in its expansion. - In fact, people are using this language as an effective tool of national and international communication but, on the other hand, English is also swallowing and replacing other indigenous languages in the world (and , perhaps, their cultures as well). - The political nature of English language teaching. - The individuals were not viewed as parts of the broader world they were living in and, therefore, were isolated from their context. - Coultas [5], wrote about the importance of the context and its relation of to language use. - New discovery of the political aspects in language teaching and learning was also provided by the developments in other disciplines, which made the scholars in the field of anthropology and sociology begin to re-examine the apolitical tradition of their viewpoint. - In 1990s, in English Language Teaching (ELT), the idea that ELT was always political was accepted. - Bill Johnston in his book Values in English Language Teaching, [6] mentioned Michael Foucault's exposes of the socially situated nature of knowledge and the way in which knowledge is bound up with the play of power in social setting. - About linguistics, he wrote: In linguistics, meanwhile - another doggedly apolitical domain - there was a growing realization of the need for linguists to engage politically, if only to save the object of their inquiries: indigenous and other minority languages, which were disappearing at an alarming rate. - Johston assumed that there were some reasons for the teaching of English to be apolitical. - Secondly, most of the teachers never think what they are doing relating to politics and the classes are the right places to express their attitudes. - In general, there is a lack of awareness of this political relation in the minds of the teachers themselves. - In fact, many of the items in the course-books have been purposely selected or intentionally excluded. - The topics in the lessons are usually just everyday trifling stories.The power relations and ideologies are, therefore, hidden from view. - Not only the publishers who play their roles in the preparation of the text-books and course-books in a apolitical manner, the social classes who influence the education also keep a safe distance form the classrooms. - One more problem creating the apolitical view is the understanding of the term "political" itself. - was very serious to see that the use of the word "political" has (and largely, we assume, anything) to do with social and economic change. - He said if we talked of the politics of food production, that would mean there was something wrong with the production of the food or the food production supporting system and change must be made. - The politics of sport, he added, included analysis of the changing social and economic structure of professional sport. - Johston [6], also pointed out another dimension of the term "political” which involved power and control of resources. - there are many ways in which the statement proves to be true: the language education is playing its part in the processes of colonization and decolonization. - there is a huge effect of the spread of English on indigenous languages. - the concerns of political dimension of teaching immigrant and refugee learners in ESL contexts is growing, the dominance of English in the media and in computer-based technologies is challenging. - and the crucial role of English in globalization is inevitable. - In the first place, the mechanism of colonization is a vital part with the teaching of English in African and South East Asia.. - From South Africa to Sri Lanca, English has been employed in the processes of decolonization. - In these countries, English is more or less maintaining its power in the machineries of economic, political, and cultural hegemony. - In the second place, Johnston writes about the death of dozens of indigenous languages in United States as the result of the direct imposition of English. - Johnston agrees with Krauss' s estimation that in the next 200 years, 90% of the world's languages could be lost (and maybe together with the cultures) with "devastating effect of the process of language shift on actual individuals and their familial and social relations. - Thirdly, in United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, politics blatantly involves the teaching of English language in the classrooms to immigrant adults and children. - The rapid growing computer-based technologies, internet and the webs mostly in English is another political significance, pushing the social, economic and cultural inequality, with "the increasingly widespread use of computers for tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the consuming obsession many teachers, teacher trainers, and material writers have developed with using computers to teach English" [6]. - The spread of English on the internet also serve as an example of globalization which is profoundly political in nature. - The other thing is that when the hi-tech communication is popular, people have almost no other language choice than English to access to other computer users and: The overall result of this is that computer users have to use English to access and connect with the rest of the world (often meaning the United States), while television viewers in pretty much any country in the world can watch CNN and MTV in English (whereas in the United States, with a few regionalized exceptions, it is, virtually, impossible to watch television in other languages). - [6] In summary, it is an undeniable fact that the English spread and English Language Teaching is political. - Going back to Beard and Johston's definition about politics, we find out that the politics lies in the changing tendency of the world from multi-language world to only-English world, which may be causing a collapsible change of cultures (changing from multi-cultural poles towards a mono-cultural pole). - Government of Vietnam has been encouraging the use of English nationwide. - The series of articles of Bui Hien [8-11] denouncing the negative effects of the "only English'' requirements of the Ministry of Education are the evidences of other voices that can be heard in our country nowadays. - Once the extreme priority is given to English, only this language is interested in, especially for the graduate, PhD students and the staffs in the government offices, schools and universities. - English language has been spreading, together with the influence of the English speaking countries, especially United States of America. - They are also earning from the process of English language diffusion, economically and politically. - When people use English for international communication and trading, they should, at the same time, protect themselves from the possible negative invasion of this language and the alien side of the cultures it goes along with. - Pennycook, Quartely journal for teachers of English to speakers of other languages and of standard English as a second dialect (TESOL), Introduction: critical approaches to TESOL pp.329-348.. - Cable, A history of the English language, Routledge, London, 2002. - Johnston, Values in English language teaching, Lawrence erlbaum associates, Publishers, Mahwah, New Jersey, London, 2003.. - Bui Hien, Bulletin of language and life, We do not just need English for integration, do we?, volume 8, 2005, "Để hội nhập đâu phải chỉ cần một tiếng Anh?” Bùi Hiền, Tạp chí Ngôn ngữ và Đời sống số 8, 2005.. - Bui Hien, Bulletin of language and life, A very harmful policy for master student enrollment (only English tests are allowed), volume 4, 2009, Một quy chế tuyển sinh cao học có tác hại (chỉ thi tiếng Anh. - Bui Hien, Bulletin of electronic propaganda and instruction, Is the project "20,000 Ph.Ds" of the MOET feasible?, May, 25th, 2009, "Thực hiện "Đề án 20.000 TS" của bộ GD&ĐT liệu có tính khả thi? "Bùi Hiền, Tạp chí Tuyên giáo điện tử . - Tiếng Anh hiện tại và tương lai nhìn từ bình diện phê phán. - Chúng ta cần nhận ra bản chất chính trị của việc dạy tiếng Anh để hành động. - Bài báo cũng xem xét việc dạy tiếng Anh như một công việc có tính chính trị. - Từ khoá: Phân tích phê phán, tiếng Anh, người nói tiếng Anh bản ngữ, bản chất chính trị của việc dạy tiếng Anh, các loại tiếng Anh trên thế giới.