The impact of English as a global language on non- English speakers

Alsalamualikum,
Ramadan Mubarak to all of you. Actually, I haven’t attended the speech that given by Dr. Alan Maley that Friday, because I have a lecture at the same time. To some extent, I can contribute with you in this issue, due to its importance in our life. According to the three important books on international English are Phillipson's "Linguistic Imperialism" (1992) , Crystal's "English as a Global Language" (1997)and , Kachru's "The Alchemy of English" (1986), a crucial lesson that can be drawn is that one walks a very thin line when dealing with such a politically charged topic as the spread of English in a global context. However, the question that always arises itself is Why English is an international language in this global context, and to what extent, can English as an international language serve to perform acts of identity?
It is obvious that it is a complicated question; so I will state my point of view.
Actually,the two major forces which spread English throughout the world are British colonialism in the 19th and American capitalism in the 20th century. Clearly, the most important reason of considering English as an international language in this global context is the association of English with modern technology, economic progress and internationalization; as a result this encouraged people all over the word to learn English. Concerning if English as an international language can serve to perform acts of identity or not, it is worth to say that language is quite connected to cultural identities, even persons who have a new national identity they still belongs to their cultural identity and the use of their culture’s language is a good evidence of this claim, for example Indians and Chinese who live in Malaysia, they have the Malaysian national identity and they affected by the Malaysian culture, they also use the language of Malay but they still belongs to their cultural identities through many things like mother tongue, customs, clothes, and religion beliefs.
Thus, our language and our cultural identity are integral, what we speak, what we utter in a specific language is restricted our cultural identity gives us a location in the world and presents the link between us and the society in which we live. As a result, my point of view about this issue is that English actually cannot form our identity for many reasons. To same extent, there is no escape from admitting that English play an important role in our lives, so I consider that English help to perform acts of identity at work place and educational institutions.
In my point of view that Language is a lingua franca that means even teaching materials are perfect English and grammar is perfect, the learners still cannot be as a native speaker of that language.
Therefore, I strongly agree with what Omaya said about Dr Alan Maley’s suggestion on the different methods of teaching English; by using comprehensible English in classroom which will be suitable to all students’ cognitive abilities and social contexts. In my opinion, we should encourage the appropriateness of English language for local purposes around the world in our pedagogy and curriculum in order to get the benefit of English to the learner himself and his society.
To sum up, I believe that in a multilingual world where learners may be belong to more than one speech community; their main goal is not to become a native speaker of English, but to use this language as a tool for interaction among other languages and cultures.
What do you think?
Mufida Ali Ghwela. P48346