Impacts of Globalization on English Language Education Across Inner, Outer, and Expanding Countries

This chapter tackles the critical changes that have occurred in English language education in different countries under the progress of globalization. Adhering to comprehensiveness, the changes in representative countries across different categories are discussed. The division of the categories is based upon Kachru’s (1992) Three Circle Model, namely the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle. Within each circle, two representative countries are addressed. Major changes related to the field of English language education in these countries include issues such as educational policy, English curriculum designing, English teaching research, methods and techniques, English educators and learners’ perspectives, and so forth. Throughout the synthesizing and comparing process, the common theme that is used to connect the six countries is globalization; discussions are centered on how the changes are influenced by globalization. The chapter concludes by addressing the future issues each country might face and their further directions in advancing English education