Populist politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are plundering history for persuasive purposes

From Brexiters citing Ancient Greek legend to Donald Trump rewriting the details of the Normandy landings, Philip Seargeant writes that contemporary politicians are constantly co-opting history for their own ends. Though they pay lip service to the idea of learning from the past, he argues that these populist leaders have little real interest in engaging with the complexities of the challenges their societies face

Attitudes to English as a language for international development in rural Bangladesh

The high status of English within a global economy of languages has meant that English-language education is increasingly being promoted in international development initiatives. This is despite the fact that it may seem more valuable for the estimated 1.4 billion people living in poverty in the world to focus development initiatives on the lowering of infant mortality rates, clean water supply, access to electricity, and the provision of basic education, for example. A reason for the promotion of English-language education in development contexts is in part a response to a growing conviction that English-language education can play an important role in helping people gain the resources to lift themselves out of poverty and increase their ability to participate in the world economic systems from which they have previously been excluded. Despite the strong associations often made between the English language and development, there is, however, only limited evidence showing a relationship between the two. A first step in understanding this impact is an understanding of perceptions and expectations of English learning for personal and national development, and this research project investigates these in two rural communities in Bangladesh. Through the use of an ethnographic survey of two rural areas, it studies the needs and aspirations of the local community in order to better understand perceptions of whether and if so how English-language education could productively contribute to development as part of a wider programme of social and economic support

The communicative needs of Bangladeshi economic migrants: The functional values of host country languages versus English as a lingua franca

This article investigates the language skills and the nature of language provision required by economic migrants from Bangladesh working in the Middle East. It focuses in particular on the perceived values of the host country language (Arabic) versus English as a language franca (ELF). While there have been a number of explorations of the value of learning the host country language for migrants in terms of both labour market outcomes and wellbeing, there is a paucity of, and pressing need for, studies investigating the value of ELF for economic migrants, particularly those from developing country contexts. This article presents the findings from an ethnographic study which explores the experiences, perceptions and specific language-related issues of a diverse cohort of returnee migrants from rural Bangladesh where, despite significant migration from the area, little is known about this population’s language use and communicative needs. Our findings suggest that both the host country language (Arabic) and ELF have important functional values, but that these vary depending on interlocutors, domains of work and contexts of situation, as well as on the relative statuses (within an ecology of global linguistic value) of the two languages in different contexts. The analysis thus provides fresh and significant evidence regarding the role of language in economic migration and development for low-skilled migrants, both to and from contexts in which English has no official status. The article concludes by considering the implications for the types of language education which might be most suitable for these and other economic migrants in comparable contexts

English for economic development: a case study of migrant workers from Bangladesh

This report investigates the relationship between English language learning and economic development among workers from rural Bangladesh who emigrated to the Middle East in search of employment. It provides first-hand accounts of language and other needs of those living and working in contexts of this sort, and provides valuable insights which can feed into the design and implementation of English language education policies and programmes

Citizens’ voices, people's news: making the media work for Wales

New research from the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) and The Open University (OU) in Wales shows that people in Wales would support funding for more and better hyperlocal news, more and better education about democracy, and more and better regulation of the media in Wales

English in Japan in an era of global uncertainty

A starting point for most recent educational policy and pedagogic practice concerning the teaching of English in Japan has been the language’s status as the pre-eminent channel for international communication throughout the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The general context that began with the Nakasone policies of the 1980s has continued as an underpinning ideology for much of the educational agenda towards the language ever since. A great deal has changed in geopolitics since the 1980s, however, and this change has been especially acute in the last few years. This chapter explores the changing context of English in Japan as the background against which innovative and engaging pedagogy for the language now needs to exist

The idea of English in Japan: ideology and the evolution of a global language

This book examines the ways in which English is conceptualised as a global language in Japan, and considers how the resultant language ideologies - drawn in part from universal discourses; in part from context-specific trends in social history - inform the relationships that people in Japan have towards the language. The book analyses the specific nature of the language's symbolic meaning in Japan, and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. It also discusses how the ideologies of English that exist in Japan might have implications for the more general concept of 'English as a global language'. To this end it considers the question of what constitutes a 'global' language, and how, if at all, a balance can be struck between the universal and the historically-contingent when it comes to formulating a theory of English within the world