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Sunday, July 29, 2012, 00:00 byJohn Portelli

English is worlds lingua franca

English is now the acknowledged lingua franca of higher education. What started as a

gradual process in the sciences has spread to higher education in general. With the

internationalisation of higher education, it was only a matter of time before one language

emerged as the dominant language of research and instruction.

We have, of course, been down this road before; in the Middle Ages Latin was the universal

language of learning, except that in the age of the internet and globalisation this has

translated first into the lingua franca of Europe and increasingly of the world.

The 4,000 to 5,000 hard core scientific publications, which serve as references, are in

English.

The main language for access to scientific information is English, which has become the

dominant, even the sole language, in international scientific symposiums.

The US is where much of today s research and development is concentrated as well as

being the birthplace of the internet, initially developed exclusively in English and through

which information of any kind is disseminated. Whether they like it or not, researchers are

far more likely to have their work published if it is in English.

The teaching of English as a second language is now universal. The Scandinavian

countries and the Netherlands were the first to recognise the dominant roll English would

play; other European countries followed, including, with the fall of Communism, eastern

European countries.

In the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Germany, the teaching of English is

compulsory, with the language attaining a quasi-compulsory status in an even larger

number of countries. In the subcontinent of India English is more than a second language

and the language of instruction. The British Council estimates that by 2015, two billion

people will be learning English worldwide and three billion people, half the population of theplanet, will be speaking it.

The Bologna Process, comprising 46 countries, which established a European Higher

Education Area has, mainly by promoting the mobility of students and academic staff,

contributed significantly to promoting English as the lingua franca of education. The

Hokkaido University, Japan, has long recognised that for a country whose language is used

only within its boundaries, using English as the language of instruction is the only way to

attract foreign students of calibre.

There are currently over 4,500 university courses being taught in English in continentalEurope,the largest number in the Netherlands followed by Germany, Sweden and France.

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The prestigious Politecnico di Milano , a world leading school of engineering, announced in

April 2012 that with effect from 2014 all postgraduate courses and a large number of

undergraduate courses will be taught and assessed entirely in English. According to the

university s rector: We strongly believe our classes should be international classes and

the only way to have international classes is to use the Englis h language. He asserts that

other Italian universities will follow.

In an age of globalisation and internationalisation of higher education, the only way to

attract overseas students from the emerging economies of India, China and Asia, and fund

ongoing research, is to have courses in English. As the Politecnico put it, there is no other

choice.

At the end of the day, the market place dictates. English is the lingua franca of commerce; a

number of non-English companies adopt English as their company language; transnational

companies and companies with international brands do likewise.

Globalisation has witnessed an increasing number of mergers between companies domicile

in different countries, these too, in large measure, have adopted English as the language of

communication and as a global marketing tool. English gives them a global perspective,

they no longer belong to or are associated with a particular nation or culture, they belong

instead to the world; modernity is associated with English.

Contracts between companies that do not share a common language are, more often than

not, drafted in English. Furthermore, international tenders require applicants to submit their

offer in English or to submit an English version.

English is gradually becoming the language of diplomacy, with a new generation of

diplomats being trained in British and American universities. Nowhere is this more obvious

than in EU institutions and affiliated agencies which, while promoting plurlingualism, has

established English as the supranational language of these institutions.

The world is a village and English is the lingua franca ; institutes of higher education have

come to recognise this. Italy s most prestigious business school, Bocconi University, has

been offering courses in En glish for over a decade. Their reasoning: The lingua franca of

business is English and you need to know it. Our students are very active on the

international market and demand an international environment.

The aim is to give students important tools to do work in a globalised world. A command

of English is a prerequisite for employment in a globalised world.

With the exception of Spanish and French in their former colonies, the other European

languages are now parochial languages; what is to become of them?

Clearly, they must be preserved for reasons of national identity and preservation of culture.

In this regard a pass rate of 56.6 per cent in the Maltese Sec is inadequate for a national

language; is it perhaps time for a radical unemotional rethink, considering the currentformula does not appear to be the right one for a globalised world with a dominant

language.