ABSTRACT
We come to the nal unit of the book, one that by its very forward-looking nature has to be, to a great extent, hypothetical. Since Graddol published his book The Future of English? in 1997, the English-speaking world has changed substantially, in particular as a result of the massive increase in the number of people learning English in Expanding Circle countries, most notably China. is has led to a similarly massive increase in the amount of English being used as an international lingua franca and, in turn, has caused many to question whether earlier nation-bound approaches to English and the focus on ‘standard’ forms are still valid, or whether something more hybrid and uid has greater relevance. In the article that follows, Pennycook considers the options.
