ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews how and why the field of World Englishes developed and then considers some of the developments the field has seen in recent years, along with an account of the debates and issues scholars are currently addressing. It illustrates that the three-circles model has been the most popular and influential of several models of the development of World Englishes. The chapter looks at the inter national use of English and compare it with its intra-national use. Moag R. F. proposed a 'life cycle of non-native Englishes' based on his study of how Fijian English has developed. A scholar whose research into World Englishes has focussed on the role of language contact in the development of new varieties is Mufwene. The international function will be distinguished from the intra-national function by calling the international function of English, English as a Lingua Franca as opposed to the World Englishes term given to its intra-national use.
