ABSTRACT
We frame this chapter and the one that follows in the theoretical and research perspective first developed by Kachru (1986) and subsequently built on, reexamined and refined by many researchers. Kachru developed the concept of World Englishes,1 identifying three concentric circles of “Englishes”—the Inner Circle, the
Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle. The Inner Circle refers to those countries where English is the dominant language and the one first learned by most of the population (i.e., these are countries of native-speakers2), used for the discourse of education, politics, business, science and technology, and administration. Such countries include Australia, Anglophone Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Outer Circle refers to countries where English may or may not be the official language but for historical reasons still plays a role in such discourses. Such countries include former British colonies such as India, Kenya, Malaysia, and Singapore, or former American colonies such as the Philippines. Linguists describe the variety of English used in the Outer Circle as nativized because they adopt some of the features of the local language(s). For example, in Singapore, lah, which is a particle from Malay, is used in Singapore English (Singlish) at the end of words or phrases for emphasis. The Expanding Circle, the outermost of the concentric circles, refers to countries where English is widely used as a foreign language for communication with native English-speakers or other EFL speakers, such as Brazil, China, Egypt, Germany, Japan, or Thailand. Building on this concept, others have identified a sub-group within the Inner Circle that they call BANA (Britain, Australasia, and North America).
