ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss the status of the English language globally, and with reference to specific Asian contexts, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Japan, critically analysing the different ways in which English is perceived and the implications this has for language policy and the function that English fulfils in society more widely. This discussion is important because readers should understand that discussing the motivation for learning English is significantly different from discussing the motivation for learning other languages, particularly in certain Asian contexts. Given that this book seeks to make a case for the significance of context in shaping motivation, it is important to recognize and analyse the role that English plays in diverse sociocultural contexts. The focus will be given to Hong Kong, as the context of the study from which the main body of data for the book was drawn, but also as a particularly illustrative example of the ways in which sociopolitical history shapes policy, which in turn shapes education, which in turn shapes language attitudes. This interplay between the micro, meso, and macro contexts of the individual is at the heart of the DFG framework, and a focused analysis of Hong Kong will provide a clear illustration.
