By: Santillan, Esther Ruth A.
World englishes refer to the global varieties of English organize in three concentric circle representing the three distinct phases of the spread of English. English has been spread through out the world due to British colonialism in 19th century, American capitalism and technological progress. Nowadays, English is spoken by over 75 countries with a total population of over two billion. These speakers are classified into the group corresponding to the concentric circle.
The first circle is called inner circle. It represents those countries where English is spoken as a native or first language (LI). These countries include Canada, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand. There are 375 million estimated numbers of native speakers around the world. This circle was called by Kachru (1991) as second phase where English from British Isles spread through out to North America, Australia and New Zealand by means of the migrations of English speaking population.
The second circle is called outer circle. This circle represents the countries where English is spoken as a second language (ESL) such as Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, India and Kenya. In this country, English is institutionalized as an addition language learned as a second language. Second language speakers have an estimated number of 375 million and will soon outnumber the first language speakers (Jenkins, 2006; McKay, 2003). This circle was called by Kachru (1996) as third phase or Raj phase where English spread to area where no English speaking communities had previously existed, including south Asia, Southeast Asia, South, West and East Africa.
The third circle is called Expanding circle representing those countries where English is a forign language (EFL). These countries are comprised of Norway, Brazil, China, turkey, Korea and Japan. Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language. One out of four of the world’s population speaks English. These countries are affected by Western and of where English is becoming an important language in business, science, technology and education.
The occurrence of World Englishes has an important implication to English Language teaching. It signifies that English language teachers should expose the students to the different varieties of English so that they will be aware of cross cultural communication differences and understand many accent and varieties. Teachers must teach English language taking into account the different Englishes occurring around the world to ensure intercultural communication and mutual intelligibility among speakers.
exegesis 