Who Speaks English Today? ENL, ESL and EFL

Very useful linguistic center website that provides a briefly idea of what ENL, ESL and EFL mean. Focusing on territories it also discusses about status and roles, providing information such as approximately number of speakers around the world and possible reasons for the English language spreading (socioeconomics, political, etc). Some authors mentioned in the text are: Kachru (1992); Crystal (1995); McArthur (1998); Modiano(1999) and others.

Colonisation, Migration, and Functions of English

This website brings an essay that argues that the sociohistory of English in a locality has implications for the current functions of English there. Such factors as colonial attitudes to earlier inhabitants, colonial involvement in education, and the movement of people into the colonised territory, have created a multiplicity of different relationships with English. English-using countries fall into five categories, but the experience of individuals in each category varies too widely to allow generalisation from the country to the individual.

The Language Situation of Today’s World

A text that offers a way of conceptualising languages in the present day world. It begins with a brief overview of the world’s language then discusses trends and changes in the language situation up till the present. Then move on to look at the global language system, focusing particularly on the role of English as the global language and arguments about its effects on other languages.

The Internet & the English Language

This website brings up an article of a professor from the University of Leeds – UK. It is an interesting essay on the impact of the domain of the English language on the internet, its origins and roles.

Varieties of English: English Around the World

A very useful source for finding information about the History of English and also essays on major differences between British and American English. Being a base for further researches it also brings a range of reference works.

Englishes in Asia

A sociolinguistic exploration of the status and attitude towards English as it is actually used throughout Asia.
By Judy Yoneoka

The Status and Functions of English in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore

It presents a comparison of the status and functions of English in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. By Dennis C. Talbot.