GLOBALIZATION AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

English is everywhere some 380 million people speak it as their first language and perhaps two-thirds as many again as their second. A billion are learning it, about a third of the world’s population are in some sense exposed to it and by 2050, it is predicted, half the world will be more or less proficient in it. It is the language of globalization- of international business, polities and diplomacy. It is the language of computers and internet. It is now the global language. The main function of English language today is to facilitate communication across international borders. Now-a-days English is a global language which predominates in all spheres of world communication. The increasing number of non-native speakers of English goes hand-in-hand with the process of re-evaluating and developing new models for teaching English. The ongoing process of pluralization and appropriation of the English language poses new questions for English language teaching professionals. Another aspect of English Language Teaching which needs to come under scrutiny is the tenets of Communicative Language Teaching [CLT]. Since the 1970s the achievement of communicative competence based on native speakers’ language norms [usually standard British or American English] has been seen as the ultimate goal of English Language Teaching.