The Role of Applied ELT in Globalization 1. Introduction

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The Role of Applied ELT in Globalization

Zeinab Azizi Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Abstract Globalization is profoundly recognized as a social structure that transforms the lives of people around the world and also links their lives to global interrelations. Today the world is called as a global village which described how the globe has been contracted into a village and how the instantaneous movement of information from every quarter to every point at the same time happened. In fact globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole…both concrete global interdependence and consciousness of the global whole in the twentieth century. The role of life syllabus in globalization in all its diverse forms of world-wide interconnection is a crucial point in this research which tries to manifest how the process of globalization will be relieved by the aid of Applied ELT by focusing on the life syllabus in a variety of ways. Pishghadam (2011) introduced a new type of syllabus which directed English teachers to give priority to life issues rather than language in class. In fact, another significant aspect of applied ELT, according to Pishghadam (2011), is that it goes beyond the typical linguistic syllabus considering life issues as against linguistic matters as its top priority. This new syllabus is dubbed as life syllabus. It is also need to be understood in terms of how they operate in conjunction with one another to transform human life fundamentally. The current study is an attempt to see how Applied ELT helps globalization as something less monolithic, something that is being contested and reworked, something that ties the world together in a range of both constraining and empowering ways, something that is constantly changing, and something that therefore can also be changed.

Key words: Aspects of globalization (social, cultural, philosophical), Imperialism, Advantages and disadvantages of globalization, Applied ELT

1. Introduction

Globalization, according to Bhatt (2008), represents a new, post-traditional order, forging new identities, institutions and ways of life. It is ‘the way we live now’, in a worldwide network of social relations, seemingly unfettered by the constraints of geography. And yet the situation is almost certainly more complex: while no one would deny that global ﬂows of capital, of people(s) and of cultural products (e.g. media, language or music) have increased dramatically in their intensity and reach over recent years, it is hardly the case that national boundaries have evaporated, or that geography no longer matters. Fass (2007) believes that while globalization is 1

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having effects worldwide, those effects are neither the same everywhere nor having uniform consequences.

Globalization has certain identifiable characteristics, although there is no consensus in the held about any of them! In the first place, it involves a growing consciousness of the world as a single place. This is reflected in phrases such as ‘the global village’ and ‘the global economy’. Few places are more than a day’s travel away and communication across territorial borders is now almost instantaneous. In 1980 there were about 1 million international travelers per day. In 2000 more than 3 million people crossed territorial borders as tourists each day (Griffiths & Callaghan, 2002).

There is no agreement among scholars as to the origins of globalization. It has been dated as far back as the dawn of Western civilization. Some look to the origins of the modern state system for signs of globalization, while others speak about the signiﬁcance of the laying of the ﬁrst transatlantic telegraph cable in the mid-nineteenth century. Nevertheless, what distinguishes globalization today is the intensity and the speed at which these changes are occurring.

The causes of globalization are many. Among the most important are liberal capitalism and the revolution in information and communications technologies. Liberal capitalism simply refers to the conjunction of liberal values (freedom, human rights, individualism, and democracy) with an economic system based on the market. This world view is widely held to have triumphed over communism and the idea of a planned economy, resulting in an international environment conducive to the free movement of capital and goods.

2. Aspects of Globalization

2.1.Social aspect of globalization

The social dimension of globalization refers to the impact of globalization on the life and work of people, on their families, and their societies. Concerns and issues are often raised about the impact of globalization on employment, working conditions, income and social protection. Beyond the world of work, the social dimension encompasses security, culture and identity, inclusion or exclusion and the cohesiveness of families and communities.

Globalization refers to the increasing integration of production, development and communication among nations on a worldwide scale. Globalization is often divided into three categories: economic, political and social. Though all three are interdependent, economic and political forces are usually the driving factors of globalization, while social changes generally occur as a result of those activities. Social globalization pertains to human interaction within cultural communities, encompassing topics like family, religion, work and education. Social globalization refers to the interconnectedness of societies around the world (Datko, 2011).

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Globalization brings new potentials for development and wealth creation. But there are divergent views and perceptions among people as concerns its economic and social impact, and indeed widely varying impacts on the interests and opportunities of different sectors and economic and social actors. Some argue that the present model of globalization has exacerbated problems of unemployment, inequality and poverty, while others contend that globalization helps to reduce them. Of course, these problems predated globalization, but it is clear that for globalization to be politically and economically sustainable, it must contribute to their reduction. Hence the goal of a globalization meets the needs of all people.

2.2.Cultural aspect of globalization

Pajagopalan (2008) believes the idea that languages are indissociably tied to speciﬁc cultures is very much part of popular imagination. It is one of the leftovers of the mindset typical of the 19th century. And many theories about language have also incorporated the idea. “World English” (WE) belongs to everybody who speaks it, but it is nobody’s mother tongue.’

Pajagopalan (2008, p 185) cites as follows:

“And, furthermore, WE is a linguistic phenomenon that is altogether sui generis . It deﬁes our time-honoured view of language which is structured around the unargued assumption that every natural language is typically spoken by a community of native speakers, and exceptionally, or marginally by a group of non- natives. There is no such thing as a single culture backing up what is called “World English”. And the simple reason is that World English has no native speakers. According to McArthur (2002), not that it is culturally neutral or that it knows no culture. Rather, it is multicultural in its very essence”.

Our experience of the world is not a universally homogeneous phenomenon; rather, people across different cultural groups conceptualize at least some experiences differently. This extends to their internal as well as external experiences. Anthropologists have provided ample evidence of this from various cultural groups. Human languages play a signiﬁcant role in these culturally constructed conceptualizations, or cultural conceptualizations in that language embodies preserves and communicates these conceptualizations. Hutchins (1995, as cited in Sharifan, 2008) considers that a group’s cultural cognition is more than the sum of the cognitive systems of its members. Cultural cognition is an emergent property of the interaction between members of a cultural group. Speakers across cultural groups develop their own cultural conceptualizations through their communicative interactions, and constantly negotiate and renegotiate them across time and space. These conceptualizations are by no means equally imprinted in the minds of the members of a cultural group but are rather heterogeneously distributed across the group, and as such ‘cultural cognition’ is a form of ‘distributed cognition’.

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The relevance of cultural conceptualizations to the global spread of English and the case of World Englishes is that many speakers use English to express and encode the conceptualizations of their culture of origin. This results in the localization of English, or, in other words, the development of new Englishes.

A critical analysis of the relevant literature, according to Kumaravadivelu (2006), reveals the emergence of three overlapping schools of thought. Members of the ﬁrst school, represented by political theorist Benjamin Barber, sociologist George Ritzer and others, believe that some kind of cultural homogenization is taking place in which the American culture of consumerism constitutes the dominant center. They see a simple and direct equation: Globalization = Westernization = Americanization = McDonaldization. That is, they consider globalization predominantly a process of Westernization which, in their view, is not substantially different from Americanization which can, in turn, be easily characterized as McDonaldization.

The second school of thought is represented by sociologist Anthony Giddens, cultural critic John Tomlinson and others. They believe that some kind of cultural heterogenization is taking place in which local cultural and religious identities are being strengthened mainly as a response to the threat posed by globalization.

The third school of thought is represented by cultural critic Arjun Appadurai, sociologist Roland Robertson and others. Appadurai’ soft-quoted statement; ‘the central problem of today’s global interaction is the tension between cultural homogenization and cultural heterogenization’ broadly summarizes the stand taken by this group. They believe that both homogenization and heterogenization are taking place at the same time, plunging the world into a creative as well as chaotic tension that results in what Robertson has called ‘globalization’, where the global is localized and the local is globalized. They see cultural transmission as a two-way process in which cultures in contact shape and reshape each other directly or indirectly. They assert that the forces of globalization and those of localization are so complex that they cannot be understood from the narrow perspective of a center– periphery dichotomy. The global is brought in conjunction with the local, and the local is modiﬁed to accommodate the global.

2.3.Cultural conceptualizations among Persian speakers of English

Persian speakers have increasingly come to learn and use English for various reasons, providing a meeting place for the English language and Persian cultural conceptualizations. Persian has, compared to Western varieties of English, a highly sophisticated sociocultural basis.

Persian has a rich repertoire of politeness and courtesy, which enters the exchange between the speakers in all forms and contexts of communication. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006) supposes that foreigners who learn Persian often ﬁnd the sociocultural basis of the language its most difficult aspect. Through their socialization into the language, speakers of 4

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Persian learn how to address every single member of society according to their socially perceived standing. One single verb often has several forms that mark different levels of intimacy between the speakers. Additionally, the plural morpheme is used with verbs as a marker of politeness. Many Persian speakers of English often attempt to express these nuances of courtesy and politeness in English. Consider the following from a conversation between an American lecturer and a Persian speaker:

American lecturer: Here’s the recommendation letter that you asked for.

Iranian student: Thanks very much. I am ashamed.

American lecturer: What have you done?!

Here the Iranian student has literally translated the Persian expression sharmandam (‘I am ashamed’) into English to express her gratitude to the lecturer. I would assert that this is not simply a mistake, but a reﬂection of a cultural schema. This clearly reﬂects a feeling on the part of the writer that English does not have a word that can replace the Persian concept of sharmandeh. The case of switching to Persian, or giving the Persian word and explaining it, is frequent among Persian speakers of English, again owing to the speaker’s awareness that what she/he wants to say may not be covered completely by any English word. It can be seen that the Persian speakers have used the Persian word târof (also spelt as ‘taarof’, ‘tarrof’, ‘ta’arof’ and ‘tarof’) in their English writing. It clearly shows that its writer feels that the concept of târof is a characteristic of Iranian culture.

Kumaravadivelu (2006) continues it should be noted that Persian cultural conceptualizations are not always expressed by code-switching among Persian speakers of English: English words may be used instead. For example, the Persian cultural schema of ehterâm is usually referred to as ‘respect’ by Persian speakers of English. Many communicative acts and gestures that are categorized as ehterâm in Persian are unlikely to be labelled as ‘respect’ in Western varieties of English. Ehterâm among Persian speakers is closely tied to the perceived social status of individuals which is in turn tied to the perceived social standing of their family, either nuclear or extended.

An important indicator of the degree of ehterâm that a speaker shows for her/his interlocutors is the address terms that are used. An interlocutor may be addressed in dozens of ways depending on the relationship between the individuals and also the perceived social status of speakers. A common term of ehterâm which also indicates certain degree of intimacy between friends in Persian is jân, which is usually used after a person’s ﬁrst name but can also be used with someone’s surname. Many speakers of Persian express this as ‘dear’ when speaking in English even though ‘dear’ does not capture the degree of intimacy and respect involved in the use of jân.

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2.4. Philosophy of globalization

Globalization gets fulfilled in the universe of postmodern values. With respect to the history- philosophical method, we do not attempt to define the main characteristics of postmodernism by its contrast to modernism. We break up with the widespread contrast of modernism and postmodernism, because we firmly believe that the essence of postmodernism can be revealed in its relations to structuralism and neo-Marxism. These two streams were emblematic of the philosophy of the sixties. Sometimes they amplified one another, and sometimes they got polemic with each other. By the mid-seventies, neo-Marxism ceased to exist as abruptly as a natural disaster, and around that time, structuralism also recognized its failure. The place of these two great streams was taken by a philosophical vacuum, which however did not mean a ‘philosophers' vacuum’, i.e. the absence of philosophers; as there came philosophers who although possessed positions of political power, but no philosophy of their own. This was the vacuum postmodernism successfully filled as a metaphilosophy . Therefore, today's philosophy is under the twofold hegemony of postmodernism and neoliberalism-neopositivism. The most important symmetryrelation between these two streams is the attempt to re-regulate the whole process of thinking by the regulation of notion-building and object constitution. But their strategies are opposite to one another: neoliberalismneopositivism sets reductionist verification as its chief requirement, while postmodernism delegitimates verification. However, these two streams have one more thing in common: both the limitation of the scope of the rules of philosophical verification and its total elimination got realized not through power-free intersubjective discourses, but in the medium of interpersonal power (Endre ,2010).

The decisive processes of globalization are part of the development of modern rationalism. Endre (2010) continues yet the decisive process of modern rationality cannot be reconstructed without reference to emancipation, which is also of great historical importance. Rationalization, the ‘disenchantment’ (Entzauberung), the ‘dialectics of Enlightenment’ must appear in a new context. The concept of emancipation must be present also in the history-philosophical discourse of the world-historical ‘farewell’ to myths. All critiques of modern rationality were stated because of emancipation that had not taken place, although its necessity was increasing parallel with the progress of rationalization. The omission of emancipation might put the process of rationalization and globalization into a critical danger.

The relation to modernity in a historical-philosophical sense is decisive not only from the aspect of potential enemies and enemy images. In a positive sense, it is decisive because in several important aspects, globalization, which in fact sprung out from the soil of modernity intends to eliminate the so far most important achievements of modernity as well. It is about the collision of the totalizing, social-democratic type development of the welfare state and its also totalizing, neo-liberal demolishment. For the most typical fundamental characteristic of today's

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world is not globalization in its pure form, nor integration in its pure form, but globalization or integration qualified by state debt, which is a specific characteristic of all states.

2.5. Politics of globalization

Amsterdam (2008) states that politics of globalization is the politics of the rich who hold the gates of information as well as means and technology to engulf the whole world with the philosophy and desire with which they think is the best to manage the world. They have achieved this position through centuries of hard work by developing their constitutions, rules and law. As a majority group they want the world to adopt their brand of globalization.

2.6. English as a Lingua Franca in the global context

English as a Lingua Franca (henceforth ELF) shares many of the characteristics of other lingua francas with one notable exception: the involvement of native speakers (NSs). Jenkins & Dewe, M (2008, p 72) continues:

“The historical lingua francas had no NSs, but because of its global spread, ELF differs in this respect. Without doubt, the many and varied processes of globalization have major implications for the way we conceptualize, describe and try to make sense of language. There have thus far only been relatively few systematic attempts to consider at a theoretical level the relevance of globalization in applied linguistics. The world is, it seems undoubtedly, an economically, politically and culturally interconnected, interdependent place. The latter half of the 20th century can be characterized as a period in which international exports increased exponentially and, as a consequence, a period in which discussions surrounding the impact of this internationalization began to intensify. The literature on globalization is broad in its interdisciplinarity, typically combining history, political science, economics and cultural theory to conceptualize the global forces currently shaping the world. Globalization may be thought of initially as the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life”.

3. Globalization as Imperialism

Globalization is a process of world economic, political and cultural integration, main descriptions of which is dissemination of capitalism all over the world, world division of labor, migration in the scales of all of planet; money, human and production resources, standardization of legislation, economical and technological processes, and rapprochement of cultures of

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different countries. Imperialism is a policy of creation of scale colonial and economic empires, expansionism, and fight of the state for world hegemony.

Considered a historical perspective, Vilas (2002) states that globalization is the present stage of economic imperialism. In accordance with the definition formulated by Hilferding and Lenin at the beginning of the twentieth century, imperialism is a set of basic characteristics: the development of monopoly capital, the emergence of finance capital through the fusion of industrial capital and the banks, the export of investments from the center to the periphery, and interimperialist competition for the control of foreign markets. In the present circumstances, these features are exacerbated. Recent technological innovations with regard to the flow of information and immense international liquidity have favored the increased growth of finance capital and huge transnational monopoly corporations. Capitalist control of the world is greater today than it has ever been, leading to the intensification of the stratification of international power in which the United States appears to have unquestionable hegemony.

Nowadays many people say about the “imperialistic” policy of the USA, but America is no longer annexing foreign territories. In place of the imperialism the globalization comes at the beginning of millennium. The first similarity between imperialism and globalization is the interlacing of cultures. The cultural globalization is characterized by rapprochement of business and consumer culture between different countries in the world, wide use of English for international intercourse, growth of the use of the Internet for the receipt of information and communication, distribution all over the world of the American films, TV-programs and software, and growth of international tourism. Thus, globalization in a culture is closely related to Americanization, so, for example, network of McDonald’s restaurants of fast-food and one of famous sandwiches Big Mac has already became the universal symbols of society cultural globalization. In "The World is Flat" Thomas Friedman presents so called “Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention” and the “supply chain”. Thomas Friedman says: “The Dell Theory stipulates: No two countries that are both part of a major global supply chain, like Dell’s, will ever fight a war against each other as long as they are both part of the same global supply chain.

3.1. WEs and the proglobalization, antiglobalization and progressive globalization perspective

Saxena & Omoniyi (2008) describes pro-globalization, anti-globalization and progressive globalization perspective as follows: The ‘pro-globalization’ perspective considers the spread of English as a progressive trend. Arguments in favour of English are parallel to those forwarded for the Capitalist agenda (i.e. the spread of market economics, competition, free trade and Western democracy), a type of view which may be associated with the British Council (parallel to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and sister institutions, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) at capitalism level). EIL or ‘Global English’ agenda seems to

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subscribe to this worldview, similar to the ‘hyperglobalist’ (neoliberal) viewpoint discussed above.

The ‘anti-globalization’ perspective ﬁnds its expression in the view that English as a concomitant to globalization is a threat to local/‘indigenous’ languages, just as globalization has a neo-colonial agenda endangering local social and natural environment. In a similar vein as argued in the context of globalization, English is seen as perpetuating inequality and increasing the unevenness of development in ways that are not necessarily reversible. Furthermore, this is made to seem inevitable because it protects the interests of those who promote it with adverse consequences for the marginalized groups/languages which get more marginalized. This echoes the ‘sceptic’ position that we have described above. However, while the Kachruvian WEs ‘sceptic’ position focuses on the neo-colonial agenda of EIL against the ‘local varieties of Englishes’, the ‘sceptic’ stance of the ‘Linguistic Imperialism’ school of thought has rallied against the endangerment of the ‘local languages and practices’ caused by English.

The ‘progressive’ globalization perspective with its focus on human actions and the ability to make particular political choices as inﬂuencing the nature and outcome of globalization is seen in the ‘transformationalist’ viewpoint. Within this perspective, importance is ascribed to the role of ‘agency’ wherein choices can be exercised in adoption, use and appropriation of English. There is no ‘evolutionary’ or ‘pre-determined’ path to follow.

3.2.Is globalization leading to ‘homogenization’ or ‘heterogenization’?

Heterogeneity where historical and linguistic changes move from chaos to order: in the direction of increasing complexity and integration of more and more diverse elements. Saxena, & Omoniyi (2008) states that heightened contact between communities results, in our view, not in a linguistic homogeneity, but in heterogeneity, as the English being spoken in these settings is not the English of the inner circle, but hybridized versions of the language that develop in situ as speakers accommodate towards the co-constructing of their discourse. From the point of view of rethinking the nature of language, the heterogeneity and hybridized version of English referred to here.

In fact, ‘time-space distanciation’ allow individuals to heterogenize global scale systems. Commenting on the debate on the related binary concepts of convergence and divergence under globalization, they should be conceived as existing in a dialectical relationship. To the extent that globalization is brought about by processes and agendas which are dialectical, contentious and heterogenous, mapping the course of WEs is both a necessary and a challenging task for linguists.

3.3. An emerging variety among persian speakers of English

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According to Sharifan (2008) the history of the relationship between English and the society of Iran has been complicated by the political events of the last few decades. English has become signiﬁcant as an international and an intra-national language in Iran over the last 50 years. At the beginning of the 20th century, French was the dominant European foreign language in Iran. It had an elite status since France was the country of choice for those seeking higher education abroad. English came to replace French in response to the presence of British companies, the British Army and the Americans who developed close relationships with the former king of the country, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (also known as the Shah). The United States established a strong military and economic presence in Iran during the Shah’s reign, which became the impetus for the development of English as the most signiﬁcant foreign language. The Shah had a very strong vision for turning Iran into a ‘modern’ country, which, for him, meant Westernization. English thus came to be viewed as the language of ‘modernity’, or tamadon-e bozorg (‘great civilization’), which was the Shah’s goal for Iran. Learning and speaking English became a prestigious exercise which would open many ‘horizons’ for the Iranian people. During the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of thousands of government- funded and self-funded Iranians went to the United States, mainly for higher education. Many American companies opened branches in Iran, bringing expatriates into Iran and also employing local Iranian people. This created a need for the use of English in the workplace for those who worked with foreigners.

Iranian Army, Iran-America Society (IAS) and the British Council are the main centers for the promotion of the English language in Iran. The Islamic Revolution of 1979, however, complicated the relationship the Iranian people had with English. The post-revolutionary government at ﬁrst viewed English as the language of the ‘Great Satan’ (i.e. the US government) and several attempts were made to ban any form of English in Iran. However, the government soon realized that its aim of ‘exporting the Islamic Revolution to the rest of the world’ would require an international language that could reach the non-Muslim world, and thus learning English appeared again on the state agenda (Sharifan ,2008).

The general public has responded with mixed feelings to such developments. Many of those who support globalization (in the sense of Americanization) view such attempts as futile, but those who support the government’s anti-West movement endorse attempts to localize English. Many Iranians still associate English with social prestige, as a tool which can not only open educational, social and professional opportunities but also help in the construction of an educated, elite social identity. For many, then, English provides a ‘modern-citizen’ identity that distances them from less cosmopolitan identities. As during the last three decades, Iran has gained a new political identity in international contexts, which is often closely associated with religious fundamentalism, for some Iranians speaking English, particularly with a Western accent, may be an attempt to reject this alleged ‘national political identity’.

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Using Internet and satellite communication, re-opening the country to tourists, for both cultural and economic reasons, increasing number of Iranian citizens travelling to neighboring countries and to East Asian countries, have led to an expanded role for English in Iranian society.

One of the significant matrixes for this variety is the use of English by the relatively large population of Persian speakers who live in European and Western countries. One aspect of globalization is the huge increase in Diasporas. Large numbers of people now move to form communities in English-speaking countries and as a result ethnolects develop from their interactions in English, both among themselves and with others. Thus the development of new world Englishes is not tied so much to national boundaries and may take a transnational nature.

4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization

Globalization has a relatively new idea that the world has been embracing. The positive effects of globalization are numerous and extremely beneficial for everyone in all countries. It has been the most successful prosperity and anti-poverty movement in modern history.

In accordance with Wirkkala (2010) globalization, roughly defined as increased economic, social and cultural interdependence has produced a number of positive outcomes: a significant increase in global economic prosperity; the spread of democracy; the free flow of ideas and capital; and increased competition and entrepreneurship. Additionally, economic interdependence acts as a damper on war. If sustained and accelerated, these positive aspects of globalization could offset the negative ones.

Griffiths & Callaghan (2002) new information and communications technology have improved access to overseas markets and streamlined both the production and distribution of goods and the trade in foreign exchange. Third, human beings are becoming more and more dependent upon one another as problems such as global warming, the international drugs trade, and terrorism can only be managed through greater cooperation at a supranational level. Fourth, some observers argue that globalization is erasing cultural di ﬀerences. Sociologists, for example, like to talk about the Coca-Colaisation or McDonaldisation of global culture.

Productivity grows more quickly when countries produce goods and services in which they have a comparative advantage. Living standards can go up faster and global competition and cheap imports keep a lid on prices, so inflation is less likely to derail economic growth. An open economy spurs innovation with fresh ideas from abroad. Export jobs often pay more than other jobs, and consumers can buy cheaper products.

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It is true that not everybody beneﬁts from globalization. To take full advantage of globalization requires both capital and access to technology. Many states in the international system have neither. A large pro- portion of the world’s population, for example, does not have access to the telephone. Being ‘on the net’ is not something which makes a lot of sense to those living in the poorest parts of the Third World. In other words, globalization may not be global after all. At best, its spread and impact is uneven (Griffiths & Callaghan, 2002).

Even though globalization affects the world's economics in a very positive way, its negative side should not be forgotten. Globalization just likes a two-edged sword, bringing us not only a series of enormous benefits, but also potential destruction in many fields. No one can deny the merits of it, but at the mean time, we must keep an eye on it to prevent its negative effects.

Amin (2001) points out that this phase of imperialism which is one of the globalization concept is at the origin of the greatest problem with which mankind has ever been confronted: the overwhelming polarization that has increased the inequality between peoples from a maximum ratio of two to one around 1800, to sixty to one today, with only 20 percent of the earth’s population being included in the centers that benefit from the system. From the perspective of the OECD countries, according to Griffiths & Callaghan (2002), there are many unresolved issues with respect to globalization. Among them is its relationship to democracy. If globalization is indeed weakening the ability of states to make autonomous economic and political decisions, then one might argue that globalization is a dangerously anti-democratic force.

Globalization Encourages Child Labor. Padilla (1996) cites that the country's bid for globalization poses aggravating influence on the increasing number of child workers, particularly in the garments industry. Child workers work for long hours, usually six days a week. This is especially true in exporting firms where schedules are fixed and overtime is more prevalent. Child workers in the country increased from 2.2 million in 1991 to five million in 1994. Millions of people have lost jobs due to imports or production shifts abroad. Most find new jobs that pay less. Millions of others fear losing their jobs, especially at those companies operating under competitive pressure. Workers face pay-cut demands from employers, which often threaten to export jobs. Employees can lose their comparative advantage when companies build advanced factories in low-wage countries, making them as productive as those at home.

Globalisation hits Women Worst. In most countries, Haq (1998) argues, women have become disproportionately concentrated into the low end of jobs produced through globalisation— notably in export-processing zones which demand “cheap and docile labour that can be used in low-skill, repetitive jobs in unsafe and insecure conditions without minimum guarantees.” “The feminisation of the labour force begins with women being dispossessed of land and other means of production and being left with only their energy, which cannot be used in their home 12

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countries,” reports the Malaysian NGO ‘Tenaganita’. “This marginalisation intensifies under the process of globalization and migration.”

Globalization has led to widening disparities between the Global North and Global South; increasingly uneven wealth distribution within countries borders, leading to an increase in civil wars; and economic collapse due to uneven trade relationships and economic mismanagement by international economic institutions (Wirkkala, 2010).

Hyperglobalists contend that increasingly the world is subject to the effects of the global marketplace. Globalization as a primarily economic phenomenon imposes neo-liberal economic structures on countries throughout the world, sometimes improving international trade through competitive advantage, at other times causing increased inequality.

In conclusion, due to the existence of both positive and negative aspects brought about by globalization, we should do our most to control its negatives while enjoy the welfare it brings us. Approaches such as more strict law system as well as propagandas among society should be taken immediately.

5. Glocalization of English in World Englishes and Applied ELT

The extensive use of English both as an International language and its emergence in Internet are the most effective tendency in the age of globalization. Learners of English language today need a new set of critical and interpretive skills. Teachers of ESOL therefore, need to understand how the Internet is revolutionizing English language learning. Giddens (2000) defines globalization as a separation of space and time, emphasizing that with instantaneous communications, knowledge, and culture could be shared around the world simultaneously. Globalization has been viewed primarily as an economic phenomenon, involving the increasing interaction, or integration of national economic systems through the growth in international trade, investment, and capital flow. However, the definition has expended to include also cross- border social, cultural, political, and technological exchanges between nations and in particular, between people.

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is one of the features of globalization and as a result, the Internet has become an important linguistic medium. It has been added to every aspect of human life, including the learning of languages. McLuhan(1962) even coined the term ‘global village’ in the 1960s of the last century to express is belief that electronic communication would unite the world because "the medium is the message".

From those researching the global spread, forms and functions of English, there has been a modest response to globalization’s pattern of interfacing with structural issues around diversity and multiple centres to which the World Englishes paradigm is anchored(Sharifan, 2008). 13

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According to Pishghadam (2011) ELT has grown in maturity over years, establishing an independent identity for itself. It does not play second fiddle to applied linguistics any more. ELT has already formed its theoretical foundation, ready to be applied to other fields of study. He believes that over the last decades, ELT theorizers and practitioners have moved their orientation from consumer to autonomous. Now it`s time for them to play a producer role. What is meant exactly by applied ELT is the application of ELT in other fields. Generally, we employ other disciplines’` findings including, psychology, sociology, neurology, linguistics, physics, etc. to enrich language teaching and learning theories. Block (2004) also states that in ELT, until recently, a hyperglobalist position dominated discussions regarding the spread of English as a benign outcome of globalizing forces. However, from the late 1980s onwards, Robert Phillipson and others called this view into question. Their neo-Marxist analysis of the spread of English was notably skeptical in nature, positing as it did an English language linguistic imperialism.

Studies in applied linguistics have firmly established that factors such as one’s identity (or identities), ideology, culture, emotions, and so forth have a significant influence on how one learns a second language. Sharifan (2008) continues that these factors also determine the degree to which a speech community and the individual go ‘local’ or ‘global’ in their use of English. One important – and obvious – factor in this choice is whether English is used for intracultural or intercultural purposes. What appears to be modest in the World Englishes paradigm is the description of how the process of rapid globalization of English, together with the multiple roles this language plays in people’s lives, is leading to the explosive development of new Englishes. Such studies are likely to have significant implications for language policies within each country in terms of whether governments view English, for example, as a local product, or, alternatively, as an imperialistic imposition. In this chapter I will make an attempt to reflect on how Persian speakers1 are responding to the increasing global dominance of English as an international language.

There is by now a well-entrenched and very respectable branch of sociolinguistics which is concerned with describing the world of globalization from the perspective of linguistic imperialism and 'linguicide' (Phillipson, 1992), often based on particular ecological metaphors. These approaches . . . oddly assume that wherever a 'big' and 'powerful' language such as English 'appears' in a foreign territory, small indigenous languages will 'die.' There is, in this image of sociolinguistic space, place for just one language at a time (Blommaert, 2010).

Linguistic imperialism sees the current dominance of English as caused by the imperialistic impulses of the “center” or capitalist countries. Phillipson (1992) states that “English linguistic hegemony can be understood as referring to the explicit and implicit values, beliefs, purposes, and activities, which characterize the ELT profession and which contribute to the maintenance of English as dominant language”. ELT is one of the main forces which have driven English forward. Phillipson (1992) offeres "working definition" of English linguistic imperialism: "the 14

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dominance asserted and maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages"

Globalization is believed by some to lead to an end of a cultural diversity as it imposes sameness in the countries of the world; where everyone in the world is likely to drink Coca-Cola, eat American junk food, and watch American movies. Similarly, there has been a widespread belief that the Internet is bad for the future of many languages and enables rich (or technology able) countries to take monopoly over the content generated on the Internet and that it becomes a form of cultural and linguistic imperialism in which western values dominate. In this scenario, it was also argued that the Internet must evolve its own principles and standards in order to grow and maintain as a newly emerging linguistic medium (Crystal, 2001).Traditionally, the approaches used to study languages have been prescriptive and descriptive (Fromkin et. al., 2004). Prescriptivism represents the view that one variety of language has an inherently higher value than others, and that this variety of language ought to be imposed on the whole of the speech community. It usually prefers a version of the standard written language, which most closely reflects the literary style of great classics in a language. Those who speak or write in a standardized variety are termed to be using the language ‘correctly’; those who do not are termed to be using it ‘incorrectly’.

In a study, Pishghadam (2008) has shown that literary discussion in a foreign language learning class can enhance the critical thinking abilities of the language learners. Critical thinking is a concept which is discussed generally in psychology; however, Hosseini, Pishghadam, and Navari (2010) have also revealed how a language learning class can increase emotional intelligence competencies. They have shown that language learning classes have the ability to help individuals overcome their anxiety, manage their stress, and foster interpersonal competencies. Pishghadam (2011) introduced a new type of syllabus which directed English teachers to give priority to life issues rather than language in class. This implies that the language syllabus must be planned according to the principles of the syllabus of life. This is not to suggest that language learning should be ignored in ELT contexts, but that it should not be considered the end product of a language class. Rather, primacy ought to be given to the improvement of learners’ life qualities through the development and application of life syllabi in ELT classes.

As all of these studies indicate, English language learning classes can provide us with new ways of exploring ELT. Seemingly, applied ELT owes much to the unique nature of language learning classes, especially in EFL contexts. Since learners do not have direct contact with English after class, English learning in EFL contexts is more difficult than ESL contexts. Thus the learners have to spend more time on learning English, taking it more seriously. Unlike other subjects which are studied at school, an English language learning class has a very different atmosphere in which lots of human abilities can be nurtured and developed in addition to language learning. Due to the unique nature of English language learning class, I believe that it 15

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can offer a great deal of opportunities, based on which we can conduct lots of studies (Pishghadam, 2011). One of the most important conclusions Pishghadam (2011) gives in his study is that ELT has now lots of things to share with other disciplines. It can come to the aid of other disciplines to resolve their problems, and get them to be more expanded. In other way, applied ELT opens new horizons for researchers in the field, showing a novel way of dealing with ELT issues. ELT is now capable of forming new theories which can be exported to other disciplines. In addition, the unique setting of English language learning can provide the researchers with more promising areas of research. In applied ELT we should transcend discussions over language and linguistics, entering into issues regarding life qualities. Now, it`s time for ELT to enter into not language andlife but to lifeandlanguage classes. Due to the dominant influence of the USA on the UK during the twentieth century, the American spelling was increasingly accepted and found in British publications. Descriptivists do not like the narrow-minded intolerance and misinformed purism of prescriptivists. Correspondingly, prescriptivists, do not like the all-inclusiveness and egalitarian philosophy of descriptivists, which they interpret as a lack of responsibility towards what is best in a language (Crystal, 2001). Even after 250 years, the controversy over these linguistic approaches remains with the arguments being passed on by each generation, and refueled by the new (technological) developments within societies, such as broadcasting and the Internet. What should be of interest to either teachers or learners, in the fast-developing Internet literature, is to see the way writers are struggling to maintain a bent which is naturally descriptive and egalitarian in character while recognizing a prescriptive argument to impose regularity and consistency on a world which otherwise might spiral out of control (Crystal, 2001).

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