The Spread of English among Saudis in the Era of Globalization: A Friend or a Foe?

Proceedings of ‏The 2nd International Conference on Modern Research in Education, Teaching and Learning

Year: 2020

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/2nd.icmetl.2020.11.91

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The Spread of English among Saudis in the Era of Globalization: A Friend or a Foe?

Turki Alsolami, Nashwa Saaty

ABSTRACT: 

Through globalization, people, their life routines, ideas and social events move across borders to a larger degree than in the past. Both, the concept and the practices associated with globalization can be considered to be beneficial or threatening, to people, societies, and governments. As communication among globalists is being taking place, there has to be a language that facilitates the discourse and interaction for any globalization process. For a number of historic reasons, English has emerged as the language of globalization as well as a global language that is spoken by millions of users around the world. However, the globalization of English has its pros and cons, and researchers, particularly in the Muslim world, have a different perspective of this issue. This paper tackles issues related to English as a global language in a particular EFL context in a Muslim context.

Keywords: English, Saudi Arabia, globalization, cultural identity, English as a global language.