As part of our assignment for World Englishes, we are required to write an article review

regarding any topics related to World Englishes. The article that I have chosen is written by Marko
Modiano from University of Gavle in Sweden entitled English in a post-Brexit European Union.
The article was published in 2017 in a journal entitled World Englishes published by John Wiley
and Sons Ltd.

Based on the abstract, the author speculates on the status and functions of English in the
European Union (EU) due to the Brexit process. There are a few speculations that rise from the
Brexit process on English. The first speculation is whether Brexit will weaken the status of English
within the Union or will it strengthen the power of English as the main working language of the
EU. Other that, there is also a possibility that Brexit will result in creating a sociolinguistics space
for the emergence of an authentic European Union as English is used as a common language for
EU to communicate for administrative and business purposes.

As for the introductory paragraph, the author uses Kachrus statement where it is stated
that English L2 speakers should use their own varieties of English as a platform of education
instead of focusing on adhering the rules of prestigious Inner Circle. This is due to the fact that
Kachru himself argued that we should appreciate and encourage the Third World Varieties of
English (Postcolonial countries) as these new Englishes would be recognised as having the
same status as other Englishes as well as it would not be viewed as inferior to others.

English is used as a second language in Europe as they do not have a common L1. Nearly
38 per cent of the population use English as their L2 on a daily basis due to various reasons. Due
to the rapid spread of English across European countries, the author proposed that it is not
appropriate to categorise English in EU under Expanding Circle variety. Based on the current
situation, it is more appropriate to put English in EU as a second language or in this context, as
Outer Circle context. This is due to the fact that English in EU is used extensively in their
government, education, informational and work-related functionality. The author also theorises
that once Britain leaves the EU, it will result in create a sociolinguistics space for a new variety of
English by the Europeans as Britain will lose its role as a symbol of standardisation and
correctness of English. The change of category of English in EU from the expanding circle to outer
circle is due to several factors such as the politics of language within EU, the genesis of second-
language varieties of English within the European context, the status of English in European
education and the development of Euro-English.

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 The emergence of new variety of English in EU is because of the politics of language
within EU. The author thinks that once Britain leave EU, the other members of the EU will try to
take advantage on making their language as the official language for the EU especially the
French. However, this will be met with resistance by other members of the EU because majority
of them would still like to maintain English as the official language of the EU even though the rule
stated that in order for a language to become the official language of the EU, the country must be
a member of the EU. This happen due to a few reasons. Firstly, the other members of the EU
would like to maintain English as the official language of the EU is due to the fact that English is
being used worldwide and they are not willing to invest in learning new language as it will cost
their money and time consuming. Other than that, if they use another language other than English
as means to communicate for business or administrative purposes, this will cause them to practice
a closed-door policy due to their inability to communicate in a common language which in this
case is English. From this situation we can see that English is still being viewed as prestigious.
The respect earned by the members of the EU towards English resulted in their choice to maintain
English as their official language. However, even though English has owned its status as
prestigious, the author argued that there will be emergence of their own version of variety of
English which is called European English due to several reasons. It happened because the
Europeans will no longer rely on the British when it comes to standardisation and correctness of
English due to movement of L1 speakers from the European countries due to difficulties in
applying for visas or work permit in EU countries. This will result in the Europeans rely on their L2
colleagues as an arbitered for standardisation and correctness. The L2 speakers in the EU are
influenced by their mother tongue which eventually will create their own variety of English i.e.
European English. It will also affect their idiomatic expression, pronunciation and grammar which
eventually will lead them to creating a new variety of English.

Other than that, the emergence of new variety of English lies on the education system in
EU. When the British was still a member of the EU, they have incorporated English in the EUs
education system especially at the tertiary level in order to create work opportunities and student
exchange. Therefore, there are a lot of education programs that is conducted or designed to
specifically cater for this exchange. However, the author argued that once Brexit happened, there
will be a decline in the usage of standard English which is British English and the Europeans will
lean towards American English. This will result in the mixing of the two languages plus their
mother tongue will result in a new variety of English.

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 The author concluded that the growth of English across the European continent has been
taking place even though they have never been colonised or there have never been a history of
mass immigration of Inner Circle speaker into EU countries. Unlike the colonised countries,
acquisition of English or the emergence of new varieties of English occurs because of a concerted
effort on the part of continental Europeans to pursue proficiency in the language as a medium of
communication.

As we know, Kachrus Concentric Circle Model is divided into three categories namely the
Inner Circle. the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle. The countries involved in the Inner Circle
include the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The varieties of English used here
are said to be 'norm providing'. The Outer Circle consists of the earlier phases of the spread of
English in non-native settings, where the language has become part of a country's chief
institutions, and plays an important 'second language' role in a multilingual setting (Rajadurai,
2005). Most of the countries included in the Outer Circle are former colonies of the UK or the
USA, such as Malaysia, Singapore, India, Ghana, Kenya and others (Rajadurai, 2005). The
English used in the outer circle is considered as 'norm-developing'. The Expanding Circle refers
to the territories where English is learnt as a foreign language. The territories do not have a history
of colonization by members of the Inner Circle and institutional or social role. English is taught as
a 'foreign' language as the most useful vehicle of international communication (White, 1997). The
countries in the Expanding Circle include China, Japan, Greece and Poland (White, 1997). The
English used in the Expanding Circle is regarded as 'norm dependent'.

In my opinion, I think this article will be an interesting read for those who are interested in
this field or want to learn more about Kachrus Concentric Circle Model as the author managed to
make me think that change is possible especially when it comes to English. Before I read this
article, I never thought that new variety of English could happen especially in the European
countries. This is because I am confined with a mindset that new variety will emerge only if the
country has been colonised by the inner Circle countries such as the UK, USA, Canada and
others. After reading the article, I realised that emergence of new variety of English in the
European countries can happen and changes in language can happen without colonisation. It can
be also in the form of politics, education and the usage of English as a second language as stated
in the article.

I have to agree with the author to a certain extent as there are some of his arguments are
debateable. One of the reason why I agreed with the authors opinion is on the speculation itself
which a new variety of English will emerge among the European countries and the change of

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category from the Expanding Circle to the Outer Circle after Brexit. This is because after Brexit,
the UK will no longer be there to guide the European countries on the right way to use English.
The dominance of English as a lingua franca in Europe is startling. It is spoken as a second
language by 38% of adults, trailed distantly by French (12%) and German (11%). This dominance
is set to grow dramatically, with 94% of secondary students in Europe learning English as a foreign
language. The use of English throughout Asia, the Commonwealth, and North America, plus the
widespread use of English online and in the media, all encourage English as the ongoing second
language of choice. This will leave European English free to drift towards US or Commonwealth
conventions, and to develop features of vocabulary and grammar that are perfectly well-
understood by other Europeans speaking English as a second language for example,
entrenching the use of structures like I am coming from Spain, rather than I come from Spain.
It is similar to how Manglish is created. After Malaysia gained its independence, the government
made the official language of the country as Bahasa Malaysia. However, the mother tongue of
the other communities such as Hokkien, Hakka, Tamil, Mandarin and others are widely spoken.
In order to have a common language between them, English is used as a medium of
communication with other races. However, the locals added their own flair in the language which
causes the emergence of a new variety of English spoken by the local which is known as
Manglish.

However, this argument is still debatable which causes me to not agree with certain things
said by the author which is the change in the category of Kachrus Concentric Circle Model. The
author stated that it is time for the European countries to be placed under the Outer Circle instead
of the Expanding Circle due to the emergence of the new European English. This may apply to
certain European countries with the exception of France. This is because in 1994, the French
government have passed a law mandating the usage of French language in official government
publications, advertisement, workplaces, commercial contracts, in all government-financed
school and others. This in return hinders the spread of English in France as the French prides
themselves on the preservation of its language and even installed governmental and cultural
barrier policies to keep other languages out in order to uphold the purity of its mother tongue
(Yentz, 2007). If we look at this situation with France, the change of category is not favourable,
but it is still possible due to the oversimplification of Kachrus Concentric Circle Model. This is
because Kachru defined Outer Circle where the language is forced upon the subjugated people
of Britain and the Expanding Circle as English is studied as a foreign language. The European
countries can fall under the Outer Circle since they are being forced to use English as a second
language solely for the purpose of EU. However, they also can be placed under the Expanding

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Circle as they use it solely to communicate with the EU members. The local government still uses
their native language to govern and the locals still uses their mother tongue to communicate with
the locals. This has created an impasse as Kachrus Model did not take this situation into
consideration.

In conclusion, Kachru Three-Circle model has limitations to reflect the reality of English
use. The model is oversimplified and the classification among the three circles is fuzzy. In fact,
the three varieties are mutually inclusive and grey areas exist. Due to the rapid growth of English,
English status has increased in the Expanding Circle. English is not only learnt but more widely
used in different settings. The classification between the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle
becomes difficult. Therefore, the Three-circle Model should be modified to a more dynamic one
to represent the actual use of English. Instead of categorizing the English speakers based on
national identity, the revised model can be classified in terms of the English proficiency in
international and regional varieties. More research related to World Englishes should also be
conducted in the future to meet the rapid growth of English.

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References
Rajadurai, J. (2005). Revisiting the Concentric Circle: Conceptual and Sociolinguistics Consideration.
Asian EFL Journal.

White, R. V. (1997). Going Round in Circles: English as an International Language and Cross-
Culturalcapability. Cross-Cultural Capability Conference '97, Leeds Metropolitan University.

Yentz, A. (2007). The Effects of French's Language Protection Laws on French Media. Nantes, France:
Northwestern University.