By Miho Tomiya
There is no doubt about having an English skill is one of the most effective skills in these days because it is used in countless places and people in all over the world. According to David (2003), the English has approximately 1.5 billion speakers, including native and non-native speakers . Because of these situations, English is regarded as a global language. Then some countries desperate to advance English education and more parents struggle to give a fulfilling English education to their child. Considering this current situation, the government should restrict the flow of English because it might accelerate the extinction of minority languages and creates disparity between native speaker and non-native speaker, and rich and poor.
I have two reasons to follow my opinion. The first reason is that hastening the extinction of minority language in the world. There are numerous number of minority languages such as Ainu language in Japan and Yagan language in Chile now. It occupies 6,300 of the 7,000 languages in modern era. （Jeff, 2022） Although the language extinction had started from deep in the past, their tendency has been accelerating and become serious through the time of globalization. Actually, bounteous number of languages disappear around this centuries. According to UNESCO report （2010）, approximately 230 of the 573 languages known as extinct languages became extinct between 1950 and 2010. This is because people more focus on learning English as a global lingua franca since the globalization enhance their importance. This phenomenon has deepened the connections between countries in various fields such as economic, governance and business, and require public to communicate with English as common language. This created a disparity in job success between English speakers and non-English speakers. （David 2003） To solve this problem, most nonnative parents force their children to start to study English as early as possible. Similarly, these countries start to implement educational programs to improve the national English level. In this way, growing demand for English as an international language has taken away the interest, opportunity, and cost of learning other languages. As a result, it has accelerated the extinction of minority language.
The second reason is that having a risk of widening the gap between English speakers and non-English speakers and exacerbating the gap between rich and poor. Firstly, it might cause disparity between native speakers and non-native speakers because the activities of the latter are hindered by the language barrier in the international activities. The former can carry out their work efficiently and skillfully, but the latter might struggle with their work due to language barriers. Moreover, that make it harder for non-native speakers to succeed in the international community like an international academic conference. David （2003）asserts that “the scientists who are non-native speakers will have less time to work on their creative work because they take longer to assimilate reports in English, and their reports written in language other than English are sometimes ignored by international community.” Secondly, it is exacerbating the gap between rich and poor in non-Anglophone countries. This is because easier for the wealthy to receive the distinguished English education such as Lessons by an English tutor and study abroad, while it is harder for the poor to receive them. For instance, it is problematic in some parts of Asian; China and South Korea. As Shinbo（2015） points out, “English education in China perpetuates ethnic and regional disparities. This is because in order to study abroad or take classes from an excellent English teacher, students must live in a city and come from a wealthy family.” Likewise, South Korea struggle with same problems and it is more severe. As Graham (2017) states, “If the continuing trend of increasing inequality continues, there is good reason to believe that the nation will fall apart, as rising inequality leads to social unrest in South Korea.” Therefore, the government should control the flow of English due to the possibility of creating the following disparities; creating the gap between native speaker and non-native speaker by declining the productivity of latter and between rich and poor by requiring economic conditions indirectly.
Though focusing on English learning has these risk, some might argue that people should focus on learning English and do their best to provide them with opportunities to learn English as long as learning English is one of the ways to succeed in modern times. While it is unquestionable that their importance will remain in the future, people should consider the other effects such as deculturation of another language and loss of identity for its speakers. This is because the language, culture, and identity are deeply intertwined, and the loss of language can lead to the loss of colloquial culture and people’s mental instability. Jensen, el.（2011）states, “Given that language, cultural identity, and society are undeniably interwoven, the depletion of any one of these elements often causes the deterioration of all three. Those affected often find themselves torn between two cultures, feeling lost when they do not easily fit into either.” Furthermore, Auger（2016）insists, “a strong cultural identity is a primary and important psychosocial determinant of health and well-being for Indigenous populations.” Therefore, humankind should face with this problem seriously to protect only language preservation, but the rights and life of speakers of other languages. Thus, the government should promote English education that is balanced with mother tongue.
In conclusion, the government should restrain the expansion of English because it leads to annihilation of other languages especially minority one. Besides it also places a burden on non-English speakers and creates a gap between English speakers and non-English speakers. Similarly, this disparity has further exacerbated the gap between rich and poor among non-native speakers in Asia and other regions. Although some may argue that the importance of English in modern society makes it unrealistic to limit its expansion, the problem of language extinction, which is accelerating due to the spread of English, is a serious, and as languages are important for culture and regional identity, countermeasures are necessary. Thus, the government should balance English education and mother tongue education to protect language diversity.
References
Auger, M.D. （2016). Cultural Continuity as a Determinant of Indigenous Peoples’
Health: A Metasynthesis of Qualitative Research in Canada and the United States. https://jpn01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.18584%2Fiipj.2016.7.4.3&data=05%7C02%7C%7C716f86f49aa34bdf607608dc2776c1e9%7Cf11434e8abcf41f48154a9b2608dcd42%7C0%7C0%7C638428638217289860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KTgxIuHB%2BQUa2aoHo8u6fCkPnxfgekmR9fIjc8uU6ho%3D&reserved=0
Crystal, D.（2003 ). English as a global language. Cambridge university press.
Graham Crookes (2017). Critical Language Pedagogy Given the English Divide in Korea. ENGLISH TEACHING(영어교육), 72(4), 3-21.
Jeff Good, PhD. （2022）.What about the other 6,300 languages? . University at Buffalo.https://jpn01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buffalo.edu%2Fnews%2Freleases%2F2022%2F01%2F033.html&data=05%7C02%7C%7C716f86f49aa34bdf607608dc2776c1e9%7Cf11434e8abcf41f48154a9b2608dcd42%7C0%7C0%7C638428638217302292%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Q0rnVwBhWaIQgLu9w3SfJk2Bv1BESxBAK71eNx3XFik%3D&reserved=0
