Currents of Thought on Asian English Studies

Abstract

The fears of Asian governments that the learning of English will lead to cultural and/or linguistic hegemony have been given theoretical support by a number of Western scholars, most notably Phillipson (1992). This paper will argue that these fears are misplaced, if not unfounded, and that the theoretical justification for them is flawed. The argument follows three stages. First, by contrasting the linguistic situation in Singapore and Malaysia, the determinism of Phillipson's theories will be questioned by showing that the role of English in any given society is unpredictable. Second, by recounting how a Western philosophy was successfully adapted and promulgated through the Chinese language, it will be shown that a system of ideas is not tied to any specific language and that a “local” language can more successfully introduce new ideas than the language in which the ideas were originally framed. Third, it will be argued that an “imported” language can develop to reflect and promote local cultural values and pragmatic norms. Promotion of local varieties of English in schools will therefore serve to ensure the maintenance of local cultural values and pragmatic norms. 3186 E-mail: tkirkpat@cc.curtin.edu.au