Abstract
It is widely agreed that English is the international language of science (Ammon, 2001) and as access to higher education increases the world round, English has assumed the role of the medium of instruction in institutions around the globe (Phillipson, 2011; Tonkin, 2011). In this chapter, we explore the challenges of the conceptualization of linguistic imperialism coined by Phillipson (1992) in the Puerto Rican context of higher education. Phillipson defined linguistic imperialism as ‘the dominance of English … asserted and maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages’ (1992, p. 47). This definition is also related to the spread of English as a ‘lingua franca’ (Pennycook, 2007) as native and non-native speakers of English are in constant interaction with the language. Pennycook’s writings go on to pose the argument that it may be both beneficial and detrimental to those who interact with both languages in their context.
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