English is a language which is spoken by billions of people worldwide. The vast majority of people can speak, at very least, a smattering of the English language and as such, it has begun to gain a reputation for being the ‘lingua franca’ of the world of academia. The growth of the English language exploded during the prime years of the British Empire – at its height, the Empire consisted of almost a quarter of the planet and held control over millions of people (Luscombe). This was unavoidably likely to have an effect on the languages spoken around the globe and, indeed, English became one of the foremost primary lingual tongues in the modern world. Of course, in the world of academia, the most important factor is whether a piece of writing can be understood and in a world which is ever decreasing in size, (thanks largely to globalisation) academic writing is being shared internationally and the question of being understood is raised to a more prominent level. This can also be argued of the Internet – a worldwide resource which allows almost anyone to gain access to almost any piece of information. iTunes has even begun to provide an academic service entitled ‘iTunes U’ which provides access to thousands of lectures from eminent universities around the world to anyone with an iTunes account. However, the question that is raised is whether it is right to have English as a lingua franca. Despite its prominence in the linguistic world, is it fair to expect people from non-English speaking countries to converse academically in a non-native tongue? Although English is becoming the principle language of higher education and academia, the individual opinions concerning this can differ greatly depending on a number of factors, not least of which is the individual’s native language. It can either be seen as enabling a free exchange of knowledge or as an all-consuming language, dismissing other languages in its wake. The purpose of this essay is to explore both sides of this argument and to draw some form of conclusion.
