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For example, in the Netherlands and some other countries of Europe, knowledge of English as a second language is nearly universal, with over 80 percent of the population able to use it, [91] and thus English is routinely used to communicate with foreigners and often in higher education. In these countries, although English is not used for ...
Braj Kachru divides the use of English into three concentric circles. [8]The inner circle is the traditional base of English and includes countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland and the anglophone populations of the former British colonies of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and various islands of the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.
However, English is not the only language used in major international organizations, because many countries do not recognize English as a universal language. For instance, the United Nations use six languages — Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
While programs offering English language skills have broadened access to English internationally, they have been criticized for promoting linguistic imperialism, a phenomenon that entails the transfer of a dominant language to minority language speakers as a result of hegemonic and economic power structures. [12]
The order of acquisition is a concept in language acquisition describing the specific order in which all language learners acquire the grammatical features of their first language (L1). This concept is based on the observation that all children acquire their first language in a fixed, universal order, regardless of the specific grammatical ...
The term universal grammar refers to the set of constraints on what a possible human language could be. Within approaches that accept universal grammar, language acquisition is viewed as a process of using sensory input to filter through the set of possible grammars that conform to UG.
English language teaching (ELT) is a widely used teacher-centered term, as in the English language teaching divisions of large publishing houses, ELT training, etc. Teaching English as a second language (TESL), teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), and teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) are also used. [citation needed]
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language acquisition involves structures, rules, and representation.