Review of Galloway and Rose. (2015). Introducing Global Englishes.

Abstract

This is a book review for the journal REFLections: Journal of Language Education. Thomas, N. (2019). Introducing Global Englishes. REFLections, 26(2), 105-107. Retrieved from https://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/reflections/article/view/233127

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rEFLecons
Vol 26, No.2, July – December 2019
105
BOOK REVIEW
Title Introducing Global Englishes
Authors Nicola Galloway and Heath Rose
Publisher Routledge 2015
No. of pages 292
ISBN 9780415835329
Reviewer Nathan Thomas
English has grown from being spoken by only a few naons to being the global lingua franca.
Its spread has resulted in non-nave English speakers far outnumbering nave speakers of the
language. With such radical changes in not only the number of users but also the nature of
usage, it is inevitable that norms and standards change as well. How we understand, view, and
adapt to this change is covered comprehensively in Galloway and Rose’s (2015) Introducing
Global Englishes. In the books’ ten chapters, the authors cover an incredible amount of ground,
beginning with the history of the English language and ending with its predicted future in years
to come. Both authors have a background in educaon and, perhaps most importantly, this
shows in the presentaon of the content and amount of addional resources provided. Dense
concepts are explained in accessible language, and the accompanying website is lled with
more than enough material for enre courses on this and related subjects. This book is an
invaluable resource for those embarking on teaching or studying Global Englishes (GE) in
isolaon or as part of a larger course on applied linguiscs, for example.
Chapter 1 takes readers on an historical tour of the origins of English, working through Old,
Middle, and Early Modern English before splintering o into the New Englishes of the recent
past and present. The authors introduce a four-part model of this spread (p. 9) dierent from
the tradional two diaspora view that is typically presented, and problemaze some of the
issues with previous models of English (e.g. Kachru’s concentric circle model). The discussion
is balanced, crical, and empirically sound. Chapter 2 builds on this discussion and adds to it
more detailed coverage of language change and variaon. The authors discuss language
contact and then levels of variaon, drawing aenon to grey areas between terms such as
variety, dialect, accent, language, and register. The chapter concludes with a look into language
ideology and ownership.
Chapter 3 focuses more on the polical and economic advantages and disadvantages of English
as a global language, while Chapters 4, 5, and 6 discuss variaon in nave Englishes, New
Englishes (English as a second language/outer circle contexts), and English spoken by the rest
of the world (English as a foreign language/expanding circle contexts). The authors do an

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excellent job of balancing their discussion between purely linguisc aspects and the sociolin-
guisc realies of these Englishes in use. While Chapters 4-6 are extremely informave, they
might appear quite dense to some readers. That being said, they are wrien clearly, accessibly,
and with lots of helpful examples.
Although menoned in other parts of the book, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is the focus
of Chapter 7. Galloway and Rose rst highlight the growth of ELF as an area of study since the
1990s. They disnguish it from World Englishes (WE) by stang that WE focused more on
delineang Englishes from one another rather than describing how speakers of English(es) use
the language amongst one another, a focus of ELF. What I found most interesng was the
coverage of common misconcepons/cricisms of ELF near the end of the chapter. Issues such
as the misconcepon of ELF being a single variety of English, a simplied variety of English, or
that it is always linked with pedagogy, among others, are elucidated upon, clearing up some
of my own misconcepons.
Chapter 8 homes in on atudes towards dierent variees of English and ELF. With many
learners and teachers sll aiming to ‘sound like a nave speaker’ and pushing for unrealisc
goals in doing so, atudes towards non-standard variees is a tremendously relevant
discussion today. This chapter covers ways of researching atudes and reports on research
that has done so quite well. The authors call for more studies that raise students’ awareness
of GE and cause them to reect on their own stereotypes. This is an area the authors have
been quite acve in themselves (see Galloway & Rose, 2018, 2014; Rose & Galloway, 2017;
Rose & Montakanwong, 2018).
The queson of why GE educaon is important is answered in Chapter 8, and the queson of
how is tackled, albeit briey, in Chapter 9. Galloway and Rose discuss the importance of
raising awareness of dierent variees of English, strategies in ELF communicaon, emphasizing
respect among speakers, and, addressing the elephant in the room, changing hiring pracces.
With so much discussion about the importance of recognizing diversity, it is inevitable that
hiring pracces must change. The “summary of proposals” (p. 208) does well to present past
strives that were made, while the authors put forth a strong argument of their own.
Finally, Chapter 10 discusses the future of English as a global language. What I realized in
reading this secon is how well the authors are able to present conicng arguments on the
same topic in an objecve manner. It is clear that Galloway and Rose believe that their view
of GE/English will connue to thrive though leaving room for other lingua francas to emerge.
The authors’ view of GE potenally being viewed through the lens of complexity theory is
parcularly innovave and thought-provoking.
All in all, Introducing Global Englishes is an excellent resource for those interested in the his-
tory, spread, variaon, and future of English around the world. As a praconer-turned-
researcher, I found myself most intrigued by the ideas in Chapter 9 relang to GE Language
Teaching (GELT), yet, felt like just as I was geng warmed up, the authors change topics and
move back to non-pedagogical issues. However, during the me I was reading for and then
wring this review, Galloway and Rose have announced that they will be releasing a book in

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2019 devoted enrely to GELT, in which case the ideas in Chapter 9 of this volume will be
expanded upon greatly. That being said, this book can denitely stand on its own. As an
introductory yet thorough resource, I feel this is an extremely underrated volume, exhausvely
covering a topic of intense interest and debate today.
Nathan Thomas is a postgraduate researcher in the Department of Educaon at the University of Oxford.
He has researched ELT in the contexts of China and Thailand, where he has taught for many years.
His research interests are wide-ranging, but current projects pertain to language learning strategies,
self-/other-regulaon, and Global Englishes.
nathan.thomas@educaon.ox.ac.uk
References
Galloway, N., & Rose, H. (2014). Using listening journals to raise awareness of global Englishes in ELT.
ELT Journal, 68(4), 386-396.
Galloway, N., & Rose, H. (2018). Incorporang global Englishes in the ELT classroom. ELT Journal, 72(1),
3-14.
Rose, H., & Galloway, N. (2017). Debang standard language ideology in the classroom: Using the
“speak good English movement” to raise awareness of global Englishes. RELC Journal,
Vol, 48(3), 294-301.
Rose, H., & Montakanwong, A. (2018). A tale of two teachers: A duoethnography of the realisc
and idealisc successes and failures of teaching English as an internaonal language. RELC
Journal, 49(1), 88-101.