Questioning a world standard English

This paper offers a discussion that moves past common debates regarding the imperialistic spread of the English language, and starts from the position that English is en-route to becoming an international language. Questions are asked regarding the standardization of the English language for the purpose of globalization, for example: How do we define Standard English (SE)? Does the English language, and English language teaching continue to sell Western culture to other parts of the world? And, is worldwide mutual intelligibility even necessary? The author offers a review of Peter Trudgill’s article “Standard English: What it isn’t” (Trudgill, 1999), in addition to discussing Sandra Lee McKay’s article “Western Language and Teaching English as a Second Language” (2004), among much discussion of work by Alastair Pennycook (1994, 2001, 2011) and David Crystal (2003). The author also looks to Standard German in the three major German-speaking countries as an example of a successful standardized language system. Critical Applied Linguistics is showcased as an appropriate approach from which to study Standard English for, as the author concludes, further exploration into assumptions surrounding SE is necessary before it can be used and regarded as a positive tool in the process of globalization.