Cultural Globalization and the Global Spread of English: From ‘Separate Fields, Similar Paradigms’ to a Transdisciplinary Approach

Abstract

The global spread of English is an inextricable part of the globalization of culture and media. Despite this close entanglement, theories on the global spread of English have largely been developed within separate fields, such as applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, with relatively limited reference to theories of cultural or media globalization. Conversely, scholars of cultural and media globalization who focus on the role of language rarely refer to work on the global spread of English. Despite this mutual independence, paradigms of cultural and media globalization on the one hand, and of the globalization of English on the other, have developed along remarkably similar lines. The aim of this paper is to identify and explain these similarities. After discussing five major paradigms in cultural and media globalization and their equivalents in theory on the global spread of English, we will argue for a transdisciplinary approach to the study of the globalization of culture, media, and language.

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