3. 1-INTRODUCTION:
• South America is the huge continent of developing nations.It has an immense
land mass.This continent is the bastion of natural resources.
• This land is basically inhabitated by the native Indians. After a five centuries
there was a great wave of settlers who came here from Europe,Africa and the far
East.
• This land is the castle of different cultures and races.Now a days it is mostly
ruled by democratically elected government.
4. 1.1-DELIMITING SOUTH AMERICA:
• The term South America becomes ambigious when we talk about this land in
two major senses.
• The first is narrower sense according to which South America is participant of
three-way distinctions South,Central and North Americas.
• A broad sense claims that it surrounds all countries to South of united states.
Now there are some interpretation according to these senses
5. CONT.....
• The first interpretation was made by the guest editors of special issue of “World
Englishes”. They point out the linguistic and Ethnic diversity in the continent
which is oftenly unnoticed by the rest of world, and a fact that, like Africa, it
continues to remain a “forgotton continent” .( Berns and Friedrich 2003)
• In the final analysis, the term “South America” is the factor of conflict between a
linguistic and culture sense on one hand, and economically driven geo-political
sense on the other hand.
• But here the term “South America” will be use as a narrow sense for the purposes
of present overview.
6. 2-THE STATUS OF ENGLISH IN SOUTH AMERICA:
• South America contains 12 sovereign states ( Argentina,Bolivia,Brazil,Chile, Colombia,
Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname,Uruguay and Venezuela) and three
major territories ( Falkland Island,French Guyana, and Galapagos Islands)
• Spanish is spoken in 9 of 12 countries and it considered as a principal language on
the continent, while portuguese is spoken by roughly 170 million people in Brazil (
which is half of the estimated 350 million people on the continent as whole).
• English came in this continent through the increasing trade relations with the rest of
world and unifying itself as region principal foriegn language.
7. CONT....
• The post-World War 2 years have witnessed a tremendous growth in the demand for
learning the English language, widely perceived across the continent to be the key to
success and career advancement in the new world order.( Alm 2003 ; Bohn 2003) .
• So in the end the spread of English language in these countries sett off the alarm bells
because some were in the favour and most of them were ambivalent about the spread
of English language.
• It is impossible to appreciate the role played by the English in the huge continent
withouth considering the geopolitics of the region as whole.
8. 2.1-THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN
CONTINENT:
• South America has historic ties with the United States.
• On December 6,1904 US president Theodore Roosevelt claimed that “this region
was uniquely part of US sphere of influence”.
• In the 1950 ,during the cold War US president Dwight Eisenhower and Vice
president Richard Nixon put forward the so-called “domino theory” according
to which the moment the first country in a given geographical region fell into
the hands of communist the rest would follow suit in quick succession.
9. 2.2-POLITICS OF LANGUAGE AND ENGLISH:
• English was trapped in the politics of language because it was playing across the
South America continent.
• There were two perception in the people of continent about the rising of English
as a language. Some were percieving it as most visible sign of US hegemony in
the region ,while on the other hand some people were considering the English
language as coveted (desired) asset.
• A taxi driver in Peru said that English in today's world is necessary evil, we need
it ,one way or another.
10. CONT......
• Some countries of this continent like Chile and Cuba show a positive attitude
towards learning English language even after having some bad influence of USA
policies in these countries.
11. 3-ENGLISH UP TO THE MID TWENTIETH
CENTURY:
• The history of the presence of English in South America may be traced back to
1795, when scotsman whose name was Nicholas Vansittart wrote a white paper
in which he sketched a plan for taking the continent from Spain,in compensation
for the loss of North American colonies.
• After sometimes this paper was replaced by “Maitland plan” named after the
scottish Major. The plan was put into action during the Napoleonic war of 1806.
• British face a stubborn resistance from the population of Argentina and
Uruguay.
12. CONT....
• The history of English language in the Uruguay dates back to the “Invasiones
Inglesa” when the British finally took the city of Montevideo.The first printed
newspaper in the province was the bilingual “ The Southern Star”
13. 3.1- THE ROLE OF ENGLISH AFTER WORLD WAR 2:
• The presence of English language in South America after World War 2 is directly
related to the emergence of the Untied states as the most powerful nation in the
western world.
• In Brazile , Argentina and Chile English was practically used in Newspaper
advertisement,Bill board and shop windows.
• While in the countries like Colombia, Ecuador,Peru and Venezuela English was
still restricted.
14. 4-CURRENT ELT PRACTICES:
• English language teaching(ELT) practices vary from one country to another.Brazil became the
part of selected countries that contributed systematic research on the teaching and learning
of language.
• In 1970, the new policy of language teaching was adapted.The audio-lingual method was
also introduced and seems influential in the practical usage of English
• There was another project named as Brazilian ESP project. This project was leaded by the
Brazilian scholar in the response of growing demands for a working knowledge of English
among students.
15. 5-LEGISLATION REGARDING SCHOOLS AND
UNIVERSITIES:
• In Brazil a new law was introduced in 1996 called (Guidelines and underlying
principels for education). This law actually proposed some major change to
language teaching policies at primary and secondary level.
• In Argentina, English language was settled securely in the education system.
• Chile, another South American country, teach the English language and made it as
compulsory subject in the schools.
• There were a large number of private language centers across the South America .
These language centers ensure the quality language teaching.
16. CONCLUSION:
• English is today securely established on the continent as foreign language .
• English has expanded its presence by leaps and bounds in South America in the
past 20 or 30 years and no doubt it guaranteed the successful future of this
continent.