criticism on Braj Kachru's model

1. CRITICISM ON BRAJ
KACHRU MODEL

2. INTRODUCTION:
• Braj Kachru (1985/1988) was a Professor of Linguistics who coined
the term 'World English'.
• 'World English' refers to the fact that the English language has been
used as a global means of communication in numerous dialects
worldwide. It also refers to the movement towards an 'international
standard' of the English language.

3. • The Kachru model consisted on three concentric circles :
• Inner Circle
• Outer Circle
• Expanding Circle
• The amount of speakers in the Inner and Outer Circles are both estimated at 37 million and the
Expanding Circle at 750-1000million
• According to Graddol (2000). Inner Circle Englishes in the model refer to the traditional Centre’s of
the language or the colonizing nations that spread the language to different territories, here English is
the first or native language. The Outer Circle populated by the colonized territories in which English is
a second or non-native language and used in different functional domains, such as government, and
the Expanding Circle includes all nations that use English as a foreign language.

4. THE INNER CIRCLE:
• The inner circle is consist of those countries who are considered the 'traditional
bases' of English, such as the U.K., U.S.A, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and
anglophone Canada. English in these countries are classed as a 'first' language.
Kachru labels the inner circle countries as 'norm-providing' - the norms (standard
of the English language are produced there.

5. THE OUTER CIRCLE:
• The outer circle is consist of countries where English is not spoken natively but is
still maintained as an important language for communication .These countries
include: India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kenya, non-
anglophone South Africa and Canada. Kachru labels these countries as 'norm-
developing' - the norms produced by the inner circle are further developed and
reproduced in the outer circle.

6. THE EXPANDING CIRCLE
• The expanding circle includes much of the rest of the world's population -
countries that do not hold historical or governmental importance towards
English, but class it as a foreign language. Main examples of such
countries include: most of Europe, China, Russia, Japan, Korea, Egypt and
Indonesia. These countries are 'norm-dependent' - they fully depend on
the norms originally produced by the native speakers of the inner circle.
They generally do not develop or reproduce 'Englishes'.

7. CRITICISM ON BRAJ KACHRU MODEL
• Kachru’s model describes the Inner Circle, Outer Circle and Expanding Circle as
‘norm-providing’, norm-developing’ and ‘norm-dependent’. However, Crystal
(1995) comments that the model cannot represent the reality of international
English use because the reality is often not so clear-cut. Crystal wonders it is
difficult to distinguish whether the Outer Circle looks to Inner Circle norms or it
creates its own norms. Norms development is also possible in the Expanding
Circle