Given the diversity of Texas State University and the world, the Writing Center acknowledges and encourages the learning of other Englishes.  Although university students are often required to write in Standard American English, doing so should not lead to intolerance of linguistic difference since all languages are complex communication systems.

What is meant by "World Englishes"?

• "Even though many writers have stressed the role of English as a medium of political and cultural domination (Kachru 1985, Wolfson and Manes 1985), the fact remains that English as a lingua franca has also facilitated political and cultural understanding across societies, as well as served as a medium to expose injustices perpetuated on powerless ethnolinguistic groups (not infrequently, by the Engilsh speaking powerful). The role English has played in the political, social and cultural oppression of groups is balanced by the key role it has played in the efforts to understand the different realities of our international world" (Garcia & Otheguy 3).
• "English is used in over 70 countries as an official or semi-official language and has a significant role in over 20 more: 90 in all. . . . Worldwide over 1,400 million people live in countries where English has traditionally been in use (one billion of them in India). . . . Some 75% of the world's mail and the world's electronically stored information is in English. Of an estimated 40 million users of the internet in 1997, a majority used English" (McArthur 3).

Who is writing about World Englishes?

Crystal, David. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003.

Garcia, Ofelia, and Ricardo Otheguy, ed. English Across Cultures Cultures Across English: A Reader in

    Cross-cultural Communication. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1989.

Jenkins, Jennifer. World Englishes: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge, 2003.

McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Guide to World English. New York: Oxford UP, 2002.

Makoni, Sinfree, and Alastair Pennycook, ed. Disinventing and (Re)Constituting Languages. Buffalo: Multilingual

    Matters, 2007.

Melcher, Gunnel, and Philip Shaw. World Englishes: An Introduction. Hodder Arnold, 2003.

      *These texts are available in the Texas State University Writing Center.

Visit the Writing Center World Englishes Discussion Board:

• Go to tracs.txstate.edu, and log in using your TSU username and password.
• Click on "Membership" in the lefthand menu to see the sites to which you belong.
• Click "Joinable Sites," search for "Writing Center," and click "Join."
• Go to the Writing Center tab that has been added to the top of your TRACS website.
• Click on "Message Center"