English Language As Hydra—Its Impacts on Non-english Language Cultures

The English language industry, in which non-native speakers are taught to speak a language frequently foreign to them and their cultures, is the hydra of the title. While billed as essential, empowering, and even better, the collected authors explore how the practice is perpetuating itself at the expense of local and regional languages and individual identities. In many instances, the purveyors of English language are viewed as 're-colonialists' and unwelcome. The authors provide descriptions and critical evaluations of the practice and outcomes in a variety of locations throughout the world. Editors are Rapatahana (author, poet, and former English language instructor) and Bunce (Australian teacher and author). Distributed in the U.S. by UTP Distribution. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Vaughan Rapatahana was born in Patea, Aotearoa-New Zealand. He has a doctorate from the University of Auckland and he has worked as a teacher in the Republic of Nauru, Brunei Darussalam, the United Arab Emirates, China and Hong Kong. He has written widely in a variety of genres, and is the author of several books, collections of poems and poetry teaching resources.

Pauline Bunce is an Australian teacher who has worked in Sri Lanka, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Her doctoral research with Charles Darwin University in Australia and her regular feature articles in the South China Morning Post have had a major influence on English teaching practices in Hong Kong.