Revisiting Englishes in the Expanding Circle

This article reexamines the dimension of Englishes in the expanding circle with reference to some recent theoretical models of English, beyond the Kachruvian model of English. This is to seek to contend that the expanding circle Englishes also constitute a world of their own in linguistic, cultural, interactional, and political terms; thus, ‘why not consider all local varieties of English in the circle as part of a local and, at the same time, a global pluralistic linguistic heritage?’ This can in turn alter the Kachruvian model of English (1985, 1991, 1992a, 1992b, 1998, 2006) which posits three concentric circles of the spread of English and argues that Englishes used in the expanding circle be as ‘EFL’ varieties; thus, their pedagogical validity is in question. This paper, for its organization, addresses recent models of English which all have highlighted Englishes in the expanding circle and the issues of defining standards and competence associated with the circle. In conclusion, it claims for the importance of raising students’ awareness of all different varieties of the expanding circle Englishes and developing negotiation skills for shuttling among different varieties of English. Additionally, the locus of Korea English as an expanding circle variety is briefly discussed.