International graduate students and the spread of English

Because international graduate students often return to their native countries as educators, politicians, and business people, they have the potential to influence the spread of English, both directly and indirectly. Thus arises the question of whether they will be knowledgeable enough about language issues to make informed language policy decisions. Although the spread of English as an international language has generated much research, little has been done to consider the role these graduate students will play in such future policy making, or the role indirectly played by the universities they attend in forming these policies. This paper reports and interprets the results of an exploratory survey designed to discover how international graduate students think about and use English. In particular, the following aspects were considered: the functions and varieties of English, the worldwide role of English, and attitudes and changes in attitudes toward English. The research suggests that students tend to emphasize the instrumental role of English, to lack an awareness of issues such as the nativization of English, to support English as a world language largely because of inertia, and to hold more positive attitudes toward (American) English over time.