Covers a wide range of areas including international politics, colonial history, critical pedagogy, post colonial literature and applied linguistics to find ways to understand the cultural and political implications of the global spread of English. The study explains how English has come to be seen as an international language by examining colonial origins, connections to linguistics and applied linguistics and relationships to the global spread of teaching practices. It offers a new, critical approach, developing an alternative understanding through the concept of the "worldliness" of English and includes separate chapters on English in Malaysia and Singapore. Readership: 3rd / 4th year undergraduate and postgraduate students of education, English and applied linguistics, for courses on teaching second languages, critical pedagogy, comparative education and world Englishes. Also for students of post-colonial literature and international relations.