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English Language Change

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How Changes in the English Language Will Affect Teaching L2 Students
Language is always changing. The English we speak today is different from that used by Shakespeare, and vastly different from that used a thousand years ago. Part of what it means to be a living language is that it will change over time. The reasons for these changes can be myriad. In recent years, the factors most responsible for changing the English language, both in terms of its mechanics and in terms of who is speaking it have been technology and globalism. The advent of the internet, with its attendant ability for real-time communication, has changed the language because people are now writing more like they speak, and they are finding more efficient ways to do both. The global business community is also having an affect on the English Language, because it is now the Lingua Franca of choice. English has become the language most people use both in business and online. This is changing, though, as other languages become more widely spoken across the world and as the global village allows people from non-English speaking nationalities to find their voices. It is becoming more important for people to be multilingual if they want to participate in a global community. These changes are important for teachers of English Language students to understand because it is becoming less important to sound like a native English speaker and more important to teach the language in the context of the local culture. Also,

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