While globalization and internationalization have been in most cases reported positively, at the centre of these phenomena is the English language in the guise of lingua franca and medium of instruction; this has posed challenges for local languages. In the context of this chapter, such challenges are experienced by the Arabic language. This challenge is further exacerbated by several educational policy changes in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as it will be discussed later in the chapter. In a nutshell, educational policy changes across GCC countries seem to have in the centre the promotion of English as the medium of instruction. Since English as a medium of instruction is commonly located in contexts where English is not the mother tongue (Curle et al., 2020) among the speakers, it is often contrasted with mother-tongue instruction (Ntombela, 2020; Nyika, 2015). Such contrast, interestingly, tends to exclude English as part of mother-tongue instruction for its first language speakers, to the extent that the logical necessity and benefit of mother-tongue instruction are not read as equally beneficial to English first language speakers (Ntombela, 2020; UNESCO, 2016).

This chapter, therefore, interrogates the challenges of the English medium of instruction in the Arab world through a decolonial lens. A decolonial perspective has been adopted to counter the effects of a colonial ethos, which is behind the expansion of the English language at the expense of the Arabic language in the context of this chapter. The chapter is organized around the themes of Arabization, internationalization and globalization, English medium of instruction, the case of GCC and concludes with decolonization.

The spread of English in recent times in the Arab world has not occurred in the same religious zealotry as Arabization, but the impact would not be very different. Unlike the process of Arabization that had religious undertones, Anglicization was facilitated by a colonial dominance of the British Empire. In the scramble for Africa, for instance, Britain arguably had the largest piece of the cake (Pakenham, 2014). Similarly, five GCC countries – that is Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and UAE – were colonized by Britain (Barnawi, 2018). Britain went on to colonize most parts of the world, which earned her the description of an empire on which the sun never sets. Through colonial escapades, English was spread to most parts of the world. It is no surprise, therefore, that the growth of English as a medium of instruction cuts across Anglophone and non-Anglophone countries (Curle et al., 2020).

Long after the colonial expansion, English continues to dominate many parts of the world especially in the areas of education, commerce, technology and entertainment. The dominance of English in education means that subjects and programmes in institutions are perceived to be of world standard if they are offered in English (Salomone, 2015). This means that in the Arab world, even though Arabic is the common language with all the amenities of offering sophisticated intellectual materials in science and technology, it is not regarded as having the same value as English. The repercussions of such perception are dire in the fact that those whose immediate benefits are wrapped up in the Arabic language are sadly put backwards and have to start afresh catching up in the English language. The burden of learning a second language weighs heavily on the shoulders of second language learners than first language speakers could ever appreciate (Nyika, 2015). The unfortunate part is that only a minority will ever attain what is set as the standard in English – the majority carry the perpetual second-class label of being English second or foreign language users (or speakers).

The other sad reality is that there does not seem to be any signs of English relinquishing its dominance or sharing its power with other languages. The new neocolonial process seems to have the effects of reinvigorating the hegemony of English at a scale equal to if not more than the period of colonization. Canagarajah (2005) puts it succinctly that while the non-Western communities were busy with the project of decolonization, the other project of globalization has pulled the carpet from underneath their feet, which necessitates that we shift our focus to the processes of internationalization and globalization discussed in the next section.

English, as the common language among other things, is bolstered by the power of the American economy in the world. This means, at the world level, most high-stakes interactions are carried out in English. This has resulted in English being regarded as lingua franca – the language for global communication. Lingua franca English means that interlocutors adapt into English common code, which is often laced with individual situatedness. Everyday communication of individuals from diverse backgrounds is facilitated through lingua franca English. Nonetheless, there have been attempts to bring lingua franca English into the classroom and mainstream education (Canagarajah, 2007, 2014; Taguchi, 2014).

On the one hand, standard English is ideal in the academic environment. Serious academic activities such as assessment, research reports and publications are carried out in standard English. Academic writing is laced with expectations of a standardized form of English. Even academic literacy carries with it expectations of a standard form of English. On the other hand, lingua franca English tolerates regional, national and individual differences while standard English strives for a common code – the prestigious code. Needless to say, the custodians of this code are the first speakers of English in the centre (Harmer, 2006). On the contrary, there is no singular or fixed location of lingua franca English whose speakers outnumber native speakers of English (Canagarajah, 2007).

Lingua franca English could also be associated with English as a second language. In this case, the speakers are brought together by a common need to communicate in English because they do not share a common language. It is usually the case that such speakers bring with them individual differences in pronunciation as influenced by their first languages. The goal among these speakers is to achieve communication with each other. There is no aspiration to attain some ideal standard English. On the other hand, English as foreign language could be associated with standardized English. Speakers who learn English as a foreign language are usually bound by a common language. In this case, the motivation to learn English does not come from a need to communicate with each other than to emigrate to a country where English is spoken for educational or work purposes (Ntombela, 2020). There is, therefore, a heightened aspiration to learn standard English as spoken in the target country.

Interestingly, English as a second language and English as a foreign language sometimes coexist in the same environment. In the GCC countries, for example, expatriates generally outnumber the natives. English becomes a lingua franca among expatriates themselves and with the host country nationals. However, natives are bound by the same language but need English for educational purposes either locally or abroad – English is a foreign language to them.

While globalization could be arguably regarded as the driver for English as a lingua franca, the process of internationalization in higher education institutions (HEIs) is arguably responsible for the expansion of standard English in the academy. More HEIs are opting for English in offering various programmes of study to attract the international student population (Curle et al., 2020; Ntombela, 2017). This is lucrative because those international students would mostly come from countries that were formerly colonized by English and, therefore, have a basic command of the language. This is different from the cases where individuals have to learn English from scratch. Nevertheless, the prevailing perception of English as a language equal to education in general means that many forfeit the comfort and utility of their languages in education and choose to learn English from scratch. This contributes to the growth of English as a lucrative business and commodity. In the GCC countries, for instance, the revenue generated by English-medium schools runs into trillions of dollars (Barnawi, 2018).

Additionally, internationalization also means that those institutions that do not offer programmes in the medium of English lose out in the scientific citations of their work because the scientific community is being taken over by the dominance of English. The heavy price that is paid by communities is that local languages are left into a state of intellectual disuse – a step that triggers the process of language attrition. As with Arabization where many local languages eventually died and with colonization where many local languages still suffer marginalization, the process of internationalization, through the spread of English as a language of instruction in various programmes in HEIs, is intellectually murdering other languages and the bits of knowledge embedded in those languages.

The result was that all formal education was planned and offered in a colonial language. The most dominant of the colonial languages was English simply because of the number of colonies established under British rule. There are very few countries in the world that did not experience British imperialism. Education was also a tool used by colonialists to construct a citizen that would contribute to the economic expansion of the empire. The colonial language was, therefore, sold as the only viable language especially given the reality that those who were masters possessed this language. The conqueror of colonies also meant the conqueror of their cultural milieu and linguistic expression (Ntombela, 2012). The colonized were meant to feel that their languages were inferior.

This rhetoric of inferiority has persisted such that the economic and cultural muscle of English, stretching through countries in the centre, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, presents English as the indomitable currency through which education could be purchased. The result is that many students from English non-speaking countries increasingly idealize that English-speaking countries are their educational paradise. At the same time, non-English-speaking countries, realizing that they are losing student enrolment to English-speaking countries, bought into the rhetoric of internationalization which simply resulted in changing the medium of instruction into English.

There are complicated subtleties in the promotion of English as a medium of instruction in various countries, which are often presented in the form of benefits by some scholars. For instance, in multilingual contexts, the choice of English as a medium of instruction is justified based on being an ‘arbiter’ among native languages (Ntombela, 2017; Nqoma et al., 2017). In GCC countries, the varying demographics caused by the diverse nationalities that live and work in the Gulf countries present English as both appealing and a readily available language (Hopkyns, 2020). The logical progression to this reality finds its expression in the educational policy that promotes English as the language of education. This explains why Curle et al. (2020) suggest that the rise of English as a medium of instruction is influenced by various educational policy changes that, among other things, seek to catch up with institutional world rankings, invite more international students and change the w...