Page 17 - ELG1903 Mar-Apr Issue 464

NEWS
David Graddol: the man who

saw the future of English

By Melanie Butler
on the ELT conference
David Graddol, who died in March aged 66, circuit, but as a radio pundit,
was a one-man think tank who changed the a television commentator and BRITISH COUNCIL
way the world sees the English language and a learned advisor to the great
the way the English Language industry sees and the good.
the world. He took to it all like a duck
Always a polymath, he graduated in 1975 to water. I remember speaking
from the University of York with a BA in with him at a conference in
Language and Linguistics, and then completed 2011. He flew in to Dublin
a second BA in Sociology from the same from Hong Kong, where
university in 1983. While teaching at the he was a visiting lecturer
Open University, he became known for his at City University, and
work in applied linguistics, discourse analysis, lecturing the entire Irish EFL
sociolinguistics and the history of linguistics. profession, not to mention a
But it was his fascination with the future of government minister or two,
English which made him famous. Fascinated on the state of global ELT.
by the economic and social implications of The audience sat spellbound
the global growth of the English language, he by his tales of policy changes
began to compile the most astonishing set of in Brazil, population changes
facts and figures. in China’s Pearl River basin
and the economic impact of
He took to it all like the student visa crackdown
in the UK.
a duck to water. “Your turn next, Melanie,”
he said to me as he came off
In the late 1990s, David began contributing stage, “I left it to you to tell
to the Gazette. He was the brains behind our them all the bad news.
global news section, still running in this issue It was his ability to ask the
on pages 8 and 9. For at least a decade, he would right question, and predict the
phone me up to discuss the latest language right answers which made him
policy in Sudan or Sumatra, along with the the futurologist of EFL. For
latest exploits of his triplet daughters. He example, twenty years ago,
could mail in full-page features at a moment’s he asked this question in the
notice, but until his wife, Margaret Keeton, AILA Review:
took over the business side, the invoices for his “Large numbers of people will learn English
work would arrive up to two years late. as a foreign language in the 21st century,
It was his book, The Future of English?, and they will need teachers, dictionaries and
published by the British Council in 1997, grammar books. But will they continue to look ISSN 0732-5819
which pushed David Graddol into the public towards the native speaker for authoritative
spotlight. As the man who first measured the norms of usage?” EL Discover Ltd
sheer size and scope of the demand for English, I think he knew the answer. He always did. Unit 3, Constantine Court
he himself was in demand not only as a speaker 6 Fairclough Street
London E1 1PW, UK
+44 (0)20 3971 8305
www.elgazette.com

Editor-in-chief: Melanie Butler
melanie@elgazette.com

Features editor: Ron Ragsdale
News editor: Matt Salusbury
Sales: Tom Parrish
editorial@elgazette.com

Administration: Shirley Porter
shirley@elgazette.com

Subscriptions: Webscribe
subs@webscribe.co.uk
+44 (0)1442 879097

editorial@elgazette.com 17