This book explores the contemporary phenomenon of English as a world language and sets out to analyze how and why it became so dominant. It looks at the spread of English historically in order to ascertain whether the language has been promoted actively as an instrument of the foreign policy of the major English-speaking states. The book examines the language policies that Third World countries inherited from colonial times and considers how well 'aid', in the form of support for English learning, has served the interests of the receiving countries and the donors, and assesses whether it has contributed to perpetuating North-South inequalities. It looks at the ideology transmitted with the English language. The first two chapters look at English as the international language "par excellence." Chapter 3 deals with the theory of linguistic imperialism; Chapter 4 reviews earlier work in this area. Chapter 5 explores the colonial linguistic inheritance, and Chapter 6 delves into the British and American promotion of English. Chapters 7 and 8 explore various facets of English language teaching. Chapter 9 discusses linguistic imperialist discourse, and Chapter 10 examines the links between linguistic imperialism and English language teaching. (Contains 610 references.) (CK)