English in Academia: Opportunities and Challenges   

It is widely accepted that English has become the language of choice for many international scholarly journals. The trend is on the rise, and academia is left with almost no choice but to publish in English in order to obtain international recognition. In this respect, academic English, for the majority, means both an opportunity and a threat. The international community may get the chance to get to know the author and his or her work well. If not, the researcher and his or her work are, in a sense, deprived of this opportunity. For Crystal, conversation without a common language between academicians from different nationalities, both in the virtual and real world, would prove impossible.
   This trend has evolved as English has gradually grown to be the leading language for the dissemination of academic knowledge. Most disciplines have progressively shifted from publishing in journals in their own language to publishing in English. This development is part of the globalization trend in English. Along with this shift, there has been increasing attention to what Hyland and Hamp-Lyons referred to as advanced English for Academic Purposes, such as English for research publication purposes. As a result, universities and consultancies have developed programs to support non-native academics in their efforts to publish in international, English-medium journals.
    Research into the publication genres themselves was pioneered by Swales and has remained a consistent thread in English for Academic Purposes research, with significant contributions from scholars such as Swales and Najjar, Hopkins and Dudley-Evans, Peacock, Sionis, Flowerdew, Mišak, Marušic´, Marušic´, and Van Bonn. The expansion of English for academic publication as a lingua franca has benefits for international scholarly communication. However, it also raises concerns about the negative effects of the increasing use of English on scholarly publishing in other languages, and its role in fueling diaspora scholarship. (Hinkel, 2011, p. 92)
   In the modern world, English has become the language of not only science but also aviation, computing, diplomacy, and tourism. It is listed as the official or co-official language of over 42 countries and is spoken extensively in other countries where it has no official status. English plays a part in the cultural, political, or economic life of many nations, highlighting its importance as a global language in various fields, especially in academia. This widespread use underscores both the opportunities and challenges presented by English as the dominant language for scholarly communication. (Genç ,Bada, 2010, p.142)

References

Genç, B., & Bada, E. (2010). English as a world language in academic writing. Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, 243-260

Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (Vol. 2, pp. 89–105).