Engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor: reconsidering the notion of language learning

ABSTRACT

This article explores the idea of “engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor.” Drawing on narrative accounts from seven employees who are/were affiliated with Japan-based companies that have adopted English as an official corporate language (EOCL), the article argues that even in these supposed “global” organizations, English does not exist simply to be learned or used as a business lingua franca; the language can also serve as an ideological construct that encourages employees in their neoliberal endeavor to be needed workers, with the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) functioning as a surveillance mechanism that drives the employees to continuously study the language with enthusiasm. Using this argument as a basis, the article offers an empirical alternative to how people’s multifaceted understanding of English and the learning of the language in the current neoliberal capitalist world can be captured. The examples used, as well as the idea of “engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor,” contribute to opening up academic discussions to reconsider the notion of language learning.

Acknowledgments

This article is based on my doctoral research project conducted at the University of Technology Sydney. I am grateful to my PhD supervisors, Alastair Pennycook and Emi Otsuji, for their valuable guidance on the project. My thanks also go to two anonymous reviewers and the editor Paul Chamness Iida for their constructive comments on earlier drafts. To complete this article, I received an editing grant from my current institution, Ibaraki University.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. To keep Takao unrecognizable to anyone who knows him, no information about his destination is provided.