WorldEnglishes: The adoption and use of English in European politics and education with reference to Brexit; What is ‘World Englishes’?“English is no longer just ‘one language’, it comes in many different shapes and sizes.” Schneider, 2011, p. 11 The term ‘World Englishes’ wasdevised by the sociolinguistic researcher Braj Kachru and is one of themost influential models in the discussion of the spread of English on a globalscale. The word ‘Englishes’ is a term which means there is more than one typeof the English language based on indigenised forms adapted for and from avariety of reasons which will be discussedthroughout this paper.  The very idea of World Englishes (WE) is quite exceptional and one of which has turned into a fixation for current researchers such as Robert Philipson and Edgar W. Schneider. Sociolinguistic and regional variations of WE are being examined vastly by researchers to deepen their understanding of why English as a first, second or foreign language has become one of or if not, the most dominant language in the world. One could say that English has taken the place of languages such as Esperanto which sole purpose was to eventually become the world’s most commonly spoken language or the ‘lingua franca’. With many theorists such as Cogoand Jenkins (2010), believing that English will benefit one of the world’sleading political unification, the European Union (EU), because it serves thepurpose of a lingua franca (mutual understanding) for borderless communication,others such as van Parijs (2011, p. 220)believe that English as a lingua franca serves as a loss of ‘parity ofesteem’. In this essay, therefore,I will review areas such as the use and spread of English from nativisation andcolonialism as it is first and foremost important to understand how Englishbecame the so-called lingua franca­­ in today’smodern society. It is also crucial todraw attention to one of the most groundbreakingapproaches to the ownership and use of English as discussed by Kachru. Thefocus of the essay is the use of English in Europe; politically and socially. Iwill endeavour to address how English is usedin the context of the European Union, education and the specific context offounding members; France and Germany with a specific focus on Italy. One of theother key topics that will be reviewed isthe effect of Brexit on English within the context of Europe and any obviouseffects this could have on the UK ‘Brexiting’. Historical origins and spread of EnglishThe types of colonisation by the British Empire meantdifferent attached connotations in the useand spread of English; these can be defined as; settlementand exploitation. Nations in which explorers settled such as Australiaand New Zealand, meant these territories wereconquered, and natives were forcedby settlers to use English. Other countrieswhich were exploited by the British Empire, including many African and Asian nations, were usedprimarily as a means of harvesting labourers and obtaining naturalresources to benefit Britain in its strive for global dominance. This meant English was used by the elitists and not by the natives of the country. Withinthe last century, the indigenisation and nativisation of English from theformer British Empire colonies further expanded the use of English encompassinga sense of belonging to a particular region or culture; different types ofEnglish, or as discussed, Englishes (Schneider, 2011). The countries which were colonised by the British Empire were notpreliminarily exposed and made to use English in some cases; it was in fact only used by settlers andexpatriates. English is now a recognised first language of many formercolonised nations around the world such as Singapore, Malaysia and Nigeria (Crystal,2003)which are all territorieswhich were previously exploitedby the former British Empire.The English language was predicted by Follick (1934)to spread and be used internationallyby nations to communicate and cooperate. Itcould be said that there was a natural shift in using English as a conventionalmeans of communication because of its imperialistic background and becauseEnglish had already been introduced to a number of British Empire colonies,such as India and South Africa. It was also being used by countries with stronginternational political and economic backgrounds, such as the United States andthe UK (Schneider, 2011). English, having been introduced two centuriesago, already had a stronghold within African and Asian countries which meantthat English had already been adapted tolocal dialects. This rapid spread and use of English meant that governments, education and the media within these formercolonies were used to communicate and compete with other countries;English is perceived to be a dominant language as it allows for better jobopportunities and prosperity (Crystal, 2003). Today through membership, anyformer British Empire colonies are known as the ‘Commonwealth of Nations’ inwhich the Queen is sovereign head of state which could still be impacting onthe relation of English as a dominant language of former settled and colonisednations.  Kachrudeveloped ‘The Three Circles’ model to outline how English is usedand continues to be used internationallyin countries such as those in the commonwealth. Kachru – The Three CirclesThe model is presented concentrically; the Inner Circle, The Outer Circle and The Expanding Circle (Kachru, 1992). The overlapping circles are conceptualised as; English as a Native Language (ENL) – ‘Inner Circle’, English as a Second Language (ESL) being the ‘Outer Circle and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) presented as the ‘Expanding Circle’ (Schneider, 2011, p. 31). The Inner Circle includes countries such as the United Kingdom, The United States, New Zealand, Australia and Canada; the Outer Circle comprises of post-colonial nations such as India and Singapore, and the Expanding Circle contains the rest of the world (Crystal, 2003, p. 61).Kachru’s socio-political wayof thinking plays substantial importance on the Outer and Expanding Circlesbecause he is sturdy of the opinion that ‘Englishbelongs to all those who use it’ so there is no great need for ESL and EFLusers to obsess over developing the perfect Inner Circle accent or way ofthinking Kachru (1992). Furthermore, Kachru argues that because users ofEnglish in the Outer and Expanding Circleshave as much ownership as those in the Inner Circle,they are allowed and should continue creating their own set of ‘norms’ whichsubsequently allows for the spread of varying types of English. Kachru’s modal identifies the Inner Circle as ‘norm-providing’,the Outer Circle as ‘norm-developing’ and the Expanding Circle as ‘normaccepting’. These principles, however, have been questioned by linguists by negativelydepicting aspects such as the Expanding circle (Canagarajah, 2006). The factthat multilingual speakers in the Expanding circle do not apply the same normsas the Inner circle when speaking English implies that the Expanding circle isnot norm dependent. As the use of English around the world continues toexpand and become deeply rooted in many countries, there is a divergence in theway in which English is utilised. English in Europe – Politics and EducationThe European Union has a five-levellanguage policy which encourages the use of all twenty-four official languageswithin the EU (Gazzola, 2016).The system ensures fair usage and publication of EUrelated materials to its members. The five-levelpolicy includes; Non-legally binding documents, official documents from theEuropean Commission, EU studies and reports, EU court documentation and the EUparliament (Wright, 2009)One of the recurring myths surrounding the use of Englishwithin the EU is that English is only one of a selection of official languagesused by the EU (Phillipson, 2017). Even though Irish and Maltese were upgraded by the EU in 2007 to haveofficial language status, English is still usedby these two counties (Phillipson, 2017). An indication perhaps that there is apreference to communicate in English.English teaching was slowlyintroduced to western European and Scandinavian schools throughout the1950’s and 1960’s (Council of Europe, 2002);central and eastern European countries including Russia and Italystarted  English in the late 1980’s inthe post-Stalinist period. This earlyintroduction could perhaps be related to the growth of the UK and US economiesand seen as an integral part of western European and Scandinavian countriesgrowth and inclusion. Furthermore, all members of the EU made it compulsory  to learn another language at varying schoolage levels and at varying times up to 2001 (Eurydice, 2001). The teaching ofEnglish in European schools is evidence that perhaps suggests nationalgovernments recognised the importance of English as a means to better theirsocio-political stance on the world stage. Focusing on Scandinavian countries, Sweden and Finland, it isclear that the then government of 1995 valued English as both countries made ittheir national policies to diversify their language teaching in schools to twolanguages instead of one, which was predominantly English (Bergman, 1995, p.178)The context of EU language policy for learning is connected to socioeconomic achievement andobjectives set out by the EU in the Lisbon agenda 2000-2010 and Europe 2020 (Krzyzanowski& Wodak, 2011).The goals the EU discuss are related to higher social cohesion as well as ‘smart,sustainable and inclusive growth’. The policy by the EU was designed to encourage ‘mothertongue’ speakers to learn another two languages which would increase the EU’schance of more significant socioeconomicand political cohesion as well as better social mobility (Gazzola, 2016). Thatsaid, the European Commission (2016) published a report that the one languagemost likely to have an impact on inclusive growth within the EU is Englishsince more people than not have ESL or EFL skills than any other of thetwenty-found official EU languages. Although this is what the EuropeanCommission state, others disagree as it isestimated that between 45-80% of adults in the EU have no or very littleknowledge of English (Gazzola, 2016). By contrast, 90% of secondary schoolstudents throughout the European Union studied English in 2012 (Eurydice, 2012)suggesting that perhaps adults of the future in Europe will have a betterknowledge of English than their elders.  Thepreponderance of English The evidence here indicatesthat even though the EU would like better social mobility and sustainablegrowth, perhaps the continued teaching and learning of English would be morebeneficial in aiding their Europe 2020 agenda. Still, we are yet to see ifthere is any impact caused by Brexit. There will be a more detailed discussionand assessment of Brexit later in the essay.The European Union, founded byFrance, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in 1957 (EuropeanUnion, 2018),made French one of itsofficial language for a number of aspects. French was spoken as an official languagein Brussels and Luxembourg which is where the EU institutions are located. Forthis reason, the decision to use French for all internal communications wasmade. It seems natural to explore the use of English in three of the foundingsix members; France, Germany and Italy as a united Europe outline its valuesand aspirations, so do the governments from each country. In what we know as modernEurope, it has been a haven of multilingualism for over 2.5 millennia (Wilton& De Houwer, 2011) so it should be no surprise that the growing use oflanguages continues today, most notably English. There are controversies,however, surrounding the use and adoption and adaptation of English in someEuropean countries (De Houwer et al., 2011, p. 2).Europe is the perfect exampleof the Expanding, and the Outer circle’s as discussed by Kachru (1992) and withthat comes varying national and local needs within each country, and consequently,problems can manifest within a local, regional pr national context. An exampleof this is linguistic borrowing which is seen as a threat on the one hand andas a step towards greater acceptance of neighbouring or global cultures on theother. France The elitist language of the 19th and early 20thcenturies was French. It dominated Europe and wasseen as a ‘superpower’ indiplomacy and education; this, however, is no longer the case because Francehas transitioned from the superior globalpower to a minor power (Oakes, 2001, p. 154).This dramatic shift in power and use of language changed as onecountry surpassed France’s status as the most sort after language to showprosperity and wealth; The United States of America (US) (Oakes, 2001). Due tothe US’ growth in aspects such aseconomics, culture and politics, this, in turn, helped a natural step towardsthe use of English (Oakes, 2001)This increased use of English has led France to discuss theidea that the French language is under threat by the Anglicisation of their language.French was recognised as an official language when the United Nations formed in1945 but has since taken a less prominentrole and is currently not used as heavily asEnglish. Whatsmore, France has taken action against the use of English byintroducing laws which protect and encourage French nationals to use Frenchrather than English. The French government placed restrictions on five keydomains; commerce, media, education, work and government. This shows thatsociopolitically, the use of English in France could be regarded as harmfulsince the laws and restricted use of English were introduced (Adamson, 2007).Conversely, a surveyconducted by French nationals revealed thattheir attitudes towards learning and using English are much more favourablethan that of the governments (Adamson, 2007).The studied concluded that 98%thought it necessary to know English and 86% agreed that English should betaught from a young age which the French government advocated against (Adamson,2007). That said, they did unanimously agree that where anglicisms exist inFrance, there are more often than not French equivalents but are not used. When the UK joined the EU in1973, French was still widely used within the EU; this began to changegradually. Between 1986 and 2000, the use of French dropped from 56% to 35% andthe use of English rose from 26% to 52% English gained in popularity due to theEU’s interested in the UK’s science and economic outputs as well as more usersof EFL and ESL. Learning English has been supported by the UK and USgovernments through a plethora of internationally established businesses suchas the British Council, Cambridge English and International House (Bermel,Fergurson & Linn, 2015, p. 7).It should be noted howeverthat countries such as France where the fear of losing their mother tongue isconsidered a threat by natives because of the impact English are having ineveryday life, usually means that their control of the language is far superiorto other nations in Europe (De Houwer et al., 2011, p. 3). Since France havesuch strict regulations on the use of French as outlined above, it is thereforenot surprising that France could be considered as more proficient than itsother European counterparts. Germany German is the most spokenlanguage out of the twenty-four officially recognised languages of the EuropeanUnion (European Commision, 2018)withover ninety million native speakers within the European Union. So, why is itthe most powerful economy in the European Union chooses to use English as ameans of sustainability? First and foremost, Germanyhas widely accepted the use of English as an ever-expanding source to maintainand improve its alliances with countries such as the US and UK as well asincrease its scientific, technological and mass media output; thus rapidly improvingand maintaining the country’s importance in a globalised world (Knapp, 2011).Conversely, the EU struggles to address the importance in usingEnglish within Europe and is acknowledged to a certain degree but is ‘sometimeseven considered a taboo topic’ (Seidlhofer, 2006, p. 134)This is somewhatdisparaging as the EU should perhaps be acknowledging the inevitable spread andincreased use of English in Europe. Although, their Europe 2020 agenda, whichin part was initiated to encourage EU citizens to learn two languages in linewith the CEFR equivalent B2 level, is yet to be concluded meaning the resultsof could display signs of increased use of English plus another language. Thiscould have an impact on better cohesion between cross-border communication asdesired by the EU. Secondly, English MediumInstruction (EMI) is a specific rationale that the German government introducedin the 1990’s (Knapp, 2011, p. 52). The introduction of EMI within Germany’shigher education sector meant they could compete for the ever-increasing numbersof international students flocking to the US and UK for EMI undergraduate andpostgraduate taught degrees (Coleman, 2006:4ff in Knapp, 2011, p. 52). TheGerman universities, such as the University of Seigan which was a pioneer ofEMI, have since seen the rewards by Germany now taking 10% of the internationalstudent market, third only tothe US and UK (Wachter & Maiworm, 2008). However, attitudes towards the use of English on EMI coursesby German students are evident and can be summarised by saying they see English as away to better their careers and a means to communicate with others (Gnutzmann,Jakisch and Rabe, 2014). That said, students from the University of Braunschweig in Germany were asked whether or not they felt their identity was influenced bythe EMI course they attended. The result of the question overwhelminglyconcluded that 52% of students felt that their characterwas ‘greatly affected’because topics were often Anglo-American which meant theybegan to identify with these topics more than German (Gnutzmann et al., 2014).ItalyDuring thefascist regime in Italy between 1921 and 1945, it was national policy, appliedthrough authoritarianism, that there be linguistic purism meaning only Italiancould be spoken. For this reason, not only were local dialects and minoritylanguages restricted, but the use of any foreign language was banned, includingEnglish (Pulcini, 1994, p. 78). As previously mentioned, whenthe US became the worlds economic and political supremacy, post World War II,Italians began to slowly embrace English through Americanisation by introducingItalian- English phrasebooks and dictionaries after the fascist regimecollapsed (Pulcini, 1994).The borrowing of English wordsin Italy has somewhat exploded in the past fifty years due to theirsimilarities in origin from Latin (Pulcini, 1997, p. 79). Coined as ‘Itangliano’,meaning the use of English in Italy. However, the use of English in Italy wasnot supported by all, including the Italian delegator to the European Union inthe 1980’s, Chiti Batelli, campaigned against the use of English in Italy dueto its phonetic difficulty (as English has forty-four phonemes and Italian hasonly twenty-six).There is a plethora ofevidence that suggests that the Italian education system is adopting a more globalizedteaching policy by offering English only courses at universities on masters(MA) and PhD programs (Santulli, 2015, in Dimova, 2015). For instance, auniversity in Milan steadily introduced MA and PhD curricula from 2004 to 2007,offering thirteen MA’s to students by the academic year 2007 (CRUI.it) and by2011 the number of programs offered to prospective students was forty-two.Perhaps a visible link here is that this could be to entice internationalstudents in order to compete with Germany, the US and the UK as mentionedearlier but also it is evident that the move by PoliMilano could be steptowards greater social mobility which is something the EU setout in theirEurope 2020 agenda. It seems the move to introduce English only taught coursesmay be to ensure Italian students wanting to study abroad, in fact can now studythe same course in English in their own country. However, this move was metwith criticism by Italy’s Academia della Crusca which is Europe’s longestrunning linguistic society (Santulli 2015, in Dimova 2015, p. 273). The boardof members campaigned against the sole use of English policy at PoliMilano bygaining support from Italy’s Ministry of Education and in fact, the resolutionwas to run parallel courses in English and Italian. In 1985, the Italian governmentimplemented a national education policy which meant that Italian schoolstudents had to learn at least one foreign language to promote diversity and toencourage better communication with European countries (Pulcini, 1997, p 82).It also meant that Italy had followed other European countries like Sweden inthe promotion of learning another language. The introduction of the nationalpolicy saw 60% of Italian school students learn English and since then, the useof English has steadily increased; until recent years where its use had rapidlyincreased due to the implementation of the Content and Language IntegratedLearning (CLIL) educational policy in Italy.Italy’s CLIL revolution, wasmade law and rolled out in the national curriculum in 2012 (Martino &Sabato, 2012, p. 1). In order to train to teach a CLIL course in English inItaly, teachers are required to have a knowledge of B1 (four-year course) or B2(two-year course). Not only is CLIL now seen by the Ministry of Education inItaly as an integral part of students learning for better economic prospectsfor their future, but also English teaching in primary schools to betterprepare students for their learning of English in the future (Burns,Copland & Garton, 2013).When CLIL was intrduced in 2012, Eurydice publishedstatistics that showed 98.9% of Italian primary school students were learningEnglish with that figure far greater than the average figure of 73% acrosscountries within the EU (Burns etal., 2013)Perhaps one reason theItalian government decided to set a minimum CEFR level of English for teachingCLIL is because 70% of Italian teachers reported an intermediate (B1) use ofEnglish(Burns et al., 2013).That said, Italy currently has one ofthe highest numbers of exposure to teaching English per student hour than otherEU members, such as Latvia and Spain (Burnstal., 2013).Consequently, it is notsurprising that Italy continues to value the importance of English teaching andcontinues to flourish even more so in the Southern regions, such as Sicily,where there are fewer job opportunitiesin comparison with the north of Italy.Sicily  A fascinating island off the coast of the mainland of Italy,historically, Sicily has been conquered and ruled by some different countries spanning more than two millennia (Dunbabin,1968). Sicily was ruled by the Greeks,Romans, Arabic kingdoms, the Normans, the British and the Spanish. Morerecently, the US has had a heavy presencepost-WWII as the co-military liberatorsof the island (Dunbabin, 1968).In Catania on the east coast of Sicily, it isconsidered to be much more cosmopolitan than the capital of the island,Palermo, due to the strong presence of Americans (Paglia, 2003).Since the liberation, Americansoldiers have resided in Catania at the army base, Sigonella.  Sicilyhas therefore also been an island with a high number of different cultures andlanguages and especially in Catania where exposure to English has often beenhigher than other parts of Italy. Perhaps then, this is why Sicilian attitudestowards learning English are mostly positive. Thiscould be because there has always been fierce competition for jobs at theSigonella army base in Catania and more often than not, a certain level ofEnglish is required for most positions (NASSigonella, 2018) There are anumber of English language centres across Catania including, Wall StreetEnglish, Yes! English, JM English, The London School, TuttoLingue and GigaInternational House, all of which are privately run businesses. First andforemost, this is an indication that there is a demand to learn English whichcan be coupled with the every growing number of students attendingprivate language courses for a number ofreasons. For example, studying abroad, travelling, working abroad, a local job opportunity with tourism or Sigonellajobs. The number of students increased by almost 25% at Giga Internationalhouse from September 2016 to the newacademic intake of September 2017 (P. La Rosa, personal communication, January24, 2018). This increase could be owed tothe fact that the government introduced the ‘Carta Del Docente’ to 16 to 18-year-olds. The Carta Del Docente waspreviously only available to teachers and can bespent on educational activities such as museums and teaching (Carta DelDocente, 2018).GIGA InternationalHouse is the only private English language centre authorised to receive the‘Carta Del Docente’ so this could also be a factor in the number of studentsenrolling at the school. The increase in the number ofenrolments to learn English at Giga International House in Catania is perhaps atelling sign that attitudes towards learning English are on the rise by enlarging in Sicily. The desire to learnEnglish by people in Catania can also beevidenced by the number of contracts Giga International House has forlocal schools and universities. Thiscould be owing to the need to achieve certain levels of English related toeither CLIL, to study abroad or for local jobs. The school is also an approvedassessment centre for Cambridge English Language Assessment exams andInternational English Language Testing System (IELTS). The school has also seenan increased number of students taking exams to prove test their level ofEnglish as students at the school express interests in studying at an EMI abroadin countries such as Denmark, Germany and the UK. The Brexit effectThe invocation of Article 50in the UK means it is due to leave at 11 pm on March 29th, 2019. Thequestion that perhaps seems eminently unanswerable for the time being at leastis what role English will play not only within the European Economic Area orthe European Union but also the role with Europe as an entirety. Sometheorists have made predictions about what impact, if any, the role of English has in the EU.Certain members of theEU have predicted that the role of English will diminish and other languageswill take on the role that Englishcurrently has within the EU. Although Britain has only just started the process [Brexit], reports from Europe indicate that some member states are already positioning themselves to take advantage of the withdrawal of the UK. In France and elsewhere, for example, some want to believe that, with the British gone, English will no longer be an official language. Modiano, 2017, p. 315 The result of the EUreferendum in the UK, 48% remain, 52% leave, had an immediate impact on EUmembers such as France who argued that without the UK as a member of the EU,there would be no need for the English language to be used since Ireland haverecently opted to use the Irish language and Malta for Maltese (Modiano, 2017; European Commision,2017). Since English is a working language of the EU, other members have sincesuggested that English should lose its status since it will not be recognised as an official language of theEU.The role of English in the EU remains unclear; whether it will be used officially or unofficially, however, the European Commision clear on their current stance regarding the use of English in the EU:We note the media reports stating that in the event of a UK withdrawal from the EU, English would cease to be an official language of the EU [. . .] This is incorrect. The Council of Ministers, acting unanimously, decide on the rules governing the use of languages by the European institutions. In other words, any change to the EU Institutions’ language regime is subject to a unanimous vote of the Council. Including Ireland. European Commission, 2016 in Modiano, 2017:316For the time being it seemsthat the Council of Ministers support the use of English within the EU,however, it could be interpreted as there is to be no immediate change, butshould there be a unanimous vote amongst the Council of Ministers against theuse of English for official politics, then it could change. It could also be worth noting that this idea insupporting the removal of English perhaps has further contributed to the peoplewho voted to leave the EU (Modiano, 2017, p. 316).It is believed thatEnglish will become embedded in the EU post-Brexit as it’s the language thathas had the most investments and it is predicted to strengthen as there is noother common language like it in Europe,for the time being. In terms of any impactthat Brexit may have on the use of English as a means to communicate with otherspeakers of different L1’s, it is still too soon to establish any concreteideas. That said, from the context of Catania, it seems that there has been theopposite effect of what was previously describedregarding the decline and use of English.Italy as a whole has never seemed too interested in pressingthe use of the Italian language in the EU, butperhaps this is something that is about to change as some ministers in theItalian government have taken a keen interest in helping Italy rise as aco-piolet in the reform of official languages in the EU. The impact of Brexit is predicted to affect the number of international students studying in the UK;mainly those coming from mainland European Union countries (Anderson, 2017). Brexitcould have a grave impact on ESL instruction and assessment not only in Europebut around the globe. Cambridge English Language Assessment has forecast a lossof £10 million per year from 2019 (Anderson, 2017). This is coupled with the fallin number of students needing English tostudying at a university in the UK as internationalstudent number decrease and the fact that a visa style entry system to the UKwill deter people from learning English to move or work there. Conclusion Throughout history there has always been a more dominant andinfluential language which was used as a linguafranca whether it was Latin, Greek or French, the idea was to bettercommunicate with other humans for a number ofreasons. English is the acting ‘common language’ for people in today’s globalized modern society due to the rise ofeconomic powerhouses where English in the mainlanguage, scientific research and breakthroughs and the influence of anglicisedand Americanised culture through mass media. It is also important to rememberthat English is often associated withbetter job prospects, so unless this ideology changes and another languagebecomes of more importance, perhaps English will continue being the mostdesired language by people.The instruction of English of English around the globe seemsto be a continuing trend amongst schools and universities. If government policies on English education, like thatof Italy’s through CLIL, continue to favour the language by making it mandatoryto have  a certain level related the CEFRand by having almost 100% of school students learn English at school, then atpresent it would seem there is no reason why English will not continue beingthe ‘required’ language.The impact of Brexit, however, is still quite unclear and perhaps there will be noclarity in the short-term. The EU, for the time being, will continue using Englishas an official language since there have been so many investments in the language and it seems to be the EU’s unofficiallingua franca. In years to come theeffect of Brexit will become apparent but for now,there are only predictions, so nothing is certain.One thing is clear; the use of English across Europe seems to be growing, evenif some governments are not content with the idea. Countries such as France, Germany and Italy seeminglycontinue to invest in English even if the future of the language is unclear inEurope. One element is clear however, English is the language du jour and does not seem have had animmediate effect because of Brexit.The ever-expandingnumber of students and language centres in Sicily certainly is an indication that popularity of the language is emerging. It is likely that this is linked tostudy, job opportunities and more recently for Catania, tourism. The popularity, desire and need to take exams toprove their level of English run companies such as IELTS and Cambridge EnglishLanguage assessment also adds to the increasing popularityto le