World Englishes and ‘Global Englishes’: competing or complementary paradigms?

ABSTRACT This article takes a macro look at the canon of scholarship in the World Englishes and English as an international language paradigms, which fundamentally derive from the work of Kachru and Smith, and then considers the more recent emergence of research published under the rubric of ‘Global Englishes’ by way of the English as a lingua franca paradigm by Jenkins and scholars she has developed. We provide a theoretical assessment of the various paradigms which operate under the World Englishes umbrella, and demonstrate the contexts and forces which have helped to bring about the expansion and nuanced differences among these constructs. Terminology in any field is very important, and we also weigh the projected usage of these terms in coming years.