French attitudes toward the ideology of English as an international language

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the French perceptions of the relationship between the English language as an international lingua franca and American culture and ideology. In recent years it has been claimed (e.g. by Joshua Fishman) that English is becoming ideologically neutral, that it functions as a ‘medium pure and simple rather than as either a symbol or message’. My aim, then, is to use France as a case study to examine this claim. The paper uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the data. The questionnaire included measures of various attitudes toward American and British English. The study also attempts to seek answers to the following questions: What effect do demographic variables have on French attitudes toward American and British ideology, culture, speakers, and language? What effects do variables such as knowledge of English and degree of proficiency of English have on French attitudes toward English? What is the relationship between motivation to study English and attitudes toward English? And, does public opinion with respect to attitudes toward English differ from official or academic response?