
English as an Instrument of Power: A Study of Literary Texts from a Social Critical Perspective
Abstract
The study critically analyzed how English has been shaped and appropriated across diverse and often antagonistic social, political, and cultural arenas. This study used lyric poetry and music lyrics from across Canada and Cameroon to analyze socioeconomic issues. As said in the opening, the goal was to delve into the ambivalence of English as a ubiquitous and occasionally pervasive language, providing fertile ground for local musical interpretations and textual changes. Despite its ethnic dissimilarity and displacement, the analytic selection upheld a lack of linguistic rights, justice, antagonism, reinvention, and patriotism/local-mindedness towards its polysemy-afflicted language. The investigation uncovered a strategic, theatrical, and fruitful use of allusion, as was the role of language and culture in global and cross-cultural dissimulation. In an overtly affirmative act with its appropriation from the colonial masters, the coping mechanisms of adaptation, opposition, and promotion were compared to loan-shifting. A new ontology and the rhythmicity of soft power in the war of discourses were hinted at by the domesticates culled from texts imperiled by local and worldwide political intrigue.
Keywords
References
Cimarosti, R. (2015). Literacy Stories for Global Wits: Learning English Through the Literature-Language Line. [PDF]
Sousa, A. (2017). A Discourse-Based View in Interdisciplinary Approaches to Fictional Text Analysis. [PDF]
Miriam Rodrigues Correia, S. (2011). The role of literature: english textbooks and literature in secondary teaching in Portugal. [PDF]
Elkan Cahl, G. (2016). An analysis of dominant discourse in Grade 8 English Home Language textbooks. [PDF]
Rassendren, E. (2005). Discontent As Resistance: THE CULTURAL - POLITICS OF ENGLISH STUDIES. [PDF]
K. Tatko, V. (1998). Speaking of the Raj: Kipling, Forster, and Scott on the English Language in British India. [PDF]
Solhi Andarab, M. & Inal, D. (2014). From English of Specific Cultures to English for Specific Cultures in Global Coursebooks in EIL Era. [PDF]
Dyer, D. (2007). Why won't they learn? : a contrastive study of literature teaching in two Cape Town high school classrooms. [PDF]
Ngiewih Teke, C. (2013). The Vulnerability of Imperial Language as a Transformational Tool in Postcolonial Transcultural Discourse. [PDF]
ASHIPU, K. B. C. & Otoburu Okpiliya, J. (2013). Language of Oppression in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes. [PDF]
Al Ghazali, F. (1970). Critical discourse analysis: How can awareness of CDA influence teaching techniques?. [PDF]
BABATUNDE, O. R. U. N. G. B. E. J. A. & KOLADE, A. J. I. L. O. R. E. (2022). NATIONAL SPEECHES ON NOTABLE POLITICAL FIGURES: A position paper on CDA studies. [PDF]
Chopra, P. (1970). (Un)veiling desire: re-defining relationships between gendered adult education subjects and adult education programmes. [PDF]
Richard R.P., G. & R.P. Gabbrielli, R. (2019). Interculturality and Business English: Empowering Learners in Globalized Contexts of Communication. [PDF]
Zeng, J., Robert Ponce, A., & Li, Y. (2023). English linguistic neo-imperialism in the era of globalization: A conceptual viewpoint. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Alexandra Moffat, C. (2004). In search of greener grass : finding the path from English hegemony to multilingualism. [PDF]
Porto, M. (2019). The role and status of English in Spanish-speaking Argentina and its education system: Nationalism or imperialism?. [PDF]
Kazim Shah, S., Ahmed, M., & Mahmood, R. (2014). Representation of Target Culture in the ELT Textbooks in Pakistan: Evaluation of “OXFORD PROGRESSIVE ENGLISH” for Cultural Relevance. [PDF]
Yann-Ling Lu, V. (1996). The Socio-cultural Content Analysis of English as a Foreign Language Textbooks Used in Junior High School in Taiwan, Republic of China. [PDF]
Article Statistics
Downloads
Copyright License
Copyright (c) 2025 Naser Idan Fadheel

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.