This edited volume, compiled on behalf of the British Council, takes as its starting point the notion that English is often claimed to play a positive role in development, especially in developing countries. Its sixteen chapters serve to investigate this claim, largely in relation to the English language in education. The topic is approached from a variety of angles and the chapters are grouped into five broad themes: policy planning and implementation, perceptions of English, social and geographic mobility, developing English in development contexts, and English in fragile contexts. Theoretical discussions of language and development are provided alongside detailed case studies of learning in countries such as India, Pakistan, Eritrea, and Sri Lanka. As such, the book would be of interest to language teachers and applied linguistics academics, as well as those with research interests in language policy and development.

Ch. 1 provides a thorough introduction to the volume. As well as summarising the chapters, editor Hywel Coleman also identifies key issues that provide a common thread across each of the five themes. First, the rhetoric that surrounds the role of English in development is often addressed by the contributors of this volume. In Ch. 13, for example, Martin Wedell states that “national governments and individuals worldwide seem to see teaching a language (English) to all learners in state schools as an important means of increasing the human capital on which future national economic development and political power depends” (275). He suggests, with the support of case studies, that there is little hard evidence to suggest this is true. Similarly, Philip Seargeant and Elizabeth Erling argue that policy and planning should be based not upon rhetoric but upon detailed studies that offer concrete information about the benefits that English use may provide in a given context.

Another key issue concerns the risks of English education in developing countries. That unequal access to quality English language education may have the potential to widen the gap between rich and poor is touched on by Ramanujam Meganathan discussing India, Fauzia Shamim discussing Pakistan, and Martin Lamb and Hywel Coleman separately discussing Indonesia. The language medium of education is also considered in a number of chapters. Meganathan gives a detailed account of the varying languages used in primary and secondary education in the many states of India and argues that it is better to have English as a subject “rather than impose a bad English medium education” (86). However, researching a rural community in Uganda, Juliet Tembe and Bonny Norton found that parents did not value learning in the mother tongue and needed to be persuaded of its pedagogic advantages. Nigussie Negash shows that although many African countries have adopted a policy of educating in the mother tongue, English proficiency is still a prerequisite for many employment opportunities.

While acknowledging risks, many contributors also describe the role that English language has the potential to play in development, especially as a linking language in countries with multiple languages. Ultimately, the volume represents a critical analysis of the role of English in developing countries.