English in The BRICS Eclipse: Learning Beyond Empire
Keywords:
BRICS eclipse, English as a Lingua Franca, English learning, Linguistic capital, Post-imperial English, World Englishes
Abstract
This study examines the changing ideological and pedagogical position of English in the context of BRICS expansion, particularly as the bloc increasingly represents a multilingual, multipolar, and Global South-oriented geopolitical formation. Rather than assuming that English is declining, this article argues that English is being re-semiotized from an imperial centre-language into a negotiated bridge-language for diplomacy, education, scientific circulation, trade, technological exchange, and intercultural communication. Employing a multidisciplinary mixed-methods approach, the study integrates sociolinguistics, World Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca, linguistic imperialism, linguistic capital theory, critical discourse analysis, and geopolitical interpretation. The data were drawn from institutional BRICS documents, global English proficiency indicators, and public geopolitical discourse from 2024–2026, including the period of Indonesia’s full membership in BRICS. The findings show that English remains a powerful form of linguistic capital, yet its symbolic authority is no longer exclusively anchored in Anglophone Western institutions. Institutional and economic data demonstrate the growing demographic and purchasing-power-parity weight of BRICS, while English proficiency data reveal uneven linguistic capital among member states. Qualitative discourse evidence further indicates that BRICS discourse foregrounds multilateralism, governance reform, development, sovereignty, cultural plurality, and South–South cooperation rather than Anglocentric imitation. This study concludes that English in the BRICS eclipse is not “less English” but “different English”: globally functional, strategically necessary, and ideologically repositioned. The implication is that English education in BRICS societies and partner countries should move beyond native-speaker dependency by integrating linguistic accuracy, intercultural intelligibility, discourse-critical awareness, geopolitical literacy, multilingual comparison, and epistemic sovereignty.
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Zhang, H. (2024). The impact of English language development on internationalization of education. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media, 34(1), 243–249. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/34/20231933
Associated Press. (2025, January 6). Indonesia is admitted to the BRICS bloc of developing nations. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/brazil-brics-indonesia-membership-c05b0c8e2ae493f9046479e62a45d8fa
Ato, R. A. (2025). Language and power: A critical discourse analysis of political speeches in English. Journal of Asian Multicultural Research for Social Sciences Study, 6(3), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.47616/jamrsss.v6i3.651
Boonsuk, Y. (2026). When EFL meets ELF: Negotiating intelligibility and intercultural communication in ASEAN EMI classrooms. Language Awareness, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2026.2626503
Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power (J. B. Thompson, Ed.; G. Raymond & M. Adamson, Trans.). Harvard University Press.
BRICS Brazil. (2025a, May 2). BRICS GDP outperforms the global average and accounts for 40% of the world economy. https://brics.br/en/news/brics-gdp-outperforms-global-average-accounts-for-40-of-world-economy
BRICS Brazil. (2025b, January 20). Frequently asked questions about the BRICS. https://brics.br/en/about-the-brics/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-brics
Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. Routledge.
Charli, M. S., Eshete, S. K., & Debela, K. L. (2022). Learning how research design methods work: A review of Creswell’s Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. The Qualitative Report. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5901
Cicero, T. (2025). Forecasting the scientific production volumes of G7 and BRICS countries in a comparative analysis. Publications, 13(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/publications13010006
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Darwis, D., & Setiawan, A. A. (2025). Indonesia’s strategic diplomacy and BRICS membership: Opportunities and risks in a multipolar global order. Global South Review, 7(2), 59–75. https://doi.org/10.22146/globalsouth.106796
de Carvalho, G., Gruzd, S., & Wu, Y.-S. (2025). The BRICS expanded: Shaped by—or shaping—the global order? South African Journal of International Affairs, 32(1–2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2025.2525312
E’tibor Bekmurod qizi, T. (2025). The role of the English language in international education. Advances in Science and Education, 1(09), 90–92. https://doi.org/10.70728/edu.v01.i09.021
EF Education First. (2025). EF English Proficiency Index 2025. https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/
Fàbregues, S., Sáinz, M., Romano, M. J., Escalante-Barrios, E. L., Younas, A., & López-Pérez, B.-S. (2023). Use of mixed methods research in intervention studies to increase young people’s interest in STEM: A systematic methodological review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.956300
Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Faizi, F., Sawas, M., Abohassan, D., Stojanović, I., & Selaković, M. (2025). Analyzing the impact of macroeconomic conditions on GDP growth: BRICS vs. G7 countries. Ekonomski Horizonti, 27(3), 277–295. https://doi.org/10.5937/ekonhor2503277F
Gauttam, P., Singh, B., Singh, S., Bika, S. L., & Tiwari, R. P. (2024). Education as a soft power resource: A systematic review. Heliyon, 10(1), e23736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23736
Gogazeh, Z., Al-Afif, A., & Jarrah, M. (2026). Attitudes toward Spanish as added linguistic capital in Jordan’s English-dominant higher education landscape. Ampersand, 16, 100261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amper.2026.100261
Government of Brazil. (2025, January 9). Brazil announces Indonesia as full member of BRICS. https://www.gov.br/planalto/en/latest-news/2025/01/brazil-announces-indonesia-as-full-member-of-brics
Iqbal, Y., Perwita, A. A. B., & Rudy, E. (2025). The impacts of Indonesia’s membership in the BRICS on the defense sector: Opportunities and challenges. International Journal of Education, Culture, and Society, 3(3), 784–797. https://doi.org/10.58578/ijecs.v3i3.7057
Islam, M. Z. ul, Anwar, B., & Iqbal, T. (2026). English as linguistic capital: A socio-cultural analysis of language preference among Pakistani youth. Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences and Management Practices, 5(1), 84–99. https://doi.org/10.61503/cissmp.v5i1.388
Jenkins, J. (2015). Global Englishes: A resource book for students (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Juned, M., Martin, A., Saripudin, M. H., & Salam, S. (2025). Bridging polarities: Implications of ASEAN member states’ proposals for joining BRICS and OECD on Indo-Pacific geoeconomics. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 12, 102101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.102101
Kachru, B. B. (Ed.). (1992). The other tongue: English across cultures (2nd ed.). University of Illinois Press.
Kaushik, S., Mahipal, P., & Patel, M. K. (2024). BRICS expansion: Reshaping global economic governance. ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, 5(6), 3129–3136. https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i6.2024.3635
Khadka, B. K. (2024). The English in South Asian contexts: Exploring historical development to present role in education. Journal of Natural Language and Linguistics, 2(1), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.54536/jnll.v2i1.3762
Koch, M. (2022). State-civil society relations in Gramsci, Poulantzas and Bourdieu: Strategic implications for the degrowth movement. Ecological Economics, 193, 107275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107275
Larregue, J., & Pavie, A. (2026). English or perish? The value of linguistic capital in the social sciences and humanities. Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385251406882
Moghadam, S. R., & Barani, G. (2025). The impact of linguistic vs. cultural imperialism on language learning. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1438849
Myajaya, R. A. (2025). Indonesia’s interests and challenges in joining BRICS. Mandub: Jurnal Politik, Sosial, Hukum dan Humaniora, 3(1), 194–206. https://doi.org/10.59059/mandub.v3i1.2179
OECD. (2025). OECD skills outlook 2025. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/26163cd3-en
Patel, M., Solly, M., & Copeland, S. (2023). The future of English: Global perspectives (B. O’Sullivan & Y. Jin, Eds.). British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.org/future-of-english
Pennycook, A. (1998). English and the discourses of colonialism. Routledge.
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford University Press.
Reuters. (2025, January 7). Indonesia joins BRICS bloc as full member, Brazil says. https://www.reuters.com/world/indonesia-join-brics-bloc-full-member-brazil-says-2025-01-06/
Sadeghpour, M., & D’Angelo, J. (2022). World Englishes and “Global Englishes”: Competing or complementary paradigms? Asian Englishes, 24(2), 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2022.2076368
Salsabilla, M., & Nugroho, B. W. (2025). Analysis of the impact of Indonesia’s membership in BRICS: Opportunities and challenges in the global era. Journal of Social Research, 4(10), 3030–3039. https://doi.org/10.55324/josr.v4i10.2842
Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia. (2025, July 6). Indonesia promotes global trade, peace, and reform in the 2025 BRICS Leaders’ Declaration. https://setkab.go.id/en/indonesia-promotes-global-trade-peace-reform-in-2025-brics-leaders-declaration/
Tajeddin, Z., & Pakzadian, M. (2020). Representation of inner, outer and expanding circle varieties and cultures in global ELT textbooks. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 5(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-020-00089-9
Twersky, S. E., Jefferson, R., Garcia-Ortiz, L., Williams, E., & Pina, C. (2024). The impact of limited English proficiency on healthcare access and outcomes in the U.S.: A scoping review. Healthcare, 12(3), 364. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12030364
Yang, L., & Chano, J. (2025). The impacts of blended learning on English language proficiency in higher education: A systematic literature review. Higher Education Studies, 15(2), 83. https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v15n2p83
Zhang, H. (2024). The impact of English language development on internationalization of education. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media, 34(1), 243–249. https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/34/20231933
Published
2025-12-30
How to Cite
Siregar, I., & Pawi, A. A. A. (2025). English in The BRICS Eclipse: Learning Beyond Empire. JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia, 5(3), 59-72. https://doi.org/10.62159/jpi.v5i3.2433
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Articles
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