This collection originated from a conference held in Braunschweig, Germany, in June 1998 atwhich participants were invited to analyze the role of English as a global language and to developresearch perspectives for its teaching and learning. Written by nonnative as well as native speakersof English (working in English-speaking countries where English is not a native language), thearticles provide a basis for consideration of whether “the concept of English as a globallanguage is assessed differently by experts depending upon whether they are native or non-nativespeakers of English and if so, to what extent” (Introduction).