Conclusion

The studies in this volume have discussed and presented new developments in the fields of multilingualism in Switzerland, English as a lingua franca and an international language in Switzerland, as well as English in education. The specific situation of Switzerland as a multilingual country, which itself has majority and minority languages with unequal degrees of representation, has been taken into account. It has also been shown that the status of English in Switzerland cannot be separated from the international importance of the English language and that both its international economic importance as well as positive attitudes towards English determine its use in Switzerland. This situation supports Mair’s (2002) assessment that the continued international spread of English is both a grassroots movement and driven by economic concerns.