The Relationship Between English Language Adoption and Global Digital Inequality

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in information and communication technology (ICT) readiness and access across countries were fundamentally related to the variable of English language adoption. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was utilized to comparatively examine the developments of ICT readiness and use among 149 countries categorized into four groups based on levels of English language adoption and economic development. The results of the comparative analysis showed that English language adoption is not a dominant factor in determining the global digital divide. The results suggest that much of the differences in ICT development across countries are attributable to levels of economic development. Limitations and implications for additional studies on specifying key factors widening the global technology gap are discussed.