David Graddol is Director of The English Company (UK) Ltd which provides consultancy and publishing services in applied linguistics, with a special focus on English language and education policy. The role of English in a multilingual Europe has long been a special research interest: David has made keynote contributions to policy forums in several European countries and he will be a plenary speaker at the 5th ALTE International Conference in Paris, April 2014 (Language assessment for multilingualism).
In The Future of English? (1997, published by The British Council) David set out a new agenda for understanding the growing importance of English as an international language and its role in globalisation. English Next (2006), provided an update on English in global education. English Next India (2010) explores the changing status of English in India. Profiling English in China: The Pearl River Delta (2013) examines public discourses and the linguistic landscapes in a part of China which is experiencing rapid change. English Next Brazil will be published in March 2014.
David worked for many years in the Faculty of Education and Language Studies at the UK Open University and during 2010-2011 was Visiting Associate Professor at City University of Hong Kong. He has worked as a consultant on ELT projects in China, India and Latin America since the early 1990s.