International English the sphere of influence of English-speaking countries. Here English may serve as a useful lingua franca between ethnic and language groups. Higher education, the legislature and judiciary, national commerce, and so on, may all be carried out predominantly in English. The "expanding circle" refers to those countries where English has no official role, but is nonetheless important for certain functions, e.g. international business and tourism. By the twenty-first century, non-native English speakers have come to outnumber native speakers by a factor of three, according to the British Council. Darius Degher, a professor at Malmö University in Sweden, uses the term
AP Italian Language and Culture reinstated in the fall of 2011, with the first AP Italian Exam scheduled for May 2012. The AP Italian Language and Culture course focuses on developing students' reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, all framed in order to reflect the richness of Italian language and culture. Teachers of the course will interweave the language structure with cultural content. The examination tests students' abilities to successfully use three modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. The five ultimate goals of the exam are communication, culture, connections, comparisons, and community. In the 2012 administration, 1,806 students took the exam, with a mean