David Graddol was perhaps best know for his 1997 book The future of English, published by the British Council, in which he offers scenarios for how Engilish as a world language may develop. Most notably, he pointed out that native speakers of English were or would soon be outnumbered by those who speak English as a second or foreign language. In an article that focuses more specifically on this issue, he stated the following: "Then decline of the native speaker in numerical terms is likely to be associated with changing ideas about the certrality of the native speakers to norms of usage. Large numbers of people will learn English as a foreign language in the 21st century and they will need teachers, dictionaries and grammar books. But will they continue to look towards the native speaker for authoritative norms of usage?