The pedagogical implications of research findings into World Englishes (WE) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) have been widely investigated and discussed over the last decades. Researchers have highlighted how the plurality into which English has developed and its lingua franca role ought to be taken into account in ELT, from materials and coursebooks and teaching practices, to teacher education, educational policies and assessment. Over the last few years several proposals for a WE- and ELF-aware approach in ELT have been developed, and literature can now offer suggestions on how such an approach can be impemented in, and adapted to, different educational contexts and settings. Teaching materials, and course-books in particular, still represent a fundamental tool in classroom practices; despite some signs of innovation regarding the inclusion of Englishes in their plurality in ELT coursebooks, above all as to intercultural aspects, the main model of reference still remains that of Standard native English, with little attention given to WE, and even less to ELF. This paper discusses how published ELT materials can be used as a starting point to develop activities and tasks that provide a more realistic, and possibly motivating, perspective on teaching English today, one that is WE- and ELF-aware. In this perspective, teachers and learners can be seen as ‘active agents’ in the teaching/learning process, in that it can provide opportunities for learners to be familiarized with the current sociolinguistic diversity of English, and to develop a communicative ability to interact through this language, also incorporating their dimension of ‘users’.
World Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca and ELT materials: a critical perspective
Vettorel Paola
2021-01-01
Abstract
The pedagogical implications of research findings into World Englishes (WE) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) have been widely investigated and discussed over the last decades. Researchers have highlighted how the plurality into which English has developed and its lingua franca role ought to be taken into account in ELT, from materials and coursebooks and teaching practices, to teacher education, educational policies and assessment. Over the last few years several proposals for a WE- and ELF-aware approach in ELT have been developed, and literature can now offer suggestions on how such an approach can be impemented in, and adapted to, different educational contexts and settings. Teaching materials, and course-books in particular, still represent a fundamental tool in classroom practices; despite some signs of innovation regarding the inclusion of Englishes in their plurality in ELT coursebooks, above all as to intercultural aspects, the main model of reference still remains that of Standard native English, with little attention given to WE, and even less to ELF. This paper discusses how published ELT materials can be used as a starting point to develop activities and tasks that provide a more realistic, and possibly motivating, perspective on teaching English today, one that is WE- and ELF-aware. In this perspective, teachers and learners can be seen as ‘active agents’ in the teaching/learning process, in that it can provide opportunities for learners to be familiarized with the current sociolinguistic diversity of English, and to develop a communicative ability to interact through this language, also incorporating their dimension of ‘users’.
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