Englishes and ELF: Implications for classroom practices and teacher education

The aim of this chapter is to discuss Italian EFL primary and lower-secondary school trainee teachers’ opinions and stance on the implications Englishes and ELF can have in ELT pedagogic practices. By means of a questionnaire survey we investigated trainees’ awareness of their and their students’ contact with Englishes and ELF, their opinion regarding the inclusion of different varieties of English in classroom activities, and their awareness of ELF-related concepts; these issues were then further discussed during the course since one module was dedicated to the spread and developments in English and to ELF. Findings show that my informants are well aware of their students’ extended contact with different Englishes in the environment, not least as ELF users, and of their (future) interactions with non-native speakers of English. A positive stance was expressed as to the inclusion of different varieties in classroom practices and opportunities of language use in real contexts (such as international school exchanges, Vettorel 2010, 2013a), to the aim of familiarizing learners with the different Englishes they (will) meet in real-world communication and of fostering communicative and intercultural communication skills - both having a relevant place in ELF encounters (e.g. Seidlhofer 2011). Trainee teachers seem to be aware of concepts related to the global spread of English, its diversity and ELF, too, and be open to take them into account in their future professional practices. The manifold implications these findings have, particularly in terms of teacher education, will also be discussed (Seidlhofer 1999, 2004; McKay 2002; Sifakis 2007; Bayyurt 2013; B; Llurda 2004).