The plurality of English and ELF in teacher education. Raising awareness of the ‘feasibility’ of a WE- and ELF-aware approach in classroom practices

The plurality into which English has developed, and its extended lingua franca role, have significant implications for ELT. Besides being taught as a foreign / second language, English increasingly constitutes a consistent presence in the ‘outside-school’ world, and encounters with (linguistic) otherness can be experienced daily, from the multicultural and multilingual school environments to mobility and digital communication. Raising awareness of the multifaceted sociolinguistic realities of Englishes and ELF in teacher education constitutes a first and fundamental step towards a more ‘inclusive’ and ‘realistic’ approach in ELT. If language educators are familiarised with the complex reality of English, and critical reflection on its implications in ELT is actively promoted in teacher education, teachers can not only realize the ‘feasibility’ of a WE- and ELF-aware approach in classroom practices, but also its ‘suitability’ to prepare learners to communicate through English in its current plural and lingua franca dimensions. An example comes from the pre-service TFA (Tirocinio Formativo Attivo) and PAS (Percorso Abilitante Speciale) teacher education courses held at the University of Verona, where part of the English Language Module focused on issues related to WE, ELF and their pedagogical implications. The Module aimed at fostering awareness of WE- and ELF-related issues, as well as critical reflection on beliefs deriving from traditional Anglocentric approaches. This, together with the WE- and ELF-aware material evaluation and the design of activities and lesson plans, that were also part of the Module, can be seen as a starting point to encourage and support a WE- and ELF-aware pedagogic perspective, one that sees communicative ‘capability’ (Widdowson 2003, 2012, 2015; Seidlhofer 2011, 2015) as an important aim to prepare learners to become effective and competent ELF users in today’s world.