Global Englishes and language teaching: A review of pedagogical research

Abstract

The rise of English as a global language has led scholars to call for a paradigm shift in the field of English language teaching (ELT) to match the new sociolinguistic landscape of the twenty-first century. In recent years a considerable amount of classroom-based research and language teacher education (LTE) research has emerged to investigate these proposals in practice. This paper outlines key proposals for change in language teaching from the related fields of World Englishes (WE), English as a lingua franca (ELF), English as an international language (EIL), and Global Englishes, and critically reviews the growing body of pedagogical research conducted within these domains. Adopting the methodology of a systematic review, 58 empirical articles published between 2010 and 2020 were shortlisted, of which 38 were given an in-depth critical review and contextualized within a wider body of literature. Synthesis of classroom research suggests a current lack of longitudinal designs, an underuse of direct measures to explore the effects of classroom interventions, and under-representation of contexts outside of university language classrooms. Synthesis of teacher education research suggests future studies need to adopt more robust methodological designs which measure the effects of Global Englishes content on teacher beliefs and pedagogical practices both before and throughout the programme, and after teachers return to the classroom.

Swedish Youths as Listeners of Global Englishes Speakers With Diverse Accents: Listener Intelligibility, Listener Comprehensibility, Accentedness Perception, and Accentedness Acceptance

“…The results suggest that Swedish youths share the known tendencies of L2 learners and users of English: they better understand (e.g., Kang et al, 2018) and favor privileged accents over other English accents (e.g., Sung, 2016;Tsang, 2019). Our study, therefore, highlights the need to help Swedish youths and other English learners widen their view of English as a global contact language and its speakers, maximize their listening proficiency, and, thus, be ready for globalized English use (Morrison and White, 2005;Rose et al, 2020). Moreover, we believe that our study is of methodological significance, by extending the use of the concepts of intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness from assessing L2 speakers to determining L2 listener's abilities with and perceptions of diverse English accents, thereby suggesting pedagogical intervention for learners as listeners rather than speakers.…”

“…Overall, our results suggest the need for pedagogical intervention involving curriculum innovation for English language teaching at school (Matsuda, 2018;Rose et al, 2020). First, students need to be guided to improve their actual understanding and sense of familiarity with Global English speakers besides the native accents that they prefer.…”

“…In fact, the six speakers who participated in our study represent the type of international interlocutors that Swedish youths will encounter within the country. We suggest that school teachers consider a wider interpretation of the recommendation of the syllabus that "[t] eaching should make sure of the surrounding world as a resource for contacts, information and learning" (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011, p. 1) and apply the idea to curriculum innovation (Rose et al, 2020).…”

“…The currency and timeliness of the syllabus is evident in view of recent debates on how traditional English language teaching that focuses only on British or American English is incapable of preparing learners for the current use of English as a global contact language, where speakers from different varieties vastly outnumber the two varieties focused by English teachers (see Bayyurt and Dewey, 2020;Rose and Galloway, 2019;Rose et al, 2020). In fact, the global perspective of this English syllabus is a response to the reality that, for Swedish citizens, English is primarily a contact language for international communication, both domestically and overseas, in different areas of society and private life (Björkman, 2011;Bolton and Meierkord, 2013;Hult, 2012;Kuteeva, 2014;Norrby, 2015).…”

An Overview of Future Scenarios: Where Are We Going With English?

“…It is still the most widely spoken language in 75 countries where it is considered the official language, or the de facto language, that is, the language used by the majority of speakers. That being the case, English is far more frequently spoken as a second or third language than as a first language, consequently it is no longer exclusively owned by its native speakers, with "native English" now in minority usage on a global scale (Seidlhofer 2011;Rose et al, 2020).…”