An Investigation of Pre-Service English Teachers’ Awareness of English as a Lingua Franca and World Englishes

Abstract

English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and World Englishes (WE) have appeared as a reaction to the deep-rooted mentality that American and British English are the only ‘proper and acceptable’ type of English in terms of teaching and learning. With the world’s recent position as a ‘global village’, English language has become the lingua franca and this situation has started heated debates on the ownership of English. The field of English language teaching has been affected by these changes and many researchers have offered drastic changes from curriculum to in-class materials in English language teaching. This study aimed to investigate pre-service teachers’ awareness of ELF and WE concepts and their intention of integrating these concepts in their future teaching practices. A questionnaire was administered to 152 second, third-, and fourth-year pre-service teachers to explore their views. Results of this study differed from most of the previous studies. It was investigated that participating pre-service teachers were not only aware of the concept of ELF and WE, but also, they were conscious of the necessity of integrating the principles of ELF to teaching language in their classrooms.

Keywords

• English as a Lingua Franca
• World Englishes
• Pre-service teachers
• English Language Teaching

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