Developing learners' intercultural communicative competence is considered to be one of the responsibilities of English language teaching professionals. This responsibility has become ever more challenging in today's globalized world, in which most intercultural communication occurs in English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts, where a target…

The ASEAN region is home to great ethnic, cultural, political and economic diversity and linguistically, represents a region where both Outer and Expanding Circle varieties of English are spoken. English is designated as the sole working language of the ASEAN region but in reality, it has a different status and performs very different roles in…

This article explores language policy in Southeast Asia, focussing on two recent state and other institutional reform efforts and directions: one towards English, and the other towards the mother tongues. However, what needs to be highlighted is the bifurcated nature of language policy reforms in the region. That is, these two policy directions…