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…

This study examines student-teachers' opinions about the spread of the English in general, and the ramifications of its spread as to its co-existence with other languages, speaker profiles, and probable extensions in form and function in two geographically different but English language policy-wise identical Expanding circle countries, i.e.,…

This article shows how students confront offensive language head-on by researching its history and reconsidering its use in contemporary conversation. It describes an assignment in which students study the histories and social reception of words (in some cases considered obscenities) used to insult people of various social categories. Students…

A survey of teacher trainees at the University of Southampton (England) investigated trainee knowledge level of English grammar and of language use around the world. Responses of English and modern language teacher trainees (n=19), non-language teacher trainees (n=35), and in some cases, undergraduates from the general student population (n=238)…

A Hong Kong program to train secondary school teachers in the use of English as the medium of classroom instruction is reported and discussed. The program provides assistance to teachers accustomed to using mixed code in the classroom and who must use English consistently, and helps English teachers understand how they can support teachers of…