Culture is an inseparable part of English Language Teaching (ELT), and ELT textbooks, as one of the main instructional resources are bound to include cultural and linguistic content. However, the kind of cultural content in these books has been a controversial issue for decades. It is recommended that curriculum designers use intercultural…

In Thailand, where students encounter both Native EnglishSpeaking Teachers (NESTs) and Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs)--with a significant portion of NNESTs being Thai and Filipino--a gap exists in understanding how Thai students interpret the terms Native English Speakers (NESs) and NESTs. This study aimed to explore this…

The aim of this personal reflection is to revisit the major concepts that have informed my academic research in the area of applied linguistics and second language development, and show how my overall pedagogical approach has evolved, thanks to the contribution of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT). The main focus of this paper is on the…

This paper investigates the attitudes of 246 English teachers from Outer and Expanding Circles (EC and OC) towards the global spread of English and the challenges underpinning international proficiency tests. Using a questionnaire, supplemented with interviews with a smaller group of teachers, this study explores how EC and OC teachers perceive…

The ownership of English has been hotly debated for a long time by researchers in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). World Englishes expand the ownership of English from Inner Circle countries to Outer and Expanding Circle countries based on Kachru's (1985) Three Circle Model. In light of this, it can be claimed that World Englishes…

This Perspectives article proposes a renewed vision of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) through a translanguaging (TL) stance, grounded in critical sociolinguistic inquiry and embodied practice. A TL theory of language asserts an activist agenda to dismantle mono/lingualism, inviting a more dynamic and expansive view of…

In pedagogical debates about Global Englishes (GE) and English as a lingua franca (ELF), there is widespread agreement concerning an urgent need for liberating teachers and students from the normative constraints of ELT's orientation towards standard English by raising their awareness of the characteristics and complexities of GE/ELF…

This article puts forth new ways of thinking about "becoming multilingual" in transnational and contemporary times by investigating the significance of multilingualism for multilingual student teachers enrolled in French language teacher education programs within the provinces of Alberta and Ontario. As more diversity is present in…

Despite the accumulated body of debates surrounding English as an international language (EIL), and stronger orientations towards mutual intelligibility, little research has been done on teachers' attitudes towards English pronunciation pedagogy in ELT classes. To address this gap, this study explores the perceptions of 352 English teachers from…

Although some translingual advocates call for collaboration amongst composition studies, translingual, and second language writing theorists, current misinterpretations of translingual theory represent the field of second language writing in a negative light, making an alliance amongst the scholars of these fields unlikely. Translingualism is…

As English becomes an established lingua franca in the ASEAN region, what should be the pedagogical approach to oral skills and pronunciation teaching in the region? Should teachers target common features and patterns developing in ASEAN English or target more "Western" pronunciation? This study strives to balance the discussion of the…

English as a second language (ESL) classrooms in the United States increasingly include students who have had exposure to more than one global context of English. Unless explicitly discussed, the variations within global Englishes can lead to confusion and obstruct learning. In addition, sometimes teachers fail to acknowledge the Englishes that…

This paper attempts to introduce and explain the famous Three Concentric Circles proposed by Kachru, namely, the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle. Based on Kachru's theory, the paper proceeds to discuss four fallacies in EFL and ESL contexts, which are (1) English learners in the Outer and Expanding Circles learn English…

Two traditional principles have served as the basis for the involvement of linguists in social issues, namely the principle of error correction and the principle of debt incurred (Labov, 1982). It is argued that an additional principle should motivate linguists to take a more proactive role in social issues, the principle of linguistic gratuity.…

Prior to the development of modern sociolinguistics the immediate contribution of linguistics to society as a whole was negligible. Without the further development of sociolinguistics, the situation will not change radically. In order to arrive at a more useful system of linguistics, linguists must realize that this situation does not result…