This paper evaluates Voki, a digital platform for creating speaking avatars, in the context of Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT). It firstly outlines the benefits of using animated characters in online tools to personalize language lessons and engage students. As a web-based application, Voki offers various customization options, including…

The spread of English throughout the world has led to the language acquiring the status of an international language and has also led to the emergence of many varieties of English in different parts of the world, commonly referred to as world Englishes (WE). In this regard, WE advocates are making efforts to raise awareness of English diversity…

A growing interest has been witnessed in analysing second language (L2) learner motivation in English as an Additional Language (EAL) instruction around the world. Despite extensive scholarship in this area, revisiting learner motivation is warranted due to some unprecedented developments that impact EAL teaching, such as the prevalence of World…

This article explores the potential of phonetic symbols in pronunciation teaching/learning, with a focus on English language teaching (ELT). After a brief contextualisation of current views of pronunciation instruction in the second-language (L2) teaching literature, the article reviews some of the potential advantages of, conditions for, and…

The rapid transformation of English linguistic landscapes has introduced the world to newly emerging English varieties or World Englishes, which are not typically employed in the Inner Circle. To address the defying phenomenon, this qualitative study explored the perceptions of Thai university lecturers on World Englishes, Thai English and the…

Suresh Canagarajah is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor and Director of the Migration Studies Project, Departments of Applied Linguistics and English, Pennsylvania State University, USA. Having a BA with a major in English from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin, USA, Professor…

With the largest number of English learners in the world, the influence of the English language teaching (ELT) reform in China cannot be underestimated. This article explores the implications of the actual use of English in China's workplace for ELT reform in the context of English as a lingua franca (ELF). On the basis of cross-validated data…

Contemporary literacy practices need to be addressed in school settings. That requires awareness by teachers and students of the cultural and linguistic diversity present in our cosmopolitan societies. In the field of English language teaching (ELT), one way of responding to such demand is engaging teachers with multiliteracies pedagogies…

Despite the proliferation of publications on teaching English as an international language (EIL) or a Lingua Franca (ELF), the diffusion of these concepts into the world of English Language Teaching has been slow and incomplete. There is some wariness among educators about the teaching of ELF and EIL, with no consensus regarding appropriate…

This article reviews questions that non-native (NNEST) and native speaker (NEST) teachers, working in different contexts, have about pronunciation teaching. It draws on theory, research, and practice to answer those questions as far as possible. The data was collected across two projects that investigated teachers' cognitions: their knowledge,…

A great deal has been written about what English as an International Language (EIL) actually is (e.g. Alsagoff et al., 2012; Matsuda, 2012; McKay and Brown, 2016; Sharifian, 2009), ranging from a view of EIL as the many varieties of English that are spoken today to the use of English by second language speakers of English. Thus, EIL is viewed both…

In this article, we describe and evaluate an innovative pedagogical task designed to raise awareness of Global Englishes and to challenge standard language ideology in an English language classroom. The task encouraged the learning and debate of the controversial Speak Good English Movement, which campaigns for Singaporeans to use a…

Currently, a growing number of teaching approaches focus on aspects of variation in language (e.g. English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), World Englishes, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), genre theories, etc.); however, each of these approaches tends to focus on particular (specific) aspects of language variation and do not fully account for the…

The transformation of higher education has been a pressing concern for policy makers and practitioners. This article provides examples of the transformative potential of assessments designed within the framework of a multi-literacies and heteroglossic pedagogy in an Applied English Language course at a South African university. These assessments,…

The diversity of opinion about pedagogy within ELT (English Language Teaching) makes it essential that its professional discourse is sufficiently inclusive. However, this often fails to occur because ELT professional discussion is frequently too "Orwellian" in nature, i.e. behaves in a manner resembling the political structures in the…