Table 4.5Measuring proficiency
Table 4.6Example studies that report of materials research
Table 5.1Studies related to language testing and EIL
Table 7.1Example research topics relevant to EIL teacher education
Table 8.1Example studies on teacher and learner identity
Table 9.1Metaphors of change (adapted from Cameron & Green, 2009: 139–140)
Table 10.1Example research methodologies related to EIL in practice
Figures
Figure 1.1The four channels of English Spread (adapted from Galloway & Rose, 2015: 14)
Figure 1.2The theoretical positioning of Teaching English as an International Language in this book
Figure 2.1The TESOL curriculum (Richards, 1982)
Figure 2.3Post-normative approach (adapted from Dewey, 2012: 168)
Heath Rose is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Education at The University of Oxford. Heath started his teaching career in Australian and Japanese schools, before eventually moving into teaching in higher education in Australia, Japan, Ireland and now the UK. During this time, he has prioritized applications of teaching research for classroom pedagogy. His research interests are in Global Englishes, English Medium Instruction and Teaching English as an international language He is co-author of numerous books, including Introducing Global Englishes (Routledge, 2015), and Global Englishes for Language Teaching (Cambridge University Press), and is series co-editor of the upcoming Cambridge Elements Series titled Language Teaching.
Mona Syrbe has been working as an English teacher since 2010. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education at Rikkyo University, Japan. Before this, she was an adjunct lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, where she taught courses in applied linguistics, TESOL and academic English. Her research interests are in teaching English as an international language, specifically with regards to materials design and language assessment. She has published her research in peer-reviewed journals such as International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching.
Anuchaya (Anya) Montakantiwong is an English Language lecturer at Mahidol University, Thailand. She is also a researcher of Global Englishes, focusing on teachers. She is interested in how teacher cognition of Global Englishes affects teacher identity and pedagogical practices.
Natsuno Funada is a doctoral graduate of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford. She also researches in the field of Global Englishes. Before coming to Oxford, Natsuno was an adjunct lecturer of English language at Saitama Women’s Junior College in Japan.
In the 21st century, teaching English has become essentially different than teaching any other language, and it is this book’s aim to explore these differences from a teachers’ perspective. Never before has the world seen a global language to the extent that English is now used. English is not only the native or second language in over 50 countries, but it is also by far the most widely taught and learned foreign language in the world. Having been spread through British colonialism, English has taken on a life of its own in almost every corner of the world. Expressing local culture and identity, new varieties of English have developed in former colonies in North America, Africa, different parts of Asia, and Australasia. These speakers make up a large part of the global community of English speakers yet find little to no representation in most TESOL contexts. This is also true for the other group of speakers which make English different than any other language – its lingua franca speakers. As the world’s main medium of communication between speakers of other languages, English is now spoken by more second language users than first language speakers, and this has significantly shaped the language and the skills required to successfully use it.
A Professional Rationale for this Book
This globalization of English has clear implications for TESOL, and teachers and teacher educators need to reframe English language teaching in order to match the new sociolinguistic landscape of the 21st century. Yet, the TESOL industry continues to focus on native English norms, and as a result many TESOL practitioners in training continue to receive traditional views of language and language teaching, characterised by an adherence to ‘standard’ norms. One reason why the industry has been slow to address changes is that pedagogical innovation requires a significant shift in ideology. Moving away from native speakerism requires a change in views of ownership of English and the emancipation of second language speakers from native speaker norms. From this, pedagogical changes can be made, in which new learning targets are identified, language models are changed, culture is repositioned, and the target interlocutor is reconsidered.
Though research and publications have made noticeable headway in the direction of teaching English as an international language (EIL), teaching practices have largely lagged behind. Offering a detailed examination of the incorporation of an EIL perspective into the multiple faces of TESOL, this book is aimed at in-service and pre-service teachers, practitioner-researchers and teacher educators rather than at academic researchers, for which a large number of resources on the topic currently exist. By exploring practical questions in TESOL, this book aims to provide an introduction into the topic and provide practical answers, but also prompt critical discussion and reflection. Beyond that, we further hope to encourage teachers to participate in the still largely untapped research agenda surrounding classroom innovation, which is necessary to make the move from a native speaker model to teaching English as a truly global language.
A Personal Rationale for this Book
Each of us, as four independent authors, have come together to write this book as a collective team of EIL researchers who are also English language teaching professionals. We each became interested in teaching EIL via our own personal journeys, which have brought with them experiences as teachers and learners. These journeys have helped