ENGLISH FOR

GLOBAL CITIZENS?
Non-native English teachers’
perspectives on teaching English as a
Lingua Franca in a bilingual school in Cali

ANDRES FELIPE TORRES GARCIA

M.A. IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
SUPERVISOR
TIM MARR PhD.
ICESI - 2018
ENGLISH IN THE WORLD
Kachru, B. B. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.tesoltraining.co.uk

Inner Circle e.g USA, UK

320 - 380 million

Outer Circle e.g India,

150 - 300 million Singapore

Expanding Circle e.g. China, Russia

100 - 1,000 million
ENGLISH FOR GLOBAL CITIZENS
ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA

(Canagarajah, 2007; Cook, 1999; Jenkins, 2014; House, 1999; Seidlhofer, 2011).
NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS
(ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS)
MOVING AWAY FROM THE NATIVE SPEAKER

(Byram et al., 2002; Cook, 1999)

 MAIN OBJECTIVE
To identify, explore and critically assess
the non-native teachers’ perspectives on
teaching English as a Lingua Franca and
how these perspectives are related to
actual teaching practice in educating
global citizens.
TYPE OF RESEARCH

A descriptive, analytical and

qualitative research (mixed
method research) is chosen
for this study. Rossman &
Wilson’s (1985); Dörnyei
(2015)

This type of study plays a

critical role in education
research in particular. Loeb
et al.(2017)
 METHODOLOGY

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

General Class Perceptions vs
perceptions Observation Class practice/
identification GLOBAL CITIZEN observation
EDUCATION JUXTAPOSITION
GENERAL FINDINGS IN STAGES

GENERAL TEACHERS’
PERCEPTIONS VOICES

CLASS PERCEPTIONS VS
OBSERVATIONS APPLICATION (ELF)
TEACHERS’ SURVEY
 GROUP “OK, language use in an authentic
INTERVIEW environment…OK. For… er.. everyday
communication not only for communicative
(TEACHERS’ skills, communicative purposes … but also,
for an academic setting”.
VOICES)
How do you define
“It’s a language used to communicate
English as a Lingua among people that English is not their first
Franca (ELF)? language”.
 Do you include in your classes ELF?
If so, how?

“Although I don’t include ELF in my classes as I am teaching students to become B2 or C1 in

their language, it is impossible not to have it within the class as students use it..ehh… and…
use expressions from literal translations from Spanish to English and also through body
language and also through expressions that they consider can be used in English – although
they are not necessarily correct – but the information is got and the communication is not
interrupted”.

“I try to combine Englishes…mmm… and one way to do this is by having students listen to
different accents from different countries, from people whose English is not their first
language…”
 “…for students to face more real world,
…eh… more authentic conversations
because then, when they go and interact
What do you with real people they are going to be able to
understand with others due to being
think the exposed to different accents, different
cultures, and…and different ways of
implications of expressing in English”.

using ELF in
“I think first of all, it is for the teacher to have
class are? a clear understanding of what ELF is about
and also understanding the sociocultural
context where the teaching/learning
practice is taking place”.
“Definitely through the cultural aspects. When you
understand the culture or the cultural dynamics that
work in an English speaking country or in a Spanish
speaking country, then, language is going to be
easier to attain as they can contrast it to traditions,
to ways of doing things, differently from the ways we
do it normally in our context”.
How do you
approach
"Having students familirize… be familiarized with
different cultures and through that, making them teaching
understand the greatness of diversity to enrich
students’ own beliefs” English to
educate Global
“…mmm… I think that…well… teaching English
will help students to build bridges with other citizens?
citizens from around the world, so I think that it’s
important to design activities that involve
21st-century competences that are going to enable
them to face society and that it also includes
changing the way that evaluation is done."
How do you think your perspectives of ELF
are related to your actual teaching practice
in educating global citizens?

“I consider my practice in the classroom is just starting the approach, I think there
are many ways to do it but methodology and tools need to be improved and
increased. I think I am still quite far from applying a real ELF in my classes”.

“OK… the way I think ELF is …mmm… what I thought at the beginning …er... must
have been thought that is a subject but I think it is more than a subject, it goes
beyond and takes our students to learn that they have a voice, they have to be, we
courage our students to talk and they can change the world and that language is not
only learning a grammar lesson or learning about countries… more than that. So,
the perspective I have about ELF is that we can lead student to communicate with
each other and to empower them to have a role in the community and change the
world”.
 CLASS OBSERVATIONS

(Canagarajah, 2007; Cook, 1999; Dewey, 2012; House, 1999; Jenkins, 2015; Seidlhofer, 2011).
PERCEPTIONS VS APPLICATION (ELF)
 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

a great majority of the non-native teachers at this school showed certain resistance towards the
adoption of the ELF approach in their language teaching context.

preferred applying the rules of standard English instead of ELF notions.

teachers demonstrated knowledge on the application of strategies to foster global citizenship

education in the classroom. (Intercultural Dimension Development)

Teachers’ assessment (mostly direct feedback)

Non-native teachers can help students see themselves as multicompetent languages users
(Cook, 1999) and not as just L2 language learners.

once teachers have comprehended much better the concept of ELF, they will be able to analyze
with a wider perspective the potential common grounds between ELF and global citizenship
education.
a lot more of research needs to be done. It is imperative to involve more participants in a bigger
and wider context.
 CONCLUSIONS

Non-native teachers give hints of ELF practices but barely apply them
into their teaching practices.

Non-native teachers approach their classes taking into account aspects

of global citizenship education.

Most of the non-native teachers might ignore the implications of ELF in

educating students as global citizens.

Further research on this topic should be done with longer groups and in
different contexts to conclude with higher validity and reliability
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Assessment (direct or indirect feedback when and why).

Material design, bearing in mind English variations.

Teaching and learning styles.

English variations (who speaks English today)

21st-century skills.

Intercultural dimension development.

Raising learner’s awareness (ELF VS ENL)

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the intercultural dimension in language teaching.  A practical
introduction for teachers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Canagarajah, S. (2007). Lingua Franca English, Multilingual Communities, and Language Acquisition. The modern language
journal, 923-939.

Cook, V. (1999). Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 33(2), 185-209.

Dewey, M. (2012). Towards a post-normative approach: Learning the pedagogy of ELF.

Dörnyei, Z. (2015). Applied Linguistics. Oxford University Press.

Loeb, S., Dynarski, S., McFarland, D., Morris, P., Reardon, S., & Reber, S. (2017). Descriptive Analysis in Education: A Guide for
Researchers. NCEE 2017-4023. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.

Jenkins, J. (2015). Repositioning English and multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca.  Englishes in Practice,  2(3),
49-85.

Kachru, B. B. (1992). World Englishes: Approaches, issues and resources. Language teaching, 25(1), 1-14.

Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English as a lingua franca: A complete introduction to the theoretical nature and
practical implications of English used as a lingua franca.