Research to classroom practice: Global Englishes and ELT textbooks  Seminar

“the prevailing orientation in…..ELT materials still remains undoubtedly towards ENL” (Jenkins, 2012: 487).

Theoretical and empirical work within the field of Global Englishes raises crucial questions about established modes of practice in the ELT profession. The pedagogical implications of such research have been attracting an increasing amount of attention in recent years, yet little attention has been placed on ELT materials specifically. In order to create pedagogical change within the field of ELT, we need to look at various aspects of the learning and teaching process: “it is not enough to simply say that ELF has implications for pedagogy” (Dewey, 2012: 143). ELT materials are a central part of the learning and teaching process; they provide language input and are often used to determine the syllabus. The continued orientation towards native English, as outlined by Jenkins (2012) above, clearly warrants serious attention. This presentation examines current textbooks, which have been identified as one of the main barriers to Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT) (Galloway, 2011; Galloway and Rose, 2015). A central thesis of this talk focuses on the need to ensure that 21st century ELT is effective in preparing learners to use ELF in global contexts. It examines recent trends in the field of ELT, proposing that the on-going quest for new approaches and methods be accompanied with a quest for new conceptualisations of the very subject matter in such materials; the English language. The talk ends with a proposed framework to help ELT practitioners adopt and develop materials that offer more than a mere superficial awareness of Global Englishes.