Abstract
The legitimacy of the many postcolonial Englishes in the world necessitated an imperative to explore their use in the classroom. This pedagogic imperative in many cases has collided with many problems because of deeply entrenched ideologies in educational systems around the world. This configuration of issues surrounding the sociolinguistics of Englishes has resulted in the burgeoning of scholarly investigations into constraints and possibilities of World Englishes (WE), English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), and English as an International Language (EIL) in classrooms around the world. In this paper, I will argue that Englishes as a pedagogical problem is partly a construction or creation of such investigations and, in many ways, is disconnected from the daily challenges of English language teachers. What is the place of Englishes as an academic pedagogical issue among the myriad of problems teachers face every day? This paper draws on a 3-year localization project in ELT curriculum development in several institutions in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In particular, it tracks the stories of three teachers in each of the last three countries, to give substance to the paper’s argument that the current line of inquiry in the pedagogical “implications” of the sociolinguistics of Englishes is unequal, and usually treats the teacher and the classroom as a recipient, not a co-constructor, of knowledge in the field.
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Notes
- 1.
Permission was sought from the three teachers to use my data concerning my conversations with them. Moreover, relevant sections in this paper have been sent to them so they could comment on the veracity or truthfulness of my notes and reflections. All three teachers confirmed that I represented their views accurately in this paper. For the purposes of confidentiality, the names used here are the teachers’ pseudonyms, except for Alvin who specifically requested that his real first name be used. One of the teachers also requested that I change the gender of his/her character in this paper. I would like to thank them not only for giving me permission to use my own account of our conversations for this paper, but especially for being generous hosts during my various visits in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. They are highly committed teachers who are engaged in the critical practice of the teaching profession.
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Tupas, R. (2014). The Unequal Production of Knowledge in the Sociolinguistics of Englishes. In: Marlina, R., Giri, R. (eds) The Pedagogy of English as an International Language. English Language Education, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06127-6_11
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