Beliefs about English as an International Language (EIL): voices from Persian-speaking English teachers

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study sought to investigate how non-native English-speaking teachers in Iran recognize the legitimacy of different emerging varieties of English and how they perceive native speaker language norms and the linguistic diversity of present-day English use. Participants included 210 teachers of English from the Persian-speaking context, falling within expanding circle countries. Questionnaires and interviews were used to explore these teachers’ beliefs about EIL. The findings indicated the teachers’ acknowledgment of the ownership of English by both native and non-native speakers and also the legitimacy of non-native varieties of English as long as they are comprehensible. However, contrary to the great significance attributed to different varieties of English and to intelligibility in the use of EIL, the findings revealed that there was a widely shared aspiration among the teachers for native speakers’ Standard English rather than World Englishes in language classrooms. They maintained that English language learners should acquire Standard English for perfect communication and avoid non-native English varieties. This mismatch between teachers’ recognition of English varieties and their preference for Standard English in classroom instruction evidences the need to assist teachers in re-appraising their prevalent presumptions about native speakerism in their teaching practice and adopting more EIL-aware pedagogy.