Do Students Really Need to Learn about Global Englishes? A Critical Needs Analysis

Abstract

Global Englishes has been implemented in the classrooms; however, it is observed that these studies imposed Global Englishes on the students without asking a fundamental question whether they really need to learn about Global Englishes. Utilizing a critical needs analysis, this study explored the students’ needs in terms of necessities, lacks, and wants to learn about Global Englishes and to investigate how social position and unequal power are manifested in their needs. To achieve these purposes, ethnography strategy and interviews were employed to collect the data with twenty students. Five entrepreneurs were also interviewed to explore their expectations from future employees. The data revealed that the students reported struggling to communicate with diverse English users, had limited ability to use communication strategies, perceived insufficient vocabulary and grammar knowledge, and possessed accent bias against non-native English speakers. Social position and unequal power were also evident in the responses. These needs reflected necessities to urgently help the students learn about Global Englishes since they lacked understanding of sociolinguistic reality of English users outside the classrooms. Pedagogical implications were discussed. Key words: Global Englishes, critical needs analysis, social power, unequal power DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-7-04 Publication date: March 31 st 2022