Educational sociolinguistics: towards a pedagogical model for teaching Englishes instead of English

Abstract

The current global status of the English language as a lingua franca has been running several discussions in the realm of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) (ANJOS, 2019; 2017; SIQUEIRA, 2020; DUBOC; SIQUEIRA, 2020). Accordingly, many research works, mostly those of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) (JENKINS, 2009; SCHMITZ, 2012), corroborate the need for new orientations for TEFL based on native-speaker standards. In this paper, we argue that the insertion of Educational Sociolinguistics into the TEFL reveals to be an advantageous pedagogical convergence: As Educational Sociolinguistics sets a pedagogical framework for language teaching under a variationist perspective (VERHOEVEN, 1997; CREESE, 2010; COAN; FREITAG, 2010), as such theoretical perspective is capable of triggering shifts in the TEFL once it leads to addressing relevant issues related to language diversity, which contributes to inhibiting linguistic discrimination upon non-standard varieties, such as those referred to under the ELF label. By analyzing core concepts of ELF and Educational Sociolinguistics, this theoretical research calls EFL teachers to teach “Englishes” – not only (standard American or British) English.