World Englishes Today: Towards a Pluricentric Approach of Proficiency Testing

Abstract

Given the fact that one of the important topics in modern sociolinguistics today is the globalisation of English (Mesthrie & Bhatt, 2008), the aim of the present paper is twofold. First, it seeks to discuss the extent to which the spread of English around the world has resulted in the emergence of new linguistic varieties of English or World Englishes (Mourchid, 2019) and how English “no longer has one single base of authority, prestige and normativity” (Mesthrie & Bhatt, 2008, p. 3). Second, the paper also seeks to provide “a rationale for proficiency testing that subscribes to the view that accepting English as the global target language requires a proficiency testing framework beyond the monolithic EFL and ESL-based tests” (Al-Kadi, 2022, p. 39). This being said, the current paper calls for a shift in paradigm from the monocentric approach, which conceives of English as being a single language, to the pluricentric approach that celebrates the linguistic variation exhibited in the English language, and which better reflects the sociolinguistic reality of present-day English, which, in turn, reflects the new trend of proficiency testing needed in a modern world where diverse varieties of English compete and struggle to find their ways in EFL classrooms.