WE- and ELF-informed classroom practices: proposals from a pre-service teacher education programme in Italy
AbstractThe long-standing research in World Englishes (WE) and, more recently, in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has greatly contributed to problematizing several areas in connection to English Language Teaching, highlighting in particular the importance of teacher education as a first and fundamental step towards a more “inclusive” and “realistic” approach in ELT. A WE- and ELF-informed teacher education can indeed play a pivotal role in promoting awareness of the sociolinguistic and cultural changes brought about by the pluralization of English on the one hand, and of its function as a lingua franca on the other hand, and contribute to fostering a critical evaluation of ELT approaches, and materials, traditionally based on an Anglo-centric monolithic view of language and culture, taking account of different viewpoints in connection to the current modified reality of English. This paper will illustrate findings from an ongoing research study aimed at investigating trainee teachers’ beliefs concerning ELT pedagogic practices inclusive of the current pluralization of English. The study has been carried out with trainee teachers of English attending pre-service TFA (