ATTITUDES TOWARDS WORLD ENGLISHES: A CASE STUDY FROM AN EFL CONTEXT

Abstract

English language spread first within the British Isles; then to the Far East Asia, Africa, and North America as a result of colonization (Kirkpatrick, 2010, 2014; Mesthrie & Bhatt, 2008; Phillipson, 1992; Wardhaugh, 2006). It has become a global language spread especially after the United States of America became a superpower in the world of politics and technology. The spread and development of English language, specifically in the colonized regions of the world, has led to the emergence of different variations of the language (Kirkpatrick, 2010). These variations, termed as World Englishes, that still try to gain legitimacy have caused academic discussions in the field and literature of language teaching (Kachru, 1991; Quirk, 1990). One of the most significant of these discussions aim to provide an answer to the critical question: Should we teach only the standard English or should we accept and include variations, World Englishes, in our curriculum as well? In addition to the discussions on the possible socio-economic outcomes of such a decision (Phillipson, 2008; Ramanathan, 2005), there have been few and limited studies that questioned students’ perspectives on the issue. Moreover, these studies have focused on various types of learners of English so far. This study aims to determine the perspectives of students who are studying English to become English teachers in the future whose perspectives may affect the quality of the curriculum that they will follow when teaching English. In this context, the primary research question of this study is to determine the attitudes of these prospective teachers on World Englishes. The findings of the study revealed that while the students are eager to learn and teach about different varieties of English, they still support acquiring a standard accent while learning the language and teaching the standard norms in the future.