Perceptions toward Thai English: A study of university English language teachers in Thailand

Global Perspectives on English Teachers' Attitudes and Perceptions of World Englishes inTESOLClassrooms

“…This finding could be attributed to the fact that both ELT and language testing materials in these countries have long been dominated by L1 English models. This situation has driven the teachers to favor the use of L1 English accent varieties in their classrooms (Tarrayo, Ulla, & Lekwilai, 2021). This, in turn, might have made them more sensitive to English accent varieties other than L1 English models.…”

“…While more than half (56.7%) of the Iranian teachers favored adherence to L1 English models in their teaching practices and set nativelike accent models as the ultimate goal for their learners, a majority of Indian (80%) and native speakers (NS) (82.1%) teachers showed acceptance of English accent varieties and favored intelligible and clear speech. In the Southeast Asian context, Tarrayo, Ulla, and Lekwilay's (2021) study of 60 Thai university teachers revealed that, although the teachers were aware of the legitimacy of WE varieties, they still favored a standardized variety of English in their teaching practices.…”

Nepali English Teachers’ Perceptions Towards Global Englishes in ELT

“…The research shows that English language teachers have ambivalent opinions about embracing GEs in their teaching of English (Ahn, 2015;Tarrayo et al, 2021). While teachers acknowledge the existence of new varieties of English, they seem reluctant to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Expanding Circle Englishes (Sadeghpour, & Sharifian, 2017).…”

“…However, teachers in some contexts such as Thailand and Japan seem flexible to use GEs. Teachers in these contexts not only prefer to use GEs in their teaching of English but also emphasize that English language teaching and learning materials such as coursebooks should aim to introduce students to GEs (Takahashi, 2017;Tarrayo et al, 2021). This indicates that teachers expose ownership of the English that they use (Lee, et al, 2019;Widdowson, 1994) disregarding native speaker ideology (Holliday, 2006) which is an essential aspect of achieving proficiency in English.…”

“…Considering this reality, teachers' positive attitude towards the GEs certainly plays a crucial role in introducing English language learners to the diverse nature of English. Nevertheless, the research in different contexts reveals that even teachers seem reluctant to use regional Englishes or their own English in ELT, questioning the legitimacy of GEs in academia (Dhami, 2022;Sadeghpour, 2019;Tarrayo et al, 2021). Teachers' reluctance to include GEs in ELT demands their engagement in GE-informed teacher professional development (TPD), which comprises GE-oriented workshops, conferences, and seminars (Cecen & Tuluce, 2019;Eslami et al, 2019).…”