World Englishes in English Language Classes

Abstract

English was previously the native language of England, Scotland and Ireland and migration from these countries to North America, Australia and New Zealand created new English dialects (Jenkins, 2009) and later imperialism of some nations such as the UK and the USA, Africans and Asians in their colonies made this language, English, a world language (Brutt-Griffler, 2002). The term "World Englishes (WEs)" has appeared and the varieties of English have been developed by Kachru (1990) in terms of three circles of English, which are classified as the Inner Circle in which English is used as the native language (L1), the Outer Circle where English is used as a second language and the Expanding Circle in which English is used as a foreign language. There exists a problem about which variation of English should be included in English language teaching. In the literature, there is a growing body of research that has examined the pedagogical effects of WEs on English Language Teaching (ELT), namely English language classrooms. One of the misunderstandings about WEs "is that British or American English is superior to that of India, Africa, or Singapore" but she warns us and note that "The world is changing" (Narin, 2022, p.123).