A SURVEY INTO IN SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN HANOIS OPINIONS OF TEACHING ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE THE COMPARISON AND CONTRAST OF NESTS AND NNESTS

The study has revealed the similarities in the opinions of both NESTs and NNESTs on different EIL-related teaching contents and methodological considerations, particularly students’ expo

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

A SURVEY INTO IN-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN HANOI'S

OPINIONS OF TEACHING ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE:

THE COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

OF NESTS AND NNESTS

Supervisor: Dương Thu Mai (PhD.) Student: Trịnh Mai Anh

Course: QH2017.F1

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

KHẢO SÁT VỀ Ý KIẾN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TẠI HÀ NỘI

VỀ VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH NHƯ MỘT NGÔN NGỮ QUỐC TẾ:

SO SÁNH GIỮA GIÁO VIÊN BẢN XỨ VÀ

GIÁO VIÊN VIỆT NAM

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Dương Thu Mai (ThS.) Sinh viên: Trịnh Mai Anh

Khóa: QH2017.F1

HÀ NỘI – 2021

I hereby state that I: Trinh Mai Anh, class QH2017.F1.E1.SPCLC, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (programme) accept the requirements

of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Hanoi, May 4th 2021

Last but not least, I feel thankful to my family members and all of my friends for their precious advice as well as mental support, which helps forge me ahead with my study regardless of setbacks

ABSTRACT

English has reached an international status since there has been a significant increase in the demographics of English-speaking communities and individuals around the world (Sharifian, 2009) This trend has led to a paradigm shift in teaching practices, shifting the attention to the concept of English as an International Language (EIL) in ELT courses and materials as a way for adaptation To successfully implement EIL into English classrooms, it is of importance to investigate the opinions of both NESTs and NNESTs on teaching EIL given their differences in characteristics and strengths Hence, this study is carried out to compare the opinions of in-service native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) in Hanoi on teaching EIL The paper employed survey research design with the use of both questionnaire and interview to shed light on the research problem The study has revealed the similarities in the opinions of both NESTs and NNESTs on different EIL-related teaching contents and methodological considerations, particularly students’ exposure to different sources of culture, the teaching of pragmatic competence and vocabulary with high utility, the choice of materials and the method of teaching grammar in contexts Some significant differences in opinions

of the two groups were also identified concerning the teaching of varieties and accents, acceptance of intelligible pronunciation, promotion of critical reading and

the allowance for students to vary in their fluency

Keywords: English as an International Language, EIL, TEIL, NEST, NNEST

1 Teaching English and Teaching English as an International Language 6

2 The conceptualization of English as an International Language (EIL) 8

5 NEST and NNEST dichotomy in teaching EIL 27

1.1 Responses to research question 1: What are NESTs and NNESTs’ opinions on the

contents of teaching English as an international language? 43 1.1.1 Exposing students to Standard English and other English varieties 43

1.1.7 Teaching the content knowledge in four major English skills according to EIL 50

1.2 Response to research question 2: What are NESTs and NNESTs’ opinions on the

methodological considerations in teaching English as an international language? 53

1.2.4 Teaching four major skills according to EIL 56

1.3 Response to research question 3: What are the reasons for the teachers' opinions of

1.3.1.1 Interview question 1: Reasons for the agreement and disagreement

1.3.1.2 Reasons for the agreement with teaching students about

1.3.2.1 Reasons for agreement and disagreement with selecting suitable

1.3.2.2 Reasons for agreement with EIL teaching materials 69 1.3.2.3 Reasons for agreement with EIL methods of teaching grammar 70 1.3.2.4 Reasons for agreement and disagreement with the methods of

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: List of questionnaire items

Table 2: Teachers' opinions on the teaching of Standard English and English varieties Table 3: Teachers' opinions on the teaching of cultures

Table 4: Teachers' opinions on the teaching of pronunciation

Table 5: Teachers' opinions on the teaching of vocabulary

Table 6: Teachers' opinions on the teaching of grammar

Table 7: Teachers' opinions on the teaching of pragmatic competence

Table 8: Teachers' opinions on the teaching of four major English skills

Table 9: Teachers' opinions on selecting suitable methods for teaching EIL

Table 10: Teachers' opinions on teaching materials

Table 11: Teachers' opinions on the teaching methods of grammar

Table 12: Teachers' opinions on the teaching methods of four major English skills Table 13: Frequency of codes related to Theme 1: The global status of English

Table 14: Frequency of codes related to Theme 2: Ownership of English

Table 15: Frequency of codes related to Theme 3: Communication effectiveness Table 16: Frequency of codes related to Theme 4: Learning effectiveness

Table 17: Frequency of codes related to Theme 5: Doubt on the teaching of EIL

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: An example of initial codes related to teachers' opinions of teaching EIL Figure 2: An example of cross-cased refined coding of teachers’ reasons for their opinions on teaching EIL

Figure 3: NESTs’ opinions on EIL-related teaching contents

Figure 4: NNESTs’ opinions on EIL-related teaching contents

Figure 5: NESTs' opinions on EIL-related methodological considerations

Figure 6: NNESTs' opinions on EIL-related methodological considerations

ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Background information

English has gradually become the most widely used language all over the world since the second half of the twentieth century (Yano, 2009) It is considered that English is spoken by more second language (L2) than first language (L1) users (Ayako, 2007) The significant growth in the number of L2 users has gradually altered the central orientation of English language teaching (ELT) in many countries In such countries, learners acquire English as a foreign language for communication with native English speakers (NESs) However, learners have many more practical motivations for learning English One of them is to acquire the language for communication with other English speakers from different linguistic backgrounds, including both NNESs and NESs (McKay, 2003)

In foreign language education for non-English speaking countries, the global status of English has redirected the main goal of language pedagogy from the development of native-speaker competence to comprehensibility and intelligible use of more varieties of English This trend has shifted attention to the investigation of English as an international language (EIL) Considering EIL, increased attention has been paid to the pedagogical practices of English language teaching, and as Matsuda and Friedrich (2011) acknowledged, this entails the re-examination and modification of different aspects like teaching methodology, instructional variety and model, curriculum and syllabus materials, language testing, and TESOL teacher-education program It is unquestionable that teachers play an important part in the promotion of EIL and their opinions towards EIL should be paid attention to improve the teaching practices in the Expanding-Circle

countries where English is often taught as the most popular foreign language

2 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study

It is suggested that there exists a close link between teacher’s opinions and teaching practices and thus teacher's opinions are considered an indicator for teachers’ instructional decision-making in class (Ajzen and Madden, 1986; Bayyurt and Sifakis, 2015; Pajares, 1992) Therefore, it is of utmost importance that teachers' opinions are thoroughly investigated and comprehensively understood to improve teaching practices

In international contexts, many prolific scholars in the field namely Alsagoff et al (2012); Matsuda (2012); McKay (2002); Smith (1983) and Sharifian

(2009) have relentlessly promoted the importance of teaching English as “a

heterogeneous language with multiple grammars, vocabulary, accents, and pragmatic discourse conventions” due to the changing status of English and the

paradigm shift in teaching practices In Vietnamese context, EIL is recognized as

a part of the General School Education English Curriculum and according to the

Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam (MOET) in 2018, students can learn about the countries, people and cultures of different English-speaking countries and other countries in the world, thereby becoming global citizens when studying English This once again highlights the need to facilitate the teaching and learning of EIL

The significance of teaching and learning EIL highlights the pivotal role

of the teachers in incorporating those elements into English classrooms and the need to identify teachers’ opinions towards teaching EIL (Renandya & Farrell, 2011) The aforementioned role does not rest on not only NNESTs but NESTs as well since it is perceived that NESTs and NNESTs have unique characteristics and qualifications that are valuable to the teaching practices and can hardly be compensated by the other party (Medgyes, 1992, 1999, & 2001) Hence, the differences between NESTs and NNESTs should not be undermined but focused

on and put under consideration to improve teachers' effectiveness This may bring about many implications for the promotion of EIL However, while there are many

studies considering the opinions of NNESTs, a few attempts have been made to examine the opinions of native ones Moreover, although the comparison between NESTs and NNESTs regarding their opinions towards EIL may yield some significant implications, there is a lack of related studies examining this gap (Medgyes, 1992)

Due to the surge of EIL and the importance to examine teachers' opinions towards EIL, the past two decades have witnessed a particular leap in research on opinions of teachers towards EIL in international contexts, considering teaching pronunciation, the promotion of different varieties of English, and the promotion

of different cultures (Sifakis and Sougari, 2005; Altun-Evci, 2010; Tajeddin, Atai

& Pashmforoosh, 2019; Elsheikh, 2015; Ubaidillah, 2019) However, available studies have overlooked teachers' opinions on other EIL-related aspects like the teaching of four major skills, grammar, intelligibility or pragmatic competence

In conclusion, despite the importance of promoting EIL and studying teachers' opinions of teaching EIL, teachers' opinions on the teaching of EIL have not covered all EIL-related features Besides, not many studies have been carried out to examine NESTs' opinions or to put the opinions of NESTs and NNESTs into consideration To bridge the gaps, the researcher aimed at comparing in-service NESTs’ and NNESTs’ opinions towards teaching EIL The study would also examine teachers' reasons for their opinions for a better understanding of NESTs and NNESTs' opinions Hanoi is chosen as the setting for the study to take place since recently, English has developed at an unprecedented pace in Hanoi with an overwhelming number of English learners Besides, it is one of the first cities which allows NESTs to teach at schools alongside with NNESTs

3 Aims and objectives

This research aims to identify in-service NESTs and NNESTs in Hanoi's opinions considering teaching EIL and put them into comparison Also, the study

seeks to determine the reasons for teachers' opinions to improve teaching practices

in light of EIL

In brief, this study would address the following questions:

1 What are NESTs and NNESTs’ opinions on the contents of teaching English as an international language?

2 What are NESTs and NNESTs’ opinions on the methodological considerations in teaching English as an international language?

3 What are the reasons for the teachers' opinions on teaching

English as an international language?

4 Scope of the study

The study focuses on identifying NESTs’ and NNESTs’ opinions on teaching EIL, the similarities and differences in their opinions as well as the reasons for their opinions Other aspects including strengths, weaknesses of NESTs and NNESTs as well as challenges they face during teaching EIL would not be examined in this study The literature for this study has been collected from different sources concerning EIL-related issues like EIL conceptualizations, teaching contents and methodologies as well as the dichotomy between NESTs and NNESTs Data will be collected from in-service NESTs and NNESTs who work at different schools in Hanoi The results may not be generalizable to the larger population like in-service NESTs and NNESTs in Vietnam

5 Significance of the study

According to MOET (2018), the teaching of EIL is incorporated into the

General School Education English Curriculum In this curriculum, one of the main

objectives of teaching and learning concerning EIL is to help students understand the countries, people and cultures of different English-speaking countries and other countries in the world as well Another objective is to make way for students to become global citizens Since teachers are the ones who implement these

objectives, it is of significance to explore their opinions towards EIL to ensure teaching and learning effectiveness

Besides, according to Medgyes (1992), NESTs and NNESTs have their distinctive characteristics and the differences between the two groups should be put into consideration to improve teachers' effectiveness By comparing opinions

of NESTs and NNESTs, many significant implications can be yielded to improve teaching practices From the findings of this study, teachers can benefit from this study as they can gain a comprehensive insight into the differences in EIL opinions

of NESTs and NNESTs, thereby considering those differences and working together to come up with the most suitable measures when it comes to developing and adjusting their teaching practices in class Also, this research would contribute

to the pre-existing body of research concerning opinions of teachers towards EIL and would act as references for further studies

6 Outline of the study

This study is divided into the following chapters:

In chapter 1, the introduction of the study concerning the background information of the study, namely the research problem, its aims, research questions

as well as the scope of the study is presented

Chapter 2 focuses on the review of the literature Ideas from different bodies of literature are presented and synthesized to establish an ideology that guides the research

After reviewing the literature, the research methodology used for this study is discussed in chapter 3

In chapter 4, the collected data is analyzed and interpreted to reach an answer to the research question

Chapter 5 delves into the discussions of the study

The last chapter, chapter 6, presents a summary of findings as well as implications and limitations of this study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a comprehensive synthesis of existing bodies of literature related to teaching EIL and the dichotomy of native English-speaking teachers and non-native English-speaking teachers

1 Teaching English and Teaching English as an International Language

It has long been considered that the English language has gradually

become pluricentric, which is known as “World English" (Ubaidillah) This entails

the fact that countries are categorized into three groups namely Inner Circle (including countries that use English as native language), Outer Circle (countries using English as a second language) and Expanding Circle (countries using English as a foreign language) (Kachru, 1985) This has proposed a new mindset

of using English and English varieties Besides, recent decades have witnessed an unrivaled increase in the number of English-speaking communities, English users and English learners all over the world, with the number of non-native English speakers outnumbering that of native English speakers (Ayako, 2007)

Facing such new contexts, traditional ELT has been claimed to fail to recognize the international status of English Firstly, this is because traditional ELT is norm-bound, which considers acquiring native-like competence is the ultimate goal of learning English (Jenkins, 2003; McKay, 2003) and also because

any other model apart from the native norms is “an error” (Kachru, 1992b;

Jenkins, 2003) In other words, the English taught in many countries is mostly American or British English Nevertheless, Kasper (1997) argued that it is impossible to reach the level of competence of native speakers, and even native speakers are not even considered a homogeneous group (McKay, 2003; Seidlhofer, 2005) Furthermore, many scholars claimed that the monolingual approach

considering English as a native language model is “utopian, unrealistic, and

constraining in relation to EIL” (Alptekin, 2002) Firstly, this model is utopian in

a sense that what is referred to as native speakership is a linguistic myth (Paikeday, 1985; Rajagopalan, 1999) and it reflects a monolithic opinion of the language and culture of the native speakers, by focusing mainly on the popular ways of thinking and behaving Secondly, this native speaker model is unrealistic because it did not manage to depict the lingua franca status of English with the number of non-native speakers exceeding natives ones It also restricts EIL since it links the notion of authenticity to the social environments of the native speaker This makes the autonomy of not only teachers but also learners suffers because the language which

is authentic for native speakers may not be suitable for non-native speakers (Widdowson, 1998) Hence, with the recent international status of English, traditional ELT was no longer an appropriate method for the teaching and learning

of English

Considering the implications of the global status of English, there is a need for ELT to take appropriate pedagogies and choice of materials that are beneficial for learners in both localized and international contexts into consideration As a result of dissatisfaction with the native speakers' model, scholars have begun to

propose a change in paradigm and an “appropriate model” in ELT Many scholars

advocated the concept of English as an international language (EIL) (Matsuda, 2003; Jenkins, 2003; McKay, 2003), arguing that EIL is suitable for the teaching and learning of English as English is no longer the possession of a nation or a group

of people and is not any specific English varieties in the Inner Circle like British English or American English It is an international language that acts as a communication vehicle in different regions of a country and communities across international and cultural boundaries This entails the fact that other English varieties in the Outer or Expanding circles should not be overlooked (Kachru, 1992; Jenkins, 2003; McKay, 2003; Widdowson, 1994)

Thus, this section has reviewed an apparent change in the status of English that leads to the need to reconsider ELT and the emergence of EIL It also helps to shed light on the importance of EIL and the need to further examine this field

Hence, in the next part, different conceptualizations of EIL proposed by many scholars are taken into consideration

2 The conceptualization of English as an International Language (EIL)

2.1 Definition of an international language

To thoroughly understand the concept of EIL, it is crucial to have a grasp

of what an international language is Smith (1976) was deemed to be one of the first to conceptualize an international language by circumscribing the scope of an international language He proposed that an international language is used by people from different countries to communicate with others However, the use of

an international language is not only limited to an international sense so McKay (2002) has broadened its scope Hence, an international language can be viewed

as a language that guarantees broader communication amongst individuals not only from different countries but also in a single country as well Based on this scope, English can be viewed as an international language since English is spread to all the continents and used by speakers to communicate with people of other countries (Rao, 2019) Besides, English is also used in many Outer Circle countries as means

of communication between different regions To exemplify, due to the complicated geographical and societal status of the Philippines, English makes communication possible between groups of people there who do not share a native language or dialect (Vu, 2012)

2.2 Definitions of EIL

There is a large body of literature on the conceptualization of EIL (McKay

& Matsuda, 2012; McKay & Brown, 2016; Sharifian, 2009) Some scholars tried

to conceptualize EIL by stating what is not EIL Firstly, EIL is not a variety so

using the term “EIL” interchangeably with the term “International English” is problematic The term “International English” is different from EIL in a sense

that the use of an adjective going with “English” tends to refer to a specific variety

like British English or Indian English However, EIL in fact does not represent a particular variety and mistaking EIL for a variety poses numerous problems to the understanding of EIL To commence with, viewing EIL as a linguistic variety

“fails to represent the diverse nature of EIL communication”, which focuses on

specific contexts and situations Besides, a variety could not be appropriate in all

possible EIL contexts Another problem is that constructing one such

“super-national variety” would “create another layer of English language hierarchy and generate greater inequity among speakers of different Englishes” (Friedrich &

Matsuda, 2010)

Besides, EIL is normally used interchangeably with World Englishes (WE) or English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), but it is necessary to differentiate their

focus WE focuses on “the study of English as an investigation of the linguistic

features” that speakers typically use (McKay, 2018), which implies that the focus

of WE is the content (features of different varieties) and not interaction In terms

of ELF, this term has been conceptualized as “interactions between members of

two or more different linguacultures in English, for none of whom English is the mother tongue” (House, 1999), which means the interactions between second-

language speakers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds In this way,

it can be understood that all English as first language speakers would be taken out

of the focus of ELF EFL deals with both content (features of interaction between second-language speakers of English) and interaction Compared to WE and ELF, EIL has a broader coverage and what sets EIL apart from WE and ELF is that the use of EIL requires a set of specific principles, considering the need to refer to local contexts in any pedagogical decisions regarding standards and curriculum, the use of L1 in classrooms, the development of strategic intercultural competence should exist in all EIL classrooms and the cultural neutrality of EIL

Regarding the conceptualization of EIL, it is conceptualized in different

ways by several scholars: “paradigms or perspectives” (McKay 2002; Sharifian

2009) or “the functions or uses of English in international contexts” (Matsuda & Friedrich, 2010) As for “the functions or uses of English in international

contexts”, EIL could be applicable to situations that “cross and go beyond any national border” (Matsuda & Friedrich, 2010) Moreover, EIL is also understood

as a new “paradigm for thinking, research and practice” (Sharifian, 2009) EIL is claimed to have brought about “a paradigm shift in TESOL and SLA” (Marlina, 2014; Sharifian, 2009) as it represents a “linguistic or epistemological lens" for

researchers, scholars and educators to reexamine the ways of conceptualizing English, re-assess approaches in TESOL, and reconsider pedagogical strategies for English language teaching (Marlina, 2014)

Although the term EIL has got a grip on different aspects of language studies, this study takes pedagogy as the fundamental nature of EIL into consideration In this way, the concept EIL implies that it is basically Teaching

English as an International Language - a “socially sensitive English pedagogy”

(McKay, 2012), similar to the link between the term English as a Second Language and Teaching English as a Second Language

To conclude, this section has synthesized different conceptualizations of EIL, which aids the understanding of this concept To further elaborate this concept

to inform the research instrument in this study, many aspects of EIL teaching contents which have been popularly discussed in the literature are analyzed in the next part

3 What to teach in EIL

For a long time, one major purpose of studying and teaching English has been considered to be preparing learners to interact with native speakers (Jenkins, 2003) As a result, learners were traditionally taught native norms, linguistically and culturally However, as EIL has risen to global popularity, the goal of learning English has changed from communicating with native speakers to communicating

with native as well as non-native speakers (Suzuki, 2010) This shift leads to changes in what teachers need to incorporate into the lessons

form of language It conceptualizes Standard English as “the variety of a language

that has the highest status in a community or nation and is usually based on the speech and writing of educated speakers of the language” They also highlighted

the extent to which Standard English is used, which is in the news media and literature, in dictionaries and grammars as well as taught in schools and taught to non-native speakers when they learn the language as a foreign language

The conceptualization of Standard English in Webster’s Third Dictionary (Quirk, 1990) added to the notions given in The Longman Dictionary of Applied

Linguistics that Standard English is uniform, used in both “informal and formal

speech and writing of the educated” as well as acceptable widely wherever English

is used and understood

This study would use the conceptualization based on the manifestations of both dictionaries mentioned earlier, in which Standard English can be understood

as the language variety that is widely accepted wherever it is used and understood

It possesses the highest status in any community or nation and is based on the formal and informal speech and writing of educated speakers of the language Moreover, Standard English is commonly used in the news media, literature, dictionaries, grammars as well as used as the language of instruction and taught to non-native speakers when they acquire English as a foreign language

There has long been heated debate revolving around Standard English Supporters like Quirk (1985) argued if standards are not upheld, the intelligibility among English speakers will decrease On the other hand, others like Kachru (1985) deemed that the loss of intelligibility will be unlikely to happen as many English speakers in Outer Circle country learn this language in the school settings where standards are promoted

However, regarding EIL teaching contents, it is supported that unifying norms are still needed in an educational context (Widdowson, 1994) Indeed, due

to the spread of English, many varieties have developed, so to serve the purpose

of wider communication in EIL, it is necessary to maintain standards to ensure communicative effectiveness Hence, Standard would be considered as EIL teaching content in this study This contributes to the formation of the questionnaire on teachers' opinions regarding teaching contents It should also be noted that Standard English in Vietnam is considered British-English and American English (Tien, 2008)

3.2 Intelligibility and Fluency

As for intelligibility, what is meant by this term is complex, which often revolves around intelligibility (recognizing the expression), comprehensibility (knowing the meaning of the expression) and interpretability (knowing what the expression signifies in a particular socio-cultural context) In this study, the term

“intelligibility” covers all three types of the meaning given above, in which

intelligibility can be understood as “the urgent need to establish discourse that can

be mutually understood in a specific communicative framework” (McKay, 2003)

Intelligibility plays an important role in EIL acquisition and it brings a sensitivity

to the communication context (Levis, 2005)

When it comes to intelligibility, two principles, namely nativeness principle and intelligibility principle, are often taken into consideration

Nativeness principle “holds that it is both possible and desirable to achieve

native-like pronunciation in a foreign language” However, with the importance of

intelligibility of EIL speakers, McKay and Brown (2015) suggested that

intelligibility principle, which “holds that learners simply need to be

understandable” (Levis, 2005), is a better choice in EIL contexts

Besides intelligibility, fluency is an aspect that receives significant attention from scholars There are many ways to conceptualize fluency Lennon (1990, p 388) proposed two definitions for this term namely the broad definition

and the narrow definition The broad definition referred to fluency “as a cover

term for oral proficiency”, as in “the highest point on a scale that measures spoken command of a foreign language” (p 389) As for the narrow definition of fluency,

it is “one, presumably isolatable, component of oral proficiency” This sense is

found particularly in procedures for grading oral examinations Richards and

Schmidt (2002) described fluency as “the features which give speech the qualities

of being natural and normal, including native-like use of pausing, rhythm, intonation, stress, rate of speaking, and use of interjections and interruptions'' (p

204) The similarity of these definitions is that they focus on oral language only

As for Richards and Schmidt's definition, it includes different aspects but would

not work well in EIL contexts as the definition has included words like

“native-like” or “normal” Although desirable, it is challenging for students to achieve

native-like fluency McKay and Brown (2016) have adjusted the definition as the characteristic that helps speech to be natural and understandable in a specific EIL

community, including “contextually appropriate use of intonation, word stress,

utterance stress, transition, assimilation, ellipsis, pauses, appropriate speech rate, fillers, and so forth” to be appropriate for EIL settings In other words, when it

comes to accuracy and fluency, intelligibility should be focused on rather than native-like norms This is also the definition applied in this study

3.3 English varieties

In literature, a language variety is generally defined in a broad sense It is considered that the notion of a variety of language is relatively expansive, covering different aspects namely the standard language (for educational and public

performance purpose), dialects (defined based on geographical location), sociolects (defined according to society), idiolects (defined by each individual) and jargons (domain-related) (Crystal, 2001; McEnery et al., 2009) To name a language variety, Quirk (1995) suggested adding an adjective or noun before a language For example, there are British English, American English or Australian English

With regard to varieties of English, native-like accent is no longer considered the ultimate goal of many English language learners nor is the motivation for native speakers to pursue the English language Jenkins (2002) added that English non-native speakers have the right to show their local identity

by using their accent if international intelligibility is not violated Due to the global status of English, students should understand that the variety they learn is one of many and may be different from what their future interlocutors may use If in the class, the only variety incorporated is the instructional variety, students might consider it to be the only correct variety This impression is deemed inaccurate and could adversely affect students' attitudes towards varieties of English and their confidence in successful communication considering different varieties of English (Matsuura, Chiba, & Fujiera, 1999) Another disadvantage is that the students' ability to interpret interactions correctly in different contexts which include diverse varieties of English may also be compromised (Smith & Nelson, 2006)

With regard to those issues, different scholars have suggested what content

of varieties to teach According to McKay (2015), students should be exposed to both native speakers’ varieties as well as other varieties of English as EIL is used

by speakers with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds

3.4 Interculturality

As language and culture are deemed inseparable, teachers often incorporate the teaching of culture as part of their content into language classes While some scholars believed that English has become de-anglicized (Kachru, 1992), it does not imply that English has become de-culturalized Instead, English

is now intertwined with a variety of cultures, including “national and regional cultures that were not traditionally associated with English” (Matsuda, 2012) This implies that teaching a variety of culture to the learners play an important role in the EIL pedagogy

Since learners are preparing themselves for the use of English in international contexts, the culture content that should be taught is much broader And for teaching materials to capture such broadness, their cultural content must

be drawn from multiple sources Regarding the teaching of culture, Cortazzi and Jin (1999) and Matsuda (2012) outlined 3 important types of cultural information

for EIL teaching materials namely “source culture materials”, “target culture

materials” and “international target culture materials” While source culture

materials deal with the content of learners’ own culture, target culture materials focus on the culture of countries that have English as their first language and international target culture materials use a wide variety of cultures in English and non-English speaking countries around the world In EIL contexts, the ability to

“perceive and analyze the familiar from an outsider’s perspective” is important

and needs to be incorporated into the teaching goals as well

3.5 Teaching vocabulary

While the teaching of pronunciation and grammar receives significant concern from scholars, there is little focus on the teaching of vocabulary Considering the teaching of this component, according to Reda (2003), teachers should teach students common words with great frequency or utility One reason is that not all words are of equal usefulness Besides, in EIL contexts, a speaker may not only interact with a native speaker but also foreign

learners who may not understand or use “multi-word verbs” (Gairns & Redman,

(McKay & Brown, 2015) For example, teachers could introduce to students some fascinating words used in Singlish Additionally, those examples provide students with a context to examine the lexical innovations in their first language

3.6 Teaching pronunciation

The teaching of pronunciation in EIL classrooms has received extensive discussion in the past few years since pronunciation is of importance within EIL (Jenkins, 2004) Firstly, pronunciation is important in EIL as establishing mutual intelligibility among NNESs is an important goal Another reason is that pronunciation is a central theme of EIL as the way people sound is inextricably linked to others’ opinions about their socio-cultural identity (Morgan, 1997)

Pronunciation teaching has long been influenced by two contradictory principles mentioned earlier, which are the nativeness principle and the intelligibility principle (Levis, 2005) Although the nativeness principle confronted some disagreement, this principle still has effects on pronunciation pedagogy As for intelligibility principle, it emphasizes features that are most useful for understanding and excludes those that are unhelpful Based on intelligibility principle, Jenkins (2002) suggested that pronunciation teaching within EIL follows the Lingua Franca Core, which includes those phonological and phonetic features that can guarantee the mutual intelligibility of EIL For

example, all the consonants are important except for /θ/ sounds as in “thin” and

“this”

Considering EIL teaching contents, it is more suitable to develop students' intelligibility for teaching pronunciation in EIL classrooms as it guarantees the mutual understanding of speakers and listeners from different backgrounds Additionally, it is also proposed that students should be exposed to other English accents in their pronunciation classrooms to understand them easily even when conversing with a speaker who has not acquired the core features of pronunciation (Coskun, 2011)

3.7 Teaching grammar

Due to the spread of English, the proliferation of English varieties add up

to the complexity of teaching grammar Hence, the idea that the goal of teaching

grammar should be allowing learners to “use English accurately, meaningfully,

and appropriately” and instructions should put into consideration the

form/structure, meaning/semantics, and use/pragmatics has been widely supported (Larsen-Freeman, 2014)

Concerning the teaching of grammar form, two aspects of language should

be thoroughly considered, which is the constantly changing landscape of English and the fact that the grammar forms represented in grammar books tend to lag behind the forms that are widely used and accepted, especially in spoken English (McKay & Brown, 2015) This raises some implications for teachers when teaching grammar in EIL Teachers should note that some questionable grammatical forms may be innovative, which may become standard in near future

(e.g., the use of “We discussed about that at the company meeting” and “I am

liking the party”) Hence, teachers should refer to these principles when it comes

to correcting grammar and localizing their teaching so that the standards they teach

in their class reflect local norms Meanwhile, students should be exposed to the differences in standards they may confront in other contexts to avoid communication breakdowns

Semantics, which is the meaning of a particular form, is also a feature that needs to be born in mind when teaching grammar Similar to teaching vocabulary, teachers also need to inform the students of the innovations taking place, read more about the development of World Englishes and reflect on their first languages (Jenkins, 2006)

In the three-dimensional grammar framework, it is considered that the most complicated aspect of EIL grammar teaching is the pragmatic aspect McKay (2005) pointed out that if a speaker possesses pragmatic ability, they would understand the intended meaning of what is said and the speech acts performed

Speech acts here can be viewed as statements that speakers make to perform functions like apologies, requests, compliments, and refusals When a speaker possesses pragmatic competence, he or she can decide when to apologize in a particular way and what appropriate linguistic form to choose to express their intended meaning For instance, to apologize, a speaker who has pragmatic

competence knows when to simply say “I’m sorry” or when to say “I apologize”

in a formal way Therefore, concerning EIL-related teaching contents, teachers should incorporate the promotion of different speech acts like how to apologize, request, compliment, or refuse in their English classrooms

3.8 Pragmatic Competence

In international contexts, speakers may come from different cultural backgrounds so what is deemed appropriate can differ, which may cause communication breakdown To ease this breakdown, students should possess pragmatic competence, which is defined earlier as the understanding of the intended meaning said by a speaker and the speech acts that are performed Considering the vital role of strategic and pragmatic competence in EIL, teachers should help students develop these competencies To shed light on how teachers can nurture the pragmatic competence of students, McKay (2011) proposed that EIL classrooms should focus on specific features like speech acts and conversational routines including such items as expressing agreement and disagreement, managing turn-taking, and taking leave She added that lessons should promote students’ understanding of how pragmatic norms can differ cross-culturally and students should be free to express their own pragmatic norms However, they should also be taught to be aware that differences in norms may cause cross-cultural misunderstandings

3.9 Teaching four major skills of EIL

As for listening, besides what the students are taught during traditional English teaching, it is necessary to help students understand varieties of English

and different cultural features during the teaching of listening in EIL (Hino, 2001) Besides, students should be exposed to varieties of English considering three phases of the process namely intelligibility, comprehensibility, and interpretability In some cases, teachers should incorporate at least the varieties students are likely to encounter in future communication (Smith, 1983) Furthermore, the understanding of culture is also of importance in EIL listening comprehension because the performance of some speech acts varies according to cultures (Hino, 2001) Another suggestion from McKay and Brown (2015) is that teachers should instruct students to listen more quickly by attending to the gist, content and specific information of what they listen to, paying attention to things that they do and do not understand so they can learn from them By doing so, students will take an active role in the future interactions they may participate in English and become a quicker listener who will find the other speaker easier to understand

Besides the focus on pronunciation and fluency mentioned earlier, the teaching of speaking in EIL also needs to take into consideration the situations in which the norms of conversational discourse, for example, the sociolinguistic rules, should be followed Unlike TESL/TEFL, which favors the native-speaker norm, EIL speakers could display their own values with sociolinguistic rules (Smith, 1987) Also, McKay and Brown (2015) perceived that it would be better

if students are encouraged to speak slower to avail themselves the time to think and make their speech more natural and appropriate for their local context By slowing down their speaking, intelligibility and fluency are guaranteed

The teaching of reading in EIL is basically similar to that of TESL/TEFL According to Hino (2001), like the latest TEFL/TESL, TEIL also emphasizes the balance between top-down and bottom-up approaches Also, many popular reading techniques namely skimming, scanning, and reading for specific information in TEFL/TESL can be applied to the teaching of reading in EIL Other scholars like McKay and Brown (2015) advocate “content schema” for reading fluency to

examine the text in TEIL, which breaks down reading into 3 parts namely pre, while and post-reading activities These activities require students to come up with different critical questions to think of several ways to rewrite the reading text, intertextually explore the text and analyze keywords culturally laden throughout the text This approach is also applicable in TEFL/TESL

Considering the last skill, writing, teaching writing has long been associated with traditional contrastive rhetoric which considers rhetoric of students, which is how students' first language and their culture influence writing

in another language, as “problem” In light of TEIL in which students’ cultures

and languages are taken into consideration, McKay and Brown (2015) suggested that teaching writing should move away from the traditional contrastive rhetoric viewpoint For example, when organizing a paragraph, students do not necessarily place the thematic sentence at the head of a paragraph as this thought pattern belongs to Anglo-American styles Hence, some suitable writing activities for EIL classrooms like free writing, communicative writing approach, students’ writing portfolios and project work are highly recommended (McKay & Brown, 2015)

To conclude, the issue of what to teach in EIL has been examined in this part of the study Different features of EIL like Standard English, intelligibility, fluency, different varieties, culture, the teaching of major components and skills have been reviewed thoroughly, which serves as the reference for the research questions and the establishment of the questionnaire later on Besides the contents

of EIL, the EIL teaching methodology is also of importance Hence, different methods of teaching EIL will be discussed in the next part of the study

4 EIL Teaching Approaches

4.1 General discussion

The importance of teaching English as a heterogeneous language has been promoted by many scholars (Alsagoff et al., 2012; Matsuda, 2012; McKay, 2002; Smith, 1983; Sharifian, 2009) due to the changing sociolinguistic nature of English

and the paradigm shift in the field As for this change in the nature of EIL, different

aspects of language teaching like “teaching methodology, instructional variety and

model, curriculum and syllabus materials, language testing, and TESOL education program” have been revisited and reexamined (Marlina, 2014)

teacher-According to Marlina (2014), teaching EIL or EIL pedagogy, is the act of professionally helping students from all countries of different Circles to (1) acquire the understanding of the pluricentric nature of English and the plurilingual essence

of communication nowadays; (2) encourage students to equally acknowledge all varieties of English; and (3) nurture the ability to negotiate and interact in a

respectful way across cultures and Englishes in this “international, intercultural,

and multilingual” world

When it comes to EIL teaching methods, approaches should be culturally sensitive to different contexts in which English is taught and used To exemplify, the use of teaching materials that focus on Western cultures should be thoroughly put into consideration Besides, the cultural content about learners' own culture should also be emphasized For example, the material possibly provides certain opportunities to discuss and reflect their own culture On the other hand, local teachers should not be put in challenging situations when teaching someone else’s culture Secondly, it is also noted that local culture of language should be respected In other words, it should be independent of stereotypes but appropriation of classrooms Each classroom has its unique features; thus, there is

no one best approach that can be employed successfully to meet the needs of every English learner (McKay, 2002)

Besides, many methods have been thoroughly considered regarding the teaching of EIL namely Lingua Franca Approach (LFA), communicative language teaching (CLT) or genre-based approach

4.2 Lingua Franca Approach

English as a Lingua Franca, according to House (1999), refers to the interactions between second-language speakers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds This definition to some extent overlaps with that of EIL, which is conceptualized as a language that guarantees broader communication amongst individuals not only from different countries but also in a single country

as well (McKay, 2003) Since ELF focuses on second language speakers, Lingua Franca Approach can be utilized to teach EIL in some Outer and Expanding Circle countries, especially ASEAN countries, where English is not the first language

Kirkpatrick (2015) proposed six principles that are central to Lingua Franca Approach The first four principles delve into the teaching and learning of English orally, the fifth principle contributes to the teaching and learning of English as a written language, and the last principle focuses on assessment

For the first principle, the linguistic goal focuses on mutual intelligibility rather than the native speaker of English As English speakers come from different backgrounds and contexts and use English for different purposes, it is mutual intelligibility that should be the major goal so that speakers and listeners can understand what others say irrespective of the English variety used

The second principle is that intercultural competence in relevant cultures

is the goal instead of the native speaker’s culture Besides cultures of different English-speaking countries, the culture curriculum can be improved by including local literature in English and texts on popular culture Reading this literature offers the readers a more thorough perspective about local cultures and ways in which English can be used to reflect and uphold local cultural values

The third principle suggests that English language teachers should be local multilinguals who are suitably trained as those teachers possess some advantages when teaching EIL Firstly, those teachers understand the problems that their students confront as they have experienced those obstacles themselves (Medgyes, 2002) Hence, multilinguals can act as good role models and can

provide the students with the most suitable linguistic models Besides, another reason is that teachers can use the language of the students to help them learn English

The next principle emphasizes that lingua franca environments offer ideal learning environments for lingua franca speakers Indeed, it is believed that immersing in an environment where the language is spoken is the best way to learn

a language

In the next principle, it is perceived that spoken language is not the same

as written and this matter needs to be taken into consideration Written language

is different in a sense that it has to be consciously learned by every English learner, including native speakers All learners, despite their backgrounds, must learn how

to write Besides, rhetorical rules vary according to cultures, which are often identified by discipline and genre This is what sets spoken and written language apart

Last but not least, the fact that assessment must be relatable to the ASEAN context is the last principle of Lingua Franca approach It is clear that assessment must be in line with what is taught In other words, students should be assessed based on how successfully they can use English in ELF contexts

4.3 Communicative Language Teaching Approach

According to Richards (2006), communicative language approach (CLT)

is considered as "teaching of communicative competence" and its development is

deemed to provide the ability to use the target language in authentic contexts to learners To be more specific, language learners can maintain a communicative situation effectively with the help of CLT

CLT includes two versions, which are the “weak” version and the

“strong” version (Holliday, 1994) The “weak” version of CLT, developed

largely in private institutes, mostly focuses on oral work and maximum students’ participation in groups and pair-work However, most of the speaking tasks in

“weak” version of CLT are designed “to equip the learner with some of the skills

required for communication without actually performing communicative acts”

(Littlewood, 1981) In contrast, the “strong” one is developed in public education

systems and targets how language works in discourse Learners may work together

to come up with a solution to tackle a language problem Also, they can use their mother tongue for discussion of the text but must report the results in English In

other words, students “use English to learn it” It is believed that the strong version

may be more applicable to the teaching of EIL as it can be used in a wider range

of teaching contexts, especially in Outer and Expanding Circle countries

4.4 Genre-based Approach

Genre-based approach has recently gained popularity in the field of ELT (Derewianka, 2003) This approach deals with teaching language for specific

social purposes In other words, it emphasizes “the understanding and production

of particular genres in both spoken and written form to achieve social purposes”

(Derewianka, 2003) According to Lin (2006), genres here can be classified into different text types such as narratives, description, persuasion or argumentation

It is widely considered that the genre-based approach is appropriate for the teaching of EIL According to McKay (2002), an effective way of EIL teaching deals with recognizing “the various ways in which English is used within multilingual communities”, which can be interpreted that English users tend to have specific purposes for using or learning English This overlaps with the goal

of the genre-based approach Besides, Lin (2013) suggested that in EIL classrooms, genres are chosen concerning both local and international discourse, hence, EIL material developers need to find out the real-life text types and linguistic features of English needed for students to produce such genres Therefore, the genre-based approach is deemed to be applicable for EIL teaching and learning

4.5 An appropriate methodology for EIL

Although every EIL classroom is affected by different contextual factors, each classroom is dynamic in its own way (McKay, 2003) Hence, Prabhu (1990) suggested that there is neither a single way of teaching that can fulfill all learning contexts of EIL nowadays nor is there a best method for a specific context Instead,

he proposed the term teachers' “sense of plausibility”, which can be understood as

“teacher’s subjective understanding of what they do” This sense of plausibility is

a key factor in determining a suitable method and it is influenced by many factors namely teachers’ experience as learners, teaching experience and their exposure to different teaching methods (McKay, 2003)

Since English does not belong to any nation or culture, how EIL is taught should not be associated with a culturally influenced method EIL should be taught

in a sense that is “consistent with local cultural expectations” (McKay, 2003)

Therefore, McKay concluded that an appropriate EIL method should be sensitive

to local cultural contexts and in those contexts, local educators are the ones to decide what takes place in a classroom with their sense of plausibility

4.6 Materials for teaching EIL

Teaching materials play a crucial role in a language curriculum One of the most prominent benefits of teaching materials is that they act as a source of

input for English classrooms Besides, materials represent “an embodiment of the

aims, values and methods of the particular teaching and learning situation”

(Rubdy, 2003) Another benefit that materials bring about is that they help to portray, reinforce, and establish a certain view of the world for students (Matsuda, 2012) Matsuda also highlighted that English materials may play a more important part in teaching EIL Since teaching EIL aims at helping learners use English to communicate in international contexts, which are diverse regarding linguistics and culture, EIL materials manage to incorporate that diversity and to represent English

as an entity that is pluralistic and dynamic

Considering the EIL-related significance of teaching materials, several principles are proposed for the development and evaluation of EIL materials Among the proposed principles, McKay (2003) and Matsuda (2012) share numerous similar principles Firstly, they both suggested that EIL materials should include examples of the diversity of English varieties used today According to Matsuda, students should be exposed to different varieties since the variety they are learning is only one of many and they may confront other varieties when communicating with future interlocutors In addition, McKay also pointed out that getting access to other varieties also helps students enhance receptive skills in processing those varieties and raise their awareness about the international status

of English

Secondly, both scholars agreed that materials should represent a variety of speakers, especially the ones who are similar to the learners This inclusive representation fosters a more authentic expectation about their future interlocutors Besides, it allows students to embrace the ownership of English Another important reason for the inclusion of people who bear a resemblance to the learners

is that they can act as role models for learners From this, learners can consider themselves a person who can become legitimate users of English

It is also necessary for teaching materials to represent the content of cultures Since the future interlocutors of learners can be from different parts of

the world, materials should integrate multiple sources of culture like native cultures of native English-speaking countries, non-native English-speaking countries and learners’ country as well

Last but not least, McKay and Matsuda emphasized that materials should also be meaningful and relatable to students Indeed, according to Howard (2003), students learn more effectively when they can relate to the materials and find the materials meaningful to them Hence, the meaningfulness and reliability of materials should be taken into consideration regarding the choice of materials./

In short, the literature on how to teach in EIL has been reviewed in this part of the study Firstly, the general principles are discussed thoroughly Then, different methods to teach EIL namely CLT, Lingua Franca Approach and Genre-based Method have been examined Some principles concerning the development and assessment of materials have also been reviewed These play an active role in helping answer the research questions and form the questionnaire regarding the issue of how to teach EIL It should also be noted that the teaching methods of vocabulary, pronunciation or pragmatic competence are not included in this part due to the lack of literature available

5 NEST and NNEST dichotomy in teaching EIL

5.1 NES and NNES

Due to the increasing expansion of English all around the world, the term

“nativeness” has received much attention from researchers In general,

“nativeness" means “who is a native speaker of English and who is not”

(Al-Omrani, 2008, p 25) According to Davies (2003), the most prominent

characteristics of “nativeness” are childhood language acquisition, understanding

and production of idiomatic forms of the language, comprehension of regional and social variations within the language, and competent production and understanding

of fluent, spontaneous discourse Based on these tenets, it is suggested that childhood acquisition is the only fixed difference between a native speaker and a non-native speaker According to Davies (2003), childhood language acquisition can be achieved by the non-native speaker with decent practice and exposure It can be concluded that the idea of being called the native speaker of a language comes down to the early acquisition of the language

In this study, based on the tenets provided by Davies (2003) and the literature by Chomsky (1965) and Braine (2010), a native speaker is referred to as someone who knows a language perfectly well and has been using English as his/her first language since he/she was born and brought up, while a non-native speaker of one language speaks and acquires it as a foreign or second language

The present study adopts these conceptualizations of the term native and native because the distinction between them is one of the primary focuses of this research

non-5.2 NEST and NNEST

Given the spread of English all over the world, the practice of defining an authentic NEST and NNEST is challenging As a result, it is reasonable to look into the dichotomy between NESTs and NNESTs There is a large body of literature on the differences and the discriminative behavior between NESTs and NNESTs Scholars from Commonwealth Conference 1961 in Makarere have

suggested that “the ideal teacher of English is a native speaker” (Phillipson,

1992a) However, this idea did not resonate with Phillipson’s since he considered

that this claim has no “scientific validity” and he referred to the idea that the best English teacher is a native speaker as “the native speaker fallacy” Indeed, using

just native-speaker identity to differentiate English teachers is biased and unfair

Medgyes (1994) identified that “language proficiency” and “teaching

behavior" are the two most prominent differences between NESTs and NNESTs,

but both NEST and NNEST have the equal competence to be a language teacher Medgyes (1992, 1999, & 2001) also claimed that inadequate knowledge of the students’ culture and native language is the weakness of the NEST, as for NNEST

is the insufficient command of English

In EIL contexts, Cook (2007) pointed out that NEST and NNEST will share the same position and NNEST have even more advantages since they are multilingual In the same line, Llurda (2004) proposed NNESTs are increasingly appreciated and the role of NESTs as a role model and the ideal teacher has decreased There are several reasons for this shift As NNESTs have the experience

of learning English, they can give better guidance to the students, understand the learners' inquiries and problems better and share empathy with them as they are familiar with the learning context (Coskun, 2013) In the same line, Cook (2005) points out that NNESTs can make a good role model of a successful learner since