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Problematizing the Linguistic Goal in English Language Curricula

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Second Handbook of English Language Teaching

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

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Abstract

The linguistic goal in English language curricula has been debated in the last 50 years. In particular, the idea that learning English means approximating the linguistic behavior of the “native speakers” of the language, a central point in mainstream research in second language acquisition, has been repeatedly and forcefully challenged in sociolinguistics. This critique has taken place in three interrelated “waves.” First, in the 1980s and the 1990s, the World Englishes paradigm highlighted the importance of local varieties of English as legitimate pedagogic goals. Subsequently, and as a development of the World Englishes school of thought, a number of scholars underlined the significant role that English plays as a lingua franca in international communication among people for whom it is an additional language. More recently, a multilingual “turn” in sociolinguistics has challenged traditional boundaries between languages and has reframed language learning as a process of enriching one’s existing linguistic repertoire. This chapter provides an overview of these developments, all of which call for a paradigm shift in the teaching of English in the world.

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  1. The University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Mario Saraceni

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  1. Mario Saraceni
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  1. The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong

    Xuesong Gao

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Saraceni, M. (2019). Problematizing the Linguistic Goal in English Language Curricula. In: Gao, X. (eds) Second Handbook of English Language Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_13-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_13-1

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