Bridging conceptual gaps in Global Englishes Language Teaching: ethnographic insights from Thai higher education
Issued Date
2023-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
13488678
eISSN
23312548
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85169797258
Journal Title
Asian Englishes
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Asian Englishes (2023)
Suggested Citation
Montakantiwong A. Bridging conceptual gaps in Global Englishes Language Teaching: ethnographic insights from Thai higher education. Asian Englishes (2023). doi:10.1080/13488678.2023.2251736 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/90007
Title
Bridging conceptual gaps in Global Englishes Language Teaching: ethnographic insights from Thai higher education
Author(s)
Author's Affiliation
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
Drawing on ethnographically informed multiple case-study data of seven in-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in two universities in Thailand, this article reports on findings with respect to the teachers’ thoughts on the relevance of incorporating the Global Englishes (GE) perspectives in their local language classrooms. Also considered is the question of what attributes the teachers perceive as constituting an ‘ideal’ globally informed English language teacher and whether these perceptions align with the image of language teachers advocated by GE scholarship. The findings demonstrate that GE as understood by the teachers deviates from how it is theorized within the GE scholarship. Incompatibility between their identity goals as an EFL teacher and the perceived image of GE ‘role model’ teachers was also found to have implications for the teachers’ enthusiasm or resistance to change. The article highlights a conceptual mismatch between the teachers’ emic understandings and the researchers’ etic views as the potential barrier to implementing GE innovation in the teachers’ practices, arguing for the potential of positioning teacher identity at the heart of globally informed English language teacher education curricula to foster a shared agenda and the roles teachers play in it.