Professor Seran Doğançay-Aktuna

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

ABSTRACT

The global spread of English that resulted in the emergence of new varieties in diverse linguacultural contexts, such as new Englishes used in post-colonial nations, and triggered the development of English into a co-constructed, hybrid lingua franca used by its non-native speakers has consecutively led to calls for a paradigm change in English language teaching that better represents the current sociolinguistic realities of the language. This paradigm change aims to teach English as a plurilithic global language instead of a monolithic, native speaker driven one and prepare language learners to communicate their meaning across Englishes in multilingual and multicultural contexts. A paradigm change would not only involve modifications of our definition of proficiency in English and the nature of appropriate approaches, materials, and tools for assessment, but also of the way we approach the education of English language instructors. In this talk I will focus on changes we can make to our approach to teacher education to prepare teachers to teach English as a multi-faceted global language. I will touch on the main challenges involved in teaching English as a plurilithic language, as gleaned from research involving English language teachers and learners. I will conclude with some suggestions for future research that can help us realize this paradigm shift towards teaching and learning English in a more effective and realistic manner.

BIOGRAPHY

Seran Doğançay-Aktuna (PhD in Educational Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania) is a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA, where she teaches courses in linguistics and trains future generations of English language instructors. Her research focuses on the globalization of English and its implications for English language teaching and teacher education. Her publications include the book Global English Teaching and Teacher Education: Praxis and Possibility (2008), chapters in edited volumes, and articles in journals including Language Awareness, ELT Journal, Language, Culture and Curriculum, World Englishes, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and RELC Journal. She serves on the Advisory Board of ‘Routledge Advances in Teaching English as an International Language’ book series.

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