Incorporating Global Englishes into the ELT classroom

Increasing students’ awareness of the globalization of English is a daunting task for teachers, especially considering the lack of globally oriented ELT materials available. This study builds on previous research in response to recent calls for more classroom-level research, and reports on the use of a student presentation task to introduce and raise awareness of Global Englishes in a Japanese English language classroom. An analysis of student reflections showed that the presentation task allowed students to select and explore Englishes salient to their experiences and interests. In researching and imparting knowledge of their chosen variety, and by listening to their classmates’ presentations, the task raised students’ awareness of variation in English, and challenged attitudes towards Englishes that differed from standard models presented in typical ELT materials in Japan. Tasks such as the one presented here provide practitioners with avenues to incorporate Global Englishes into classroom practice.