Teacher as change agent: attitude change toward varieties of English through teaching English as an international language

Abstract

Despite the accumulated body of research on both second-language learners’ attitudes toward varieties of English and teaching English as an international language (TEIL), little research considers exactly how these attitudinal changes take place through TEIL. To address this gap, a Critical Extracurricular Project (CEP) instructional intervention was implemented for five weeks with Korean university students (N = 17) who participated in the Busan International Film Festival, interviewed diverse English users, produced a video, and submitted a written report. Data were collected through reflective essay, semi-structured interview, and in-class observation. Learning tasks and instructional support supplemented by a teacher were significant sources of influence on the participants’ attitudinal changes toward varieties of English. This suggests language teachers, as significant change agents who design and implement TEIL (e.g. CEP), play a critical role in shaping students’ English as an international language experiences and bringing about attitude change toward varieties of English.

Keywords:

• Teaching English as an international language
• Critical Extracurricular Project
• attitudes toward varieties of English
• attitudinal changes

Notes

1. The umbrella term TEIL (Matsuda, 2017) – ‘[preparing] our students to become competent users of English in international contexts’ (p. xvii) – is adopted to subsume the other different terminologies of such pedagogical practices, such as Global Englishes and English as a lingua franca

2. Standard English in this study can be understood as the ‘notion of correctness’ carrying prestige (Ahn, 2014, p. 202).

3. Students became exposed to multiple varieties of English in oral and written forms by watching and reading various international English-language news programs, such as ADTV (India), ABS-CBN (Philippines), and People’s Daily (China).

4. The BIFF, one of the largest annual film festivals in Asia, aims to introduce new movies and first-time film directors.

5. For this data analysis the interviewees’ nationalities were grouped according to Kachru’s (1986) three concentric circles of WE.

6. The College Scholastic Ability Test, controlled by the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation, is an annual national test accepted by Korean universities.