One of our first courses at the teacher education program introduced us to how the English language could be taught with an approach we had not thought of before. In particular, the course discussed what it could mean for educators of English to implement a pluricentric approach in their teaching. As future teachers, we gained a whole new perspective on the implications of teaching an international language as English and the benefits it could have by doing so, such as the increment of intercultural awareness. However, during our internships we noticed that in-service teachers often have a rather monolithic way of teaching English, mostly targeting varieties in their teaching that originated from native-speaking countries such as, the United States and the United Kingdom. We conducted a qualitative research with the aim to investigate the beliefs of four upper secondary teachers of English, currently working at two different schools in Malmö, about teaching English with a pluricentric approach. To gather the data we used semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study show that on the one hand, most of the participating teachers express a desire to expose the students to different varieties of English and think of this as important. On the other hand, the investigation shows that the participating teachers prioritise other aspects in their choices, such as content, level and availability of the teaching material and consider variety not as a priority.

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Second/international language (L2) education contexts are increasingly recognized as fertile ground for the learning about “otherness”, teaching a new linguistic code and another way of seeing the world. This study contrasts how culture teaching beliefs and visions develop among new secondary school international language teachers in curriculum/methodology classes in two distinct teacher preparation programs. Using a comparative, multi-case study approach with a mixed methods design, this research uses complementary data sources including three repeated questionnaires, individual, focus group interviews and classroom observations to examine changes in culture teaching beliefs/visions. The research was informed by a sociocultural perspective in teacher education, a proposed model of teacher education impact and current thinking in culture and intercultural learning including Byram’s (1997) framework of intercultural communicative competence and post-modernist definitions of culture. Comparisons between the teacher educators involved show that culture teaching practices are strongly situated in historically embedded paradigms, contextual constraints of learning environments and framed by practitioners’ culture teaching beliefs. Findings indicate that teacher candidates’ culture teaching beliefs and visions evolve on individual pathways, depend on reflection, and are firmly rooted in previous beliefs about culture and L2 learning. Teacher education practices in these programs prompted both a facilitative and tempering effect on teacher candidate culture teaching beliefs and visions. Enthusiasm and curiosity about culture teaching increased and some teacher candidates saw culture teaching having perspective-changing benefits. Alternatively, many teacher candidates began to see increased complexity with culture teaching leading to insecurity about culture teaching knowledge and cultural credibility. Teacher candidates cited increased awareness of curricular and time constraints, concerns with stereotypes, the daunting breadth of culture and a lack of culture teaching models. Teachers with the most teaching and “living away” experience exhibited more culture teaching familiarity. Despite a brief appearance of some intercultural approaches, an instructivist approach working with the material dimension of the target culture dominated teachers’ culture teaching visions. Implications include rethinking the structure of L2 teacher preparation programs to provide more critical, ethnorelative reflection on culture, teacher identity, and to situate and operationalize culture teaching in teacher beliefs and experiences.

Second/international language (L2) education contexts are increasingly recognized as fertile ground for the learning about “otherness”, teaching a new linguistic code and another way of seeing the world. This study contrasts how culture teaching beliefs and visions develop among new secondary school international language teachers in curriculum/methodology classes in two distinct teacher preparation programs. Using a comparative, multi-case study approach with a mixed methods design, this research uses complementary data sources including three repeated questionnaires, individual, focus group interviews and classroom observations to examine changes in culture teaching beliefs/visions. The research was informed by a sociocultural perspective in teacher education, a proposed model of teacher education impact and current thinking in culture and intercultural learning including Byram’s (1997) framework of intercultural communicative competence and post-modernist definitions of culture. Comparisons between the teacher educators involved show that culture teaching practices are strongly situated in historically embedded paradigms, contextual constraints of learning environments and framed by practitioners’ culture teaching beliefs. Findings indicate that teacher candidates’ culture teaching beliefs and visions evolve on individual pathways, depend on reflection, and are firmly rooted in previous beliefs about culture and L2 learning. Teacher education practices in these programs prompted both a facilitative and tempering effect on teacher candidate culture teaching beliefs and visions. Enthusiasm and curiosity about culture teaching increased and some teacher candidates saw culture teaching having perspective-changing benefits. Alternatively, many teacher candidates began to see increased complexity with culture teaching leading to insecurity about culture teaching knowledge and cultural credibility. Teacher candidates cited increased awareness of curricular and time constraints, concerns with stereotypes, the daunting breadth of culture and a lack of culture teaching models. Teachers with the most teaching and “living away” experience exhibited more culture teaching familiarity. Despite a brief appearance of some intercultural approaches, an instructivist approach working with the material dimension of the target culture dominated teachers’ culture teaching visions. Implications include rethinking the structure of L2 teacher preparation programs to provide more critical, ethnorelative reflection on culture, teacher identity, and to situate and operationalize culture teaching in teacher beliefs and experiences.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os aspectos culturais, bem como seu tratamento didático, em uma coleção de livros didáticos de inglês desenvolvidos para atender os critérios do Programa Nacional do Livro Didático, o qual passou a incluir livros de língua estrangeira para o Ensino Fundamental em 2010. Esta análise insere-se em um contexto em que a língua inglesa alcança um número cada vez maior de pessoas em diversas partes do mundo, especialmente entre os que a usam como língua internacional, o que nos impõe a necessidade de repensar a abordagem cultural adotada em seu ensino. Trabalhos em áreas como a linguística aplicada, a educação e as ciências sociais nos mostram que a língua, enquanto processo social e dialogicamente construído, nunca pode ser considerada separada da cultura e esta, ainda que concebida de diversas formas ao longo da história, sempre fez parte do ensino de línguas. Na tradição de ensino de inglês como língua estrangeira, o ensino de aspectos culturais frequemente serviu para que os alunos se adequassem à cultura estrangeira, evitando problemas. A partir de uma perspectiva que entende o inglês como língua internacional localmente apropriada, o foco deixa de recair sobre os países tradicionalmente associados ao idioma, EUA e Inglaterra, para pensarmos em uma competência intercultural mais abrangente, a fim de preparar os alunos para possíveis encontros interculturais. Para desenvolver essa competência, faz-se necessário que os alunos tenham contato com elementos de diferentes culturas e os ponham em relação com a sua própria cultura. Ao analisarmos a coleção didática, nosso objetivo era não somente identificar a abordagem cultural adotada, mas verificar se essas questões que vêm sendo discutidas há algumas décadas influenciam, de alguma forma, a produção de livros didáticos. Para isso, identificamos a existência de referências culturais específicas e os países aos quais se associavam, observamos os tópicos propostos e, ao analisar uma seção especialmente dedicada a temas socioculturais, examinamos se estes buscavam desenvolver os saberes necessários para a construção da competência intercultural (BYRAM, 1997). Após a análise, constatamos que o livro didático analisado apresentou um baixo número de referências culturais, mesmo que estas estivessem associadas a diferentes países, incluindo o Brasil, e que a abordagem cultural mostrou-se ainda incipiente, principalmente no tocante ao enfoque intercultural. / This work aims at analyzing the cultural aspects, as well as their didactic treatment, in an English textbook series developed to meet the criteria of the Brazilian Textbook National Program (Programa Nacional do Livro Didático), which has started to include foreign language textbooks for students from the 6th to the 9th grade in Fundamental Education (in the Brazilian educational system) in 2010. This analysis is inserted in a context in which English reaches an increasing number of people around the world, especially among those who use it as an international language, which imposes the need to rethink the cultural approach adopted in its teaching. Works in areas such as applied linguistics, education, social sciences show us that language, thought as a dialogically constituted social process, can never be considered separated from culture and this one, even though conceived in different ways throughout history, has always been part of language teaching. In the TEFL tradition, the teaching of cultural aspects has frequently served to make students conform to the foreign culture, thus avoiding problems. From a perspective that understands English as an international language locally appropriated, the focus ceases from falling on countries which have traditionally been associated with the language, the USA and England, so that we can think of a broader intercultural competence to prepare students for possible intercultural encounters. In order to develop such competence, it is necessary that the students have some contact with elements from different cultures and put them in relation with their own culture. By analyzing a textbook series, our aim was not only to identify the cultural approach adopted but also to check if the questions that have been discussed over the past decades influence in any way the production of textbooks. For that purpose, we identified the existence of culturespecific references and the countries they were related to, observed the proposed topics and, when analyzing a section especially dedicated to socio-cultural themes, we examined whether those aimed at developing the savoirs required to the building of the intercultural competence (BYRAM, 1997). After the analysis, we noticed that the textbook series under analysis presented a low number of cultural references, even though they were associated to different countries, including Brazil, and that the cultural approach has proved inchoate, mainly when it comes to an intercultural focus.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os aspectos culturais, bem como seu tratamento didático, em uma coleção de livros didáticos de inglês desenvolvidos para atender os critérios do Programa Nacional do Livro Didático, o qual passou a incluir livros de língua estrangeira para o Ensino Fundamental em 2010. Esta análise insere-se em um contexto em que a língua inglesa alcança um número cada vez maior de pessoas em diversas partes do mundo, especialmente entre os que a usam como língua internacional, o que nos impõe a necessidade de repensar a abordagem cultural adotada em seu ensino. Trabalhos em áreas como a linguística aplicada, a educação e as ciências sociais nos mostram que a língua, enquanto processo social e dialogicamente construído, nunca pode ser considerada separada da cultura e esta, ainda que concebida de diversas formas ao longo da história, sempre fez parte do ensino de línguas. Na tradição de ensino de inglês como língua estrangeira, o ensino de aspectos culturais frequemente serviu para que os alunos se adequassem à cultura estrangeira, evitando problemas. A partir de uma perspectiva que entende o inglês como língua internacional localmente apropriada, o foco deixa de recair sobre os países tradicionalmente associados ao idioma, EUA e Inglaterra, para pensarmos em uma competência intercultural mais abrangente, a fim de preparar os alunos para possíveis encontros interculturais. Para desenvolver essa competência, faz-se necessário que os alunos tenham contato com elementos de diferentes culturas e os ponham em relação com a sua própria cultura. Ao analisarmos a coleção didática, nosso objetivo era não somente identificar a abordagem cultural adotada, mas verificar se essas questões que vêm sendo discutidas há algumas décadas influenciam, de alguma forma, a produção de livros didáticos. Para isso, identificamos a existência de referências culturais específicas e os países aos quais se associavam, observamos os tópicos propostos e, ao analisar uma seção especialmente dedicada a temas socioculturais, examinamos se estes buscavam desenvolver os saberes necessários para a construção da competência intercultural (BYRAM, 1997). Após a análise, constatamos que o livro didático analisado apresentou um baixo número de referências culturais, mesmo que estas estivessem associadas a diferentes países, incluindo o Brasil, e que a abordagem cultural mostrou-se ainda incipiente, principalmente no tocante ao enfoque intercultural. / This work aims at analyzing the cultural aspects, as well as their didactic treatment, in an English textbook series developed to meet the criteria of the Brazilian Textbook National Program (Programa Nacional do Livro Didático), which has started to include foreign language textbooks for students from the 6th to the 9th grade in Fundamental Education (in the Brazilian educational system) in 2010. This analysis is inserted in a context in which English reaches an increasing number of people around the world, especially among those who use it as an international language, which imposes the need to rethink the cultural approach adopted in its teaching. Works in areas such as applied linguistics, education, social sciences show us that language, thought as a dialogically constituted social process, can never be considered separated from culture and this one, even though conceived in different ways throughout history, has always been part of language teaching. In the TEFL tradition, the teaching of cultural aspects has frequently served to make students conform to the foreign culture, thus avoiding problems. From a perspective that understands English as an international language locally appropriated, the focus ceases from falling on countries which have traditionally been associated with the language, the USA and England, so that we can think of a broader intercultural competence to prepare students for possible intercultural encounters. In order to develop such competence, it is necessary that the students have some contact with elements from different cultures and put them in relation with their own culture. By analyzing a textbook series, our aim was not only to identify the cultural approach adopted but also to check if the questions that have been discussed over the past decades influence in any way the production of textbooks. For that purpose, we identified the existence of culturespecific references and the countries they were related to, observed the proposed topics and, when analyzing a section especially dedicated to socio-cultural themes, we examined whether those aimed at developing the savoirs required to the building of the intercultural competence (BYRAM, 1997). After the analysis, we noticed that the textbook series under analysis presented a low number of cultural references, even though they were associated to different countries, including Brazil, and that the cultural approach has proved inchoate, mainly when it comes to an intercultural focus.

The last two decades have set the global trend of internationalized education on a new course. Besides the usual flow of international students from their home countries to Western universities, an opposite flow emerged. In the Middle East, for instance, the number of international campuses nearly doubled between 2000 and 2009, and Egypt has been no exception. Starting 2003, Egypt has witnessed a remarkable surge of private international universities that use English as a medium of instruction, adopt foreign curricula and have partnerships with universities in Europe, North America, and recently Asia. This trend has raised identity loss concerns among many intellectuals and educational researchers whose worries mainly revolved around national, religious, and linguistic identities. This longitudinal qualitative study, thus, aimed to understand how Egyptian freshman students at an international University in Cairo construct and negotiate their national, religious and linguistic identities. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 12 students at three different points of their first year at the university, and a focus group was organized at the beginning of their second year. Results revealed a more complex picture than the widespread simplistic rhetoric about international universities’ influence on students’ identity construction. The participants’ social and academic backgrounds and unique life experiences were an important factor in their identity construction and negotiation; they seemed to determine the ranking of those identities on their hierarchy of identities, which in turn shaped how they constructed and negotiated them. Moreover, participants realized and used their agency to negotiate their identities and resolve identity crises when these happened. They also resorted to other identity agents, particularly family and students’ clubs. This study contributes to the Egyptian debate on educational reform and adds to the literature on English as a medium of instruction, identity formation, and internationalized education by shedding light on the intricate ways in which students navigate through international education, and by suggesting pedagogical and policy implications applicable not only to liberal-education institutions in the region, but perhaps also to other universities in Europe and North America that attract international students, particularly with the recent waves of refugees from the Middle East.

English is used worldwide as a native, second and foreign language and as a language of international communication. The uses and status of English in Sweden have been discussed in terms of its influence and ubiquity, with its presence in daily life leading some to consider English could be better described as a second, rather than foreign, language in the country. This study analyses how English is presented in the Swedish educational television series Pick a colour and considers how this can be related to the status of English as a global language and specifically the use of English in Sweden. This paper uses an approach drawing on nexus analysis, together with content analysis, to trace the key language ideologies surrounding English presented in Pick a colour and its surrounding texts, and to locate them within the context of the existing discourses in place. Analysis reveals that the series and related documents make attempts to move away from traditional native speaker British English and American English models of the language, and towards a “Global English” not linked to any specific geographical region and with a focus on communicative competence. However, as British English and American English and native-speaker models of the language are not directly challenged in the documents, and are given the greatest prominence in the series, it seems moving away from the status quo is still difficult in practice. The Swedish settings shown in the series, and emphases on the use of English in pupils’ daily lives allude to English being approached in a way more similar to a second, rather than foreign language in Sweden.

This essay investigates if texts featuring different parts of the world are present in the English as a Foreign Language classroom for grades 1-3 of Swedish primary school. The focus in the essay is to investigate what texts teachers use in the English classroom and what content the texts feature related to different parts of the world. The data was collected by a combined method of a quantitative and a qualitative study with the field of English as an International Language as an area of focus. The quantitative study consisted of an online survey which received 72 replies from primary school teachers and a case study was conducted at one school with two teachers which featured both interviews and an analysis of teaching material. The online survey shows that content featuring different parts of the world is common, even if there is a bias towards the so called Inner Circle of English speaking countries of Great Britain, USA, Australia and Canada while the rest of the world is not as commonly represented. However, this depends on the material used, as the case study did not share this clear bias towards the Inner Circle and the difference was not as clear.

The creation of a community of practice of tutors--a shared practice among a group of people who share the same domain--enables second-language learners to facilitate their acquisition of English by embracing new learning strategies while they learn the target language. The community of tutors’ perspective allows for the incorporation of the individual’s particular second-language-acquisition needs and goals. This presentation presents a proposed study that took place at the Yasuda Center at California State University, San Bernardino in the summer of 2015. Students in the English Language Program housed in the College of Extended Learning were asked to participate in tutoring sessions offered by tutors who participated in a community of tutors. Tutors embraced new teaching strategies that they acquired through participating within a community of practice, sharing their background knowledge and teaching experience, and demonstrating new teaching techniques to each other by using collaborative and hybrid strategies during activities embedded in a rich learning context. The provision of community of practice for tutors in the English Language Program enabled learners to develop meaning-making and communication skills as well as language and literacy skills to address the informational and problem-solving needs of their tasks and assignments.