"I Love the American Accent": An Inquiry into ELT Teachers' Perception of Teaching in Light of Global Flows

Abstract

In the absence of ample practical studies which explore how ELT teachers perceive teaching with respect to various hypotheses associated with globalization, namely homogenization, polarization, and hybridization, and how their practice reflects the tenets of the global flows, this study was conducted to address these neglected issues. Three main aspects of language teaching, mostly affected by various orientations towards globalization and, in consequence, ELT- namely the primacy of native speaker variety, the appropriateness of Western-led methods, and the appropriateness of Western-led materials- were the focal points of our study. Twenty teachers, selected through criterion-referenced sampling technique, participated in this research. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations accompanied with field notes. The thematic analysis of data revealed that the only area less affected by the tenets of the Global English is ELT teaching methods. Our teachers seemed to be aware of the ideas promoted by critical scholars of World Englishes as to the need to adapt teaching methods to the peculiarities of distinct contexts. On the other hand, our teacher participants favored monocentric adherence to the English variety and Western-led English materials. Altogether, the data of the interviews and observations corroborate the lack of awareness of our teachers of the imperialistic features of Global English. These findings have implications for the design of teacher training courses.