The status of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has become an increasingly popular discourse in Applied Linguistics and current ELT. It has been suggested that native speakers and their Englishes have become relatively unimportant in international communication and that research interests should now fall on non-native speakers and their use of…

Analyzes samples of the promotion of native speaker and British English language teaching (ELT) expertise, discusses how unscientific and inappropriate such promotion is, and considers what minimal qualifications an ELT language teacher should have. (24 references) (JL)

Challenges two trends that have emerged in English language teaching. One trend suggests that researchers attention should be focused on the learner rather than on the teacher. The other trend attempts to get rid of the native speaker versus nonnative speaker delineation among English teachers, offering various alternative terms and concepts. (18…

Argues that the terms language expertise, language inheritance, and language affiliation are less vague than the more universally used terms native speaker and mother tongue, as the former terms allow the consideration of educational questions of language ability and language loyalty alongside a broader view of society. (Author/CB)

Discusses how English-as-Second/Foreign-Language teachers, equipped with a good syllabus and methodology, should be able to engineer aspects that create equal opportunities for both males and females in all areas of classroom interaction. Suggests that more research is needed on the origins of gender differences and its effect on second-language…

Discusses the communicative approach to the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) and the difficulties it presents especially to the nonnative speaker of English. Points out several contradictory tendencies inherent in the principles of the communicative approach and analyzes some practical problems encountered by nonnative speakers of…

For teachers of English as a Second Language, there are two tools that must be kept honed to maintain professionalism: (1) the quality of skills in the language being taught, even for native speakers, and (2) willingness to learn or improve skills in other languages. Both can be important in providing a high-quality learning experience for others.…

Discusses the view that the spread of English is endangering many regional languages and their corresponding cultures. Suggests that this view is based on premises that no longer hold true in a world marked by cultural intermixing and growing multilingualism. Implications for the English-as-a-Second-Language teacher are highlighted. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the contribution that joint instruction by a native-speaking teacher and a nonnative-speaking teacher can make to classroom language learning. Reviews the last decade's team-teaching practice in Japanese secondary English-as-Foreign-language classrooms to explore how two teachers with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds can…