This paper highlights recent discourses about English as an international language that justify two recent reconceptions of English: Pennycook's (1994) "worldliness of English" and Kachru's (1997) "world Englishes," noting that at the heart of these two reconceptions are prescriptive versus descriptive notions of the diversification of language. It stresses the need for collaborative codification of these alternatives. Pennycook suggests that while teaching English within the discourse of English as an international language means maintaining faith in the possibility of merely teaching the language, teaching from the standpoint of the worldliness of English means understanding that possible meanings occur within local and global contexts. He asserts the impossibility of separating English from its many localized contexts or merely teaching English. In planning an English curriculum that includes precepts of the world Englishes concept, Kachru contends there must be a paradigm shift which will generate awareness of: sociolinguistic profile, variety exposure, attitudinal neutrality, range of uses, contrastive pragmatics, multidimensionality, expansion of the canons, and cross-cultural intelligibility. The paper concludes that collaborative codification can address both the need for introducing a standard English in teaching and learning and the element of voice and innovation for addressing the multiple identities and creative communication needs of learners prioritized in the worldliness of English and the world Englishes concepts. (Contains 26 references.) (SM)