Integrating Language Variation into TESOL: Challenges from English Globalization

Abstract

Although the globalization of English underscores the range of English language variation world-wide, most models for TESOL assume an idealized, monolithic version of English. ESOL learners confront great variation in the English of their everyday lives, including many non-mainstream, vernacular varieties of English. This paper argues for the integration of language diversity into both teacher training and student materials in ESOL, offering a rationale and some representative, illustrative activities that might be considered in a curriculum.On a theoretical level, instructors and students understand the systematic nature of the English language in all its variation, regardless of social valuation. On a descriptive and applied level, students can understand local, community norms as they acquire English, including some of the vernacular community models spoken by those around them. Teachers and students also are exposed to attitudes about language variation that play a central role in how speakers view themselves and other speakers of the language.