Bridging conceptual gaps in Global Englishes Language Teaching: ethnographic insights from Thai higher education

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographically informed multiple case-study data of seven in-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in two universities in Thailand, this article reports on findings with respect to the teachers’ thoughts on the relevance of incorporating the Global Englishes (GE) perspectives in their local language classrooms. Also considered is the question of what attributes the teachers perceive as constituting an ‘ideal’ globally informed English language teacher and whether these perceptions align with the image of language teachers advocated by GE scholarship. The findings demonstrate that GE as understood by the teachers deviates from how it is theorized within the GE scholarship. Incompatibility between their identity goals as an EFL teacher and the perceived image of GE ‘role model’ teachers was also found to have implications for the teachers’ enthusiasm or resistance to change. The article highlights a conceptual mismatch between the teachers’ emic understandings and the researchers’ etic views as the potential barrier to implementing GE innovation in the teachers’ practices, arguing for the potential of positioning teacher identity at the heart of globally informed English language teacher education curricula to foster a shared agenda and the roles teachers play in it.