Perspectives - A Journal of TESOL-Italy

This special issue of Perspectives is entirely dedicated to the varieties of the English language, and in particular to its contemporary evolution within non-English speaking countries, as a result of the globalisation of the world economy. Admittedly, English has become today’s most widely spoken lingua franca, nonetheless the unprecedented fact that the community of non-native speakers (NNSs) outnumbers the community of native speakers (NSs) has given way to complex socio-linguistic phenomena whereby English, the language of global communication, is progressively acquiring some distinctive features that mark the difference between the varieties of English spoken in core English speaking countries and the novel varieties spoken in the rest of the world. All this puts ELT in a different light and we should probably start rethinking the overall goals of the language we teach, in order to make the right choices and cope with our students’ communicative needs. The aim of this issue of Perspectives is precisely to arouse our reader’s curiosity and interest for this topic and offer a range of different points of view to help them make up their mind and become more self-aware teachers.