English as a Lingua Franca: sense of awareness and perceived implications in an English teacher education program at a public university in Colombia

Abstract The present study explores the sense of awareness and perceptions that a group of teacher educators and pre-service teachers held about English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and its implications for English teacher education programs in Colombia. Guided by the theoretical framework of Global Englishes and ELF scholarship (Jenkins, J. 2015a. Repositioning English and multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca. Englishes in Practice 2(3). 49–85; Sifakis, N. 2014. ELF awareness as an opportunity for change: A transformative perspective for ESOL teacher education. JELF 3(2). 317–335), which informed both data analysis and interpretation, the research adopted a qualitative descriptive design. Data were gathered through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The study involved the participation of 12 teacher educators and 15 pre-service teachers, all members of an English teacher education program at a public university in Colombia. The findings suggest that both groups of participants had a clear understanding of ELF from various yet convergent perspectives, and acknowledged its relevance for the field of ELT. In terms of implications of an eventual incorporation of ELF in formal English teacher education programs, participants point to the need to break away from a dominant orthodoxy, and a readjustment of materials and teaching approaches leading to the inclusion of ELF in traditional EFL settings.