Should Native Speaker Norms be Taken into Account?: A Perspective in Teaching EIL

Fauzul Aufa (Universitas Negeri Padang)

Proceedings of ISELT FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
Vol 2 (2014): Proceedings of 2nd International Seminar on English Language Teaching (ISELT)

Considering the global expansion of English as a means of international communication, the paradigm of English Language Teaching (ELT) has deliberately shifted towards teaching English as an International Language (EIL) as a new direction. The main issue is whether teachers in the EFL context like Indonesia and other countries in the expanding circle (based on Kachru’s (1985) three concentric circle model) refer to standard native speaker norms or teaching EIL which has a sense of local identity in language use. Taking Canale and Swain’s (1980) communicative competence model as the point of departure, this article briefly reviews the concept of teaching EIL and put forwards some arguments why native speaker norms should be abandoned in language teaching particularly in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) settings and which competence should be enhanced in the light of EIL. It is expected that EFL teachers will be aware of this issue so that they will no longer rely on native speaker norms in their teaching practice.