Teachers’ Attitudes toward English as Lingua Franca (ELF), World Englishes (WEs), and Teachers’ Professional Identities (TPIs)

Non-native speakers of English now outnumber nave ones leading to a myriad of varieties of English around the globe. To this end, the focus on teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) must go beyond the native norm. The existing literature revealed that teachers’ attitudes could affect their teaching practices. This research thus aimed to investigate the teachers’ attitudes toward English as Lingua Franca (ELF), World Englishes (WEs), and Teachers’ Professional Identities (TPIs). A survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were adopted to collect the data from all EFL teachers (N=8) teaching an English subject in one public secondary school in the Kingdom of Cambodia. The study found that, although acknowledging other varieties of English, teachers still viewed American and British English as norms in their teaching. They did not think that such varieties should be included in their coursebooks. Instead, they suggested introducing those varieties when relevant. They raised possible challenges such as misunderstanding among speakers and no standardized assessment tools if those varieties were included in the coursebooks. Apropos of teachers ‘attitudes toward TPIs, all teachers acknowledged that native and non-native teachers had strengths and weaknesses over one another. That is to say, the teachers raised the advantages of speaking ability that the native teachers had over non-native teachers, while non-native teachers were superior to native teachers in terms of shared culture and the use of the mother tongue in teaching English. In this sense, the study suggested that, as teachers raised the challenges concerning assessing the other varieties of English, guidance regarding assessment is needed. Moreover, if concerning job employment, they should not be taken into account in terms of being native and non-native since they have their own weaknesses and strengths. Keywords:English as Lingua Franca, World Englishes, teachers’ attitudes, teachers’ professional identities