The Influence of Global English on the Contemporary ELT Classroom: The Case of the Linguistic Landscape

Abstract

In recent years English has grown into its role as a global language and can often be found on online platforms such as YouTube and Instagram as well as offline in the open streets of urban environments all over the world, not just in English-speaking countries. For English language teachers in countries where English is studied as a foreign language, this means that their learners are increasingly exposed to English outside of the foreign language classroom (the Linguistic Landscape [LL]). Student teachers of English as a foreign language in such contexts need to be aware of the fact that their role as the single source of English language input for their learners is being diminished. English in the environment, however, can be seen as a new source of English language input that opens up new possibilities for language learning. In order to fully exploit the potential of this situation, teachers must undergo a shift in their assumptions about language learning and their role in the language learning process. So far, “language teachers’ general beliefs about the pedagogical values of LL” (Shang & Xie, 2020, p. 37) have not received a lot of research attention. While some efforts have been made to investigate the usefulness of the LL for language learning purposes, there are only a handful of studies which investigate the attitudes of teachers in relation to the LL. In particular, there have been no studies that specifically focus on student teachers. The LEAP Interface project at the University of Graz in Austria aims to support student teachers in the ELT program in fostering their awareness of English in the environment and using it in their teaching. In my thesis, I use data collected in the project using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to investigate the connections between student teachers’ use of English outside the classroom, their beliefs about language teaching and ideas for tasks based on English in the Linguistic Landscape (LL).