Exploring Teachers’ Attitudes towards Pronunciation Issues and Varieties of English in Three Circles of World Englishes

Drawing on the literature on the emergence of different varieties of English in the globalized world, current debates surrounding English as an international language (EIL), and more orientation towards intelligibility and mutual understanding in international communication, this article reports the findings of a quantitative and qualitative research study with 112 native American and British, 120 Indian and 120 Iranian teachers as members of Inner Circle (IC), Outer Circle (OC) and Expanding Circle (EC) (Kachru, 1992) to explore their attitudes towards pronunciation pedagogy within the framework of English as an international language and how they see their role in relation to different varieties of English. The findings demonstrate the extent to which teachers‘ acceptance of pronunciation and varieties of English differs. In particular, the Iranian teachers‘ norm-bound orientation was found to be the greatest among the three groups. Native English teachers‘ replies were also indicative of their acceptance of different varieties of English. Teachers‘ preferences will be discussed with consideration of their attitudes towards varieties of English which might have influenced the construction of English teachers‘ identity and the educational policy of each country. The findings also highlight the localization of L2 language planning and policies in an EIL pedagogy. This article argues that together with encouraging and valuing different varieties of English, it is important to acknowledge and promote ways to raise awareness of teachers and learners towards global spread of English and the realities of English today which can be really helpful to be more realistic and not just blind followers of a particular model.