Native-speaker norms and International English: a classroom view

Abstract

The question of whether students should conform to native‐speaker norms of English, in an era when English is increasingly used in international contexts, is one which has been keenly debated in recent years, not least in the pages of this Journal. However, it is not a debate in which the voices of students and classroom teachers have been heard, and this article attempts to give a classroom perspective on the issue. It is based largely on two parallel questionnaire surveys, which looked at students' and teachers' attitudes to the question of conforming to native‐speaker norms. Taken together, the surveys drew almost 600 responses from students and teachers in over 45 countries. The article argues that students' views may differ from the expectations of teachers and academics, and that it is important for us to be aware of these views.