Global Englishes in ELT: Unpacking University English Teachers’ Perceptions in Bangladesh

Abstract

In response to the calls to incorporate Global Englishes Language Teaching (GELT), this study explores university English language teachers’ perceptions towards Global Englishes (GEs) in Bangladesh. Despite being one of the biggest English learning populations on the globe, a dearth of attention has been paid to studying English language teaching (ELT) and learning in Bangladesh. In this regard, this study explores how university English teachers in Bangladesh perceive the use of GEs in ELT and how those perceptions inform teacher education. Ten university English teachers from two universities based in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, were recruited for the study. Thirty to fifty minutes semi-structured interview was conducted. After developing codes from the transcribed interview texts, themes were generated, and recursive content analysis was performed to derive results. Findings revealed that the teachers preferred to use Inner Circle English (i.e., American or British) in ELT. While participants seemed aware of the emergence of Global Englishes, they suspected a legitimacy of Outer and Expanding Circle Englishes in academia. Furthermore, aspiring to participate in GE-informed teacher professional programs (TPD), participants reported a prominence of inclusion of local culture in ELT.