ELF awareness as an opportunity for change: a transformative perspective for ESOL teacher education

Abstract The paper discusses the challenges and opportunities that the English as a lingua franca (ELF) paradigm raises for ESOL teacher education. I argue that one of the prominent implications of the ELF paradigm for ESOL teachers is the need to review and ultimately change their convictions about key aspects of foreign language teaching, such as normativity, the role of native/non-native speakers, and the function of teacher feedback in the foreign language classroom. I review evidence from the ELF literature that supports such a perspective and discuss the kind of reflective reviewing that teachers need to engage in. I argue that, while the critical approach is certainly the right way to go, it is not enough. What is necessary is a more rigorous approach that would go beyond merely exposing teachers to the principles and criteria of ELF and prompt them to critically consider and ultimately transform their deeper convictions about these issues. I present a framework for such a transformative perspective that aims at educating the ELF-aware teacher.