The Prospects for Glocalisation in a Globalised ELT World: Perceptions and Realities

In this study, I conducted interviews with novice and experienced EFL practitioners at a university in the United Kingdom. The interviewees were part of my postgraduate study in TESOL, and they participated in the qualitative portions of my research. As citizen of Japan and native resident of Okinawa, I was initially interested in the English language itself as a signifier of neoliberal globalisation and vehicle for the spread and application of such economic policies, especially in my place of birth, a region that has long been the site of such economic experimentation. What relationship does English have to the formation of our identities as non-native speakers as well as to the erasure of unique cultures and histories and foreign languages? Such questions led to my discovery of and interest in glocalisation emerged in my studies, and I sought to understand how this concept might be used to resist the totalising globalising forces threatening the culture from which I come. This essay reports on my findings, which suggest that EFL teachers already have a heightened awareness of the usefulness of glocalisation as theory to inform teaching practices.