The Future of World Englishes in Language Testing

This article begins by defining world Englishes (WEs) and the related paradigm of inner-, outer-, and expanding-circle English(es). The discussion then turns to the central concerns of the WEs and language testing (LT) communities with regard to how English tests can best be constructed to include various WEs by discussing (a) what language testers need to understand about WEs (i.e., that the English native speaker norm is no longer sacred and that three different perspectives on English diversity may prove useful in LT) and (b) what language testers need to convey to WEs advocates (i.e., that LT is already contributing to the understanding of linguistic variation, that LT is not ignoring WEs issues, and that LT is much more than the standardized international tests). The article ends with seven recommendations that should make the intersection of WEs and LT more productive.