AWEJ Volume.5 Number.1, 2014 Pp.316 -325
World Englishes in the EFL Teaching in Saudi Arabia
Ali Mohammad Al-Asmari
Community Service and Continuing Education
King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
M Shamsur Rabb Khan
Department of English, College of Science and Arts,
King Khlaid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:
Teaching English as Foreign Language (EFL) in the universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is limited within the traditional boundary of Standard American or British English. Since EFL curriculum in higher education is strictly rule-governed the scope for other varieties of English is neither recognized nor encouraged. This does not mean that there is no scope for including World Englishes into EFL teaching. The experiences in the EFL teaching show that non-native speaker (NNS) populations of KSA need efficiency in English language for either job purposes or for communicating with other NNS populations, or pursuing higher studies. The young Saudi learners, who use English as means of communications for teaching, trade, tourism, politics, and media, exhibit keen interest in learning Englishes other than the standard format. This paper takes an overview of the English language learning in KSA. It investigates the status of World Englishes and how it will contribute to enhance students’ awareness if the EFL teaching takes into consideration other forms. It discusses the need for World Englishes in learning and teaching EFL at the university level for making a case for understanding other varieties of English. The paper shows the possible drawbacks in incorporating World Englishes into the classroom EFL teaching. It also shows how the World Englishes can be infused into the teacher’s training and EFL teaching programs. Finally, the paper, after examining the healthy trends in other countries, recommends for including the World Englishes into EFL curriculum in order to motivate Saudi learners to explore the possibility of going beyond ‘only American or British variety’.
KeyWords: World Englishes, EFL, curriculum, KSA American English, British English, NNS Population, Varities of English