English as a lingua franca in the EFL classroom. A proposal to improve Spanish EFL students' oral skills

Abstract

English is the main language spoken around the world nowadays because of its expansion. However, most students tend to be misled when listening to native speakers. Hence, new needs have to be considered when teaching English as a Foreign Language. This work aims at analysing the needs of 21st century students in the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in Castellón and it proposes a new way of teaching English in intermediate levels (B1): teaching English as an International Language (McKay & Brown, 2016). In order to accomplish this, different English Standard varieties are introduced in the English classroom. Moreover, the notion of English as a lingua franca and the importance of intercultural communication are addressed. For the purpose of this study, a literature review is presented. Afterwards, a teaching unit is proposed and since it is introduced in the classroom, results of the implementation are presented and commented. Results show that it is possible to introduce different English varieties in non-proficient levels and that students find them useful because it is important for their examinations. Finally, pedagogical recommendations for improvement of the English classroom are given, suggesting that curriculum developers could include more authentic examples of varieties of English and that contact with different English speakers (non-native or native) should be enhanced in and outside the classroom in order to boost oral competence.