Learning English in a globalized world

Teaching languages has always been a debated issue. It is a wide research scope even though most research has focused primarily either on finding the best methods and approaches to accomplish varied linguistic targets or on devising strategies to support a better, faster and more effective learning. Furthermore, seldom has the language itself being considered an item of investigation as far as teaching is concerned, given that is taken for granted that it is a clearly defined unit to be taught. Even though this can be partially true for many languages, it is not the case with English. Unlike most languages, in fact, English is complex, problem- atic and not homogeneous, neither is there full agreement on whether there is a Standard variety and which one it is. The reference to a Standard variety is here not merely ideo- logical or sociolinguistic, although the wide existing litera- ture on Standard English may lead to think that ideology is the key issue. Our main interest is defining what variety of English or what Englishes students should become familiar with. We will be dealing with language teaching and learning and with the status of English as a language of international communication. Our theoretical framework consists of is- sues belonging to the scope of applied linguistics and soci- olinguistics since the very first problem we will be address- ing is the extent to which the spread of the English language affects language teaching.