ABSTRACT
What goes on in the language classroom is fundamentally shaped by the ways in which the very idea of language is conceptualised by curriculum developers, examination requirements, materials writers, teachers and students. The views and perceptions of these key stakeholders are of course influenced by wider educational and ideological debates in society at any given time. Take the example of English as a school subject in England. In the past 50 years or so, the characterisation of subject has been construed variously in terms of ‘personal expression’, ‘canons of English literature’, ‘basic requirement for participatory citizenship’, ‘grammar and spelling’ and so on. The teaching of English as an additional/complementary/ foreign/second language is no exception. It has in recent times been influenced by the spread of English as a lingua franca for business, educational, governmental and technological purposes in different parts of the world, which, in turn, has further consolidated English Language Teaching (ELT) as a transnational enterprise.
