World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca Application in the English classroom in Japan

The study of World Englishes (WE) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) stem from the same source. That is the spread of English around the world, which has resulted in a situation where people from diverse cultural backgrounds use English in different ways. While there has been a great deal written of a theoretical nature on the concepts of WE and ELF, less work has been done on how to implement them in language learning environments that have, up until now followed the native speaker model. This paper attempts to outline ways in which these ideas can be utilized in general English classes in Japan, in seven different, but interrelated areas: listening, pronunciation, pragmatics, culture, teaching methodology, explicit instruction on WE and ELF and other class content considerations