Teaching English with a Pluricentric Approach: a Compilation of Four Upper Secondary Teachers’ Beliefs

One of our first courses at the teacher education program introduced us to how the English language could be taught with an approach we had not thought of before. In particular, the course discussed what it could mean for educators of English to implement a pluricentric approach in their teaching. As future teachers, we gained a whole new perspective on the implications of teaching an international language as English and the benefits it could have by doing so, such as the increment of intercultural awareness. However, during our internships we noticed that in-service teachers often have a rather monolithic way of teaching English, mostly targeting varieties in their teaching that originated from native-speaking countries such as, the United States and the United Kingdom. We conducted a qualitative research with the aim to investigate the beliefs of four upper secondary teachers of English, currently working at two different schools in Malmö, about teaching English with a pluricentric approach. To gather the data we used semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study show that on the one hand, most of the participating teachers express a desire to expose the students to different varieties of English and think of this as important. On the other hand, the investigation shows that the participating teachers prioritise other aspects in their choices, such as content, level and availability of the teaching material and consider variety not as a priority