Varieties of English in the EFL 
classroom setting

An unprecedented case in the history of languages, English has expanded all over the world yielding a variety of unique – und sometimes mutually unintelligible – forms. The immediate repercussion of this observation is that when confronted with regionally marked vernaculars in the EFL setting, learners with no previous variety-specific knowledge are very likely to experience considerable difficulties. The question therefore arises as to how one can teach this topic to audiences possessing no training in linguistics in a classroom context. This contribution elaborates on the general approach and methods that lay the foundation for a textbook specifically designed to address the topic of English language diversity in the EFL setting with the aim of increasing learners’ general awareness of the heterogeneity inherent in English.

• Affiliations: 1: Hamburg/Mannheim