ABSTRACT
One of the central issues in English Language Teaching (ELT) in Germany and in other countries is what kinds of Englishes learners are actually exposed to in the classroom and which consequences this has for their own language use. The first part of the chapter explores the question of how ELT has evolved in terms of teaching varieties and whether a paradigm shift from a purely monocentric perspective toward a more pluricentric view can actually be observed in the context of ELT in Germany. In addition to this, the linguistic performance of teachers and learners with regard to language varieties is addressed. The predominance of British English and – more recently – American English seems to have resulted in a hybrid language use (‘Mid-Atlantic English’) among students and teachers. In the second part, the chapter explores some of the complex pedagogical implications of dealing with the linguistic diversity of English in the classroom. Various challenges in implementing a pluricentric approach are discussed and a task sequence is presented which aims to integrate linguistic diversity into the classroom and to raise awareness for global Englishes in a school context.
