Differentiating English: Introducing World Englishes into Dutch Secondary Education

Abstract

The introduction of World Englishes into English language teaching in secondary schools in the Outer Circle has been a much-debated subject. Reasons for moving away from native-speaker norms are the main focus of this study. By establishing the motives that students and teachers have for implementing, or not implementing, native-speaker norms and their reasons for accepting different varieties of English, the conclusion can be drawn about that their certainly is a possibility for the incorporation of World Englishes in the classroom, although it is not considered a necessity. Additionally, the introduction of Dutch English into English Language Teaching in the Netherlands could perhaps be a possibility to minimalize the gap between desired target and level of English that is attained when adhering to the nativeness principle.