The Paradigm of Zimbabwean English: Implications for ESL Teaching

Abstract

' New Englishes ' in non-native English-speaking countries present challenges inEnglish as a second language (ESL) teaching. So far, the secondary schoolEnglish syllabus in Zimbabwe disregards the emerging variety of ZimbabweanEnglish, which is structurally diverse from native Standard English. This studyexplores the place of Zimbabwean English in the teaching of ZIMSEC OrdinaryLevel English. It examines classroom teaching methodologies, materials,assessment practices and teacher training. Semi-structured interviews wereused to solicit perceptions from ten Form Four English teachers from variousschools in Zimbabwe. Guided by the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)approach, the study established that, teachers of English are not qualified forvariety-related instruction. Moreover, the teaching methods, materials andassessment practices exclude the Zimbabwean variety of English.Acknowledging Zimbabwean English as an appropriate model of instructionwilleliminate variety-related challenges in the ESL classroom, and mirror thesociolinguistic reality of English diversity.