Implementing Implicit EIL: Design, Practice, and Its Effect

Abstract

In this study, we design and implement an implicit EIL (English as an International Language) activity to raise EFL learners' awareness of EIL without explicitly teaching it. We investigate whether the implicit EIL activity can 1) foster EFL learners' positive attitudes toward "non-native" varieties of English, including their own, and 2) promote their willingness to learn about other cultures, which is required to increase intercultural competence (IC). We created an intercultural communicative activity in which EFL learners from seven different expanding-circle countries can learn about different cultures by focusing on three distinct components of culture. This activity took place over four class meetings in an English course at a Japanese college. After the four intercultural communication sessions, a survey was conducted to examine the Japanese EFL learners' ideas about EIL, Japanese English, and their willingness to learn about other cultures. We also collected some feedback from them about the effectiveness of our activity. The findings suggest that implicit EIL is less effective than explicit EIL in nurturing positive attitudes toward non-native Englishes, with the implication that implicit EIL can be implemented as a preliminary activity before explicit EIL. Implicit EIL, while not resulting in wide acceptance of EIL or "non-native" Englishes, could nonetheless motivate participants to learn about other cultures, and they considered our activity to help do so.