NIGERIAN ENGLISH TEACHERS’ AWARENESS OF THE BASIC TENETS OF EIL AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION

This study attempts to determine Nigerian teachers’ awareness of the basic tenets of English as an International Language (EIL). Respondents were 100 teachers from the school in the south-eastern part of Nigeria. The chosen schools in this part of Nigeria were determined by cluster sampling technique. Respondents from the selected schools were selected, using stratified random sampling. Data were generated, using a self-constructed 4 point Likert-type questionnaire. Data were analyzed, using mean and standard deviation. A criterion mean value of 2.50 was chosen for decision. Although the findings revealed that all the parameters scored a grand mean value above the criterion value, there were two critical factors that scored below the criterion value ? ownership and norms of usage. Since these are critical issues in EIL, the study concluded that the awareness of the population was inconclusive. This conclusion has implication for teacher education both in Nigeria and her Anglophone neighbors.