Learner's Identity and Perception of Pronunciation Issues and varieties of English in Three Circles of World Englishes

Drawing on the literature on the appearance of different varieties of English in the globalized world, the present study reports the findings of a quantitative and qualitative research study with 76 native American and British, 88 Indian and Pakistani and 80 Iranian and Turkish learners as members of Inner, Outer and Expanding circles (Kachru, 1992) to explore their attitudes towards pronunciation issues and varieties of English within the framework of English as an international language and how they see themselves in relation to English in the global era. The findings demonstrate the Iranian learners’ norm-bound orientation was found to be the greatest among the three groups of learners. The findings also highlight the concept of “identity” which shows that expanding-circle learners like more to have a native-like identity. This article argues that together with valuing different varieties of English, it is important to acknowledge and promote ways to raise awareness of English learners towards global spread of English.