ELF-Aware Teacher Development: The Case of the ENRICH Continuous Professional Development Course

This paper presents an original Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Course for EFL teachers with an overt English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)-aware orientation. The Course has been developed in the framework of ENRICH, an EU-funded project (Erasmus+/2018–2021), by a network of teacher educators from Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Turkey. It adopts a blended-learning methodology (face-to-face/online) and includes two main phases. Phase 1 involves awareness-raising through specially designed CPD materials and activities on using, teaching, and learning English in ELF environments (e.g., regarding translanguaging), while, in Phase 2, the participants engage in action research, by developing, implementing, and evaluating context-sensitive ELF-aware lessons. The establishment of mentoring partnerships and transnational teacher communities is highlighted in both phases, aiming at promoting critical reflection on one’s views, attitudes, and practices, encouraging constructive dialogue, and providing, when appropriate, intellectual challenge and emotional support. In this paper, emphasis is placed on the challenges and opportunities encountered throughout the course development and implementation, as well as on the implications for teacher development.