English Language Teaching and Linguistic Imperialism

In the era of globalization, the worldwide spread of English especially through English Language Teaching (ELT) is known as one of the most controversial issues in the field of applied linguistics. While in this era, the mainstream ELT publicizes the spread of Center-created methods and materials, legitimizes only its linguistic and cultural norms and introduces itself as a value-free trend, the emergence of an outstanding critical standpoint known as linguistic imperialism theory has led to forming some notable debates and controversies in this arena. Conceiving the importance of this conceptual shift in the field of applied linguistics which introduces English spread and the mainstream ELT as inherently problematic phenomena and also concerning the cultural, social, ideological and political differences between the Center and the Iranian society, this work aims at presenting and discussing the Iranian ELT community' attitudes on this controversial topic.