Native speaker norms and teaching English as an international language

This article is intended to briefly overview the status of the native speaker norms within the English as an International Language (EIL) context. While extremely conformist and non-conformist stances exist, it seems reasonable if EIL users conform to the native speaker grammar and phonology; and native speakers do not impose their sociopragmatic values on other users. In short, while conforming to the native speaker norms in the linguistic areas—e.g., phonology and grammar—is necessary, extralinguistic elements—e.g. sociopragmatic features—can be adapted to the EIL situation. Consequently, the language we call ‘English’ will remain almost as it is, and mutual intelligibility will not rely solely on the native speaker norms. However, the argument has bearings for language teaching, which are not discussed in this article.