Nobody will seriously call into question the fact that English has now become the world's global lingua franca. The implications for the teaching of such a language, however, are still highly contentious among ELT (English language teaching) professionals. In my paper I want to examine recent trends in ELT demonstrating why the traditional paradigm of 'English as a foreign language' is no longer adequate and needs to be complemented by components which take into account the lingua franca uses of English worldwide. After a brief outline of the paper's conceptual framework I will consider the following ELT-related issues:
1. the contexts and the ways in which English is learned and used today
2. the most significant controversial conceptual issues
3. redent findings revealing the language attitudes of students and teachers of English.
Finally, preliminary suggestions are made for a lingua france-inclusive re-orientation of ELT recommending an even greater focus on the strategic flexibility as part of the learner's communicative competence.