Kemaloglu-Er, ElifBayyurt, Yasemin2025-01-062025-01-0620212191-92162191-933X10.1515/jelf-2021-20612-s2.0-85123317744https://doi.org/10.1515/jelf-2021-2061https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14669/2302Despite the sheer reality of English used as a lingua franca in and outside L2 English classrooms, many teachers are still unaware of the concept of English as a lingua franca (ELF), which makes integration of ELF awareness into teacher education essential. This study presents an ELF-aware education model for pre-service teachers and analyses the definitions of ELF made by the pre-service teachers exposed to this model before, during and after their training and documents the ways they changed, if any. The data were collected by an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews which were thematically analysed. According to our findings, ELF conceptualizations reveal increased awareness. Perceptions of ELF changed from a global concept to a communicative construct and ultimately to a humanistic pedagogical perspective accepting non-native users of English with their own variability. The data imply the evolving roles of the participants from (i) outsiders to ELF to (ii) ELF-aware users and owners of English and ultimately to (iii) potential ELF-aware practitioners and disseminators of ELF knowledge. With variability of definitions and implied roles changing at each phase of the training, the ELF-aware pre-service teacher education model has proved to be effective in making the participants increasingly aware of the ELF concept.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessELF awarenessELF-aware teacher educationEnglish language pre-service teacher educationArticle2592Q123510WOS:000755370900003N/A