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should be a more significant part of ELT. This would bring into question thecontinuing focus on native-speaker English and inner circle cultures in the majorityof ELT pedagogy (Canagarajah, 2005; Jenkins, 2007). Given the extent to whichinner circle communicative norms feature in ELT, it is not surprising that manyof the participants still rated this as of higher prestige than other varieties ofEnglish. It is interesting to speculate if English language learners would still hold‘native’ English in such high esteem, if they were exposed to the plurality of globalEnglishes to the same extent in pedagogy.ConclusionIn answer to the stated aims of this research; to investigate if e-learning wasan effective medium for teaching intercultural communication and awareness,the course was well received by both students and teachers and the studentsdiscussed a number of changes in their understanding of interculturalcommunication that had occurred as a result of the course. However, there arecaveats to these positive responses. Firstly, many of the students still felt that aface-to-face course would be preferable, suggesting that the role of e-learning andits relationship to classroom teaching in intercultural communication educationneeds further investigation. It was also difficult to judge the precise influencethe course had on the participants’ attitudes to intercultural communication,intercultural awareness and global Englishes, as they had positive attitudesbefore the course began and there was no course assessment. Nevertheless, itwas clear from the participants’ responses that these are areas of relevance totheir English language learning. Considering the current use of English as theforemost global lingua franca for intercultural communication, this is perhaps notsurprising. However, the extent to which this situation has been recognised in ELTpedagogy is questionable, particularly with its continued focus on native-speakercommunicative norms. For ELT to be of most relevance to users of English it needsto incorporate knowledge of global Englishes and intercultural communicationeducation and this e-learning course offers one example of how this can bedelivered.296 | Intercultural Awareness Thailand