Conclusion This paper aimed to present some of the recent approaches to the issue of standards in English as an international language and to discuss the issue of defining competence in relation to EIL. EIL is defined in a global sense as a language of wider communication between countries largely but not exclusively in Kachru's expanding circle. It is argued that while the inner circle native speaker standard English should still serve as the pedagogical model in this circle there must be allowance for pragmatic and discourse variations in these English users' speech since these levels of language are strongly shaped by the cultural contexts of these speakers. Moreover it is indicated that expanding circle speakers do not need just inner circle English but also need to be familiar with other varieties of English as a requirement of post modern globalization (Canagarajah, 2006). Thus it is argued that raising the students' awareness of the diversity in English (Language awareness) is gaining importance. This would also require that the speakers of EIL should also have the necessary skills to cope with variability in English, that is, accommodation skills. Such assumptions lead us to conclude that competency in EIL would require being proficient in at least one