This paper examines the relationship between English as a lingua franca (henceforth ELF) and European identity. In the first place, the ELF phenomenon and its status in the European context, where multilingual policies prevail, are discussed. Secondly, this article addresses how globalization has triggered identification processes that are novel and should be treated as such and it analyses the characteristics of an alleged European identity, triggered by the pulse of globalizing processes. The role ELF may play in identification processes with Europe is examined. Finally, this article demonstrates that the flexible and hybrid nature of both ELF and European identity make them two very similar phenomena that add an extra layer to localized languages and national identities, respectively. Under this light, the hypothesis is presented that ELF and European identity are interconnected, and that ELF may be an essential condition for a sense of European identity to form.

No abstract

Research fundingDevelopment of disciplinary literacies in English as a lingua franca at university -(LIDISELF) -PID2019-107451GB-I00.

This paper reports on the implementation of a project on educational innovation which applies descriptive linguistics to raise awareness about gender (in)equality in preservice teacher trainers and pre-service teacher trainees at the University of Salamanca. To fulfil these aims, the project adapts multimodal analysis description to non-linguists, and focuses on the existence of gender (in)equality in multimodal texts.

If one googles the word "internationalization," a mesmerizing 15 million plus results will direct us toward topics that span from a product tailored in such a way that it can be readily consumed across many different countries and encoding characters ready to be used in software across many nations to an established Journal of Internationalization and Localization dedicated to a field of research that "is more and more solicited by language businesses, software developers, translation agencies, international multilingual organizations, universities, language planning policy makers and standardization institutes" (The Journal of Internationalization and Localization: main webpage, 2021). The wording used in the latter description of this journal is, to say the least, remarkable for its ability to mix, mesh, and serve to institutions that span from public to private, and from policymaking to software developers. Furthermore, it urges for a thorough investigation on what factors might have led to "universities" being both a producer and a container of internationalization and localization practices in such a need to be considered as subjects, producers, and receivers of research on how their "internationalizing" and "localizing" modus operandi is and how it ought to be.Connected to the above, Kuteeva, et al.'s (2020) edited volume Language Perceptions and Practices in Multilingual Universities is instrumental for understanding why and how universities have become a battlefield where pressures for catering for both international and domestic customers "result in pulling language policies and practices in different directions" (p.2), that stand on the edge between Englishization and protection of national languages, a tension experienced by a considerable number of universities in Europe and in other parts of the world (Lin, 2019;Huang, 2007).The volume, which takes onboard recent conceptualizations of languages as under globalization and mobility, is divided into three parts, each of them related to different institutions and actors in Northern European universities (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland), the Baltic States, and the Netherlands that have different degree of power on and are affected differently by internationalization policies and practices that impact language attitudes and ideologies. In this way, Kuteeva et al. (2020) provide a substantial contribution not just to making visible the wide array of linguistic ideologies, practices, and perceptions in higher education institutions but also to an approach of internationalization (understood as a source of tensions due to the need to respond to both multilingualism and neonationalist movements that defends national languages) in universities in Northern countries, the Baltic States, and the Netherlands through a highly valuable and enriching methodological diversity.The book is divided in three parts that include a total of 13 chapters. To begin with, the first part deals with tensions that arise between monolingualism and multilingualism on the nation...