10. Research Perspectives on Teaching English as a Lingua Franca

Abstract

This chapter shows just how deeply affected English has already been through its unprecedented spread, and the unique function it has as the world language. It argues, however, that it would be premature to launch into a discussion of the teaching of this lingua franca before certain prerequisites have been met. The most important of these are a conceptualization of speakers of lingua franca English as language users in their own right, and the acknowledgment of the legitimacy of, and indeed the need for, a description of salient features of English as a lingua franca (ELF), alongside English as a native language (ENL). The presentation summarizes the empirical research into the lingua franca use of English, which has recently gathered considerable momentum. It sets this research in relation to other relevant work in descriptive linguistics, sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics for language pedagogy. Finally, it discusses the implications of this historically unique situation for potential developments in the pedagogy of English teaching and outlines some research questions that must be addressed if advances in the teaching of English as a lingua franca are to have a secure theoretical and descriptive base. BARBARA SEIDLHOFER Defining Terms English as an International LanguageWherever English is referred to as the preferred option for communication among people from different first language backgrounds, the denomination English tends to get modified by the addition "as a(n) x": "English as an international language" (EIL) (e.g.It is important to note that the term International English is thus used in reference to two quite different linguacultural situations: on the one hand, there are Kachru's Outer Circle countries, where English can be said to be localized to meet domestic, intranational purposes. On the other hand, there is English as a globalized means for international communication, which, of course, transcends all national boundaries. The difference between localized and globalized forms of EIL naturally cuts across the Outer/Expanding Circle distinction, since communities that use English intranationally in the Outer Circle also participate in the global uses of English as do, of course, Inner Circle speakers. English has expanded in its use across all of the regions that Kachru has so clearly distinguished.Whatever terms are chosen, then, it is obvious that the uses of English internationally are not only to be associated with the Expanding Circle but also include speakers of English as a native language in all its dialects (i.e., Kachru's Inner Circle), as well as speakers of New Englishes, or indigenized/nativized varieties (i.e., Kachru's Outer Circle). All these contribute to the phenomenon captured by the term World Englishes

Review of developments in research into English as a lingua franca

“…Finally, in meeting each of these criteria these language features are thus considered to be ELF VARIANTS (not errors) when contrasted with equivalent standard ENL forms. Seidlhofer (2004) provided an early state-of-the-art survey of ELF empirical work that had been conducted to date, research studies having until that point focused more on phonology (e.g. Jenkins 2000) and pragmatics (e.g.…”

“…Recent work in the field has continued to build on the findings first reported in Seidlhofer (2004), demonstrating inexorably that the formal and functional properties of ELF lexicogrammar involve longstanding PROCESSES OF LANGUAGE EVOLUTION, with many features occurring as the result of a REGULARIZATION of the system. As discussed in Dewey (2007b), this is a process that occurs in all language varieties, including ENL ones, but which in the case of ELF, freed from the STANDARDIZING CONSTRAINTS of a set of norms, becomes accelerated and intensified.…”

Indonesian Tertiary Students’ Attitudes Towards the Use of Local Culture vs Target Culture Reading Materials in English Reading Class

“…It is widely accepted fact that today English is a global lingua franca (ELF) and has become an international language (EIL) (Crystal, 1997;McKay, 2003aMcKay, , 2003bSeidlhofer, 2004, 2005, and Sharifian, 2009. English has achieved this status because it is not only used among people from English speaking countries, but also used and spoken by a large numbers of people whom English is not their mother tongue.…”

Challenges in teaching ELF in the periphery: the Greek context

“…Topics that have raised heated debates have focused on issues like the nature of ELF as a variety (or network of varieties) in its own right, the issue of the ownership of English by its NNSs (Rajagopalan 2004), or the prospects of ELF testing (Jenkins 2006a). Other areas that have been extensively discussed have referred to areas such as the nature of successful NNS-NNS interactions (Seidlhofer 2004) or the lingua franca pronunciation core (Jenkins 2000), among others.…”