Repositioning English and multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca

Abstract

In the relatively few years since empirical research into English as a Lingua Franca began being conducted more widely, the field has developed and expanded remarkably, and in myriad ways. In particular, researchers have explored ELF from the perspective of a range of linguistic levels and in an ever-increasing number of sociolinguistic contexts, as well as its synergies with the field of Intercultural Communication and its meaning for the fields of Second Language Acquisition and English as a Foreign Language. The original orientation to ELF communication focused heavily, if not exclusively, on form. In light of increasing empirical evidence, this gave way some years later to an understanding that it is the processes underlying these forms that are paramount, and hence to a focus on ELF users and ELF as social practice. It is argued in this article, however, that ELF is in need of further retheorisation in respect of its essentially multilingual nature: a nature that has always been present in ELF theory and empirical work, but which, I believe, has not so far been sufficiently foregrounded. This article therefore attempts to redress the balance by taking ELF theorisation a small step further in its evolution.

<b>What can Brazil learn from multilingual Switzerland and its use of English as a multilingua franca

“…The highest number of L2 speakers in a decreasing order are English, German, French and Italian and the highest number of L1 speakers in a decreasing order are French, followed by German and Italian with the same proportion and finally by English. The fact that English is the second most spoken language at Unige (even before German, the most spoken official/national language in Switzerland), suggests that English has the role of a multilingua franca (Jenkins, 2015) in that context and despite Unige's francophone orientation, embodied in its language policy described in what follows.…”

“…One suggestion that this paper aims to advance is that English is not only a foreign language in Switzerland but also a multilingua franca, defined by Jenkins (2015) as a contact language among speakers of different native languages (L1), or any use of English among speakers of different L1s for whom English is the communicative medium of choice. This view of English has serious implications in that context as will become evident in the description that follows.…”

“…The third part addresses the role of English in Switzerland and the fourth part describes a foreign language teaching approach (the Intercomprehension Approach) supported by the International Francophone movement and used to promote multilingualism in Switzerland and in Europe. The fifth part reanalyzes results in Finardi and Csillagh (2016) in light of Jenkins' (2015) notion of multilingua franca and the sixth and last part discusses some implications concerning the lessons that Brazilians can learn from the Swiss.…”

Theories and Practices in Critical Language Teaching: A Dialogic Introduction

“…For teachers, self-perceived "inadequacies" in an L2 may pose an even greater emotional load in the area of global citizenship education given the dominant role of English as the language of participation and mobilization via social media (but see Chun's critique of the politics of social media in this issue). Transnational or global LTE projects using social media or telecollaboration would require some awareness of World Englishes as well as lingua franca and intercultural capabilities (JENKINS, 2015). At the same time, such a "non-standard" reorientation to English (and to language teaching in general) might not be appreciated or supported by Brazilian funding agencies, as you note above.…”

Language Attitude Education as ICC Facilitation: An Explorative Class

“…It has developed into various forms and taken local fl avors. Although scholars in English language teaching, especially those who are from a World Englishes (WE) or English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) perspective had challenged the long-standing, idealized "native-speaker" model in language teaching (Jenkins, 2015;Kachru, 1992), the impact has not yet been fully realized in the classrooms, especially in countries in the Kachruvian Expanding Circle (Kachru, 1992) such as China. Studies have shown consistently that students and teachers in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts held a particularly "conservative" attitude towards English varieties, viewing British and American "native varieties" more favorably than "non-native varieties" such as Indian English and China English (Gao & Xu, 2015).…”