Successful ELF Communications and Implications for ELT: Sequential Analysis of ELF Pronunciation Negotiation Strategies

Abstract

This is a qualitative study of nonnative English speakers who speak English as a lingua franca (ELF) in their graduate student dormitory in the United States, a community of practice (Wegner, 2004) comprised almost entirely of second language users. Using a sequential analysis (Koshik, 2002; Markee, 2000; Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974; Schegloff, Koshik, Jacoby, & Olsher, 2002), the study investigates how these ELF speakers successfully manage their intercultural communication through accommodation strategies (e.g., Jenkins, 2000, 2006) used to address differences in pronunciation and familiarity with a range of ELF speech styles. Drawing on my own experience as a member of this community, I investigate how speakers display equality and legitimacy as English language users in the ELF community in face‐to‐face interactions when they negotiate understanding in spite of their different accents. ELF speakers exhibit a wide variety of pronunciations as a result of first language cross‐linguistic influence, and those phonological differences may hamper intercultural communication, more than any other linguistic feature. For this reason, I have chosen to focus on phonological issues for this study. I argue that sequential analysis of the interactions among speakers of English as a lingua franca may provide useful examples of successful communication among these groups. Data from such analysis should be included in English language teaching as a model of successful interaction strategies directed toward students who will face these situations. The analysis of this ELF data will also be useful as a model for the study of other languages that are often used as lingua francas.

Segmental repair and interactional intelligibility: The relationship between consonant deletion, consonant insertion, and pronunciation intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca in Japan

“…In other words, most measures of intelligibility reject the notion that intelligibility can be negotiated between the speaker and the listener (Jenkins, 2000;Rajadurai, 2007). But this is false; in actual interactional praxis, pronunciation is often adjusted so that it becomes more intelligible (Matsumoto, 2011;.…”

“…In order to avoid the problems with static measurements of intelligibility that Jenkins (2000) and Rajadurai (2007) have identified, this study assesses the intelligibility of pronunciation through conversation analytic methodology, which is the only method of assessing the intelligibility of pronunciation that accepts that intelligible English pronunciation is dynamic and variable between speakers and listeners (Matsumoto, 2011;. However, a close examination of the phonetic adjustments made to pronunciation in order to maintain its mutual intelligibility during an interaction necessitates a detailed examination of segmental repair.…”

“…In segmental repair sequences, speakers modify the segmental phonemes of their own or others' pronunciations so that the pronunciation becomes more intelligible, thus maintaining intersubjectivity (Matsumoto, 2011). First, conversation participants orient to a word or an utterance as unintelligible.…”

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This is a qualitative study of the relationship between consonant deletion, consonant insertion, and the pragmatic strategies that maintain mutual intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca (hereafter, ELF) interactions among university and exchange students at a Japanese university (Jenkins, 2000;Matsumoto, 2011;. Some ELF research claims that consonant deletion attenuates mutual intelligibility in ELF interactions, especially if the consonant deletion occurs in word-initial and word-medial consonant clusters or in consonant clusters in syllable onsets and codas (Jenkins, 2000(Jenkins, , 2007Deterding, 2013).

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Native-speaker and English as a lingua franca pronunciation norms: English majors’ views

“…Seidlhofer (2004, p. 214) stresses the fact that LFC excludes sounds which are considered "particularly English", and hence difficult to master for NNSs, and sees "the relative manageability of its features" as a significant trait of LFC. Matsumoto (2011) discusses the benefits of LFC in fostering negotiation among learners and serving as a basis for a relevant pronunciation syllabus. Others express a more balanced view, pointing out the strong and weak points of the ELF approach to pronunciation teaching.…”