English as a lingua franca: From theory to practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan-shan Chen ◽  
Wei Ren ◽  
Chih-Ying Lin
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Book Series ◽  
Theory To Practice ◽  
Academic Settings ◽  
First Languages

English as a lingua franca (ELF) refers to ‘any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option’ (Seidlhofer, 2011, p. 7*). ELF research started relatively recently. It was only discussed occasionally in the last century. Landmark changes were the publications of Jenkins (2000*) and Seidlhofer (2001*). These works inspired more research into ELF, as witnessed by a dramatically increased interest in ELF since then, resulting in a large number of journal articles, monographs, edited books (e.g. Mauranen & Ranta, 2009*) and large corpora (e.g. the Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English, the Corpus of English as a Lingua Franca in Academic Settings, and the Asian Corpus of English). In addition, ELF researchers have launched the annual conference series (International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca), the Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, and the De Gruyter book series Developments in English as a Lingua Franca. These publications move from an initial understanding of ELF as a ‘variety’ or ‘varieties’ to a later conceptualisation of ELF as a dynamic, fluid and variable phenomenon. ELF has become a major focus of discussions and activities among both applied linguists and English language teaching professionals (Jenkins, Cogo, & Dewey, 2011).

scholarly journals Culture and complexity through English as a lingua franca: rethinking competences and pedagogy in ELT

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Baker
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Meaningful Category

AbstractEnglish as a lingua franca (ELF) research highlights the complexity and fluidity of culture in intercultural communication through English. ELF users draw on, construct, and move between global, national, and local orientations towards cultural characterisations. Thus, the relationship between language and culture is best approached as situated and emergent. However, this has challenged previous representations of culture, particularly those centred predominantly on nation states, which are prevalent in English language teaching (ELT) practices and the associated conceptions of communicative and intercultural communicative competence. Two key questions which are then brought to the fore are: how are we to best understand such multifarious characterisations of culture in intercultural communication through ELF and what implications, if any, does this have for ELT and the teaching of culture in language teaching? In relation to the first question, this paper will discuss how complexity theory offers a framework for understanding culture as a constantly changing but nonetheless meaningful category in ELF research, whilst avoiding essentialism and reductionism. This underpins the response to the second question, whereby any formulations of intercultural competence offered as an aim in language pedagogy must also eschew these simplistic and essentialist cultural characterisations. Furthermore, the manner of simplification prevalent in approaches to culture in the ELT language classroom will be critically questioned. It will be argued that such simplification easily leads into essentialist representations of language and culture in ELT and an over representation of “Anglophone cultures.” The paper will conclude with a number of suggestions and examples for how such complex understandings of culture and language through ELF can be meaningfully incorporated into pedagogic practice.

scholarly journals English as a Lingua Franca: Lessons for language and mobility

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Sung-Yul Park ◽  
Lionel Wee
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Considerable Difficulty ◽  
Core Set ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds

Greater mobility of people in the globalising world foregrounds the inherent problemsof an ideology of language as a bounded entity and the unequal relations of powerthat shape experiences of mobility. In this paper, we consider how these problems canbe interrelated in research on language and mobility through a critical evaluation ofcurrent research on English as a lingua franca (ELF), particularly what we refer to asthe ‘ELF research project’, exemplified by the work of Jenkins and Seidlhofer. TheELF project aims at a non-hegemonic alternative to English language teaching byidentifying a core set of linguistic variables that can facilitate communication betweenspeakers of different linguistic backgrounds. We provide a critical examination ofthe project by problematising its narrow conceptualisation of communication asinformation transfer and its inability to address the prejudices that speakers may stillencounter because they speak the language ‘differently’. In our discussion, we arguethat investigation of language in the context of mobility requires serious rethinkingon the level of both theory and political stancetaking: a theory of language that doesnot take account of the fluid, dynamic, and practice-based nature of language willhave considerable difficulty in proposing a cogent critique of social inequalities thatpermeate the lives of people on the move.

Teaching of English as an International Language in Various Contexts: Nothing is as Practical as Good Theory

RELC Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seran Dogancay-Aktuna ◽  
Joel Hardman
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Good Theory ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
International Language ◽  
Pedagogical Decisions ◽  
The World ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
English Language Classrooms

Despite the proliferation of publications on teaching English as an international language (EIL) or a Lingua Franca (ELF), the diffusion of these concepts into the world of English Language Teaching has been slow and incomplete. There is some wariness among educators about the teaching of ELF and EIL, with no consensus regarding appropriate pedagogy. In this article we look at some of the research on the integration of global Englishes into English language classrooms and discuss issues concerning a model of language to guide pedagogy when there are multiple Englishes. We maintain that it is by relying on theoretical understandings of concepts underlying the development and use of global Englishes and basing pedagogical decisions on contextual needs, rather than on prescriptions for practice, that teachers can make realistic decisions about integrating Englishes into their own classroom pedagogy. We refer to a model of teaching English that is based on a vision of situated teacher praxis and show how one component of this model, meta-culture, can be used to teach language-culture connection in the era of global Englishes.

Rheme and reason: Why is English always the Theme rather than the Rheme in our acronyms?

English Today ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan James Runcieman
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Native English Speaker ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Leading Role

The position of ‘E’, for English, has always been at the forefront of all the acronyms of language learning and descriptions of world trends in English language teaching and acquisition, EFL, ESL, ELT, ESP, EIL, ELF, or second only to ‘T’ for teaching, TEFL and TESOL. We have become so used to seeing the letter ‘E’ out there in front, the Theme rather than the Rheme, that we do not even seem to question that position anymore. Despite developments in the study of World Englishes (Kachru, 1985, 1990, 1991, 2005; Jenkins, 2003; Bolton, 2005, 2006; Canagarajah, 2006, 2007, 2009) and a supposedly secondary role for so-called Native English and the Native English speaker, we continue to place the ‘E’ at the front, as though we have no option but to accept its primacy in every concept. If we always place ‘E’ at the beginning though, as the defining Theme, surely we are giving both it and its origin England a leading role in all conceptual beginnings. The Theme after all is always the principal actor, the familiar, whilst the Rheme is the unfamiliar and undefined object (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), but what English is now, in its global context, is exactly that, the unfamiliar and undefined object. In the following article I will argue for a rethinking of our terminology, particularly regarding the use of the acronym ELF (English as a Lingua Franca), and how perhaps we should be thinking more carefully about our choice of acronyms in order to be more precise about our approach to the study of English in the changing world.

scholarly journals REPENSANDO O ENSINO DE LÍNGUA INGLESA NO BRASIL: POR UMA PERSPECTIVA TRANSLÍNGUE | RETHINKING ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN BRAZIL: TOWARDS A TRANSLINGUAL PERSPECTIVE

2017 ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Diogo Oliveira do Espírito Santo ◽  
Robson Ribeiro da Silva
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Lingua Franca

<p>Este artigo discute pressupostos e implicações dos termos translingualimo ou práticas translíngues (CANAGARAJAH, 2011, 2013; GARCÍA, 2009, 2014) e ensino bilíngue (GARCÍA, 2014; WEI, 2013) em contextos de ensino de língua inglesa no Brasil. Na primeira parte, serão discutidas algumas nomenclaturas conferidas ao <em>status</em> do inglês ao redor do mundo, como World Englishes (WE), Inglês como Língua Internacional (ILI) e Inglês como Língua Franca (ILF). Em seguida, serão tecidas considerações sobre as definições de sujeitos bilíngues que mais se adéquam aos objetivos deste artigo. A discussão será finalizada com o debate sobre os desdobramentos da perspectiva translíngue no ensino, como forma de problematizar as relações linguístico-culturais que os sujeitos aprendizes de língua inglesa desenvolvem em cenários cada vez mais multilíngues.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract:</strong> <em>This article discusses the premises and implications of translingualism (translingual practices) (CANAGARAJAH, 2011, 2013; GARCÍA, 2009, 2014) and bilingual education (GARCÍA, 2014; WEI, 2013) concepts in English Language Teaching (ELT) contexts in Brazil. In the first section, we will review some of the labels that have been attributed to the current status of the English language worldwide, such as World Englishes (WE), English as an International Language (EIL) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Moreover, we will approach different definitions of bilingual subjects. Finally, we will consider the debate about the unfolding of the translingual perspective in order to reflect on the linguistic and cultural relations that English language learners develop in ever more multilingual settings</em><em>. </em></p><pre><em> </em></pre><p>Keywords<em>: English; </em>Translanguaging<em>; Bilingual Education. </em></p><p> </p><p>Palavras-Chave: Língua inglesa; Translingualismo; Práticas translíngues; Ensino bilíngue.</p>

scholarly journals A Showcase Study on ELF-oriented Classroom Practices in a General English Course

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. p61
Author(s):  
Shahinaz Abdullah Bukhari
Keyword(s):  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
English Language ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Global Dimension ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
The Relationship

The lingua franca status of English in transcultural settings questions the orthodox pedagogical principles and mainstream approaches of English language teaching. To mirror the relationship between English as a subject matter and English as a globalised sociolinguistic phenomenon, some scholars call for revisiting the conventional approaches of pedagogy. Still, the response to the call for a transition from the monocentric methods of English language teaching is slow. Teachers have multiple concerns about how to incorporate a global dimension into a general English language course for undergraduates. The present study aims to address this gap by offering a practical example of how to address English as a lingua franca phenomenon in a general English language course. The study showcases classroom practices for raising awareness of today’s complexity of English use as a worldwide lingua franca. Ten Saudi undergraduates at a Saudi university participated in the study. The study shares the participants’ critical reflections on what they have learned from the course. Analysis of the participants’ reflections reveal that approaches based on complexity theory increased their familiarity with English linguistic diversities, developed their transcultural awareness and improved their ability to cope with English functional and contextual diversities. It is hoped that this showcase study can provide some guidance for the further implementation of a global dimension in other contexts.

scholarly journals A Comparative study on English language teaching to young learners around the world

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Cansu Orsel ◽  
Fatih Yavuz
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Outer Circle ◽  
Young Learners ◽  
The World ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
Inner Circle

Usage of the English language as Lingua Franca has caused an increasing demand on the English Language Teaching (ELT) in early childhood and according to Braj Kachru’s Three Circles Model of World Englishes as the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle the approaches to the Young Learners dramatically differs. Besides the features of English as a global language and the nature of early language learning, this paper also focuses on the comparison of the three different examples from the Three Circles Model of World Englishes. They are compared in terms of techniques that are used and the approaches to the Young Learners. The examples taken are from the official websites of the three countries from the Inner Circle, Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle; respectively, New Zealand’s Ministry of Education, Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development, and the Turkish Board of Education and Instruction. Keywords: Young Learners, The World Englishes, Lingua Franca, Braj Kachru, English Language Teaching (ELT).

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