Emancipating myself, the students and the language: Brazilian teachers’ attitudes towards ELF and the diversity of English

A great amount of the findings in ELF research has not yet reached the regular practitioner in different parts of the world. Despite the fact that ELF research has been solidly advancing, very little has been found out about teachers’ questioning their role in the context of ELF, the global position of English, their role in possibly reproducing or resisting discourses of dominance, inequalities, hegemony, among others. This paper investigates teachers’ attitudes towards ELF, and what influences them, with pre- and in-service teachers in Brazil, the former from a public university and the latter from a prestigious language institute located in Salvador, the capital city of Bahia, Brazil. The findings have shown that regardless of the differences in experience and background knowledge, both groups have demonstrated a very positive attitude towards ELF, although many questions and doubts were brought up when it came to conceiving the teaching of ELF-oriented classes on a regular basis. At a broader level, both groups highlighted the link between an ELF-oriented pedagogy and emancipation and open-mindedness, a way of liberating the teachers from the straightjacket of traditional ELT.

Conceptualising English as a global contact language

English as a global contact language has been conceptualised as (1) geo-localised Englishes, (2) English similects, and (3) transcultural multi-lingua franca. Although taking a simplified and reified approach, the first framework of geo-localised Englishes has contributed to raising awareness of global diversity in English use and corresponding innovative classroom practices. Meanwhile, the second framework of English similects has taken a lingua franca approach between different first-language (L1) users, and provided insight into omnipresent multilingualism across interactants beyond particular speech communities. However, from a complexity theory perspective, geo-local communities and interactants’ L1s are just among many complex social systems, and thus neither the first nor the second framework is capable of fully explaining what emerges from communication through the language in question. The third framework of transcultural multi-lingua franca seeks to comprehend the full range of multilingualism, or broadly conceptualised translanguaging with multiple ‘languages’, which emerges across individuals, time and space. It also takes notice of both the border-transgressing nature of culture and the possible transience of salient cultural categories in global communication. Furthermore, this last framework suggests that English language education in the 21st century take a multilingual, transcultural and post-normative turn.

Iranian English Language Learners’ Attitude towards their Accent in English Language: An Ecological Approach

With the spread of English around the world and the recognition of English as a lingua franca (ELF), a large number of studies have investigated the attitudes of learners towards different varieties of English as well as their related accents. However, this attitude towards L1 accented English within the context of Iran has not been explored yet. Thus, the present study ecologically investigated the attitudes of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners towards their L1-accented English based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1993) nested ecosystems model consisting of micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-systems. To do this, a triangulation of data collection using an attitudinal questionnaire distributed among 157 respondents (118 female and 39 male) and semi-structured interviews with 60 participants (38 female and 22 male) were collected. The findings indicated a dominant emerging pattern of preference for native-like accent within the ecology of Iran along with the acknowledgement of L1 accented English. Maintaining linguistic security and self-confidence as well as teachers’ role and materials used within the microsystem of the class, learners’ background experiences within the mesosystem, policies of English language institutes at the exosystem, and the public view towards accent at the macrosystem contributed to the emerging pattern of preference for native-like accent within the context of Iran.

Exploring language attitudes in ELF research: Contrasting approaches in conversation

With reference to two recent doctoral research projects on ELF, the present article examines the characterisation of language attitudes as either stable or variable evaluative phenomena, and provides a detailed account of methodological practices that may be favoured from each ontological position. The durability of language attitudes is more specifically conceptualised as a stable (but not enduring) construct directed to a linguistic phenomenon in one thesis, and as variable and emergent forms of evaluative social practice around a language-related issue in the other. With these two different approaches in conversation, the authors consider the extent to which stability and variability of language attitudes may be two sides of the same coin, and question whether it is safe to assume a priori the inferability of stable language attitudes from the observation of evaluative practice. This article evidences the need for ELF researchers working in this area to contemplate what and how it is being researched in the name of language attitudes while having awareness of possible alternatives in any given study.

English for Academic Purposes: A need for remodelling

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is an established domain of research, teaching, and assessment within additional/second language education. In this article we examine the conceptualisation of English that underpins much of its current thinking and pedagogic practice, and raise questions of validity and claims of ‘fit-for-purpose’. In particular we explore issues underpinning EAP assessment and argue that there is a need to reconceptualise the basis of the language model. We propose that given the complex and changing practices in academic communication, there is a good case for broadening the established understanding of Academic English to better reflect target language use. The principles and arguments underlying this discussion are relevant to assessment as well as to EAP more broadly.

Academic Writing in a Japanese Situation: Drawing on the Design Perspective towards an Affirmation of English as a Lingua Franca

The contents of this article concern ELF 500, a course in graduate school academic writing that adopts an ELF-aware approach. In my discussion, I will first review the literature on language, ideology and power as it relates to Japanese cultural politics. Following this, I will draw on the notions of critique and design as described in Lillis (2003) as critical transformative strategies to encourage student academic writers to become more conscious of: (1) the constructed and situated nature of knowledge and meaning making as viewed by scholars in the area of academic literacies; (2) the importance of their own agency towards realizing their potential as academic thinkers and writers; and (3) the importance of understanding the fluid, dynamic and performative nature of English in its role as a lingua franca as a means towards constructing meanings that are valuable and unique to their own emergent ontologies as Japanese users of ELF. My discussion is, throughout, very much motivated by a professional concern that the teaching of academic writing should be carried out within an overall pedagogical framework that recognizes the importance of the humanizing and transformative role of language education.

‘Mind your Local Accent’ Does accent training resonate to college students’ English use?

The recent development of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has encouraged language policy makers and educators to view the English language and ELT from an alternative but critical perspective that challenges some language ideologies, such as standard language and linguistic imperialism. Current ELT practices seem to neglect the trend towards the development of the global status of English. In addition, ELT is still largely native-oriented and less ELF-oriented. A Chinese university is the context of this case study. From an ELF perspective, this paper addresses some ELT issues, particularly with regard to teaching pronunciation, through the analysis of two documents and a discussion of the student participants’ interview comments. It is argued that current pronunciation teaching is still native-oriented and based on the English as a foreign language (EFL) perspective. The ELF concept is emergent and has not been fully recognised. This paper proposes a teaching approach called Teaching of Pronunciation for Intercultural Communication (ToPIC), which suggests ELF-informed pronunciation teaching strategies for intercultural communication in relation to students’ wider language-use goals in the conclusion.

Chinese university students’ ELF awareness: Impacts of language education in China

This paper sets out to investigate Chinese university students’ ELF awareness, which is conceptualised with regards to language education. The study, based on 24 semi-structured interviews, demonstrates that Chinese university students are still framing their understanding of English with the affiliation to idealised notions of monolingual origin of native English, despite being situated in a changing world where multilingual speakers of English are becoming the majority of English users and ELF is becoming a prominent communicative phenomenon. The participants’ account reveals the role of language education as the interface between language ideology and linguistic reality in China. Based on the study, this paper suggests ways of minimising the gap in ELF awareness. While this paper appreciates Chinese philosophy of education, the focus is on promoting awareness of English in relation to its sociocultural context and considering “imagined communities” in the learning so as to come to terms with sociolinguistic reality.

Repositioning English and multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca

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.