Barbara Seidlhofer

Closing A Conceptual Gap: The Case For A Description Of English As A Lingua Franca

Despite momentous developments in the sociopolitics of the teaching of English worldwide, targets have generally remained tied to nativespeaker norms. This paper argues that although this orientation is often recognized as inappropriate and counter-productive, it persists because discussions about ‘global English’ on the meta-level have not been accompanied by a necessary reorientation in linguistic research: very little empirical work has so far been done on the most extensive contemporary use of English worldwide, namely English as a lingua franca, largely among ‘non-native’ speakers. The paper seeks to demonstrate that this lack of a descriptive reality precludes us from conceiving of speakers of lingua franca English as language users in their own right and thus makes it difficult to counteract the reproduction of native English dominance. To remedy this situation, a research agenda is proposed which accords lingua franca English a central place in description alongside English as a native language, and a new corpus project is described which constitutes a first step in this process. The paper concludes with a consideration of the potentially very significant impact that the availability of an alternative model for the teaching of English as a lingua franca would have for pedagogy and teacher education.

Double Standards: Teacher Education in the Expanding Circle

This paper describes some of the dilemmas which non-native teachers of English worldwide face as they are exposed to the competing discourses of educational ideologies and market forces and have to somehow reconcile the contradictory demands of global claims and pressures with the local conditions in which they work. It is argued that it is vital to resist a simple transfer of teaching approaches and attitudes originating from the Inner Circle to the Expanding Circle, where quite different conditions obtain. The status and role of non-native speaker teachers is explored in this paper, drawing on an empirical study of the self-perception of Austrian teachers, and suggestions are made as to how teachers can take advantage of their non-native speaker status and develop it as an important resource for asserting the needs and preferences of their specific Expanding Circle settings. Teacher education plays a crucial role in making teachers aware of their non-native assets and in preparing them explicitly to exploit these assets in the development of an appropriate pedagogy.

Accommodation and the idiom principle in English as a Lingua Franca

Although it is acknowledged that English is now being appropriated as a lingua franca by users all over the world, and being put to effective communicative use without needing to conform to native speaker norms of ‘correctness’, there remains an entrenched reluctance to grant the same kind of legitimacy to this ‘Expanding Circle’ variation that is now generally accorded to ‘Outer Circle’ varieties (Kachru 1985; Seidlhofer and Jenkins 2003). The non-conformity of English as a lingua franca (ELF) still tends to be stigmatized as an aberration. Our purpose in this paper is to argue, and demonstrate, that the very non-conformity of its formal features is symptomatic of processes that characterize any natural use of language.

In and on their own terms : the habitat factor in English as a lingua franca interactions

Abstract English as a lingua franca (ELF) typically involves the reconciliation of two factors: the intercultural intelligibility among its users and the cultural identity of its individual speakers. It is argued in this paper that the local context, referred to as the “habitat factor,” is of particular relevance with regard to the self-regulation of ELF. Investigating the habitat-specific realizations of pragmatic fluency, and drawing on the work of House (1999), we seek to show how ELF users integrate their mother tongue (L1) communicative norms efficiently into their second language English conversation. We consider the particular case of the use by L1 Arabic speakers of multifunctional discourse markers and strategies to achieve a culturally appropriate ethos of musayara in their interaction, and more generally how the high-involvement style characterized by cooperative overlaps displays a strong tendency toward an L1 discourse style. What our study illustrates is how the global phenomenon of ELF varies in its local realizations.

Common Property: English as a Lingua Franca in Europe

This chapter is concerned with the role English plays as a lingua franca in Europe used by Europeans as a means of communication among themselves and with others. This extension of the use of English and its de facto status as an auxiliary language for global communicative purposes rather than as a traditional foreign language is widely acknowledged and discussed. However, current ways of thinking about English and its learning and use have yet to take this radical change in the role of the language fully into account. If the European ideals of individual plurilingualism and societal multilingualism are to be realized, it is crucial to understand how English as a lingua franca (ELF) functions in complementary rather than competitive relation to other languages. Such an understanding will depend on the fulfillment of two interrelated conditions: a) a proper conceptualization of ELF as common property, essentially distinct from and independent of English as a native language; and b) an empirically-based description of the linguistic properties of actual ELF usage. Such conceptualization and description will be prerequisites for adequately responding to the changing demands and directions that European language policy and language education face at the beginning of the 21st century.

Handbook of foreign language communication and learning

This volume focuses on how far the policies, principles and practices of foreign language teaching and learning are, or can be, informed by theoretical considerations and empirical findings from the linguistic disciplines. Part I deals with the nature of foreign language learning in general, while Part II explores issues arising from linguistic, socio-political, cultural and cognitive perspectives. Part III and IV then consider the different factors that have to be taken into account in designing the foreign language subject and the various approaches to pedagogy that have been proposed. Part V finally addresses questions concerning assessment of learner proficiency and the evaluation of courses designed to promote it. Key features: provides a state-of-the-art description of different areas in the context of foreign language communication and learning presents a critical appraisal of the relevance of the field offers solutionsto everyday language-related problems with contributions from renowned experts