Review: Developments in research into English as a Lingua Franca. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Reform is not an easy process. It is by and large slow and painful. As English proves to be an efficient tool in the international arena, it is essential that the significance of ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) awareness be reconsidered with particular reference to language policy development, syllabus design, and teacher development. It is essentially the skill that L2 learners should acquire to adapt into diverse situations. When the students who learn English as a foreign language in Turkey are considered, it could be seen that the real problem is not the different pronunciations and the different usages of the words but the different varieties of English that they are not aware of. Mostly, L2 learners have a strong desire to speak like a native speaker thus neglect the different usages, dialects and cultural norms of other Englishes. In addition to all these, a strong initiative for an extensive ELF curriculum including the application methods and techniques has yet to be introduced. Language teaching activities are carried out by using either American or British based course books that contain few local elements such as pictures and dialogues sprinkled throughout the chapters for marketing purposes. Sociocultural, local, historical and international aspects of English are mainly neglected. Taking all these into consideration, this study focused on ELF awareness in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context in terms of language policy development, syllabus design, and teacher development. For this purpose, the study aimed to investigate what Turkish EFL teachers understand about ELF and how ELF-aware they are by means of a cross-sectional survey conducted with 19 participants. Semi-structured follow-up interviews were carried out with four instructors for the purpose of obtaining content analysis and thus bolstering the quantitative results to reach more precise conclusions pertaining to ELF awareness. On the whole, the results of the study revealed that although the transition from EFL teacher to ELF practitioner is not an easy task and clearly necessitates time and encouragement, making teachers aware of the 'plurality of Englishes' and the importance of multiculturalism proved to be valuable in encouraging them to revise their teaching practices within the new developments in English language teaching.
Asian Englishes, 2012
The publishers and editors of this volume do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information contained therein and hereby exclude any liability of any kind for the information contained. The opinions expressed in the chapters of this book belong to the author(s) alone and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publishers or editors. We are grateful to the people who helped to make this collection a reality. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Professor Feza Kerestecioglu for all his efforts and work in typesetting this volume using L A T E X and proofreading it over and over again. We owe special thanks to Sevdeger Ç eçen for proofreading the final copy of the proceedings before it was typeset. In addition, we would like to thank Pınar Ersin, Filiz Rızaoglu, Nur Başak Karataş, Derya Altınmakas, Hande Serdar and Ecehan Sönmez for sorting and proofreading earlier versions of the abstracts of the proceedings papers. We also want to thank each one of the contributors for their commitment in finalizing and taking the responsibility to check and proofread their papers before submitting the final copies for publication. Last but not least, we are grateful to Professor Güzver Yıldıran, the Dean of the Faculty of Education, for her support in realizing our dream of getting ELF5 proceedings book published. We would also like to thank Mr. Birol Aydın, the vice director of Bogaziçi University Publishing House, for his support throughout the publication process of the proceedings.
Review of Exploring ELF: Academic English Shaped by Non-native Speakers, Anna Mauranen
The widest use of English today is its use as a lingua franca (ELF) through which millions communicate for a variety of purposes. Surely there have been other lingua francas throughout history and there are other lingua francas (for example Russian, Spanish, Arabic) in certain geographical areas of the world today, but ELF is different from all. '[I]t is the first truly global lingua franca' (p. 17), used in a wide spectrum of domains. In this book, we 'explore' one of these domains, namely academia, and the use of English as an academic lingua franca, as the author Mauranen tells us in the title.
ELF Communicative Competence: Transforming from L2 English Learners into ELF Users
2018
The current paper defines the ELF communicative competence while considering the global use of English and the diversifi cation of its users. First, I will review the major defi nitions of ‘competence’ provided by infl uential scholars such as Chomsky, Hymes, and Canae & Swain, followed by an alternative view of L2 communicative ability that accommodates the relationship between language and society. Then, the conceptual map of ELF (English as a lingua franca) communicative competence will be presented by adapting ‘a view of language as a dynamic complex adaptive system’ (Larsen-Freeman, 2006, p.195) Finally, emphasizing the social nature of language learning, the paper challenges the norm-conformity authorized in the Japanese ELT context and argues for the necessity of conceptual reform rather than curriculum change.
English Language Instructors' Views on ELF and ELF-Related Issues
Second International Langauge-for-All Conference, 2023
In the globalizing world, English has gained the status of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), and World Englishes have already manifested themselves in English Language Teaching (ELT). In light of this, exploring the perspectives of English instructors, who occupy a pivotal role in English language teaching, has become vital. Henceforth, this study aims to investigate English instructors' views and instructional practices regarding their ELF awareness in higher education. A mixed-methods research design was employed as a research methodology, encompassing quantitative and qualitative data collection through a statement list and semistructured interviews. The findings revealed that most English instructors showed a profound awareness regarding concepts of native speakerism and World Englishes as well as a forwardthinking approach towards incorporating ELF into higher education language classrooms by expressing a desire for English lessons to encompass a wide range of Englishes and world cultures, reflecting a more comprehensive and globally relevant attitude.
2017
The recent book edited by Marie-Luise Pitzl and Ruth Osimk-Teasdale, aims at identifying the nexuses between ELF (English as a lingua franca) and related fields. It is organized around two main sections, i.e. Perspectives on the study of ELF and The study of ELF in a wider context under which there exist three subsections that focus primarily on the ELF's relationship with domains like sociolinguistics, multilingualism, policy and pedagogy. The first main section opens with Jenkins' chapter where she summarizes Seidlhofer's major contributions, such as the compilation of a spoken corpus, establishing an ELF journal and reconceptualization of ELF, to the ELF research. The second chapter by Mauranen brings to the fore the need for an ELF corpus, emphasizing the challenges ELF corpus linguists can
Elf Awareness in English Language Education
International Journal of Language Academy
Reform is not an easy process. It is by and large slow and painful. As English proves to be an efficient tool in the international arena, it is essential that the significance of ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) awareness be reconsidered with particular reference to language policy development, syllabus design, and teacher development. It is essentially the skill that L2 learners should acquire to adapt into diverse situations. When the students who learn English as a foreign language in Turkey are considered, it could be seen that the real problem is not the different pronunciations and the different usages of the words but the different varieties of English that they are not aware of. Mostly, L2 learners have a strong desire to speak like a native speaker thus neglect the different usages, dialects and cultural norms of other Englishes. In addition to all these, a strong initiative for an extensive ELF curriculum including the application methods and techniques has yet to be introduced. Language teaching activities are carried out by using either American or British based course books that contain few local elements such as pictures and dialogues sprinkled throughout the chapters for marketing purposes. Sociocultural, local, historical and international aspects of English are mainly neglected. Taking all these into consideration, this study focused on ELF awareness in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context in terms of language policy development, syllabus design, and teacher development. For this purpose, the study aimed to investigate what Turkish EFL teachers understand about ELF and how ELF-aware they are by means of a crosssectional survey conducted with 19 participants. Semi-structured follow-up interviews were carried out with four instructors for the purpose of obtaining content analysis and thus bolstering the quantitative results to reach more precise conclusions pertaining to ELF awareness. On the whole, the results of the study revealed that although the transition from EFL teacher to ELF practitioner is not an easy task and clearly necessitates time and encouragement, making teachers aware of the 'plurality of Englishes' and the importance of multiculturalism proved to be valuable in encouraging them to revise their teaching practices within the new developments in English language teaching.