English as a lingua franca and global identities: Perspectives from four second language learners of English in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a qualitative study that explored the perceptions of a group of advanced second language (L2) learners of English with respect to their desired identities as global citizens and their accent preferences in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication. Data were drawn from in-depth interviews with four case study participants from a Hong Kong university who explicitly expressed their desire to enact a ‘global’ identity in ELF contexts. The analysis shows that despite their identification with the global community, these L2 learners held rather different views about what they meant by their own global identities in ELF communication. It was also found that their accent preferences varied considerably among the participants. The findings of the study suggest that the expression of a global identity in ELF contexts is not necessarily perceived to be associated with any particular accents of English.