English as a lingua franca in the European context

Abstract

This chapter starts with an overview of the spread of English in Europe, particularly in the European Union (EU), and then homes in on the predominant role of English there in many domains, namely that of a lingua franca. It explores the functions of English as a lingua franca (ELF) as they have been developing along supranational trajectories in this region. The chapter demonstrates that there is a marked discrepancy between the EU’s discourse about language and communication on the one hand, and the reality on the ground on the other. Due to the still persistent European legacy equating territory, people, language, and culture, the EU’s forceful promotion of ‘multilingualism’ as an offcial policy sits uncomfortably with the actual practice of European citizens and institutions increasingly converging towards one lingua franca, ELF. This discrepancy between the ideal and the real has been largely ignored by both policy-makers and the academic mainstream, as examples from the domains of translation and interpreting and language education policy clearly show. This chapter summarizes insights from empirical ELF research and implications for language education. Overall, it argues that a genuine (re-)conceptualization of ‘English’ in Europe as ‘ELF’ would be necessary, desirable and indeed overdue.