English as a Lingua Franca: Lessons for language and mobility

Joseph Sung-Yul Park,Lionel Wee

doi:10.14426/mm.v1i1.21

Abstract

Greater mobility of people in the globalising world foregrounds the inherent problems of an ideology of language as a bounded entity and the unequal relations of power that shape experiences of mobility. In this paper, we consider how these problems can be interrelated in research on language and mobility through a critical evaluation of current research on English as a lingua franca (ELF), particularly what we refer to as the â€˜ELF research projectâ€™, exemplified by the work of Jenkins and Seidlhofer. The ELF project aims at a non-hegemonic alternative to English language teaching by identifying a core set of linguistic variables that can facilitate communication between speakers of different linguistic backgrounds. We provide a critical examination of the project by problematising its narrow conceptualisation of communication as information transfer and its inability to address the prejudices that speakers may still encounter because they speak the language â€˜differentlyâ€™. In our discussion, we argue that investigation of language in the context of mobility requires serious rethinking on the level of both theory and political stancetaking: a theory of language that does not take account of the fluid, dynamic, and practice-based nature of language will have considerable difficulty in proposing a cogent critique of social inequalities that permeate the lives of people on the move.

Highlights

Greater mobility of people in the globalising world leads us to reconsider many of our fundamental assumptions about language
Different constraints imposed upon different mobile populations remind us that the linguistic competence and repertoire of social groups are always evaluated in the context of power, demanding greater sensitivity to the structure of inequalities that condition mobility
Privileged migrants are able to benefit from their mobility more than less privileged ones, precisely because of their ability to negotiate with dominant ideologies of language that define what counts as legitimate and authentic language

Summary

Introduction

Greater mobility of people in the globalising world leads us to reconsider many of our fundamental assumptions about language. We noted above that a distinguishing strategy of the ELF research project has been to identify core ELF features that are independent of native speaker norms and that can be used to transform English language teaching practices for non-native speakers.

Results

Conclusion