Issues of intelligibility in world Englishes and EIL contexts

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines Larry Smith's work on intelligibility issues in English as an International Language (EIL) contexts. In his seminal articles and books, Smith describes how intelligibility can be problematized in both intra‐/inter‐national contexts in relation to cross‐/inter‐/intra‐cultural communication purposes. As one of the guiding/founding scholars of the world Englishes paradigm, he is one of the first to describe the functions of English as an International Language in inter‐/intra‐/cross‐cultural communication in world Englishes. His views on intelligibility influenced various fields of study – including the English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) paradigm – ranging from its connection to comprehensibility to interpretability in national and international contexts in intercultural communication studies to its implications for an EIL‐aware pedagogical practice.