World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca: conceptualising the legitimacy of Asian people’s English

Abstract

English has now become a communication medium for many Asian people. How ‘traditional’ native English speakers use English within their speech communities is becoming less pertinent to Asian people’s communication transactions in English in various settings. In search of the legitimacy (or adequacy, indeficiency) of Asian people’s English, this article first problematises Standard English ideology vis-à-vis the contemporary expansion of English, and then examines both the world Englishes paradigm and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) theories with more focus on the latter. While the former concerns itself with the legitimacy of locally established English varieties including some Asian Englishes, the latter targets, and seeks to comprehend in situ, English communication across geographical boundaries. The article concludes that both the world Englishes paradigm and ELF theories are important to appreciate Asian people’s English, but that ELF theories may well be the only way to conceptualise the legitimacy of many Asian people’s English.