English As A Lingua Franca Contexts Research Articles

The learning potential of English as a lingua franca contexts in the eyes of study abroad students

This paper presents insights from two interview studies with the aim of shedding light on the learning potential of studying abroad in an area where English is used as a lingua franca. The majority of previous research on study abroad focuses on students’ experiences of studying abroad in target-language regions, for example learners of English studying abroad in English-speaking countries. To date, the learning potential of spending time in English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts remains an under-researched area. The present paper draws on two separate interview studies that have been conducted with five Turkish and five Swiss study abroad students that stayed in different European ELF contexts as part of their studies at higher education institutions. The data suggests that even though the participants still partially adhere to native speaker norms, they also discuss a number of characteristics of English as a lingua franca study abroad (ELFSA) contexts that they deem conducive to learning English and enhancing their plurilingual competences.

The Intelligibility of Korean-Accented English in the Lingua Franca Context

This study aimed to establish an empirical basis for prioritizing English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) instruction by evaluating the importance of “intelligibility” in communication with accented English speakers. It specifically examined the claims surrounding the Lingua Franca Core (LFC) features as the minimum requirements for intelligibility in ELF contexts. The experiment focused on the intelligibility of Korean-accented English (KoE) and general American English (AmE) to Korean-Speaking Learners (KSLs) and Japanese- Speaking Learners (JSLs). The findings indicated that AmE was more intelligible to both non-native English speaker groups. In contrast, KoE’s intelligibility was hindered by non- LFC features such as the pronunciation of the dark /l/ sound and specific vowel qualities. These results challenge the LFC proposal and suggest the need for a modified set of LFC features in ELF teaching and learning. The implications of this study are significant for English language education, highlighting the necessity of considering different accents and non-LFC features in ELF communication. By incorporating these aspects into instruction, teachers can better prepare learners for real-world interactions in diverse linguistic contexts. This approach enhances learners’ confidence and proficiency in understanding and being understood by individuals from various linguistic backgrounds, fostering successful intercultural exchanges.

L1-Korean L2-English Speakers’ Performance of Refusal Speech Acts in EFL and ELF contexts

Refusal speech acts have received much attention in the L2 pragmatics literature due to their complexity and learning difficulty. However, most of previous research studies were conducted with English-learning students with focus on situations in which English was used as a foreign language (EFL) in interaction with a native speaker of English, making it difficult to generalize their findings to professionals using English as a lingua franca (ELF) in interaction with non-native speakers of English. To address this research gap, the present study investigated refusal speech acts performed in EFL and ELF contexts by participants whose working language was English. Data were obtained using the Discourse Completion Task. Thirty-four L1-Korean L2-English speakers’ response in English in both EFL and ELF contexts provided L2 data, while 36 L1-Korean and 35 L1-English speakers’ response in their native languages provided L1-baseline data. L1-Korean L2-English speakers showed both L1 transfer and target-like performance in terms of frequencies of different refusal strategies and content of expressions used to perform refusal strategies, with L1 transfer effects being clearer in content of expressions. Possible reasons for the complex pattern of L1 transfer and potential roles of characteristics of participants and contexts were discussed.

“We Use English But Not Like All the Time Like”—Discourse Marker Like in UAE English

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is characterized by extensive language contact. Although Arabic is the official language, practically all communication in general as well as in higher education, in particular, takes place in English. The current study reports from the larger projectLanguage, Attitudes, and Repertoires in the Emirates(LARES, 2019–2021) and investigates the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) among university students in Sharjah, one of the seven sovereign emirates of the UAE. A spoken corpus based on 58 semi-structured interviews is used to examine the use of the discourse markerlike. It has been shown to be a ubiquitous feature of English no longer confined to American English and occurs frequently in the corpus. It doubtlessly is a prominent discourse marker in the type of English spoken among the heterogeneous group of multicultural university students considered here. Although a large individual variation with respect to normalized frequencies oflikecan be observed, none of the social variables (i.e., gender, citizenship, L1, year of birth, number of languages, college, self-assessed proficiency in English, and English usage score) included in the analysis account for this variability. Instead, I argue thatlikeas a discourse marker is part of the English repertoire of all students and appears to be even more frequently used than in other English varieties. This supports previous research arguing for an intensification of language change in ELF contexts as well as high individual variation as a characteristic of multilingual ELF users.

Pragmatic Accommodation Strategies in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) Communication

Accommodation is a natural and prevailing communicative behaviour in social interactions. It has been emphasised as a key factor for successful intercultural communication through English as a lingua franca (ELF). The aim of this study was to explore how accommodation might operate in ELF communication, focusing on convergent pragmatic strategies for efficient and cooperative interactions. The data were 12 hours of ELF conversations among international students in a UK university. Conversation Analysis (CA) was employed to analyse and identify sequential features of accommodation in ELF. Findings showed that participants frequently used convergent strategies such as echoing repetition, lexical replacement, and code-switching. The major purposes of convergent accommodation were mutual understanding and collaboration. For shared comprehension, speakers modified their speech to adapt to interlocutors’ linguistic capacity and cultural expectations and to be more comprehensible. The desire for mutual understanding was closely intertwined with collaboration, which showed alignment and built rapport. For successful ELF interactions, ELF speakers need to understand the pragmatic role of accommodation and use convergent and adaptive strategies to enhance flexibility and facilitate communication in ELF contexts.

Pronunciation in course books: English as a lingua franca perspective

Abstract In recent decades there has been a growing interest in the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF), for example identifying the lingua franca core (LFC), or pronunciation features important for intelligibility in ELF contexts. While some analyses of course books (CBs) have shown ELF research findings are not yet reflected in these materials, few studies have focused specifically on pronunciation in CBs, and none from an ELF perspective. Consequently, this study analysed to what extent pronunciation syllabi of six globally published CBs follow the LFC, and what beliefs informed the CB authors’ choice of pronunciation features. The results show that LFC features represent only between 5 and 33 per cent of the pronunciation syllabi. While most authors were aware of the LFC and eager to focus on intelligibility, they either did not think it was important to follow the LFC or could not do so due to publisher’s demands.

The use of gesture, gesture hold, and gaze in trouble-in-talk among multilingual interlocutors in an English as a lingua franca context

This study examines how multilingual interlocutors jointly work on trouble-in-talk—searching for words and formulating what to say—and advance this interactional work by incorporating gestures, gesture holds, and other embodied actions (e.g., gaze) in the context of English as a lingua franca (ELF). Employing a multimodal conversation analytic approach, we examine video-recorded interactions of one dyad at a dinner table at an international graduate student dormitory in the United States. We illustrate how gestures, gesture holds, and gaze in particular contribute to distributing the responsibility of working on interactional troubles and constructing intersubjectivity among these interlocutors. This study exemplifies how multimodal analysis can enrich ELF pragmatic research by exhibiting dimensions of multilingual interactions that are accomplished through embodied means, while interactional analysis of multilingual ELF contexts can broaden data sets and offer new insights to the field of conversation analysis (CA). More specifically, multimodal analysis of trouble-in-talk among multilinguals can contribute to CA because interactional practices like searching for what-to-say may be more robustly done among multilinguals than among monolinguals, due to the fact that they frequently encounter troubles that arise in negotiation of various interactional resources, including linguistic and cultural knowledge. Furthermore, multilingual, multicultural interactions like ELF can both (a) elucidate the dynamic negotiation process of epistemic stances of language and content and (b) illuminate the complex ways that the epistemic imbalances among interlocutors influence interactions.

Capacity to handle complexity – The importance of contextual awareness in healthcare communication in English as a lingua franca

Hungarian healthcare providers – as most of their colleagues around the world – engage in interaction with foreign patients, whom they do not share a mother tongue with, in English as a lingua franca (ELF) most of the time. These communicative situations pose great challenges to healthcare providers, as they have to be capable of adjusting their language use to their patients’ cognitive, linguistic and communicative-pragmatic schemata which often differ from their own. In order to develop such a capacity, ESP classes must focus on improving health science students’ awareness in exploring various ELF contexts which form ground for making informed decisions on the use of terminology. The present research aims at showing the complex dynamic nature of these ELF contexts based on empirical data collected via interviews with Hungarian healthcare providers who have extended experience in working with patients in international environments. The results can inform the everyday practice of ESP teachers in the field of the health sciences.

Email requests in an ELF academic setting

Abstract Email messages have become the prevalent medium in academic communication between students and faculty at Hungarian universities. Over the past decade communication with international students of diverse language and cultural backgrounds has made the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) typical in a previously culturally homogeneous setting. This paper analyzes email requests written by international students of various first language (L1) backgrounds (N = 37). The aim is to characterize requests in terms of directness, strategy use, request modification, address forms and closings. Findings shed light on three salient features of ELF requests: an overall preference for direct strategies, a limited range of internal modifiers, and uses of mostly formal, though not always academic address forms. Given the goal-driven nature of ELF interactions, the paper argues that these characteristics may serve as pragmatic strategies to preempt misunderstanding and to enhance intelligibility. Furthermore, interactants’ wish to express identity and their engagement in constructing new norms specific to their unique ELF contexts may also underlie their pragmalinguistic choices.

Language learning and learning strategy use in international university students’ English as a lingua franca communication

English as a lingua franca (ELF) has received wide interest in the past decades from researchers, teachers, and users of English in general. The present study investigates whether or not speakers of English approach ELF contexts not only as contexts for communication, but also as contexts for language learning. Interview data was collected from 12 international university students in Czechia and Hungary to explore if indeed they believe they are using ELF communication for their own language learning, and if so, what learning strategies they use. Results show that these English speakers are indeed learning in these contexts and employ a variety of strategies to do so. Implications for how secondary school English language instruction might prepare students for learning while using English as a lingua franca are discussed

Investigation into Tense-Aspect Patterns of Chinese ELF Academic Writing—a Variationist’s Approach

English as a lingua franca (ELF) has become a crucial research topic in language teaching in the past decade. The rise of ELF has also influenced teaching practices in academic settings. From the perspective of English worldwide, the exponential growth of Chinese speakers of English and the characteristics of their English use are part of a phenomenon that needs to be paid attention to. The present study investigated the pattern of variation of one morphosyntactic feature, past tense unmarking in ELF academic writing among Chinese speakers of English. By adopting variable rule (VARBRUL) analysis, the researcher attempted to include linguistic and extralinguistic factors and generate a parsimonious model of past tense unmarking variation. The findings revealed that phonetic saliency and lexical aspect were the significant factor groups. Specifically, copulas, regular verbs, and non-state verbs could predict the uses of past tense unmarking. However, genres did not contribute to the variation. The results thus indicated that the variants were governed by universal linguistic constraints such as phonetic saliency and lexical aspect. Therefore, the variant uses can be viewed as natural and legitimate. The findings also have some pedagogical implications for assessment and ELF awareness raising pertaining to teaching in ELF contexts.

Beyond intelligibility: ‘Transintelligibility’ phenomena in English as a Lingua Franca interactions

Through conversation analysis, this study analyzes the negotiation of pronunciation in English as a lingua franca (ELF) contexts among students at a Japanese university. Previous research has demonstrated that interactants in ELF contexts can repair segmental pronunciation so that they can maintain mutually intelligible pronunciation in situ (e.g., Matsumoto 2011; O'Neal 2015). The present study nevertheless claims that the phonetic negotiation of pronunciation in ELF interactions can at times go beyond the goal of restoring or maintaining mutually intelligible pronunciation. That is, phonetic negotiations can continue in ELF interactions even after the restoration or maintenance of mutual intelligibility is achieved. Although most ELF phonology studies (e.g., Deterding, 2013; Jenkins, 2000) have hitherto focused on the issue of intelligibility, interactants in ELF contexts might also orient to states beyond the maintenance of mutual intelligibility as an interactional goal. Namely, ‘transintelligibility’, or the negotiation of individually favored ways of pronouncing, can be an alternative aim of phonetic negotiations in ELF interactions. Based on the analysis, this study provides pedagogical implications regarding how to negotiate pronunciations for English language users in intercultural communication.

Functions of laughter in English-as-a-lingua-franca classroom interactions: a multimodal ensemble of verbal and nonverbal interactional resources at miscommunication moments

AbstractThis study qualitatively examines possible communicative functions of laughter in English-as-a-lingua-franca (ELF) interactional contexts. It particularly focuses on the sequences when students and their instructors deal with miscommunication in multilingual writing classrooms at a US university. Adapting perspectives from the multimodal turn, I conceive of laughter as part of the diverse multimodal interactional resources that speakers in ELF contexts can coordinate with speech and other nonverbal, embodied actions (e.g. smile and body orientation), but that are distinct resources from speech. Combining sequential, multimodal analysis with ethnographic information, the data analysis reveals that laughter can have various functions in ELF classroom interactions at miscommunication moments. Laughter often subtly signals nonunderstanding, which can then lead to interactional repair. Other possible functions of laughter include pre-empting miscommunication by marking a speaker’s problem related to vocabulary; teasing specific interlocutor(s); and building solidarity through shared laughter. Based on the analysis in this article, it can be argued that laughter may in fact be counterproductive in resolving misunderstanding in ELF classroom interactions due to its ambiguous, implicit nature. Findings suggest that ELF researchers benefit from developing a multimodal orientation by integrating nonverbal interactional resources into their discourse analyses in order to examine interlocutors’ complex communicative strategies in a way that meaningfully coordinates various semiotic modes such as laughter and smile. Such an approach would provide a more robust conceptualization of communicative competence or practice of interlocutors in ELF contexts.

Exploring language identities in English as a lingua franca communication: experiences of bilingual university students in Hong Kong

ABSTRACTThis paper reports on a qualitative inquiry into language identities in English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication from the perspectives of a group of Chinese-English bilingual students at a Hong Kong university. Using eighteen university students’ narratives of their lived experiences in ELF communication, the study revealed that the students oriented to multiple language identities closely associated with their self-perceived proficiency of English in their communication experiences. It was found that they acknowledged the co-existence of their dual identities as language users and language learners in ELF communication and made reference to their language expertise by way of explicit orientations to their self-ascribed identity as English majors. Furthermore, the students constructed and negotiated their language identities differently in relation to their interlocutors who were defined in terms of the native/non-native dichotomy. Taken together, the findings point to the multiple and variable nature of language identities that are implicated in ELF communication experiences and demonstrate the role of language ideologies in mediating language identities in ELF contexts. The paper also calls for more nuanced understandings of bilingual individuals’ own – or emic – perspectives on their language identities in ELF communication.

ELF Users’ Perceptions of Their ‘non-nativeness’ in Digital Communication Through English: Falling Short of the Target?

In the past years, the unprecedented use of English as a shared language of communication has sparked academic interest in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). One of the main tenets of ELF studies, in the deconstruction of the persisting dichotomy between ‘nativeness’ and ‘non-nativeness’, is a perspective on non-normative forms that does not consider them ‘errors’ or ‘failures’ in comparison to native (Standard) norms. Rather, these forms may occur as the result of meaning-negotiation strategies, or as expressions of identity. However, ELF users appear to show a certain level of self-consciousness when communicating in ELF contexts, often pre-empting potential deviant uses of the language by apologizing for their ‘non-native’ English - or by flagging what they perceive as marked linguistic choices. Indeed, bilingual speakers of English are still traditionally characterized by their non-nativeness as ‘deficient’ language users, where their identity as (permanent) learners is foregrounded within a ‘comparative fallacy’ (Cook 1999) paradigm, that is also projected on language use. This paper explores ELF users' perceptions of their ‘non-native’ use of the language in digital contexts. Such perceptions will be investigated, through a mainly qualitative approach, with data drawn from the Sketch Engine EnTenTen corpus (2013v2), comprising almost 23 billion tokens of web data.

English as a lingua franca in the Asian context

The global phenomenon of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has gained a great deal of attention among applied linguists in recent years. With English serving an increasingly important role as a lingua franca in the Asian context, this special issue aims to explore ELF in Asia through the lens of identity. It critically explores issues and concerns surrounding ELF and identity formation from an Asian perspective by investigating ELF communication involving Asian speakers of English and examining their voices and experiences which have been under-represented in the ELF literature. Building upon a small but growing body of literature on ELF and identity, this special issue brings together articles that examine different aspects of identity formation in ELF communication in several Asian contexts, addressing an array of issues including how identities are constructed and negotiated in lingua franca settings and how different aspects of identities are shaped by linguistic and socio-cultural norms of various ELF contexts and by complex interactions of power relations, language attitudes and ideologies.

Promoting Cooperativeness Through Utterance Completion in English as a Lingua Franca

As ELF (English as a lingua franca) communication takes place among speakers from a wide range of linguistic and socio-cultural backgrounds, hybridity and variability are a common nature of ELF. Therefore, ELF speakers attempt to reduce the existing differences for facilitating communication and adeptly use convergence strategies to show cooperation and solidarity. This paper aims to explore how cooperation operates in ELF interactions. The study is particularly focused on the strategy of utterance completion, which is one of the effective pragmatic strategies for cooperation. Data findings show that ELF speakers often employed utterance completion when the interlocutor made hesitations or pauses. It is during these occasions utterance completion is accomplished in order to support the interlocutor’s word search moment by supplying the word or phrases the interlocutor is searching for and to facilitate the smooth flow of interaction. Also, connective words such as if or when can facilitate other speakers to predict and co-produce further talk based on the previously provided information. Since linguistic and cultural diversity and decreased predictability are common in ELF contexts, ELF speakers are more likely to cooperate and be mutually supportive to overcome possible comprehension problems and enhance efficiency.

Contextualising a pedagogical model for English‐language education in Hong Kong

ABSTRACTA major controversy in the fields of World Englishes (WE) and English as a lingua franca (ELF) has been the application of exonormative Inner Circle norms to ELT classrooms in diverse multilingual societies. This article seeks to examine the suitability of adopting a WE and/or an ELF‐oriented pedagogical model, as well as the corresponding research findings, in Hong Kong's ELT classroom. More specifically, the study investigated the use of English by the local professionals and, furthermore, evaluated the comparability of Hong Kong's sociolinguistic reality to typical WE and ELF contexts via a structured questionnaire survey and semi‐structured interviews.

Pronunciation and Comprehension in English as a Lingua Franca Communication: Effect of L1 Influence in International Aviation Communication

This article explores the issues of pronunciation and comprehension in the English as a lingua franca (ELF) context of pilot–air traffic controller radiotelephony communication, and how these are handled in the proficiency rating scale globally used to assess pilots and air traffic controllers engaging in international flight and air traffic control. Based on an analysis of live radiotelephony discourse, feedback from aviation experts on sources of miscommunication, and an investigation of the phonetic features of key turns in the discourse, we present results indicating that L1-influenced pronunciation is one of the major factors causing miscommunication on the part of the speaker, together with unfamiliarity with the pronunciation on the part of the listener. Findings also suggest the descriptors for the Pronunciation and Comprehension criteria in the rating scale do not reflect the ways language users deal with these matters in their work. This study therefore argues that a new conceptualization of proficiency is needed for taking up the real matters in the assessment of ELF in the aviation context and other ELF contexts at large.

ESL University Students’ Perceptions of Their Global Identities in English as a Lingua Franca Communication: A Case Study at an International University in Hong Kong

This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative study which investigated a group of English as a second language (ESL) university students’ perceptions of their global identities in intercultural English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication at an international university in Hong Kong. Drawing on data collected via in-depth interviews and elicited journals, the paper found that these students shared a number of similarities in how they perceived and characterized their global identities in ELF contexts on campus. The analysis revealed that the expression of their global identities involved not only identification with the wider global community, but also acceptance of linguistic variation in the global use of English, display of communicative competence to ensure mutual understanding in lingua franca communication, and positive orientations toward hybrid linguistic practices in ELF settings. The findings reported in this paper will contribute to our understanding of the linguistic and cultural dimensions in the expression of global identities among ESL university students in ELF communication.