English as a Lingua Franca
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Transcript English as a Lingua Franca
English as a Lingua Franca
Dr Alessia Cogo
University of Southampton
In this session
We conceptualize the spread of English
in the world (Kachru’s model)
We explore the phenomenon of English
as a Lingua Franca
Kachru’s model
Kachru (1992: 356)
Most useful and influential model
World Englishes divided into three concentric
circles:
1 Inner Circle: ENL countries, ‘norm-providing’
2 Outer Circle: ESL countries, ‘norm-developing’
3 Expanding Circle: EFL countries, ‘normdependent’
Speakers of English as a
Lingua Franca (ELF)
It has been estimated
(conservatively) that there are as
many as 2 billion speakers of English
as a second language or lingua
franca worldwide today.
(Crystal, 2008)
What is ELF?
ELF constitutes a common means of
communication for speakers of different
first languages.
ELF is currently the most common use of
English world-wide. Millions of speakers
from diverse cultural and linguistic
backgrounds use ELF on a daily basis,
routinely and successfully, in their
professional, academic and personal lives.
www.univie.ac.at/voice
ELF speakers
Gnutzmann (2000:358) ‘when used as a lingua
franca English is no longer founded on the
linguistic and sociocultural norms of native English
speakers and their respective countries and
cultures’
ELF speakers are multilingual speakers and they
draw on their multilingual repertoire in ELF
communication
Therefore it is the multilingual context which is key
for understanding and researching ELF.
ELF speakers
ELF speakers = multilingual speakers
intercultural speakers: ‘one might consider
their performance as a “third way”, a
crossing of borders, as a sign of a hybrid
culture in operation’ (House 2007:17)
‘third spaces offer opportunities to be
creative’ (Kelly 2009:15)
Symbolic competence: “Social actors in
multilingual settings […] seem to display a
particularly acute ability to play with various
linguistic codes and with the various spatial
and temporal resonances of these codes”
(Kramsch & Whiteside 2008:664).
ELF: what it is
ELF as a useful medium of communication
ELF is not dependent on the norms of the inner
circle countries
ELF is not necessarily geographically located
ACTIVITY
Discuss your experience of English as a Lingua
Franca.
Have you ever experienced communication with
other non-native speakers of English? Where?
Who were the people involved?
What have you noticed about the way they
speak?
ELF: pronunciation
Different accents used in ELF
general attitude of acceptance of
difference
phenomenon of ACCOMMODATION
ELF: lexico-grammar
use of third person present tense -0
interchangeability of the relative
pronouns who and which
interchangeability of definite and
indefinite articles
Different use of prepositions eg. Study
about / discuss about
ELF: pragmatics
Increase expliciteness
Use of translation strategies
Use of multilingual resources
Use of repetition and paraphrasing
Resources:
Reading to get you started…
Cogo, A. 2010. Strategic use and perceptions of English as
a Lingua Franca. Poznań Studies in Contemporary
Linguistics. 46/3: 295-312. Available online at Versitas.
Seidlhofer, B. 2005. “English as a lingua franca.” ELT
Journal 59: 4, 339-340. Freely available online on ELTJ
website.
Others:
Jenkins, J. 2007. English as a Lingua Franca: Attitudes and
Identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Seidlhofer, B. 2011. Understanding English as a Lingua
Franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mauranen, A.; Ranta, E. (Eds.). 2009. English as a lingua
franca: Studies and findings. Newcastle upon Tyne:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Resources:
Archibald, A.; Cogo, A.; Jenkins, J. (Eds.). 2011.
Latest trends in ELF research. Newcastle on Tyne:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Jenkins, J., Cogo, A. and Dewey, M. 2011. Review
of developments in research into English as a
lingua franca. Language Teaching, 44.3, 281–315
Websites:
ELFA website.
http://www.helsinki.fi/englanti/elfa/elfacorpus.ht
ml.
CGE website www.southampton.ac.uk/cge/
VOICE website. www.univie.ac.at/voice