We begin by considering how the recent phenomenon of English as a Lingua Franca (henceforth ELF) fits in with the older notion of lingua francas in general as well as with older versions of ELF. We then explore the beginnings of ELF in its modern manifestation, including the earliest ELF research, and tackle the thorny issue of defining ELF. After discussing the main locations and domains in which ELF research has been carried out to date, we move on to examining research into three linguistic levels, lexicogrammar, phonology and pragmatics, concluding with a discussion of very recent findings revealing ELF's linguistic fluidity. Next, we discuss research into two domains where ELF has proved especially prevalent: business English and academic English. This is followed by a consideration of ELF as a globalized and globalizing practice. We end the article by exploring the implications of ELF research for ELF-oriented English teaching and the role that attitudes are likely to play in this. We conclude that while the relaxed attitudes towards ELF of younger people are promising, strong resistance is still felt by many others, and that the major challenge remains in convincing the examination boards that they should take account of ELF.
The benefits of embedding the teaching of writing into the curriculum have been advocated by educators and researchers. However, there is currently little evidence of embedded writing instruction in the UK's higher education context. In this article, we present a case study in which we report the design, implementation and evaluation of an academic writing intervention with first-year undergraduate students in an applied linguistics programme. Our objectives were to try a combination of embedded instructional methods and provide an example that can be followed by lecturers across disciplines and institutions. Through the integration of inclass and online writing tasks and assessment feedback in a first-term module, we supported students' writing development throughout the first term. We evaluated the effects of the intervention through the analysis of notes on classroom interaction, a student questionnaire and interviews, and a text analysis of students' writing and the feedback comments over time. The evaluation findings provide insights into the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach. The embedded writing instruction was perceived as useful by both students and teachers. The assessment feedback, whilst being the most work-intensive method for the teachers, was valued most by the students and led to substantial improvements in the writing of some. These findings suggest that embedded writing instruction could be usefully applied in other higher education contexts.
The considerable demographic shift in the use of English worldwide, with the effect that L2 speakers outnumber L1 speakers, particularly as typified in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication, is now widely acknowledged in Applied Linguistics. To a certain extent the resulting impact this has in relation to key issues such as the ownership of English has also been recognised. Description of the linguistic consequences of this shift however is less established, and lingua franca corpora are still in their relatively early stages of development, though growing in momentum. This paper will contribute to the emerging body of work that does report on empirical studies in the field, drawing on two corpora of naturally occurring lingua franca interactions which have been gathered for PhD projects at King's College London. To date reported ELF research projects have tended to focus separately on one or other linguistic system, on phonology (e.g. Jenkins 2000; 2005), and to a lesser extent on pragmatics (e.g. House 1999), and on lexicogrammatical features (cf Seidlhofer 2004). The focus of this paper is to report on findings in both pragmatics and lexicogrammar, and in so doing to identify the interrelationship between the two systems and highlight ways in which they are mutually constitutive. The paper aims to show how pragmatic motives can lead to changes in the lexis and grammar, and in turn how lexicogrammatical innovations impact on pragmatic norms and strategies.
This article explores the link between English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and super-diversity in the multilingual business context of a small IT company,where English is used as a lingua franca and various linguistic resources play an important role in the company practices. The aim of the study is to examine the practices, orientations to and use of ELF and multilingual resources within an ethnographically-oriented approach, with data collected through observations, interviews, focus groups and recordings of naturally-occurring interactions. The findings show that the company's practices are highly multilingual, whereby 'languaging' is a common and positively valued phenomenon. Results also show that ELF is highly collaborative, both in spoken and written communication, and the staff's sociolinguistic repertoire is sensitive to the interlocutors' communicative resources.El inglés como lengua franca y la super-diversidad: un caso de estudio de prácticas multilingüe ELF en un contexto empresarial Resumen Este artículo examina la relación entre el inglés como lengua franca y la s uper-diversidad en el contexto empresarial multilingüe de una pequeña e mpresa de IT donde el inglés está usado como lengua franca y varios recursos lingüísticos juegan un papel fundamental en las prácticas empresariales. El objetivo de este estudio es examinar las prácticas, las orientaciónes y el uso del ELF y de los recursos multilingüe con una metodología orientada a la Brought to you by | HEC Bibliotheque Maryriam ET J. Authenticated Download Date | 6/7/15 8:33 PM 288 Alessia Cogo e tnográfia, con datos recogidos a través de observaciónes, entrevistas, grupos de enfoque y grabaciónes de interacciones. Los resultados indican que las prácticas empresariales son altamente multilingüe, donde el 'languaging' es un fenómeno común y valorado positivamente. Los resultados muestran también que el ELF es altamente collaborativo, tanto en la comunicación oral como en la escrita, y el repertorio sociolinguistico del personal es sensible a los recursos comunicativos de los interlocutores.
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