A Case for Domain-Specific Research into Seafarers’ Use of English as a Lingua Franca

Abstract

Due to ships' crews and offshore personnel being multicultural and multilingual, more than one variety of English is used in communication in ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore and onboard domains. Among these speakers of many Englishes, English is being used as a lingua franca. The use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in this domain is characterized by features of the many varieties of English spoken by the interlocutors as well as characteristics of the native languages of the speakers engaged in ELF. Therefore, the incorporation of both World Englishes (WE) and ELF knowledge into the pedagogy of Maritime English (ME) is crucial. Prior to this inclusion, however, more domain-specific research should be conducted into the use of ELF in maritime contexts in order to understand the manner in which ELF interactions take place among seafarers.

Which English accent is better for international maritime communication? A plenary speech at the 2023 International Conference on Maritime Education

“…What about the maritime professionals' own accents, say Vietnamese English accent or Thai English accent? Dissanayake (2017) argues that in the context such as maritime communication where speakers do not always communicate with native speakers of English in cases of ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore and onboard communications, it is confusing and does not really make sense to teach maritime professionals to speak like L1 speakers of English [5]. If we try to enforce standards or certain features of L1-English varieties, it is counterintuitive because L1 English varieties are not the common English varieties that are used in the maritime industry.…”