Academic rigour in criticising English as a Lingua Franca

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
In the relatively few years since empirical research into English as a Lingua Franca began being conducted more widely, the field has developed and expanded remarkably, and in myriad ways. In particular, researchers have explored ELF from the perspective of a range of linguistic levels and in an ever-increasing number of sociolinguistic contexts, as well as its synergies with the field of Intercultural Communication and its meaning for the fields of Second Language Acquisition and English as a Foreign Language. The original orientation to ELF communication focused heavily, if not exclusively, on form. In light of increasing empirical evidence, this gave way some years later to an understanding that it is the processes underlying these forms that are paramount, and hence to a focus on ELF users and ELF as social practice. It is argued in this article, however, that ELF is in need of further retheorisation in respect of its essentially multilingual nature: a nature that has always been present in ELF theory and empirical work, but which, I believe, has not so far been sufficiently foregrounded. This article therefore attempts to redress the balance by taking ELF theorisation a small step further in its evolution.
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Repositioning English and multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> With reference to two recent doctoral research projects on ELF, the present article examines the characterisation of language attitudes as either stable or variable evaluative phenomena, and provides a detailed account of methodological practices that may be favoured from each ontological position. The durability of language attitudes is more specifically conceptualised as a stable (but not enduring) construct directed to a linguistic phenomenon in one thesis, and as variable and emergent forms of evaluative social practice around a language-related issue in the other. With these two different approaches in conversation, the authors consider the extent to which stability and variability of language attitudes may be two sides of the same coin, and question whether it is safe to assume a priori the inferability of stable language attitudes from the observation of evaluative practice. This article evidences the need for ELF researchers working in this area to contemplate what and how it is being researched in the name of language attitudes while having awareness of possible alternatives in any given study.</abstract>

Exploring language attitudes in ELF research: Contrasting approaches in conversation

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>With the spread of English around the world and the recognition of English as a lingua franca (ELF), a large number of studies have investigated the attitudes of learners towards different varieties of English as well as their related accents. However, this attitude towards L1 accented English within the context of Iran has not been explored yet. Thus, the present study ecologically investigated the attitudes of Iranian English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners towards their L1-accented English based on <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_eip-2017-0001_ref_010_w2aab2b8b1b1b7b1ab1ac10Aa">Bronfenbrenner’s (1993)</xref> nested ecosystems model consisting of micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-systems. To do this, a triangulation of data collection using an attitudinal questionnaire distributed among 157 respondents (118 female and 39 male) and semi-structured interviews with 60 participants (38 female and 22 male) were collected. The findings indicated a dominant emerging pattern of preference for native-like accent within the ecology of Iran along with the acknowledgement of L1 accented English. Maintaining linguistic security and self-confidence as well as teachers’ role and materials used within the microsystem of the class, learners’ background experiences within the mesosystem, policies of English language institutes at the exosystem, and the public view towards accent at the macrosystem contributed to the emerging pattern of preference for native-like accent within the context of Iran.</abstract>

Iranian English Language Learners’ Attitude towards their Accent in English Language: An Ecological Approach

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The flourishing research being published in the Global Englishes paradigm is increasing awareness of how English is used as a global lingua franca in international contexts. Such research has a number of implications for the English Language Teaching (ELT) industry, particularly in Expanding Circle countries, such as Japan where English is no longer being learnt as a mere ‘foreign’ language. However, the Native English Speaker (NES) episteme continues to dominate and, despite increasing calls for curriculum change, including the employment of more Non-native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) or Multilingual English Teachers (METs), NESs continue to fill teaching positions worldwide, perpetuating stereotypes about ‘correct’ and ‘standard’ English. The current study investigates the implementation of curriculum change at the practical level, aiming to investigate the experiences of NNESTs teaching outside of their home context in Japan. Despite calls for the employment of such teachers, who may serve as better role models for students than a monolingual NES, little research has been conducted with NNESTs teaching outside of their home countries. This study aims to fill this gap. It is part of a larger study, which includes longitudinal data collection with several participants in different countries (n=20), including practicing and pre-service teachers, via interviews, diaries and focus groups. This article reports the first interview documenting the experience of one multilingual NNEST in Japan, who has been forced to take on a ‘fake American’ identity. This single narrative provides insights into the experience of this teacher, highlighting the number of obstacles to implementing curriculum reform in the Japanese context. It provides preliminary insights into the identity of METs and the strategies they employ to maintain authority and legitimacy in the classroom. </abstract>

“I get paid for my American accent”: the story of one Multilingual English Teacher (MET) in Japan

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The purpose of this study, conducted as a follow-up study of Oshima (2020), was to examine whether Japanese EFL students’ use of vocabulary changed after being given lessons on explicit instruction on text structure and process writing. Two groups of college students—the beginner-level group writing a descriptive essay and the advanced-level group writing an argumentative essay—wrote an outline, the first draft (D1), the second draft (D2), and the final draft (FD), and I examined the differences in lexical richness between students’ D1 and FD with New Word Level Checker (Mizumoto, 2021). The results showed that both groups’ drafts had changed in the number of words used (tokens), the number of unique words used (types), and the number of lower frequency words used. This study’s finding also supports the importance of choosing an appropriate measurement to analyze students’ vocabulary levels. For Japanese students, 1K-word bands, which have been widely used in previous literature, seem too broad to capture their small vocabulary improvement.
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Vocabulary Change in Process Writing: Effect of Text Structure Instruction

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
As the world’s premier lingua franca, English plays an instrumental role in global communication and cultural exchanges. Given that an individual’s English pronunciation is closely tied to their cultural and national identity, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) emphasizes intelligibility as the primary criterion to gauge pronunciation success. This paper investigates the interplay between ELF, globalization, and interculturality, with particular attention on how technology facilitates the teaching of English pronunciation in ELF scenarios. It provides an in-depth qualitative analysis of educators’ perceptions on the role of technology as an enabler or inhibitor in teaching ELF pronunciation. The research affirms that teachers’ beliefs are consistent with the existing literature. The study concludes that state-of-the-art technology should be leveraged in ELF pronunciation instruction, provided it enhances intelligibility and avoids excessively discouraging learners whose pronunciation diverges from native norms.
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The use of technology in teaching ELF pronunciation: a help or a hinderance?

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This study investigates intercultural phenomena in the process of recognizing cultural boundaries in online English as a lingua franca (ELF) video conferencing-based interactions. The recorded interactions between 20 conversational pairs were analyzed by adopting conversation analysis as an analytic framework. The participants’ intercultural perspectives are demonstrated through the action sequence of verifying the recipient’s knowledge status, informing, and complimenting, which are built by adopting category relevant knowledge of the cultural backgrounds of the recipients. The findings thus suggest that the participants employ knowledge of their own cultural repertoire in exchanges with unfamiliar cultural values as they navigate boundaries based on practical reasoning. More specifically, the participants categorize one another and use their procedural knowledge about familiar cultural practices of their own and the other’s country while displaying one’s affiliation to the recipients. This study concludes that ELF speakers’ experiences of navigating boundaries during first encounters are organized according to the method they use to negotiate and accommodate their cultural affinity, which is significant as it confirms that these practices are shared beyond a particular cultural domain.
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Navigating Boundaries through Knowledge: Intercultural Phenomena in ELF Interactions

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
English use in many short-term study abroad (STSA) contexts is often more fluid than in its common representation in language education. Based on such representation, students may develop perspectives towards effective language use as fixed on standard norms. Experiences of communication during STSA may help students form new perspectives towards English use, linked to Global Englishes (GE), which accounts for the fluidity of English use in global communication contexts. The formation of new perspectives may be evident in GE understandings, i.e., pluralistic over monolithic awareness of English, recognition of linguistic diversity among English users, acceptance of variability in English language use, and recognition of the role of English as lingua franca (ELF). This qualitative interview study investigated the development of GE awareness among 15 Japanese university students participating in different STSA. Semi-structured interviews were conducted pre-sojourn, post-sojourn, and six months later. A thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that while perspectives towards learning remained focused on standard norms, new GE awareness and practices emerged following social contact with other international students in linguistically and culturally diverse settings. The paper argues that the learning potential of multilingual and multicultural STSA experiences should be emphasised over “target” language focus on standard language norms.
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Short-Term Study Abroad: Developing Global Englishes Awareness

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
It has been argued that prosodic features (e.g. stress, rhythm, or intonation) contribute significantly to production and comprehension among speakers of English. While it is easy to come across studies that focus on these features in native Englishes, the same cannot be said of Englishes outside native speaker contexts, especially regarding rhythm in academic discourse, although such results greatly enhance our understanding of this prosodic phenomenon. This study examined rhythm in academic Ghanaian English, using Liberman and Prince's (1977) Metrical Phonology theory. Lessons were recorded from 24 lecturers in a public university in Ghana and analyzed using the computerized speech laboratory (CSL). Cues measured were duration, pitch, and amplitude to help determine the rhythmic patterns of these lecturers. The results suggest that the rhythmic patterns produced bear similarities as well as differences with those produced by inner circle speakers. The preponderance of rhythmic patterns of strong-strong and weak- strong or strong-weak syllables in certain words presented exceptions to the theory. Based on this, it is argued that Ghanaian English appears to be a more syllable-based than a stressed-based variety, and so teachers might consider using a variety local and familiar to students in order to achieve intelligibility.
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Speech Rhythm in Ghanaian English: An Analysis of Classroom Presentations

<abstract>
<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The research field of English as a lingua franca (ELF) is concerned with global communication among English users, in which English is most often a part, not the whole, of their communicative repertoires. The notion of English as a multilingua franca (EMF) repositions English within multilingualism to foreground multilingual situations, influences, and practices inherent in global encounters (Jenkins, 2015). This paper attempts to further the theoretical development of EMF in light of the theories du jour in applied linguistics, namely the ‘trans-’ theories of translanguaging and transmodal, transcultural communication. A review and integration of literature on these areas makes clear more similarities than differences between EMF and ‘trans-’ theories, which together highlight the limited role of any named language, mode, or culture in both online and offline interactions at a global scale. It is hoped that beyond any ideologically fixed construct, future research in the ELF field explores how English users collaboratively (or uncollaboratively) take advantage of wider multilingual, multimodal, and multicultural resources while engaging in translingual, transmodal, and transcultural practices.
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English as a Multilingua Franca and ‘Trans-’ Theories

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>English for Academic Purposes (EAP) is an established domain of research, teaching, and assessment within additional/second language education. In this article we examine the conceptualisation of English that underpins much of its current thinking and pedagogic practice, and raise questions of validity and claims of ‘fit-for-purpose’. In particular we explore issues underpinning EAP assessment and argue that there is a need to reconceptualise the basis of the language model. We propose that given the complex and changing practices in academic communication, there is a good case for broadening the established understanding of Academic English to better reflect target language use. The principles and arguments underlying this discussion are relevant to assessment as well as to EAP more broadly.</abstract>

English for Academic Purposes: A need for remodelling

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>English as a global contact language has been conceptualised as (1) geo-localised Englishes, (2) English similects, and (3) transcultural multi-lingua franca. Although taking a simplified and reified approach, the first framework of geo-localised Englishes has contributed to raising awareness of global diversity in English use and corresponding innovative classroom practices. Meanwhile, the second framework of English similects has taken a lingua franca approach between different first-language (L1) users, and provided insight into omnipresent multilingualism across interactants beyond particular speech communities. However, from a complexity theory perspective, geo-local communities and interactants’ L1s are just among many complex social systems, and thus neither the first nor the second framework is capable of fully explaining what emerges from communication through the language in question. The third framework of transcultural multi-lingua franca seeks to comprehend the full range of multilingualism, or broadly conceptualised translanguaging with multiple ‘languages’, which emerges across individuals, time and space. It also takes notice of both the border-transgressing nature of culture and the possible transience of salient cultural categories in global communication. Furthermore, this last framework suggests that English language education in the 21st century take a multilingual, transcultural and post-normative turn.</abstract>

Conceptualising English as a global contact language

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The recent development of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has encouraged language policy makers and educators to view the English language and ELT from an alternative but critical perspective that challenges some language ideologies, such as standard language and linguistic imperialism. Current ELT practices seem to neglect the trend towards the development of the global status of English. In addition, ELT is still largely native-oriented and less ELF-oriented. A Chinese university is the context of this case study. From an ELF perspective, this paper addresses some ELT issues, particularly with regard to teaching pronunciation, through the analysis of two documents and a discussion of the student participants’ interview comments. It is argued that current pronunciation teaching is still native-oriented and based on the English as a foreign language (EFL) perspective. The ELF concept is emergent and has not been fully recognised. This paper proposes a teaching approach called Teaching of Pronunciation for Intercultural Communication (ToPIC), which suggests ELF-informed pronunciation teaching strategies for intercultural communication in relation to students’ wider language-use goals in the conclusion.</abstract>

‘Mind your Local Accent’ Does accent training resonate to college students’ English use?

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Englishes in Practice

 Englishes in Practice (Online ISSN: 2049-7156) Having been initiated by the University of Southampton’s Centre for Global Englishes in 2014, Englishes in Practice is...

 Englishes in Practice (Online ISSN: 2049-7156) Having been initiated by the University of Southampton’s Centre for Global Englishes...

Englishes in Practice

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