Englishes in Practice· 2015
Repositioning English and multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca
- 761citations
- 2015year
Short summary
English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) research needs to foreground its inherently multilingual nature, moving beyond a form-focused approach to emphasize the social practices of its users.
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Key points
- ELF research has shifted from a focus on linguistic forms to the social practices of users.
- The inherently multilingual nature of ELF has been consistently present but insufficiently foregrounded in theory and research.
- This article calls for a retheorization of ELF to better integrate its multilingual dimensions.
- The evolution of ELF research reflects increasing empirical evidence and a broader understanding of its sociolinguistic contexts.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract 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.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Englishes in Practice, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: Literature and Literary Theory
Literature and Literary TheoryArts and Humanities