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, ‘norm-dependent’

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.html.
 CGE website www.southampton.ac.uk/cge/

 VOICE website. www.univie.ac.at/voice