• Overview
• Research Platforms
• Thematic Area A: Language, Identity and Culture
• Thematic Area B: Language Policy and Planning
• Thematic Area C: Multilingualism and Education
• WP 7a: Learning, use and perceptions of English as a Lingua Franca communication in European contexts
• WP 8a: In search of multi-competence: Exploring language use and language values among multilingual immigrant students
• WP 9a: Language use and language values in minority school settings
• Thematic Area D: Language and Economy
• Communication, Management, Infrastructure, Training and Gender

WP 7a: Learning, use and perceptions of English as a Lingua Franca communication in European contexts

Summary Results

How Non-Native Speakers of English Communicate Effectively

In situations where non-native speakers of English mainly communicate with other non-native speakers of English, they use English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). ELF speakers effectively use a number of strategies for communication and learning, which make them successful communicators.
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Rationale

With the spread of English in Europe and its increasing use as the default European lingua franca, it is essential to find out more about how non-native speakers learn English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) through informal contact at a time when it is not currently available in formal teaching contexts, about the ways in which features of ELF are developing in these kinds of informal multilingual communication contexts, and about non-native and native English speakers' perceptions of what constitutes effective ELF communication.

The first and second points concern the fact that not only is the learning and development of ELF closely linked to informal contact and non-traditional contexts, but that the features of ELF varieties themselves are developed in such contexts. What is particularly interesting about ELF in this respect is that it is used extensively in higher education as a medium of communication between students of different first languages inside and outside the classroom. While these informal contexts provide a very different learning environment than the traditional classroom, most research hitherto has focused on traditional contexts where native language norms are the explicit goal of formal instruction. By abandoning an interlanguage perspective, the study of non-native interaction through ELF can shed light on multicompetence not only in terms of the acquisition and knowledge of the formal features of language, but also in terms of the development of intercultural multilingual communication.

As regards the third point, previous research has explored attitudes towards ELF. What has emerged so far is, on the one hand, a growing recognition of the existence of ELF, but on the other, a reluctance to accept its "legitimacy" as an alternative set of norms to native English norms. Underpinning this reluctance, is an ideological position shared by native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) of English alike, that NSs are more effective communicators than NNSs not only in mother tongue English contexts, but also, paradoxically, in multilingual ELF contexts. Before it will be possible to consider how this ideology can be approached pedagogically, it is important to obtain more information on its source(s) as well as on the extent to which it is complemented by gaps in language awareness, possibly as a result of a lack of multilingualism in the case of English NSs.

These three aspects of the proposed research will together, we believe, yield information that will have important implications for understanding multilingual discourse and for ways of approaching it in terms of learner practice and learner perceptions in language classrooms for both NNSs and NSs of English.

Objective

This WP's first main objective is to document how informal and incidental learning happens in multilingual contexts in higher education, focusing on two areas: the strategies and processes used in the development of the knowledge of language in informal contexts; and the use and development of various pragmatic (mainly communication) strategies, especially that of accommodation, that are regarded as crucial aspects of ELF proficiency. These two areas represent centripetal and centrifugal forces in the case of ELF, with, on the one hand, formal features showing wide variation across users, and on the other hand, speakers' strategies of exploiting "virtual English" and their linguistic repertoires showing similarities across different linguacultural groups of users. Specifically, this part of the project will address the documentation of strategies and processes used in the awareness and development of formal features and the description of communication strategies that are characteristic of effective intercultural communication. The documentation of NNSs learning through interaction with other NNSs will lead to a clearer understanding of how informal learning takes place in a multilingual context in general, while the documentation of communication strategies will lead to a better understanding both of how the use of forms which differ from NS norms may convey meaning (more) effectively, and of what communication skills are required for an effective ELF speaker. Secondly, we will go on to draw conclusions, based on this descriptive work, that potentially have implications for foreign language teaching and learning in a multilingual environment. The second main objective of the WP is to investigate the perceptions (overt beliefs and covert attitudes) of NNS and NS English speakers in Europe as to what constitutes effective ELF communication and who are effective oral communicators in ELF contexts. The aim here will be to find out the extent to which European NNSs and NSs of English link effective communication with "correctness" according to NS English norms, and the extent to which they are aware of the role of pragmatic skills such as code switching and accommodation strategies in intelligible speech and effective listening. As the employing of such skills tends to result in language forms that differ from those typically associated with NS English correctness, the findings will reveal how far perceptions of correctness colour perceptions of effectiveness. This will also involve investigating whether and how the widespread lack of second language learning and multilingualism of UK English NSs affects their awareness of and ability to communicate in ELF.

Description of work

This project builds on work that has been done in WP7 during the first 18 months of LINEE. Research methods to be used are as follow. In the case of the first objective, the project follows the modern tradition which claims that interaction in a second language provides occasions when learners' attention is explicitly drawn to particular forms. The importance of attention in SLA is by now a well-discussed point and our study will look for evidence of participants' attention having been drawn to particular linguistic forms.

As regards the second part of the first main objective, the ELF conversational context that provides opportunity for awareness and learning of particular forms is first and foremost a special context in which communication shows features that differentiate it from NS conversations, and from conversations between NSs and NNSs. Our project will look at descriptions of ELF conversation and, among other things, will seek to examine how speakers negotiate meaning and thus achieve communicative effectiveness through drawing on multilingual and virtual resources. For this part of the research, we will continue with groups of Erasmus students similar to those who participated in our WP7 research in the first 18 months in Szeged and Prague. We will record small groups of these students in group activities that will provide a comparable context in which to investigate interaction, learning, and communication. Retrospective interviews concerning these activities will also be carried out.

The second objective, building on the previous research into ELF attitudes, will involve semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with students of English (16-18 age group) in all three partner settings (in the relevant first language), in order to explore perceptions of effective ELF communication and communicators. In the case of the NS English participants, the interviews and focus groups will involve both students who are studying second languages and students who did not study them byond the compulsory age for learning a foreign language in the UK (i.e. 14).

Data collection: Direct observation of informal learning/communication: Szeged and Prague. Semi-structured ethnographic interviews and focus groups exploring perceptions of ELF: Szeged, Prague, and Southampton. Semi-structured ethnographic interviews and focus groups exploring differences between NSs of English: Southampton.

Data analysis: Transcription conventions: All three partners will make use of a single set of conventions that we will devise together based on our own previous research. Observation data: In both settings, this will be analysed according to specific variables (drawing on Cogo 2007 in the case of pragmatic strategies). Coding of (interview and focus group) data: This will be done by hand in line with the group's preference and scholars such as Kvale (1996), who refer to problems with remaining faithful to the data once transcripts have been "butchered". But if we later find a software package that suits all three partners and is Mac-compatible, we may revise this decision.

Gender: Gender will not be built into the research design for the observation research as the focus here will be on naturally occurring data and, by definition, this means that interactions can not be set up artificially. On the other hand, gender will be built into the research design of the interviews and focus groups with, as far as possible, equal numbers of males and females being selected. However, there may be problems finding sufficient numbers of male language learners in the UK setting.

Months 19-24: development of the theoretical framework and research instruments, establishing contacts with participants, and piloting materials. Months 25-30: carrying out of empirical research and development of procedures for data analysis. Months 31-36: analysis of data and completion of the final research report.

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Contacts WP 7a