English and multilingualism, or English only in a multilingual Europe?

(WP7, 2006–2008)

Summary Results

English as a Lingua Franca Can Promote Learning of Other Languages

Using English as a lingua franca does not necessarily discourage people from learning further languages, and native speakers of English are not necessarily more successful in communicating in multilingual contexts than non-natives.

Rationale

In the context of European linguistic diversity, the ability to understand and communicate in other languages is a basic skill for all citizens of Europe. Recent research in multiple language acquisition and learning as well as intercomprehension studies has widely shown that the learning of more than one foreign language can be encouraged and facilitated by drawing on already existing language competences and linguistic awareness of the speakers. At the same time, the position of English as the most commonly spoken second language in the EU is a well established fact, and its position as a de facto lingua franca seems to be further entrenched even after the accession of the new Member States, which has added a greater variety of languages to the EU. English has long been described as a lingua franca in Europe, and its potentially hegemonic position on the continent has been discussed at length.

Objectives

This WP aims to investigate to what extent recent European teaching practices, what lessons can be learnt from good-practices in multiple language learning, and what can be done in order to stimulate the learning of more than one foreign language. As to the role of English, this WP will seek to address two key issues: (i) what is the role of native speakers of English and their countries of origin in a continent where the influence of their native language is spreading, and (ii) given that in the EU there are more speakers of English as a foreign language than speakers of English as a first language, how far can English as a lingua franca be seen as a variety of English without reference to speakers, native speaker norms and monolingual competence.

Description of work

In this period the following work will be accomplished. First, data collection will be completed by the end of month 14. This includes completing the final school interviews in the Szeged, Hungary, area, and finishing the last of the interviews with native English speakers who are studying in Szeged. Second, the analysis of our data, which has begun already, will continue. We expect to have the initial coding of all of our data completed by the end of month 15. Beginning with month 14 and continuing to month17 we will be working on data analysis. In the final months of this period we will be writing our final report on the overall project where we will integrate the three areas we are researching, English as a lingua franca, the possible role of English in inhibiting the learning of other languages, and the role of native speakers of English in the area.