Lingue per la comunicazione nell'impresa e nelle organizzazioni internazionali

(1)

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Dipartimento di studi linguistici e culturali

Corso di Laurea Magistrale in

Lingue per la comunicazione nell'impresa e nelle organizzazioni internazionali

ELT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Addressing the issue of teaching English as a lingua franca

ELT: INSEGNAMENTO DELLA LINGUA INGLESE L'insegnamento dell'inglese come lingua franca

Prova finale di:

Alice Bolzonella Relatore:

Franca Poppi

Correlatore

Attilia Piera Lavagno

Anno Accademico 2014/2015

(2)

Learners need to laugh, to be excited, to be exhilarated, to be provoked, to take a position, to empathize, and even to be disturbed, in order to achieve the deep processing required for acquisition.

(Craik and Lockhart 1972)

(3)

ABSTRACT

The present dissertation aims to analyse the phenomenon of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), in the context of English Language Teaching (ELT).

Nowadays non-native speakers of English represent the largest group of English users around the world, outnumbering native English speakers. ELF has then become a proper language used among people for whom English is not the first language in order to enable communication at a global level.

Hence, ELF has grown from a minority interest within applied linguistics to a major field of study in its own right and most recently, some attention has been devoted to its implications for the ELT classroom. As a matter of fact, students learning English in schools in non-English speaking countries need this language not to interact within a specific English speech community, say native speakers of English in Great Britain, but rather to communicate with English users from all over the world. In other words, they need to learn English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and the main goal of teachers should be that of preparing them to function effectively in such international contexts.

The present dissertation will devote special attention to the analysis of the results of a survey which aimed to investigate Italian English teachers’ point of view on ELF by means of a questionnaire.

It is hoped that the present paper will help raise awareness of the usefulness and benefits of incorporating such a new paradigm into the actual English teaching pedagogy.

L’obiettivo del presente lavoro è quello di analizzare il fenomeno dell’ Inglese come Lingua Franca (ELF), nel contesto dell’ Insegnamento della Lingua Inglese (ELT).

Oggigiorno, i parlanti non-nativi di inglese rappresentano la più grande comunità di persone che utilizzano questa lingua, superando di gran lunga i madrelingua. L’ELF è quindi diventato una vera e propria lingua ed è usata da persone per le quali l’inglese non è la lingua madre allo scopo di favorire la comunicazione a livello globale.

Di conseguenza, l’ELF, da oggetto di minore interesse da parte della linguistica applicata, è diventato un importante campo di studio a sé stante e più recentemente particolare enfasi è stata posta sulle implicazioni che ciò può avere per l’insegnamento dell’inglese in ambito scolastico.

(4)

Nello specifico, gli studenti che apprendono l’inglese nelle scuole dei paesi non-anglofoni, non usufruiscono della lingua inglese per la comunicazione all’interno di specifiche comunità anglofone, ad esempio per interagire con i parlanti nativi in Gran Bretagna, bensì per comunicare con interlocutori da tutto il mondo. In altri termini, essi necessitano di apprendere l’Inglese come Lingua Franca (ELF) e il principale obiettivo degli insegnanti dovrebbe essere quello di preparare gli studenti a destreggiarsi in modo efficace in contesti internazionali.

La presente tesi si compone di sei capitoli anticipati da un’introduzione, in cui espongo l’origine dell’idea alla base del mio lavoro e seguiti da una conclusione, in cui avanzo i miei suggerimenti personali sul tema. Inoltre, particolare attenzione è stata rivolta all’analisi dei risultati del mio sondaggio, nel capitolo cinque, il cui obiettivo è stato quello di conoscere l’opinione dei docenti italiani che insegnano inglese in merito all’ELF, attraverso la somministrazione di un questionario.

Si auspica che il presente lavoro possa contribuire ad aumentare la consapevolezza dell’utilità e dei benefici che tale nuovo orientamento porterebbe all’attuale prassi dell’insegnamento della lingua inglese.

El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar el fenómeno del Inglés como Lengua Franca (ELF), en el contexto de la Enseñanza del Idioma Inglés (ELT).

Actualmente, los hablantes no-nativos del inglés representan la comunidad de personas más numerosa que emplea dicha lengua, superando con mucho a la de los nativos. El ELF, entonces, ha llegado a ser un verdadero y propio idioma, empleado por personas por las que el inglés no es su idioma materno, con el fin de comunicarse con el resto del mundo.

Por consiguiente, el ELF, de ser un objeto de menor interés por parte de la lingüística aplicada, se ha convertido en un importante campo de estudio independiente y más recientemente, se ha puesto un especial énfasis en las implicaciones que esto puede llevar para la enseñanza del inglés en el ámbito escolar.

De hecho, los estudiantes que aprenden el inglés en las escuelas de los países no anglófonos, no emplean el idioma inglés en comunidades anglófonas específicas, por ejemplo, para interactuar con hablantes nativos de Reino Unido, sino para comunicarse con interlocutores de todo el mundo. En otras palabras, ellos necesitan aprender el Inglés como Lengua Franca (ELF) y el objetivo principal de los profesores debería ser el de formar estudiantes capaces de comunicarse de forma eficaz en contextos internacionales.

La presente tesis se compone de seis capítulos, precedidos por una introducción en la que

(5)

expongo el origen de la idea que es la base de mi trabajo, y finalizados por una conclusión, en la que presento mi punto de vista personal sobre el tema. Además, se ha dedicado una especial atención al análisis de los resultados de mi sondeo en el capítulo cinco, cuyo objetivo ha sido el de conocer a través de un cuestionario, la opinión sobre el ELF de los profesores italianos que dan clases de inglés.

Se espera que el presente trabajo pueda contribuir a aumentar la conciencia de la utilidad y de los beneficios que este nuevo enfoque podría aportar al práctica actual de la enseñanza del idioma inglés.

(6)

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the present study is to examine the emergence of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) as a competing paradigm to the traditional native speaker model of language used in the teaching of English.

At present, English has reached a dominant position of extraordinary proportions and the recognition of incipient change in the status of English has yielded a growing area of research addressing interactions among non-native speakers. Hence, many scholars are therefore questioning the validity of the long-established dichotomy NSs vs NNSs.

This has also lead several scholars and researchers to reconsider the common English teaching practice based on native speakers’ standards, which have for so long been considered the only viable way, and to stress the importance of providing students with ELF insights in order to successfully communicate in cross-cultural encounters.

My interest in investigating whether ELF could be a viable teaching approach has originated from the internship I made in Catania from October 2013 to May 2014 at a private high school. There, I had the opportunity to come into real contact with life in classrooms and acquire knowledge of English language teaching methods.

What surprised me the most was the fact that the English teacher who was my tutor throughout the whole internship did not insist on correcting students’ grammatical or pronunciation “mistakes”, but rather she was more interested in encouraging students to become more self-confident while talking, letting them free to experiment and develop their communication skills. Only in cases in which “mistakes” threatened intelligibility did my tutor correct students.

This resulted in being pretty useful provided that classes were heterogeneous, with some students coming from different countries of Africa and Eastern Europe. Hence, the atmosphere inside classrooms could be compared to an international setting in which students negotiated meaning. As a result, I found the idea of investigating whether ELF practices could be incorporating in ELT extremely stimulating.

The present paper comprises six chapters. The point of departure in chapter one is the description of how English has spread as a medium of international communication all over the world. This is followed by the description of the spread of the world Englishes according to Kachru, McArthur and Modiano’s model.

Furthermore, the chapter will deal with the reasons according to which English has become so widespread as a language. The negative effects of the spread of English will be then

(9)

2

taken into account, according to which English, in some cases, has reduced the role of existing languages leading to their extinction, a phenomenon which is known as “linguistic genocide”.

In chapter two, I will provide the definition of “native speaker” and that of “good English”. As a matter of fact, the imperialism of native speakers has always been based on the assumption that the form of English they use is the correct one, the “good” one and thus is the norm. In this part I will center my discussion on the decline of the native speaker as a model to approximate, as “today it is foolish to accept the construct of native speaker as a model of competence” (McKay 2002:31) due to the fact that the majority of interactions in English take place between non-native speakers.

Chapter three will be concerned with a general overview on English as a Lingua Franca. I will discuss the origins of the term and I will outline the most significant ELF features from a phonological, pragmatical and lexico-grammatical level. Besides, the objective of communicability and intelligibility will be dealt with by providing an example of a successful ELF communication, regardless of grammatical and syntactic deviations. What is more, in chapter three I will focus on the difference between ELF and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and I will describe what Barbara Seidlhofer means with the term

“conceptual gap” when referring to ELF.

Chapter four is devoted to the description of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and the main approaches which emerged in the second half of the 20^th century:

Structuralism/Behaviourism, Rationalism and Cognitive Psychology, Constructivism.

Subsequently, a brief history of English Language Teaching (ELT) is presented with the description of various methods: the Grammar Translation Method (GTM), the Audio- Lingual Method (ALM) and the description of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) as a contemporary approach.

In the following part of the chapter I will describe what is the conventional practice in English language pedagogy supporting Burke’s theoretical framework with examples of exercises taken from coursebooks used in Italian schools for the teaching of English. To this respect, I will deal with the issue of the “anglocentrism of textbooks”, which is still rather rooted, considering the native speaker model as the norm. I will complete the chapter focusing on how the model English teacher should be like today, i.e. a person who teaches the forms of English that will allow students to function effectively in situations which students are most likely to encounter (Sung 2013).

Chapter five will address the issue of teaching ELF. The paper will document the different Englishes which have been proposed as a model for teaching and learning English as a

(10)

3

Lingua Franca. I will also pay attention to the importance of teacher education on the issue of “awareness raising”, according to which teachers should become aware of the current landscape of the English language and reflect it in their programmes, incorporating other realities that students might come across with in their lives. For this reason a paragraph concerning the re-thinking of goals and approaches will serve the purpose, as teachers should provide students with the skills needed in order to face the different cultural and linguistic differences emerging between interactants. “This is the ultimate challenge that ELF teachers have to meet if English language learning is to take concrete strides forward in today’s globalised world” (Mansfield&Poppi 2012:171). Furthermore, the acknowledged variability of ELF has resulted in a dilemma for English language testing and assessment, which are dealt with as “burning issues” in the same chapter.

The most significant part of my dissertation is then dedicated to the analysis of the results of the survey I have carried out in order to have Italian English teachers’ opinion about ELF and the incorporation of ELF in ELT. A discussion and a comment on the results will follow afterwards.

Lastly, chapter six deals with the idea of developing coursebooks with a perspective on ELF in order to help non-native as well as native speakers to familiarize themselves with different cultural and linguistic norms that they may encounter in the communications with speakers from different cultural backgrounds. Moreover, the issue of culture in ELT will be further explored, highlighting the fact that English belongs to any one culture, thus there is a need to enhance cultural sensitivity to the diversity of contexts in which English is used.

In the conclusion, I will consider possibilities and put forward suggestions for a shift in the ELT paradigm to take place. Namely, I see it as a fundamental point of departure that students should be provided with indispensable Standard English structures in order to be able to master the language. Then, teachers should raise students’ awareness on the existence of other Englishes and help them to develop all those strategies which allow them to function well in cross-cultural encounters. To this respect, intercultural awareness must become one of the goals of the new English courses as English will serve to interact with representatives of many different cultures.

(11)

4

(12)

5

CHAPTER ONE: THE ENGLISH SPEAKING COMMUNITY

1.1: The spread of English

The English language has become a global matter. Its uses have expanded to cover anything from the language of international business to the language of tourism and popular culture. It is not only in the domains of business, education and science that English has increased its roles, the presence of English can be felt in all existing media.

Thus, today, “English represents an unparalleled lingua franca, with its enormous functional flexibility” (House 2002:243).

An essential reason for this expansion has been due to the role of non-native speakers. As a matter of fact, English has developed from “the native language of a relatively small island nation” to “the most widely taught, read, and spoken language that the world has ever known” (Kachru and Nelson 2001:9). As Tapia (2010) puts it:

nearly a billion people around the world speak English, which means that more people speak English as a second language than there are native speakers. In Asia, the number of English-users has surpassed 350 million, equal to the number of people who live in countries where English is the dominant language: the United States, Britain and Canada.

(Tapia 2010:1)

Thus, with the total number of native speakers estimated at under 350 million, English is clearly spoken by many more non-native speakers than native speakers.¹

Along with the variety of uses in different fields, non-native speakers have also brought about a variety of Englishes, in the linguistic sense, thus the concept of “World Englishes”

has become increasingly popular, since linguistic diversity is inevitable. As Graddol (2001) points out, “English is now more widely spoken (all over the world) than in many of the former British colonies (...)” (Graddol 2001:47).

The global spread of English can be viewed as two diasporas. The first involved the migration of English speakers to Australia, New Zealand and North America. Whereas, the second, which took place in the colonial context of Asia and Africa, only resulted in the transportation of the language since the transportation of English-speaking people was rather small.

Many models have been devised to describe the spread of Englishes around the world and

1 Non-native to native speaker ratios for English are estimated at anywhere between 2 to 1 and 4 to 1 (Seidlhofer 2002).

(13)

6

the majority of them rely on the assumption that English belongs to native speakers who own it as their mother tongue. In the 1980s, Kachru (1985) launched a useful description of the spread of Englishes by dividing the English-speaking community into three concentric circles: the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle. The Inner Circle includes those English-speaking countries where the language serves as a native language (ENL), UK and Australia. The Outer Circle refers to countries which have experienced periods of colonisation by the British Empire and where the language has thereby been institutionalised. Examples are India and Singapore, where people use English as a second language (ESL). The Expanding Circle, for its part, includes countries where English has no institutional function and is learned as a foreign language (EFL). For instance, in China, Israel, Finland. Accordingly, the English speakers in the Inner Circle were considered

“norm-providers”, English speakers in the Outer circle as “norm-developers” and English speakers in the Expanding Circle as “norm-dependent”.

Figure 1: Kachru's three- circle model (Kachru 1992:356)

Kachru's paradigm gathered great enthusiasm since it drew attention to the existence of several English varieties. Nonetheless, Kachru was later criticized since the model created linguistic conflicts deriving from the fact that a considerable number of speakers was not granted the legitimacy of the “ownership” of the language. In fact, people in the Outer and Expanding circle might use an intelligible form of English, thus, deserving to be placed in

(14)

7

the Inner circle. Then, Kachru revised his earlier model version and replaced the circular concentric circles with ovals, giving more dynamicity to the old model.

Later in the 1980s, McArthur proposed a new circle model of English which has as at its centre the “World Standard English”. Moving outwards, a band of regional varieties including both standard and standardising forms comes next. Beyond these, divided by spokes separating the world into eight regions, there is what McArthur (1998) describes as a “crowded fringe of sub-varieties such as Aboriginal English, Singapore English”

(McArthur 1998:95) and so on.

Figure 2: McArthur's circle of World Englishes (McArthur 1998:45)

A much more recent attempt to take account of developments in the spread of World Englishes is that of Modiano. Modiano breaks completely with historical and geographical concerns and bases his model on what is mutually comprehensible to the majority of proficient speakers of English, be they native or non-native. Modiano's Inner Circle is made up of those who are proficient in international English. Thus, the element of classification was no longer based on birthright, but on the level of proficiency of the speakers.

(15)

8

Figure 3: Modiano's centripetal circles (Modiano 1999:25)

Thus, the ability to use English efficiently in international settings, moved away from a vision of property of the language on the part of native-speakers, therefore the difference between native and non-native speakers resulted in being definitely overcome.

A quarter of a century after the groundbreaking work on the Outer and Expanding Circle, an important contribution in this respect comes from Brutt-Griffler's World Englishes (2002).

Brutt-Griffler provides a more detailed framework for the global spread of English. She identifies four features on the development of English as a global language, which are summarised by Seidlhofer (2004) as follows:

1. econocultural function of the language, which means that World English is the product of the development of an econocultural system, which includes the development of a world market and a global development in the fields of science, culture, media and technology;

2. the transcendence of the role of an élite lingua franca, which refers to the fact that World English is learned by people at various levels of society and not just by the socioeconomic élite;

3. the stabilization of bilingualism through the coexistence of world language with other languages in bilingual/multilingual contexts, which explains the fact that World English tends to establish itself alongside local languages, rather than replacing them, thus contributing to multilingualism rather than jeopardizes it;

4. language change via the process of world language convergence and world language divergence, i.e World English spreads thanks to the fact that many people

(16)

9

learn it rather than by speakers of English migrating to other areas, therefore two processes happen concurrently: new varieties are created and unity in the world language is maintained.^.

Thus, speakers using English as a lingua franca are agents who are contributing to the spread and development of English. They do not only receive it but they contribute to the shaping of the language and the functions it fulfils. As Seidlhofer, Breiteneder and Pitzl (2006) observe: “English is everywhere and we cannot avoid it. This pervasiveness of English in the lives of people in Europe has contributed to their shaping of the language to meet their own needs” (Ibid 2006:3).

Widdowson (1997) has offered a conceptual framework which captures two modes of thinking about “the spread of English”:

… I would argue that English as an International language is not distributed, as a set of established encoded forms, unchanged into different domains of use, but it is spread as a virtual language... When we talk about the spread of English, then, it is not that the conventionally coded forms and meanings are transmitted into different environments and different surroundings, and taken up and used by different groups of people. It is not a matter of the actual language being distributed but of the virtual language being spread and in the process being variously actualized. The distribution of the actual language implies adoption and conformity. The spread of the virtual language implies adaptation and nonconformity. The two processes are quite different. And they are likely to be in conflict. Distribution denies spread.

(Widdowson 1997:139)

As a matter of fact, English today can be defined with regard to the many forms that have spread throughout the world. English is not a mere matter of distribution of norms. Instead, English has spread and developed independently, with a great deal of variations but stable enough to affirm itself as a lingua franca for international communication.

1.2: English as an international language

English has become an international language and Smith (1976) was one of the first who defined the term “international language” by referring to it as “a language which is used by people of different nations to communicate with one another” (Smith 1976:38). Nonetheless, the fact that an international language is widely recognized and widely spoken is not a sufficient condition to define a

(17)

10

language as such. Rather, an international language is not linked to a single culture or nation but “serves both global and local needs as a language of wider communication” (McKay 2002:38). Hence, this definition well suits the role of English today.

Smith (1976) makes important assumptions about the relationship between an international language and culture. As Smith suggests:

 the learners of an international language do not need to internalize the cultural norms of native speakers of that language;

 the ownership of an international language becomes “de-nationalized”;

 the educational goal of learning it is to enable learners to communicate their ideas and culture to others.

These assumptions can be considered valid for the actual use of English in a global and international sense as English is being used by individuals to communicate with people of other countries. Furthermore, this paves the way for an other important concept: users of English as an international language do not need to internalize the cultural norms of Inner Circle countries so as to use the language in an effective way as a medium for communication. Therefore, English is a culture-free language.

As an international language, English is also used in a local sense as well as a mean of communication within multilingual societies. As a matter of fact, English becomes embedded in the culture of the country in which it is used (McKay 2002).

1.3: Reasons for the spread of English

The spread of English is inseparable from globalization (Hüppauf 2004) and the English language has become a lingua franca on such a scale worldwide in response to globalization. In fact, “globalization manifests itself in the increased use of English as a second language world-wide, and in the corresponding decrease of importance of other languages in second language acquisition” (Gardt & Hüppauf 2004:x).

Globalization is the process according to which the world has become and is becoming way more interconnected, where relations across local, regional and global contexts have become more entangled, where flows of language, people and culture are intensified. The primary means by which these flows and networks are established and maintained is through the use of a common “contact language”. As a matter of fact, English is, then, the

(18)

11

primary linguistic channel through which these flows take place. English is part of the texture and infrastructure of globalization. English and globalization have spread hand in hand. “Having a global language has assisted globalization and globalization has consolidated the global language” (Mark Warschauer²).

Globalization is also the force, the “fire” which is either reshaping and redefining the language itself. Therefore, the role of English in global contexts is changing, resulting in forms and uses that diverge from a single standard. Nowadays, communicators have multiple Englishes to combine for different purposes across cultural discourse practices.

This means that English is continually being re-enacted and reinvigorated through the inventiveness of its speakers as they respond to their immediate expressive and communicative needs.

According to Crystal (1997) there are several geographical, historical as well as sociocultural factors which has led to the spread of English around the world. To start with, British and American colonialism as well as the migration of English-speaking people to other places during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were of paramount importance.

In addition, at the beginning of the nineteenth Britain became the world's leading industrial and trading power. As a consequence, the majority of the innovations of the Industrial Revolution were of British origin, which resulted in the emergence of a new terminology for scientific and technical advances. For this reason, those people who wanted to learn these innovations needed to learn English either to understand the new terminology and to talk to investors and manufacturers, who were English-speaking. At the same time, similar developments were taking place in the United States and by the end of the nineteenth century they had overtaken Britain in terms of the fastest growing economy, producing many new inventions. Thus, Crystal provides a summary of the role of English during the nineteenth and the early twentieth as follows:

the story of English throughout this period is one of rapid expansion and diversification, with innovation after innovation coming to use the language as a primary or sole means of expressions. It is not possible to identify cause and effect. So many developments were taking place at the same time that we can only point to the emergence, by the end of the 19^th century, of a climate of largely unspoken opinion which made English the natural choice of progress.

(Crystal 1997:75)

2 Quotation reported by Mydans, S. Monday, April 9, 2007, contained in “Across cultures, English in the world”, The New York Times. Available at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/world/asia/09iht-englede.1.5198685.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

(19)

12

Hence, as Crystal (1997) concludes, one of the main reasons for the spread of English is the fact that English has been at the right time in the right place. As he puts it:

in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries English was the language of the leading colonial nation- Britain. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was the language of the leader of the industrial revolution- also Britain. In the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth it was the language of the leading economic power- the USA. As a result, when new technologies brought new linguistic opportunities, English emerged as a first-rank language in industries which affected all aspects of society- the press, advertising, broadcasting, motion picture, sound recording, transport and communications.

(Crystal 1997:110-111)

To sum up, the migration of English speakers and new technology developed in English- speaking countries played a fundamental role in the initial spread of English. However, it is legitimate to investigate what are the key factors that are supporting the current spread of English nowadays. For this purpose, it is useful to consider the currents uses of English in various economic, intellectual and cultural arenas. McKay (2002) summarizes Crystal's (1997) recollection of the main important ones:

 international organizations: of 12,500 international organizations listed in the 1995- 1997 Union of International Associations' Yearbook, approximately 85 per cent make official use of English;

 motion pictures: in the mid-1990s, the Unites states controlled about 85 per cent of the world film market;

 popular music: of the pop groups listed in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 99 per cent of the groups work entirely or predominantly in English;

 international travel: the Unites States is the leader in tourism earning and spending;

 publications: more books are published in English than in any other language;

 communications: about 80 per cent of the world's electronically stored information is in English;

 education: in many countries English plays a significant role in higher education.

(McKay 2002:16)

(20)

13

As it can be seen from the summary of Crystal's main areas, “English is the key as an international language in a global sense in enabling countries to discuss and negotiate political, social, educational, and economic concerns” (McKay 2002:17). Thus, English is the official language used by the majority of international organizations and some international organizations carry on their proceedings only in English.

English also dominates the motion picture industry. Dollerup (1996) has argued that “the present hegemony of English in Europe is primarily due to the entertainment industry, and only secondarily to war, technological lead, science and political domination (Dollerup 1996:36). Furthermore, the English language dominates popular music. Together with the film industry, these two components have contributed to the development of a global culture, particularly among young people. Nonetheless, it is not the language itself which carries the blame for this supremacy, rather the responsible are the billion dollar film and music industries, many of which are based in the USA and other English-speaking countries. “The fact that so much of popular mass video and music are in English makes the language enticing to many young people, often motivating them to study it” (McKay 2002:18).

Travel and tourism also represent the fuel that nurture the current spread of English. As Graddol (1997) points out, international travel as a globalising effect has promoted the need for a common language and today this language is English. This is testified by the fact that, for example, all international airports have information available in English as well as international hotels have English-speaking staff available.

Furthermore, English plays a significant role in the dissemination and storage of information. More books are being published in English than in any other language. Thus, there is a fundamental need to know English in order to have access and to contribute to printed as well as electronic information. As Rubdy & Saraceni (2004) say, in the twenty- first century the association of English with the information-based economy has rendered the position of English unchallenged.

Finally, as McKay (2002) points out access to higher education is dependent on a knowledge of English in many countries. Even though English may not be the medium of instruction, having reading ability in English is a prerogative in order to access information in a great variety of fields.

Thus, “it is primarily because English is central to such a wide variety of purposes that it has gained global currency” (McKay 2002:18).

(21)

14 1.4: The negative effects of the spread of English

The spread of English has brought about a considerable number of positive effects but negative implications are to mention as well. One of the main negative effects of the spread of English involves the threat to existing languages. It has been argued that the spread of English has reduced the role of existing languages, leading in some cases to their extinction, a phenomenon known as “language genocide” (McKay 2002). Swerdlow (1999) has supported this claim by pointing out that whereas today more than 6,000 languages exist, linguists estimate that by the year 2100 the number of language can drop to 3,000. Krauss (1992) as well, has predicted that in the coming century 90 per cent of the world's languages, many from Asian Pacific countries, may die. In fact, there are many instances where English is replacing the mother tongue of a speech community, e.g.

Nigeria. The reason for this is to be found in the extensive promotion of English by the countries in the Inner Circle. As Phillipson (1992) states, the spread of English is a policy on the part of core English-speaking countries to maintain dominance over periphery countries. He has coined the term “linguistic imperialism” to describe a condition in which

“the dominance of English is asserted and maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstruction of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages”

(Phillipson 1992:47).

The replacement of local languages with English, as suggested above, raises an important issue regarding the relationship between language and cultural identity. As McKay (2002) argues, the spread of English has led to the fact that local traditions are being replaced by a western- influenced global cultural. This means that today Halloween is being celebrated in Chile or Valentine's Day in India. All this is a visible result of the spread of English throughout the world. As McKay (2002) puts it:

again, however, it is not the language itself that is the culprit. Rather it is global communication, western-dominated mass media, the economic benefits that various celebrations bring through the marketing of greeting cards and gifts, and a desire among many young people around the world to be part of a global culture that have brought about these developments.

(McKay 2002:22)

Finally, another negative effect of the spread of English concerns the fact that often the language is associated with an economic élite. As a result, there is a strong relationship between proficiency in the language and the economic wealth. Tollefson's (1991) words clarify the concept:

(22)

15

those people who cannot afford schooling, who do not have time to attend school, who attend substandard programmes, or who otherwise do not have access to effective formal education may be unable to learn English well enough to obtain jobs and to participate in decision-making systems that use English. Because education is a major concept of the state, this fundamental shift in the manner of acquisition means that state policies play a decisive role in determining who has access to the institutions of the modern market and therefore to political power. This shift to school-based language learning is a worldwide phenomenon, and so language policy plays an important role in the structure of power and inequality in countries through the world.

(Tollefson 1991:6)

Chick and McKay (2001) carried out an investigation in Durban, South Africa, which supports Tollefson's view regarding the relationship between the learning of English and social inequalities. As the authors state, South Africa has a language policy that supports the development of multilingualism as well as multiculturalism in society. Nonetheless, language practices that promote the use of English only in some communities but not in others have fostered the development of “a select English language proficiency among the élite” (Ibid 2001:23). As a consequence, parents in Durban who can afford to do so send their children to former white and Indian schools, which are in English. Whereas, in the former black townships schools are in Zulu, thus there is a huge gap between those who know English and have access to greater economic resources than those who do not. As Kachru (1986) would say: “knowing English is like possessing the fabled Aladdin's lamp, which permits one to open, as it were, the linguistic gates to international business, technology, science and travel” (Kachru 1986:1).

All that has been said helps to shed light on the fact that the spread of English cannot be simply viewed as an imposition by colonial powers or by the countries of the Inner Circle.

Rather, it is a much complex process which has been brought about by “those who actively promote the language and those who consciously choose to learn it” (McKay 2002:24).

(23)

16

(24)

17

CHAPTER TWO: THE DECLINE OF THE NATIVE SPEAKER

2.1: Time of shifting sands

Nowadays, the use of English language in the world has increased a lot and there are reasons to believe that this process will continue. Jenkins (2006) refers to the dramatic changes in the role of English today as a “time of shifting sands” (Jenkins 2006:49). Her words are appropriate to describe the phenomenon according to which English has become a global language spoken by millions of people. English is now part of the daily lives of people who are bilingual or multilingual and are not “natives” of the language, i.e they were not born in the Inner Circle countries were the language originated and was transported later on by settlers in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Thus, the sands have shifted for those non-natives who can today feel part of the Inner Circle and who can own English, which is no longer the private terrain of native speakers in New York, London or Sydney and as Schneider (2003) would say: “English belongs to all who use it” (Schneider 2003:237).

What we are dealing with is an Expanding Circle in which English varieties are accepted in their own standards and writings in the form of newspaper, magazines, arts and so on. As Singh (1995) suggests, the dichotomy between native/non-native has been abandoned. As a consequence, it has become clear that the native speaker as the ideal target is inappropriate.

Graddol (1998) points to the decline of the native speaker and acknowledges instead that those who will determine the future of English will be speakers of English as a second or foreign language.

2.2: Defining a native speaker

A great variety of interpretations have been used in order to define the term “native speaker”. As McKay (2002) argues, “for some, an essential feature of a native speaker is that English must be the first language learned; for others, to be a native speaker involves the continued use of English in that person's life; for still others, being a native speaker assumes a high level of competence in English” (McKay 2002:28). Thus, not surprisingly, there are plenty of different definitions for the term “native speaker³”:

3All definitions have been taken from online dictionaries, namely:

Cambridge Dictionaries Online: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/native-speaker Collins English Dictionary: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/native-speaker Oxford Dictionaries: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/native-speaker MacMillan Dictionary: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/native-speaker The Free Dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Native+speakers

(25)

18

 Cambridge Dictionary Online: “someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, rather than having learned it as a child or adult”.

 Collins English Dictionary: “ a native speaker of a language is someone who speaks that language as their first language rather than having learned it as a foreign language”.

 Oxford Dictionaries: “ a person who has spoken the language in question from earliest childhood”.

 MacMillan Dictionary: “someone who has learnt a particular language from the time that they began to speak”.

 The Free Dictionary: “a speaker of a particular language who has spoken that language since earliest childhood”.

An interesting point about the issue of defining what a native speaker is made by The Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics⁴, which defines a native speaker as “a person considered a speaker of his or her native language”. A native language is, then, defined as the language “a person acquires early in childhood because it is spoken in the family and/or it is the language of the country where he or she is living”. However, as the definition goes on, although a native language is the first language children acquire, there are few exceptions: for example children can get some knowledge of a language from and older relative or a nurse but later acquire another language that they consider their native one. Hence, this suggests that the first exposure to a language is not a sufficient feature so as to be considered a person's native language. A further criterion is to be found in a high degree of competence and linguistic intuition as Davies (1991) states, for example. Another approach is presented by Tay (1982) who defines a native speaker as:

one who learns English in childhood and continues to use it as his dominant language and has reached a certain level of fluency. All three conditions are important. If a person learns English late in life, he is unlikely to attain native fluency in it; if he learns it as a child, but does not use it as his dominant language in adult life, his native fluency in the language is also questionable, if he is fluent in the language, he is more likely one who has learned it as a child (not necessarily before the age of formal education but soon after that) and has continued to use it as its dominant language.

(Tay 1982:67-68)

4 Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics (Richards, Platt and Weber 1985:188).

(26)

19

Tay, then, links the concept of native speaker to continuity and fluency. Nonetheless, as McKay (2002) argues, “an individual could conceivably use English in childhood and not attain a high level of proficiency in the language even when it is the dominant language of the home” (McKay 2002:29).

All these different definitions and exceptions shed light on the fact that defining what a native speaker is is highly problematic as there is no satisfactory characterization of the term. As a result, what has just been exemplified serves the purpose to demonstrate that “it is foolish to accept the construct of native speaker as a model of competence” (McKay 2002:31). What is more, as Li (2009) puts it: “ it is unacceptable that NS-based norms should prevail and serve as the yardstick for measuring NNSs' phonological accuracy, lexico-grammatical correctness and discourse -pragmatic appropriacy” (Li 2009: 82).

2.3: “Good English”

The imperialism of native speakers has always been based on the assumption that the form of English they use is the correct one and thus is the norm. Nonetheless, what has become crucial today as Fishman (1975) puts it is “not only whether native speakers of English can hold on to their technological superiority but also whether they can really meet the “others” (non-native users of English) halfway in the crucial sociopsychological arena of mutual acceptance” (Fishman 1975:336). What derives from this is that correct (native) English does not automatically “do the job”. In fact, Greenbaum (1996) discusses “good English” by contrasting it to “correct English” as follows:

Good English is sometimes equated with correct English, but the two concepts should be differentiated. Correct English is conformity to the norms of the standard language. Good English is good use of the resources available in language. In that sense we can use a non-standard dialect well and can use the standard language badly. By good English we may mean language used effectively or aesthetically; language that conveys clearly and appropriately what is intended and language that is pleasing to the listener or the reader.

(Greenbaum 1996:17)

Thus, by considering good English as the effective use of the available linguistic resources, it comes clear that “good English” is not a notion that is necessarily determined by one's level of proficiency. In other words, speakers who have lower levels of proficiency are also

(27)

20

capable of speaking good English and are able to use the language effectively⁵. However, this does not imply that correctness is irrelevant. Undoubtedly, grammatical accuracy is important but in international settings in which English is used as a lingua franca by speakers who are from a range of different levels of proficiency, what is fundamental is being able to speak an intelligible form of English and make one's self understood by the interlocutor.

To sum up, the world has become so interconnected and English so bound up with processes of globalization that a traditional varieties orientation is no longer possible.

Instead, as Dewey (2007) suggests, we should focus on English as fluid, flexible hybrid and deeply intercultural.

5 Assumption that is in accordance with the findings from the study carried out by Beyza Björkman (2011a) from the University of Stockholm (Sweden) and Rosklide (Denmark) on the issue of “English as a Lingua Franca in higher education: Implications for EAP, Ibérica: Revista de la Asociación de Lenguas para Fines Específicos 22, 79-100.

(28)

21

CHAPTER THREE: ELF IN PRACTICE

3.1: What is a lingua franca

“Originally, the term “lingua franca” was used to refer to a variety spoken along the Southern-Eastern coast of the Mediterranean between the 15^th and the 19^th century (Poppi, 2012:23 citing Knapp and Meierkord 2002). It was mainly used by merchants and traders in order to enable communication. The first explicitly- named lingua franca was a pidgin language that “was a mixture of Italian dialects with elements of Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Greek and Persian” (Knapp and Meierkord 2002:9). The use of such trade language in order to facilitate communication exchanges between people

“resulted in the application of the term “lingua franca” to all those cases where a language different from the speakers' mother tongues was used for specific purposes” (Poppi, 2012:23). As Jesenská (2007) argues, the lingua franca was necessary as well as useful for interlocutors who were coming from different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. Thus, a pluri-linguistic and hybrid composition was the characteristic of such lingua franca (Jenkins, Cogo and Dewey 2011).

Later on, the need for a lingua franca became fundamental with the rise of many international organizations (e.g. the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949) and in many cases English was used as the working language. Not surprisingly, English assumed more and more importance resulting in the fact that it became the official language whenever an international organization was started in the western world. Since then, English has become the lingua franca of a considerable number of other domains, thus becoming international (Poppi, 2012), with the result that today “English is everywhere, and we cannot avoid it” (Seidlhofer, Breiteneder, Pitzl, 2006:3). As Kuo (2006) puts it:

… it (the description of English as a lingua franca) is primarily and ultimately concerned with enabling learners to carry out international communication in various global contexts, reflecting a view of English as entirely and fundamentally an instrument of communication. It has largely overlooked aspects of language such as literacy, register, style, and various aesthetic concerns and has made no reference to a language's social functions, such as to project self-image, to establish self-identity, and to develop personal voice.

(Kuo, 2006:215)

(29)

22

From Kuo's words, English is a lingua franca which is “neutral” and simply used for the purpose of enabling communication between speakers who do not share the same native language.

3.2: Conceptualizing ELF

The concept of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has been a disputed issue among linguists for some time now, in particular in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) and English language teaching (ELT). ELF has become the main term for what earlier was referred to, and sometimes still is, as English as an international language, English as a global language or English as a world language (Seidlhofer 2004). Thus, the various terminology suggests that the approaches to ELF have been different, even conflicting at times. Nonetheless, today linguists agree on the fact that ELF is not a mere linguistic variety, rather it is considered to be a proper language, based on native English but enriched with NNSs’ creative contributions.

Moving on to ELF, English has served as a lingua franca in parts of Asia (e.g. India and Singapore) and Africa (e.g. Nigeria and Kenya) as they were colonized by the British empire from the 16^th century. As Jenkins, Cogo and Dewey (2011) argue about ELF, the phenomenon in its modern sense was first identified and reported by two German scholars in the 1980s: Hüllen (1982) and Knapp (1985, 1987). At that time, however, as Knapp himself later pointed out, the interest was “mainly conceptual in nature, stressing the importance of ELF as an objective for English language teaching and also postulating the necessity of empirical studies that could identify formal or functional aspects to be taken account of in teaching” (Jenkins, Cogo and Dewey, 2011 citing Knapp 2002:218). Jenkins, Cogo and Dewey (2011) then continue:

outside Germany, scholars elsewhere, even in Europe, tended to be slow in noting the significance of this early German lead. The field of ELF, or English as an international language (EIL) as it was also known at the time (and still is occasionally), thus remained a minority interest, with only occasional independent discussions of the phenomenon being published between the late 1980s and late 1990s, and with little consistency across their approaches.

(Ibid 2011:282)

The turning point on the issue of ELF investigation took place at the beginning of the new millennium with the publication of two works which drew the attention of linguists as well as English teachers. The first was Jenkins' (2000) and the second belonged to Seidlhofer

(30)

23 (2001).

Jenkins (2007) defines ELF (English as a lingua franca) as “an emerging language that exists in its own right and is being described in its own terms” (Jenkins 2007:2). Two main definitions of ELF can be offered:

 (ELF is) “a “contact language” between persons who share neither a common native tongue nor a common (national) culture, and for whom English is the chosen foreign language for communication” (Firth, 1996:240);

 “any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and often the only option” (Seidlhofer 2011:7).

In the first definition, , the term frames a linguistic concept, whereas in the second it defines a sociolinguistic concept. Thus, the ELF user is anyone using English for lingua franca purposes, regardless of which variety of English he/she chooses to use. Interactions between Japanese and German business correspondents can serve as an example (Ur 2010). It cannot be denied that English has become a global language used for communication and as a consequence of its international use, English is being used as much by non-native speakers as by native speakers. However, the issue that most ELF interactions take place among non-native speakers of English must not blind us to the fact that ELF interactions may also include interlocutors from the Inner and Outer Circle. Thus, interactions between an English tour guide and an international group of tourists is an example of ELF communication taking place between native and non-native speakers of English. Thus, ELF is a vehicle for “thousands and thousands of multilinguals in the world” (Schmitz 2012:260) and it is, then, moulded by its many speakers. ELF is no more the domain of native speakers only. Hence, recollecting Jenkins' (2007) definition, “ELF has taken on a life of its own” (“an emerging language that exists in its own right”),

“independent to a considerable degree of the norms established by its native users, and that warrants recognition” (“is being described in its own terms”). As Brutt-Griffler (1998) puts it: “it is those non-native users that provide the strongest momentum for the development of the language in its global uses as “agents of language change” (Brutt-Griffler 1998:387).

3.3: The appropriate speaker model

As Ur (2010) suggests, today most, if not all, of the students who learn English in schools in non-English-speaking countries need this language in order to communicate

(31)

24

with other English speakers, rather than a language used to interact with a specific English speaking community. In other words, what they need is to learn English as a lingua franca (ELF), thus the model for ELF students should be the fully- competent ELF user, where it is not the native-speakerism which interests, rather simply be able to enhance full and mutual understanding as well as intelligibility in conversations.

Proficiency in English is, undoubtedly, a valuable instrumental skill in international and intercultural interactions but it is not enough as “being proficient in the language does not presuppose that one is also a pragmatically effective speaker” (Björkman 2011:84).

The ELF user is, then, a person who is thoroughly competent in the use of the language but above all who is able to enhance mutual understanding and intelligibility in international communication, in various global contexts. As Kuo (2006) puts it, “ELF applied linguists seem to be suggesting that what is needed for comprehension is all that is needed to be produced” (Kuo 2006:216). As a matter of fact, there is the need for “raising consciousness of intercultural understanding, such as being aware of and sensitive to the fact that people from different cultural backgrounds tend to express politeness, gratitude, and condolences in overtly different ways” (Kuo 2006:219). Diversity of linguistic and cultural backgrounds and potential misunderstandings, can be tackled by special kinds of communication skills, such as various clarification and repair strategies, which promote intelligibility among ELF speakers.

The study carried out by Poppi (2012) shed light on the fact that communication breakdowns are not frequent in interactions which involve non-native speakers. Namely, ELF conversations appear to be “cooperative and mutually supportive” (Poppi, 2012:42).

Robustness and cooperativeness is achieved my means of adopting strategies such as politeness mechanisms. “Politeness mechanisms are those linguistic phenomena that are employed by speakers to establish, deepen or maintain a positive social relationship with their interlocutors” (Ibid). Politeness strategies can be routine formulas, which occur during the opening and closing phases of conversations, such as greetings and how-are- yous, then other forms of politeness strategies are gambits and back-channels. Gambits are void markers and they are used to help the speaker express what he/she wants to say, i.e. “I mean”; “you see”. Back-channels, instead, are associated with the role of the listener and they are used to show continued attention, agreement, reactions to the speaker’s utterances, i.e. “Mhm”; “Yeah”.

Therefore, competence in lingua franca communications involves the acquisition of all these pragmatic skills in order to adapt English to the demands of the communicative situation, accommodating and adjusting speech in order to be intelligible to interlocutors

(32)

25 from a wide range of L1 backgrounds.

The following excerpt is about a group discussion of non-L1 users of English working on a project for a university course. The excerpt derives from the “Vienna Oxford International Corpus of English” (VOICE)⁶ and provides a great example of how interlocutors succeed in understanding each other regardless of grammatical as well as syntactic deviations.

S= SPEAKER

S4: to S2 i said are you writing down. mister secretary.

S2: e::r no but it’s in there i can copy it. i’ll make the minutes at the end of the meeting.

S1: yeah if you can: remember?

S4: < clears throat> and for what time. He’s gonna finish that.

S1: e:r I try to do it tonight so i am gonna done it f-by tonight.

S2: is it’s better if we work on it now?

S1: er it doesn’t matter because today is only Wednesday so we can done it tonight.

S3: you can’t work because you have to stay here till five right?

S1: write it tomorrow?

S2: yeah that’s the thing.

S4: are you also gonna do the layout?

S2: yeah if you don’t mind.

It is obvious that interactants are satisfied with their discussion: they agree on each other and negotiate consensus, thus we can regard this exchange as a successful communication.

3.4: ELF vs EFL

An important distinction needs to be made between ELF and EFL as ELF (English as a Lingua franca) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) are two entirely different phenomena. “In EFL the NNS’s ultimate goal is to approximate the native variety of English as closely as possible” (Poppi, 2012:32). In EFL there are pre-existing linguacultural norms, where EFL speakers try to imitate the native model by adopting native English standards. Whereas, in ELF, any kind of language use is acceptable.

Namely, “ELF speakers use their local variety in local communicative contexts, regardless of whether this is an inner, outer or expanding circle English” (Jenkins, 2006:161). “ ELF is part of the global Englishes paradigm, according to which most speakers of English are

6 Available at: http://www.univie.ac.at/voice/page/corpus_description, cited in Schmitz, 2012:262.

(33)

26

NNSs and all English varieties are accepted in their own right, rather than evaluated against the yardstick on native speaker English (ENL)” (Poppi, 2012:32). In fact,

“linguists’ tendency with NNS-led change, (…) is to label it wholesale as error regardless of how widespread its use or degree to which it is mutually intelligible among speakers of English as a lingua franca (ELF)” (Jenkins, 2004:33).

3.5: ELF features 3.5.1: Phonology

The earliest attempt to describe ELF has been at a phonological level.

“Pronunciation had been marginalized by communicative approaches to language teaching in vogue since the 1980s, in the belief that it was peripheral to successful communication”

(Jenkins, 2004:114). However, Jenkins found out that pronunciation plays a fundamental role in preventing communication breakdowns and, on the basis of empirical evidence, she proposed a core of phonological features, the Lingua Franca Core (LFC), necessary for mutually- intelligible pronunciation among non-native speakers.

According to Keys and Walker (2002), the LFC does not try to replace NS accents. Rather, it indicates the minimum requirements for international intelligibility between NN users of English as the assumption that “ non-native speakers are going to interact primarily with native speakers, is no longer valid. (…) Ironically enough, other intelligibility studies appear to show that native-speaker phonology is not necessarily the most intelligible”

(Taylor, 1991:425).

The data on which the LFC is based were collected by Jenkins from speakers with a wide range of L1s over several years, which included communication in classrooms: recording of different L1 pairs, students engaged in communication tasks, social settings and so forth.

In 2000, Jenkins wrote a book: The Phonology of English as an international language, highlighting what aspects of pronunciation appear to be important in order to produce and to understand accurately if a learner’s objective is not to sound precisely like a NS, rather to communicate intelligibly with other NNS. The analysis of the data aimed to “identify which pronunciation “errors” led to intelligibility problems for a different L1 interlocutor and which did not. Those that caused such problems were then incorporated into the LFC, while those that did not were considered (…) to be non-core, different from NS pronunciation” (Seidlhofer 2004:216). The core areas that Jenkins (2000) points out are thus identified as follows :

(34)

27 1. Consonant clusters

 Clusters of consonants at the beginning of words must not be omitted (e.g. learners must not drop the /r/).

 Clusters of consonants in the middle or at the end of words is permissible according to rules of elision (i.e. dropping sounds) that also apply to native English varieties.

For example, the word friendship can become /fren∫ip/.

2. Consonant sounds

 All English consonant sounds are necessary except the dental fricatives “th”, for which most substitutions are possible, such as /f/ and /v/.

 Dark /l/ is not necessary as it does not cause any intelligibility problems.

 /r/ should be pronounced as in General American pronunciation (technically called a “rhotic retroflex approximant”). It should also be pronounced everywhere it occurs in spelling, as in American English.

 /t/ needs to be carefully pronounced between vowels (e.g. “Italy”) and in clusters in the middle of words (e.g. “winter”). It should not be “flapped” (as in General American Pronunciation, “Italy” might sound like “Idaly” or “latter” might sound like “ladder).

 The consonant /p/, /t/ and /k/ must be aspirated when occurring in initial position in a stressed syllable (e.g. the first /p/ in “paper”).

3. Vowel sounds

 Vowel length distinction must be preserved, i.e. the contrast between long and short vowels (e.g. “pill” versus “peel”).

4. Weak forms

 Teaching students to distinguish between weak and strong forms is time- consuming. For example, in sentence (1a) the demonstrative that receives strong stress while in (1b) the conjugation that has weak stress in British and American English.

(1) (a) I like that skirt you are wearing. (that=strong) (b) I am happy that you liked the play (that=weak)