Faculty of foreign languages department of english language and literature course paper

English as a lingua franca (ELF) is the use of the English language

English as a lingua franca (ELF) is the use of the English language "as a global means of inter-community communication" and can be understood as "any use of English among speakers of different first languages for whom English is the communicative medium of choice and often the only option. ELF is "defined functionally by its use in intercultural communication rather than formally by its reference to native-speaker norms" whereas English as a second or foreign language aims at meeting native speaker norms and gives prominence to native speaker cultural aspects. While lingua francas have been used for centuries, what makes ELF a novel phenomenon is the extent to which it is used in spoken, written and in computer-mediated communication. ELF research focuses on the pragmatics of variation which is manifest in the variable use of the resources of English for a wide range of globalized purposes, in important formal encounters such as business transactions, international diplomacy and conflict resolution, as well as in informal exchanges between international friends.[5:35]
Major technological advances in the 21st century have enabled instant global communication, thus breaking the barriers of space and time between different locations on the planet. The world has turned into an interconnected global system, which requires a shared means of communication. English fulfills the need for a global lingua franca for it has spread to large areas of the world due to colonisation and the widespread teaching of English as a foreign language, and has been used more widely in Europe due to the American and British victory in World War II, among other factors. Because of the use of English as a lingua franca in international trade and intercultural communication, native speakers of English are outnumbered by non-native speakers, which is a situation that is quite atypical for western European languages. A consequence of this is a sense of ownership of the language which is shared by different communities. For instance, international communication via ELF has facilitated exchange between China and the rest of the world, thus sustaining international trade. But once a language is appropriated by new communities, it is then adapted to their specific needs. Consequently, the English language is undergoing change, and this change is being brought about mostly by its non-native speakers.
The way English is used as a lingua franca is heavily dependent on the specific situation of use. Generally speaking, ELF interactions concentrate on function rather than form. In other words, communicative efficiency (i.e. getting the message across) is more important than correctness. As a consequence, ELF interactions are very often hybrid. Speakers accommodate to each other's cultural backgrounds and may also use code-switching into other languages that they know. Based on the Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (VOICE) and additional research, the following features of ELF lexicogrammar have been identified.[6:49]

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  shift in the use of articles (including some preference for zero articles) as in our countries have signed agreement about this
  
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  invariant question tags as in you’re very busy today, isn't it? (and use of other similar universal forms)
  
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  treating ‘who’ and ‘which’ as interchangeable relative pronouns, as in the picture who or a person which
  
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  shift of patterns of preposition use, for example we have to study about
  
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  preference for bare and/or full infinitive over the use of gerunds, as in I'm looking forward to see you tomorrow
  
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  extension to the collocational field of words with high semantic generality, for example take an operation
  
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  increased explicitness, for example how long time instead of how long
  
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  exploited redundancy, such as ellipsis of objects/complements of transitive verbs as in "I wanted to go with..." or "You can borrow...[8]
  

However, these features are by no means invariant or “obligatory”. Rather, these forms do not seem to compromise effective communication within an ELF setting when they do occur.
Although some researchers hold that English as a lingua franca is a neutral and culture-free tool, others hold that it carries the culture and language of its speakers. Recent linguistic discussions by ELF experts treat the interactants' cultural and linguistic background as a factor influencing language performance. For Hülmbauer, for instance, “it seems likely that the ELF users develop their own markers of identity (be they a common 'European' or 'international' nature or more individual ones which are created online, depending on the community of practice they are emerging).” In this view, ELF is multicultural rather than culture-free.
ELF is used most often between non-native speakers of English but this fact does not mean that native speakers are excluded from ELF communication. However, very often they form a minority of the interlocutors. In ELF interactions, the importance lies on communication strategies other than nativeness, which can lead to communicative situations where thoseEnglish native speakers who are not familiar with ELF and/or intercultural communication are at a disadvantage because they do not know how to use English appropriately in these situations.[7:102]

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  Most data on ELF interactions has been drawn from the domains of business and higher education, and that in largely European contexts, perhaps factors accounting for the relatively rare instances of miscommunication. Studies of Medical English as a Lingua Franca (MELF) provide opportunities to investigate ELF interactions where communicative precision is critical, and the migration of healthcare practitioners across international borders (a phenomenon consistent with the "deterritorialisation" of ELF generally), have created conditions where MELF interactions are increasingly commonplace. A research study of MELF interactions where nurses negotiated a patient handover simulation indicated that areas of unintelligibility represented a potential threat to patient safety, through misrecognition of vocabulary related to medication, as well as other areas of lexical imprecision.
  

One study of a Japanese Medical English as a Lingua Franca (MELF) context showed that student doctors made use of empathic accommodation and solicitation strategies to make interactions more intelligible. Applying nonverbal cues was seen as being of importance to encourage simulated patients to express concerns, because silence may be interpreted as a sign of potential problems. Empathic doctor-patient communication then means not only mean understanding and sympathizing but having the ability to bridge the gap when patients are not willing to talk.[8:19]
An important issue when discussing ELF is the notion of speakers of ELF being active language users in their own right, who do not need to adhere to native speaker norms but use ELF to meet their communicative needs. Proponents of ELF thus reject the notion that it is a form of ‘deficient’ English and describe ELF speakers as users of English, not as learners. Indeed, studies of communication breakdowns in ELF interactions demonstrate that successful lingua franca communication is far from 'anything goes'.
Several attitude studies on the topic of ELF have already been conducted. One overarching factor seems to be a discrepancy between perceptions on the role of ELF in everyday interactions all over the globe on the one hand, and the dominance of as well as reliance on native speaker norms on the other hand. Breiteneder argues that learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) often have an integrative motivation for learning and using English since they wish to identify with the culture and values of English native speakers. Thus, native speaker norms occupy a central place if English is studied as a foreign language. In contrast, English as Lingua Franca users tend to focus on effective communication with speakers of other linguistic backgrounds. In ELF interactions, intelligibility is key, which may not necessitate an advantage for native speakers.

Debates in ELF[edit]Colin Sowden (2012) opened the debate with a paper in which he discusses which version of English to teach to second language (L2) learners. He argues that some ELF scholars want ELF to replace Standard English as the model to be used in learning English.

Sowd claims that Standard English, especially British English, has a colonial baggage that still affects the status of English in post-colonial countries and it is this negative value that has led ELF researchers to an attempt to describe and posit a neutralized version of English and to make it a universal one that belongs to every speaker, both native and second language speakers. Sowden argues that introducing ELF in ELT will lead to differences between schools where this is implemented, and schools which have the freedom to use a native standard model, favouring the latter. He concludes that ELF will not replace Anglo-Saxon native-speaker models in the near future as there are too many constraints linked to ELF. For Sowden, the use of multilingual and local teachers can also be beneficial for L2 learners, as these teachers have knowledge of the local culture and spoken languages and the constraints they have on learning English. The way forward according to Sowden is to focus on communicative ability, not on universal conformity.[9:208]