English as a lingua franca and communicative language teaching

An unprecedented kind of thinking about unprecedented language phenomena

A workshop by

Astrid Ollinger, MA

University of Vienna, Austria astrid.ollinger@reflex.at

Workshop Aims

1. Raising teachers' awareness of the concept of English as a lingua franca

(ELF) in the context of communicative language teaching

2. Triggering a reflective process regarding teachers' own teaching practices and

principles

3. Providing teachers with ideas on how to develop ELF-aware principles for the com-

municative classroom as well as tangible activities and further references

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Content Overview

1 Introduction 2 1.1 Communicative language teaching revisited 2 1.2 English as a lingua franca – why? 4 1.3 Benefits of ELF-aware teaching 7

2 What is this thing called ELF? 8 2.1 What does English mean to you? 8 2.2 Where is English spoken? ENL, ESL and EFL vs. ELF 9 2.3 How many people speak it? 11 2.4 What is this thing called ELF? 12

2.4.1 Typical lexico-grammatical features 13 2.4.2 Communication strategies 14

3 ELF-aware teaching 17

4 Resources 20

5 Literature 21

List of Abbreviations

ELF English as a lingua franca

ENL English as a native language

ESL English as a second language

EFL English as a foreign language

ELT English language teaching

NNS(s) Non-native speaker(s)

NS(s) Native speaker(s)

CS Communication strategies

T Teacher

L Learner(s)

TL Target language

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1 Introduction

What is the best way to successfully teach English to speakers of other languages?

A frequently asked question in the transnational enterprise of English language education.

Ever since the 1970’s, Communicative language Teaching (CLT) has taken a prominent po-

sition amongst teaching methodologies around the world, it has worked as an umbrella term

and a kind of standard if not a pre-requisite in the repertoire of techniques of any post-

modern western teacher. The approach receives constant further proliferation by a number of

rather short teacher-training courses offered around the globe such as the Cambridge

CELTA and the Oxford TESOL. Despite the omnipresence of CLT, it is not always clear what

the method actually entails; reason enough to quickly revise basic principles in chapter 1.1.

In this workshop, the aim is to go one step further and look at the way the English language,

in a process of natural language development and diversification, has outgrown its native

borders and emerged as a lingua franca. After exploring the question “What is this thing

called ELF?” we will also have the opportunity to discuss possible principles of “ELF-aware

teaching”, allowing the ELT professional to critically reflect on his/her own teaching practice

and the suitability of ELF-aware teaching for the respective local context and needs.

This script contains several white text boxes with concrete teaching ideas, tasks and take

home messages for you to use in your own daily “ELF-aware” ELT practice. The grey text

boxes contain reflective questions, inviting you to make explicit you beliefs, attitudes and

knowledge about ELT.

1.1 Communicative language teaching revisited

REFLECT: When you think of communicative language teaching, how would you describe the methods’ main ideas and principles to a novice teacher colleague who has never heard about this method?

With an increasing number of people starting to notice that being able to communicate re-

quires more than mastering linguistic structures, the focus in ELT shifted from forms to func-

tions (greeting, inviting, agreeing, negotiating, promising, apologizing etc.), and the process

of communication with all its subtleties - knowing when and how to say what to whom. CLT,

in very simple terms, means that if we want to prepare our learners for real communication

outside the classroom, we need to create a learning environment in which real communica-

tion happens inside the classroom and where learners are given a chance to reflect on the

process of communication.

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Because of the importance of local contexts and needs, it is clear that we cannot rely on any

step-by-step guidance on how to implement CLT. What does exist, however, is a set of aims

and principles that form the backbone of this method (cf. Larsen-Freeman, 2000):

CLT is a student-centered method, following the maxim: maximize learner talking time (STT), minimize teacher talking time (TTT), with frequent pair- and group work

Learners (L) work on all 4 skills from the beginning

Whenever possible, “authentic language”1 is used

The target language (TL) is the vehicle for classroom communication

L develop an awareness that there exist different linguistic forms to express a certain function: May I invite you…, Do you want to come…, How about going…., Let’s….

L develop an awareness that a speaker has a choice not only about what to say, but

how to say it (issues of politeness, formality/informality and intercultural awareness)

L work with language at the discourse level to develop awareness of cohesion and coherence (thus going beyond the sentence), e.g. by unscrambling sentences

L are given plenty of opportunity to express their personal ideas, preferences and

opinions in exchange with others: What do you think about… In your opinion, what…

One of the T main responsibilities in is to device meaning-focused communicative tasks in which L have to co-operate to communicate and negotiate meaning

Typical activities in CLT include games, role plays, simulations and problem-solving tasks that have a real communicative purpose such as for example information gaps

Error correction should be appropriate (fluency vs. accuracy, self/peer/T)

The T takes the role of a language facilitator, whereas L are seen as responsible

managers of their own learning If we had to summarize the main idea of CLT in one sentence only, we might say:

If natural communication is the aim,

then natural communication must be the main element in the process

A central question that pops up related to the latter principle, which leads us on to our

main topic, is: English to communicate with whom?

1 Considering the worldwide use of English as a lingua franca, it is a crucial question what „authentic language“ actually means, i.e, which kind of language actually constitutes the best learning investment for our learners.

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1.2 English as a lingua franca – why?

English as a lingua franca, or English as an international language, describes the use of Eng-

lish as

“a language that is used as a medium of communication between people or groups of

people each speaking a different native language.”

(Gnutzmann 2004: 356).

REFLECT: What are some typical ELF situations that can you think of? In which ELF situa-tions have you found yourself recently?

A typical ELF conversation may involve, for example:

An Italian and a Chinese chat at a coffee break of a conference held in New York

A Brazilian tourist asks a local for the way in Berlin

An Austrian IT-manager talks by phone to a Hindi-speaking software designer in Mumbai

Teenagers from different parts of Asia gossip on a fan website about a Japanese boy band

Pakistani and Jamaican cricketers talk with the Sri Lankan referee during an international match in Kingston

A meeting between an Argentinean and South African employees of an international media company is conducted via Skype, and many more

The use of English as a lingua franca is currently the most common use of the English lan-

guage worldwide, i.e. the vast majority of verbal exchanges in English do not involve any

native speakers of the language at all. It has been estimated that 70-80% of the worldwide

communication in English today does not involve any native speakers. Put differently, only 1

out of 5 conversations effectuated in English includes a native speaker.

Graddol, David (2006: 29)

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The evidence of 15 years of research on English as a lingua franca suggests that when non-

native English speakers communicate amongst each other, they are, in many ways, not con-

forming to a native English standard. Interestingly, they get on perfectly well despite the fact

that they miss out and put things in which “they are not supposed to”. Not only this, but evi-

dence suggests that they are actually better than native speakers at “accommodating” – that

is negotiating meaning in a co-operative way by means of using communication strategies.

We can thus safely say that the English language is being shaped at least as much by

its non-native (lingua franca) speakers as by its native speakers. In other words, non-

native speakers worldwide in all spheres of life are able to use the English language suc-

cessfully not by adopting the language, but by adapting it, i.e. changing and shaping it to fit

their settings, their purposes and their multilingual backgrounds. This of course, triggers the

crucial question: Who owns the language?

REFLECT: Do you think that successful non-native speakers have just as much right to say what is “correct” as native speakers do?

It has been suggested by some that the English language no longer “belongs”2 to its native

speakers, but that everybody who speaks the language owns it and may shape it according

to their own lingua-cultural background and communicative purposes.

What this “shaping of the language” may look like will be explored further in chapter 2.4. For

now, what is important is for traditional gatekeepers (native speaker teachers, publishers,

testing organizations) and ELT professionals to become aware of the emerging paradox:

Even though today English is being used by far more lingua franca speakers than by native

speakers for communication in all areas of life, there is still a strong tendency in ELT practice

for native speakers and Standard English to be regarded as the only acceptable source and

usage of “correct" English (cf. Seidlhofer 2005). This tendency is often accompanied by two

main fallacies, namely that native speakers are necessarily ‘better’ than non-native speakers

in speaking English, and that native speakers are better than non-native speakers in teach-

ing the English language to others.

As a result of the growing importance of English for worldwide communicative exchange, it

appears, however, to have become necessary for ELT professionals to reflect on the new

purposes and challenges of their subject. 2 If you are interested to explore the issue of the „Ownership of English“ your best place to start is this journal article: Widdowson, Henry G. 1994. „The Ownership of English.“ TESOL Quarterly 17 (2), 377-389.

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Like with every new idea or concept it will take some time and effort, especially at the begin-

ning, to fully understand the nature of English as a lingua franca and its inherently variable

dynamics. Teachers first need to develop a basic understanding of ELF, which would include

accepting ELF as a natural language with highly variable characteristics, which always

depend on its contexts of use. Generally speaking, ELF interactions focus on function rather

than form. In other words, communicative efficiency (i.e. getting the message across, getting

the job done) is more important than “correctness”. Such thinking challenges many of the

comfortable truths and certainties that ELT professionals have long believed in.

This does not suggest that an ELF-aware pedagogy intends to completely abandon the es-

tablished language norms and pedagogic principles in existing ELT practices, nor does it

propose an alternative model of English. Becoming ELF-aware doesn’t require teachers to

take on an entirely new and radical way of doing things, it is more a matter of rethinking and

questioning “best practices” and modifying them (contents, materials, approaches) ac-

cording to certain principles (cf. Dewey 2012). Clearly, a continued emphasis on Standard

English would also remain an appropriate target in certain circumstances. All pedagogical

decisions, ultimately, always depend on the local contexts, and most importantly, on the

needs of our learners.

Once incorporated into our viewpoints, understanding English as a lingua franca is likely to

have a number of benefits for the teaching, the learning and the successful communicative

process, which we will briefly look at in chapter 1.3.

ELF in a nutshell

The “game” (successful communication in English) is the same, put the “players” (who come

from a widely diverse lingua-cultural backgrounds using English as an additional language)

have changed dramatically, and with them the “rules“ (pronunciation, lexico-grammar, se-

mantics and pragmatics, communication strategies) of the game, which vary from game to

game.

REFLECT: After this very brief introduction to why ELF might be important to the ELT pro-fessional, how would you, in simple words, summarize and explain to a novice teaching col-league what you have just heard about ELF?

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1.3 Benefits of ELF-aware teaching

Below, find a short summary of potential benefits of an ELF-aware approach for teachers and

learners. Please consider that these benefits are a collection of practitioners’ voices who

have applied the ELF-aware approach in their daily practice.

By moving away from a monolithic approach to language towards a plurilithic conception

of language and language use, we also move away from being “correct” or “wrong”. In-

stead of artificial notions of “correct” speaker production, an ELF-aware approach seeks to

promote mutual intelligibility as the prime object of communication.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

Monolithic approach to language: The idea that languages are discrete, describable sys-

tems that exist outside the heads of individual users, often manifested in dictionaries or the

great literatures of the past. Languages as single, stable objects

versus

Plurilithic approach to language: The idea that languages are partially overlapping sys-

tems of dynamic linguistic resources that exist in the heads of individual users.

Languages as variable, hybrid and dynamic

Promoting flexibility to value and handle the variety of real-life interaction

An ELF-aware teacher focuses on the successful practices of the multilingual ELF speaker,

rather than on the abstract ideal of the perfect native speaker or the errors of the ‘deficient’

non-native speaker. Teachers and learners become more sensitive to the needs of both

speaker and listener, more conscious of the variety of accents and more able to use commu-

nication strategies and exploit the language creatively. They understand that real-life interac-

tion is characterized by variety, that everybody has an accent and that what matters most in

any communicative interaction is mutual intelligibility. Such awareness might also have a

positive impact on the classroom interaction culture.

Choice

Learners learning a language need to make an informed choice about their needs and future

goals while coming to terms with the linguistic reality of English in the world today. They have

a right to know that next to AE and BrE, a lot of other “stuff” is going on, which might be more

relevant to their personal and professional future lives than the “correct” Standard English

which we find so widely represented in published teaching materials.

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Learner Motivation

Developing learners’ awareness of just how widely English is spoken, and that nowadays

lingua franca speakers outnumber native speakers by far can be very useful for raising their

learning motivation. In addition, by adapting an ELF-aware perspective, we move towards

more different, more realistic goals.

Increased self confidence and identity preservation

The awareness that ELF speakers actually “own” the language and are allowed and wel-

come to express their own personality and cultural identity through creative exploitation may

increase learners’ self-confidence as autonomous speakers.

2 What is this thing called ELF?

In the following section we will reach more clarity about the following questions, whilst also

looking at practical ways of addressing these topics with your learners.

• What does English mean to you?

• Where is English spoken?

• How many people speak it?

• What is this thing called ELF?

2.1 What does English mean to you?

REFLECT: What does English mean to you? For your private life? For your professional life? For you educational life?

As an important feature of personal relationships, business, education, research, science,

medicine, law, politics, diplomacy, transport, and entertainment around the world, English

also has become a medium for bridging linguistic and cultural diversity. Communication may

take place either face-to-face, or, increasingly, mediated via Information- and Communication

technologies such as telephone and Internet. Below, find a series of short tasks that could be

used at the beginning of a course or semester to raise L awareness of their goals and their

possibilities, perhaps positively influencing their motivation to learn English.

WHAT DOES ENGLISH MEAN TO ME? Ask your L: What does English mean to you? Before you do so, you might want to show them this short video about what English means to different people around the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PiokXqv3Ts - t=130

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Follow-up task I: Ask learners to note down all the different purposes for which people are using English while watching the video (watch as often as necessary depending on L needs). List those on the board and add additional purposes relevant to L lives (e.g. send emails to friends, chat with friends on the phone or via Skype, order things online etc.). You could differentiate between a “things I do already” and “things I want to do with English” list.

Follow-up task II: Looking back at the list, invite your learners to reflect about with what kind of speakers they think they will communicate with for the listed purposes

MY EXPERIENCE SPEAKING ENGLISH Invite learners to share their experiences with and attitudes towards using English. You may do so in an open class setting or, preferably, in small groups, who then report back to the class.

Use these questions to stimulate discussion: In which situations and with whom have you used English lately? Did you notice a difference between situations in which you spoke to native speakers and situations in which you spoke to other non-native speakers? In which situations and with whom would you like to use English in the future? Who decides what is “correct” English in these situations? Who are we and who do we want to be during such communications? (Good occasion to discuss the notion of Brazilian English! You could use videos of famous Brazilians and analyze them, e.g. check out this short interview with Gustavo Kuerten in Eng-lish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsPZQ2VAdbo) What are the advantages of being a non-native speaker of English? What are the disadvantages of being a native speaker of English?

2.2 Where is English spoken? ENL, ESL and EFL vs. ELF

To understand ELF, it is helpful to step back for a moment to reflect on how English has

evolved into the global language it is today, and consider all the different people around the

world who use it in one way or another. A useful illustration of English around the world is

Kachru’s “three circles”, devised some 30 years ago:

Crystal, David (2003: 61)

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In the inner circle, inhabitants of these countries learn English as their L1, sometimes called

their “mother tongue”. These people are often referred to as “native speakers” of English. It

includes: the USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In the outer circle, English serves as an official second language alongside other lan-

guages. Such countries are typically colonies of the former British Empire. Not everybody

might speak the language, but it has an important presence in administration, media, busi-

ness and daily communication. In some cases, fully-fledged local varieties have developed,

such as Singapore English or Nigerian English. There are more than 50 territories in which

English serves as the official second language.

In the expanding circle, English plays no historical or institutional role, but it is recognized

as an international language usually taught in schools to degrees of varying intensity. The

expanding circle is home to millions of functionally competent and often expert users of Eng-

lish “as a foreign language” (EFL), who use the language to communicate with the world for

various purposes (for example France, Japan, Brazil, Russia).

Things have undoubtedly changed a bit since Kachru created his “circles”, and the contem-

porary linguistic reality is not that simple, because people have always moved and language

has always moved with them. Not least because of the increasing worldwide mobility and

connectedness, we witness the development of “circles within the circles”. Imagine, for ex-

ample, Brazilian or Chinese communities living in Australia, or a group of native and non-

native speakers from diverse countries working together on a scientific project in Germany.

Perhaps the most significant development has been that the expanding circle just keeps ex-

panding. At this moment, around 800 million people are believed to speak English as a lin-

gua franca. David Graddol (2006: 14), futurologist in the area of Global English points out

that “a massive increase in the number of people learning English has already begun, and is

likely to reach a peak of around 2 billion in the next 10–15 years.”

DEVELOPING AN AWARNESS OF ENGLISH IN THE WORLD I Divide L into groups of 3-4 and announce a competitive brainstorming. No digital gadgets are allowed, but it would be beneficial for learners to be able to refer to a world map (project it or make a handout). Set a time limit (10 min). Learners have to answer the following question: Which countries use English as their first or as their second language? After the time is over, learners count what they have come up with and compare their results. You can then play this short video to show the answer (For younger learners, you may choose to first show the video, then do the task, and then show the video again). Alterna-tively you may also prompt them with the following framework:

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2 of these countries are in North America 2 of these countries are in Europe

9 of these countries are in Asia 10 of these countries are in Africa

1 is an island near South America: Trinidad and Tobago 1 of these countries is in the center of the Caribbean: Jamaica

3 are in Australasia: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea Note that the video only mentions countries that have more than one million inhabitants, but that there are actually many more places where English serves as the official second lan-guage, especially islands, such as Barbados, the Cayman islands or the Bahamas in the Caribbean or Fiji, Samoa or Marshall Islands in Oceania. For a complete list of those places refer to the listing on Wikipedia or to David Crystal’s book on Global English.

DEVELOPING AN AWARNESS OF ENGLISH IN THE WORLD II: COUNTRY PROFILES Divide learners into groups of 3-4. Each group represents one English as a second lan-guage country such as for example India, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Jamaica, Vanuatu, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, or Zimbabwe, etc. Research information about the place:

Where is this country? How big is this country in square miles?

Who are the country’s neighbors? How would you describe the country’s climate?

How many people live in this country? What is the country’s official language?

What other languages are spoken in this country? What are the main religions in this country?

What is this country’s capital? What are some of its major cities? What is the traditional dress in the country? What is the traditional food in this country?

What are this country’s major exports and imports? Name at least three differences between this country and Brazil.

Learners create a poster or a power point presentation. They may also show short videos, typical music or pictures. Present to your class, hang up posters, device follow-up projects.

2.3 How many people speak it?

Now let’s look at some “speaker populations”. Remember that it’s very hard to determine

precise numbers of speakers in these categories because, among other reasons, it’s hard to

say what counts as ‘speaking’ English.

COMPARING SPEAKER POPLULATIONS Learners work in pairs. They each receive a paper slip with 4 columns. Explain that their task is to match the speaker groups with the possible populations. Explain to your learners the difference between the speaker groups, eliciting what they already now about these groups. Give them 7-10 min to discuss and match. Invite L to share their answers with the class. (Al-ternatively, they could first check with another pair). T boards the actual speaker populations. Looking at these figures in relation is an ideal starting point for a discussion of English as a lingua franca or ESL varieties.

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2.4 What is this thing called ELF?

Having looked at uses and purposes of English in the world, countries and territories where

English is spoken and speaker populations, let us now explore some typical features of the

use of English as a lingua franca. It might first be useful to understand what it is not:

• ELF is not a variety

• ELF is not a dialect or an accent

• ELF is not a language

• When speaking ELF, the form doesn’t matter as much as the function

• ELF is a use of language, which is constantly modified, constructed, shaped by its users in a local context, with diversity as a key feature

The model below aims to capture the dynamics and variability of ELF by distinguishing be-

tween external and internal contexts. The shape that ELF takes always depends on where

the conversation takes place, why it takes place and who participates in it (physical setting,

purpose, participants). External contexts (physical setting, purpose) always blend with inter-

nal contexts. My model differentiates between four different constructs:

• Systemic knowledge: a speaker’s knowledge of the linguistic properties of the language

• Schematic knowledge: the totality of beliefs, ideas, experiences and cultural values that together shape the respective individuals’ life world (cf. Widdowson 1990: 163)

• Individual differences: closeness of speaker’s L1 to the target language (TL), knowl-edge of other additional languages, gender, age, personal traits, communication styles, self-concept, self-efficacy, self-esteem, speaking anxiety, etc.

• Momentary state of being e.g. happy, sick, tired, etc.

Ollinger’s (2013) model of the dynamis of ELF interaction

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The model also seeks to highlight that when communicating in ELF, users frequently employ

communication strategies to serve them as bridging devices between all these internal and

external contextual factors. A CS can be defined as an interactive move a speaker or a lis-

tener makes in order to facilitate the process of online negotiation of meaning between a set

of interlocutors. For further details about frequently used communication strategies in ELF

talk, refer to chapter 2.4.2.

2.4.1 Typical lexico-grammatical features

The norms and rules of ELF are always determined by its users, thus always varying with the

contexts of use. This shaping of the language, or “languageing”, impacts all linguistic levels

including pronunciation, lexico-grammar, semantics and pragmatics. In terms of formal fea-

tures we witness a wide variety of creative language use as ELF speakers make use of the

so-called “virtual language” (Widdowson 2003) to express meaning.

It is interesting to note that even though a defining aspect of ELF communication is variabil-

ity, there are certain lexico-grammatical areas in English which seem particularly predis-

posed to change in a certain way, thus giving rise to systemic alteration (cf. Jenkins & Dewey

2010: 81). Importantly, these alterations usually do no cause communication problems. Here

is a short list of some lexico-grammatical alterations typical to ELF talk:

• Dropping the third person present tense –s “She go to work by bus”

• Using the relative pronouns who and which interchangeably

• Omitting definite and indefinite articles where they are obligatory in ENL, and inserting them where the do not occur in ENL “…our countries have signed agreement about this”

• Using all-purpose question tags e.g., isn’t it? or no? instead of “correct” question tags such as shouldn’t they?, weren’t we? “…you’re very busy today, isn’t it?”

• Inserting redundant preposition (e.g. We have to study about…, Let’s dis-cuss about…) and generally adding words for explicitness (e.g. black color rather than just black)

• Heavy reliance on certain verbs of high semantic generality, such as do, have, make, put, take “...er, no, in order to make this competition we need to register with...”

• Pluralisation of nouns which are considered uncountable in ENL (e.g. advices, informations, staffs)

• Lexical innovations, often using other languages as source of enrichment (e.g conspirate, examinate, financiate, approvement)

(cf. Seidlhofer 2004: 12)

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REFLECT: Have you noticed these lexico-grammatical features in your learners’ language use? Can you think of other features that strike you as typically “Brazilian” and which, used in communication, do not cause any understanding problems?

2.4.2 Communication strategies

Being able to successfully communicate with the world obviously goes beyond the knowl-

edge of a single variety of English and the associated mastery of a fixed grammar, lexis and

phonology. Instead, “…it may turn out that what is distinctive about ELF lies in the communi-

cative strategies that its speakers use rather than in their conformity to any changed set of

language norms” (Seidlhofer and Widdowson, 2009: 37-38).

A growing number of studies show that what distinguishes the successful ELF speaker is his

or her ability to use communication strategies. CS may be either initiated by the speaker or

by the listener, and they can be proactive or retroactive. Proactive CS form the basis for any

‘successful’ communication and have the function to generally facilitate/lubricate meaning

negotiation while pre-empting miscommunication. Retroactive CS, in contrast, only come into

play as a reaction to understanding difficulties such as non-understandings or misunder-

standings.

Here is a short list of some of the most frequently used CS in ELF talk3:

Comprehension checks

(…)*Yes? Do you understand?

(…)*per’haps..you can help me ‘there/

Code-switches (often with translations) (…)to ‘tell you ‘something ‘very important/. . . we ‘got.. the ‘full ‘*patronat ’/..as we ‘say..of the ‘French president /..of the republique/

Repetitions D: investor protection C: about? D: investor protection in EU= C: =*in: in[: Echoing technique D: [investor protection [investor investor C: [in: yes yes thank you= M: =investor? D: yes investor protections C: ah . . . (0.6) *investor protection? D: yes

3 For more details https://www.academia.edu/4499546/Communication_strategies_in_ELF

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Reformulations A: what was your:: view er: on living in Malaysia . . . (1.1) prior to your arrival and how. . . (0.9) has that changed since you arrived? D: . . . (1.4) uh? (leaning forward) A:*meaning that you would have some kind of idea about Malaysia . . . (0.8) before: coming here . . . (0.9) and then after com-ing how: how is that different from your: . . . (0.6) earlier perception? D: erm first thing I’ve . . . (0.8) the first thing that I::: °rea° realize that I think Malaysia is er:: . . . (3.2) more heterogeneous people that’s [mean from]: er . . . (0.9) er- A: [okay okay]

‘Make-it-normal’, verbal and non-verbal backchaneling

F: To my understanding, (2.0) If you decide to ◦have◦ the baby, you should give (1.0) the best education, instruction, ◦everything◦ H: u:m ((smiles)) F: But some parents just the {[nıgnεkt]} their children. H: *◦u:m◦ yeah (2.0), /headnod/ that is true

Strategy of clarity and explicitness in intercultural communication (in-stead of unilateral idiomaticity and etcetera principle in intra-cultural communication)

“I am sorry but he isn’t here” vs. “I am afraid he isn’t here”

“I can help you” vs “Let me give you a hand”

“You are invited” vs. “This drink is one the house”

There exists no consensus between teachers and researchers whether or not learners

should be specifically trained to use CS. In my own ELT practice I notice, however, that even

small-scale CS training significantly improves not only a learner’s communicative ability, but

that it also positively impacts the entire classroom interaction culture.

To start with, being able to signal non-comprehension is an essential part of communication.

We as teachers can promote an atmosphere where it is okay not to understand and in which

learners are encouraged to tell their peer in a face-saving way how they could improve, thus

avoiding communication breakdowns in the future. One strategy that I always train my learn-

ers to use right from the start is the so-called “echoing technique”. Instead of going for more

general, open-ended repair requests such as …Pardon? Sorry? What? I didn’t understand

you? Can you repeat, please?... I train learners to simply repeat/echo back the specific part

of the message that they didn’t understand in questioning intonation. This way, they point

directly at the trouble source, thus making it much easier for the speaker to initiate repair.

Generally, I found that it is possible to develop a heightened awareness of CS simply by get-

ting into the habit of paying closer attention to the how of communication. This means to

regularly reflect, together with your learners, either on particularly successful instances of

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communication, or, in contrast, on communication breakdowns, where they happened and

why and ways of resolving them. Here an example from my own practice:

FEEDBACK ON COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES While learners are busy solving a communication task, I walk around to monitor the interac-tion. Instead of focusing on issues of grammar or vocabulary, I focus on learners’ successful use of CS and note it down, or, respectively, situations in which communication breakdowns happened. After doing the task feedback I share my observations on the use or lack of use of CS with the class, which often opens up interesting discussions about the how of communi-cation.

Such a bottom-up approach can be employed at every opportunity that arises. Another

awareness-raising activities which also works well is having learners translate speech acts

from their own language into English and discuss the pragmatic norms of different speech

communities (cf. Murray 2012).

A common problem in monolingual classrooms is that learners don’t actually communicate

with each other using the target language. Instead, the lion share of the interaction happens

between the teacher and the individual learner. While one learner is speaking to the teacher,

the other learners may assume that as listeners, they do not actually have any responsibility

for making communication work and that it is the speaker’s problem to make him- or herself

understood. Familiar with this problem?

If you want to improve your classroom interaction culture, you may want to

• Raise Ls’ awareness of their responsibilities as both speakers and listeners and the ne-cessity of accommodating to each other

• Give Ls’ the language (chunks) they need to signal problems, insist on them using these chunks and train L to use the echoing technique

• Raise Ls’ awareness of the importance and ways of backchaneling as a listener

• Device activities which motivate Ls’ to work together to achieve a communicative task t, providing feedback after the activity with focus on best practices of CS (or communica-tion breakdowns)

• Notice and analyze the successful use of CS at every opportunity

• Notice and analyze communication breakdowns at every opportunity, discussing ways to resolve them

• Give L the opportunity to train certain “super” strategies such as repetition (e.g. by using the echoing technique in ongoing classroom interaction) or reformulation (e.g. by playing taboo or similar games).

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RECORDED LEARNER-LEARNER DICTATION (for high-tech environments) This is an information gap activity that lends itself well to observing CS. Find an appropriate text and divide it into two parts, part A and part B. Divide learners into pairs and make them sit back-to-back. Each pair should have a recording device, e.g. a smart phone. They dictate their texts to each other without looking at each other (perhaps pretending to be on the tele-phone?). After the dictation, Ls’ listen back to the recording and analyze their use of CS. T will probably have to demonstrate this once before so that L will be able to do it by them-selves. Alternatively, in low-tech environments, the T monitors the tasks and gives exemplary feedback, triggering L reflection about their performance and use of CS. For younger children and teenagers you could make this a running dictation activity.

In conclusion, instead of modeling the behaviors of a native English speaker, a teacher favor-

ing an ELF-aware approach, knows that s/he will be doing his her learners a greater service

by developing their strategic competence to handle the variety of ELF.

3 ELF-aware teaching

At this point, you might ask yourself: So, this ELF thing, how can I teach it? However, as

aptly put by Laura Patsko (2013) in her blog, and as probably has become clear by now:

“We can’t teach it, because there is no “it”

English used as a lingua franca is nothing fixed, absolute, black-and-white, nothing predict-

able. So, the new challenge of our subject could be understood more as preparing our learn-

ers to use English as a lingua franca, keeping in mind that there exists no one set of “cor-

rect” language forms and norms of use that will lead to communicative success, but that real-

life ELF communication requires speakers to be able to handle an unpredictable, ever-

changing, variety of languages and cultures. In this admittedly complex quest, the ELF-aware

teacher might want to orient him/herself along these three action points:

1. Raising learners’ awareness

To become ELF-aware L could usefully reflect on the spread of English in the world including

typical uses of ELF, countries where English is spoken, the proportion of non-native speak-

ers to native speakers using the language and speaker populations. L would thus be led to

explore notions of the importance of context, linguistic and cultural diversity and intercultural

sensibility. Ideally, L would internalize the following take home message:

Variation is a natural part of language With ever-changing forms used by ever-changing speakers for ever-changing purposes and situations, the language is constantly emerging, constantly ‘under construction’. Learners (and teachers!) need to think outside of “correct” vs. “wrong” English and “Brit-ish English” vs. “American English”.

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Everybody has an accent It’s a part of your identity. The perfect accent doesn’t exist, but what does exist is an in-ternationally understandable accent.4 Intelligibility matters most Again, the challenge is not to speak perfect English, but to accommodate to your speak-ing partner as an empathic speaker and listener, skillfully using CS as a bridge for lingua-cultural diversity.

2. Developing listening skills  

In order to promote learner’s ability to understand other ELF speakers, they need to be ex-

posed to different varieties and situations AND focus on areas of difference between the dif-

ferent accents. See chapter 4 for ELF audio and video resources. Central question:

Which kind of language constitutes the best learning investment for these learners?

Set specific tasks rather than asking general questions There are many ways for you to work with ELF audio and videos resources, but if you want to focus on variety of accents, it could be useful to set concrete tasks rather than general ones, so you could ask L to "identify two features of the speaker’s pronun-ciation which are different to your own’, rather than just asking learners a more open-ended question like ‘how is the speaker’s pronunciation different to your own’ (cf. Patsko’s blog 2014)

3. Developing productive competence  

The question of developing productive competence is extremely context-sensitive and will

depend very much on local attitudes and the institutional frame and its requirements (e.g. will

learners have to pass a certain test at the end of the course?). The ELF-aware teacher can,

however, draw on the following principles:

Principle 1: Let locally relevant ELF contexts gain center stage

If communication in ELF is the aim, then it must be the main element in the process. This

might mean that the ELF-aware teacher focuses on local realities of ELF communication in

their own right, rather than an artificial, pre-packed import of foreign identity and culture (e.g.

by devising tasks and role plays that reflect locally relevant ELF interactions rather that

model exchanges between native speakers)

Principle 2: Allow translingual flows

The ELF-aware teacher acknowledges learners’ skilful use of their L1, rather than a monolin-

4 If you are interested to explore issues of ELF and intelligible pronunciation, Laura Patsko’s blog is an excellent place to start http://elfpron.wordpress.com/

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gual frame that avoids the use of learners’ L1. Teacher allows L1 elements (linguistic, cul-

tural or otherwise) to flow into the use of ELF impacting all linguistic levels as long as com-

municative effectiveness and thus mutual intelligibility can be achieved.

. Principle 3: From product to process

The ELF-aware teacher engages in a manner of teaching that focuses more on encouraging

learners’ innovative meaning making processes than on correction. In terms of promoting

productive competence, it might be useful for ELF-aware teachers to reflect on which fea-

tures of English tend to be crucial for international intelligibility as distinguished from those

that are not (which, however, published materials tend to be full of). By re-prioritizing, we can

also free up valuable teaching time for more general language awareness and communica-

tion strategies.

Principle 4: Learning how to do things with words

Successful communication is not only about learning words and grammar, but also about

learning how to do things with words in an intercultural context, which in practice means be-

ing able to negotiate, accommodate and mediate e.g. by gauging and adjusting to interlocu-

tors’ repertoires, signaling (non)comprehension, asking for/ providing repetition, paraphrasing

etc. The ELF-aware teacher takes every opportunity to focus on the successful strategic

practices of the multi-competent ELF speaker, rather than on the abstract ideal of the perfect

native speaker.

Principle 5: Adapting and supplementing the course book5

If you are stuck with a course book, learn how to adapt it, work with it critically and how to

supplement it with authentic ELF material, especially audio and video – perhaps materials

could even be learner-generated. This might mean that learners research and suggest class

material, or, that you re-record course book listening activities in the local variety, using these

recordings for language awareness activities as well as for future classes. You can make

published materials more relevant by allowing yourself and your learners the freedom to re-

invent the suggested contexts from a critical, locally relevant perspective.

To come full circle, let’s return to CLT and how it combines with ELF-aware teaching...

REFLECT: In your opinion, do you think that the ELF-aware approach contradicts or com-plements the main idea of communicative language teaching?

5 If you are interested in adapting course books for ELF-aware pronunciation work, don’t miss http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/seminars/practical-ideas-teaching-pronunciation-and-listening-english-lingua-franca-elf-context

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4 Resources

Materials used in this workshop

• Video: 30 countries in the world where English is spoken by more than one million speakers: http://www.etseverywhere.com/category/audios-and-activities-about-how-english-is-used-around-the-world

• Video: What does English mean to me?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PiokXqv3Ts#t=157

Essential readings and other resources for further exploring ELF • Changing English: An interactive course for teachers

http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/changing-englishes/changing-englishes/unit-1-defining-english/plurilithic-concepts.aspx

• Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_as_a_lingua_franca

• Journal article: Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2005. “English as a lingua franca”. ELT Journal 59, 339-341. free online copy http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/content/59/4/339.full.pdf

• Short video on ELF and BELF http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU9pCIujugM

• Laura Patsko’s Blog on ELF pronunciation: http://elfpron.wordpress.com/

• Interview with Jennifer Jenkins, a prominent ELF researcher http://www.elanguages.ac.uk/los/ma/an_interview_with_an_elf_researcher.html

• International Journal of English as a lingua franca http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jelf

• TeD ELF Teacher Development Project http://teacherdevelopment.boun.edu.tr/

ELF sound samples and ideas how to work with authentic pronunciation materials

• Laura Patsko’s Blog featuring useful ELF-aware sound samples and teaching ideas http://elfpron.wordpress.com/category/audio/  

• ELF Corpus: VOICE The Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English https://www.univie.ac.at/voice/ you need to register to access this source

• The speech accent archive http://accent.gmu.edu/

• International dialects of English archive http://www.dialectsarchive.com/

• BBC recordings of interviews with speakers from a wide range of L1 backgrounds http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/talkaboutenglish/2009/07/090727_tae_1st_sight.shtml

• Robin Walker’s post on how to work with authentic pronunciation materials http://englishglobalcom.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/recording-learners-pronunciation/

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5 Literature

Crystal, David. 2003. English as a global language. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dewey, Martin; Leung, Constantin. 2010. "English in English language teaching: shifting values and assumptions in changing circumstances". Working papers in Educational Linguistics 25(1). Dewey, Martin. 2012. “Towards a post-normative approach: learning the pedagogy of ELF”. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca (1)1, 141-170 Graddol, David. 2007. English Next. London: British Council. free online copy: http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-english-next.pdf Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 4th edition. Longman: London/New York. Larsen-Freeman, Diane. 2010. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Leung, Constant. 2005). „Convival communication: recontextualizing communicative competence.“ International Journal for Applied Linguistics 15. p. 119-144. Kirkpatrick, Andy. 2007. World Englishes: implications for international communication and English language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Murray, Neil. 2012. “English as a lingua franca and the development of pragmatic competence”. ELT Journal, 1-9. Ollinger, Astrid. 2012. The good ELF user: A qualitative meta- analysis of strategic language use be haviours in English as a lingua franca. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Vienna. Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2001. "Closing a conceptual gap: the case for a description of English as a Lin gua Franca". International Journal of Applied Linguistics 11(2), 133-158. Seidlhofer, Barbara, 2004. Research perspectives on teaching English as a lingua franca. Annu. Rev. Appl. Ling. 24 (1), 209--239. Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2005. “English as a lingua franca”. ELT Journal 59, 339-341. free online copy: http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/content/59/4/339.full.pdf Seidlhofer, Barbara; Widdowson, Henry. G. 2009. Accommodation and the idiom principle in English as a lingua franca. In K. Murata & J. Jenkins (Eds.), Global Englishes in Asian contexts : cur rent and future debates (pp. 26-39). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Seidlhofer, Barbara. 2011. Understanding English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sifakis, Nicos. 2007. "The education of teachers of English as a Lingua Franca: a transformative per spective". International Journal of Applied Linguistics 17(3), 355-375. Patsko, Laura. 2014. ELF pronunciation. Ideas for teachers and learners interested in pronunciation for English as a Lingua Franca, Blog: http://elfpron.wordpress.com/ (last visited 6th May 2014). Walker, Robin. 2010. Teaching the pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Widdowson, Henry G. 1990. Aspects of language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Widdowson, Henry G. 1994. „The Ownership of English.“ TESOL Quarterly 17 (2), 377-389.