Raising language teacher trainees’ awareness of (mis)understanding and

(in)competence in English as a lingua franca

Rachel Wicaksono, Christopher J. Hall and Andrew John Merrison

Centre for Languages and LinguisticsYork St John University, UK

New insights into the study of conversation: Applications to the language classroom

University of GrenadaMay 2010LIdIA

Language and Identities in InterAction Research Group

Enquiry-based learning project: participants, procedure and outcome

Introducing English as a lingua franca: an online tutorial

• Contents page• Background to ELF and our approach to the

analysis of classroom talk• Transcribing• Notation

http://www2.yorksj.ac.uk/EnquiryCommons/elf/elfsite/index.htm

O:Do you think it errm (.) like does it make you feel more confident in like going out and speaking to people? I mea:::n (.) I guess .hhh (.) ya know if yo- if you (.) spoke- went and spoke to someone on the street and asked them about the government (.) you know (.) they- they wouldn’t really (.) have much to say probably about it ya know they- they wouldn’t- wouldn’t be too interested in it.

C: Yea=O:=ya know- do y- do you think that’s kind of been- h- how

important do you think it’s been for like ya know m- making ya English bedder?

C: (.) [(X)]O:((LS)) [or- or- or kind of making- making you feel more

confident about (.) like jus’ go- like going out you know a:nd >I d’know< speaking to people, ya know going and doing- doing s- things.

O: What- what parts of ummm like your lessons (.) have you enjoyed (.) doing (.) with Rachel.

S: (2.0) Hmm?

O: What parts of your ermmm ((LS)) (1.0) foundation programme have you enjoyed doing with Rachel.

S: (.) We- I don’t have Rachel.

O: Oh you do:n’t? oh right. So what- (1.0) what lessons d- what lessons are you doin’?

Noticings

• Accommodation: substitution of words considered easier to understand

• Self-correction: extended question sequences: preventative foreigner talk

• Waffle phenomenon: an unfamiliar variety: English as a lingua franca

ELF in the UK

The native is no longer a model speaker of WE…

… Communicative competence in WE is in large measure of an interlingual or multilingual nature, and therefore, far from being an asset, being a monolingual may actually turn out to be an encumbrance. Indeed, the day may not be far off when native speakers of English may need to take crash courses in WE, in order to be able to cope with the demands of an increasingly competitive world market. (Rajagopalan 2004: 117)

ELF in the UK

Because of the diversity at the heart of this medium, LFE is intersubjectively constructed in each specific context of interaction. The form of English is negotiated by each set of speakers for their purposes. The speakers are able to monitor each other’s language proficiency to determine mutually the appropriate grammar, lexical range and pragmatic conventions that would ensure intelligibility.

(Canagarajah 2007: 925)

Noticings

Discussing transcriptions: raising awareness, directing attention, developing sensitivity and challenging assumptions

http://www2.yorksj.ac.uk/EnquiryCommons/elf/elfsite/index.htm

Implications for TESOL and teacher training

• Plans for the future

• Motivating?

• Depends on your students’ target context/tasks?

• Recording and transcribing as a route to raising awareness of the language code and language practices/communication strategies/accommodation?

Raising language teacher trainees’ awareness of (mis)understanding and

(in)competence in English as a lingua franca

Rachel Wicaksono, Christopher J. Hall and Andrew J. Merrison

Languages and Identities in Interaction Research Unit, Centre for Languages and Linguistics, York St John University, UK

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