Description
Book SynopsisThis book investigates the cultural and intercultural aspects of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Authors discuss how ‘culture’ and the ‘intercultural’ can be understood, theorised and operationalised in ELF, and how the concepts can be integrated into formats of ELF-oriented learning and teaching. The various cultural connotations are also discussed (ideological, political, religious and historical) and whether it is possible to use and/or teach a lingua franca as if it were culturally neutral. The chapters consider the communication and pedagogical implications of the cultural and intercultural dimensions of ELF and offer suggestions for new directions in ELF research, pedagogy and curriculum development.
Trade ReviewThis edited volume is exemplary in threading together two hitherto parallel intellectual traditions – Intercultural Communication Studies and English as a Lingua Franca – innovatively and critically through a constellation of theoretical and analytical synergies. The empirical case studies across diverse settings will no doubt pave the way for future research-cum-pedagogy in the above two traditions and their intersection.
* Srikant Sarangi, Aalborg University, Denmark *
This timely book fills a gap in thinking about interculturality by recognising that lingua francas are not cultural vacuums but that in all contexts of language use language and culture are fundamentally connected. The wide-ranging contributions in this collection open up new ways of thinking about lingua francas and cultures and is a must for anyone working in the field of intercultural understanding.
* Anthony J. Liddicoat, University of South Australia, Australia *
This is a rich and multifaceted volume that tackles the difficult question of the relation between interculturality and English as a Lingua Franca. By bringing two fields together, ELF and intercultural communication, that up to now have shown little interest in one another, the contributors to this volume are able to ask provocative questions, present innovative views and make bold suggestions that will benefit research in both ELF and intercultural communication.
* Claire Kramsch, University of California, Berkeley, USA *
This book will be of value to a range of diverse researchers, in a range of diverse contexts (...) The theoretical cul-de-sac discussed by Homes and Dervin, and also by O’Regan, are challenged and navigated by the kinds of research approaches exemplified by this book.
-- Robert M. Higgins, University of Nottingham, UK * LINGUIST List 28.4585 *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Contributors
Introduction
Part I: The Interconnections and Inter-relationships between Interculturality and ELF
1. Karen Risager: Lingua Francas in a World of Migrations
2. Richard Fay, Nicos Sifakis and Vally Lytra: Interculturalities of English as a Lingua Franca: International Communication and Multicultural Awareness in the Greek Context
3. Will Baker: Culture and Language in Intercultural Communication, English as a Lingua Franca and English Language Teaching: Points of Convergence and Conflict
Part II: Grounding Conceptual Understandings of Interculturality in ELF Communication
4. Chris Jenks: Talking Cultural Identities into Being in ELF Interactions: An Investigation of International Postgraduate Students in the United Kingdom
5. Anne Kari Bjørge: Conflict Talk and ELF Communities of Practice
6. Jagdish Kaur: Intercultural Misunderstanding Revisited: Cultural Difference as a (Non) Source of Misunderstanding in ELF Communication
7. Tiina Räisänen: Finnish Engineers’ Trajectories of Socialization into Global Working Life: From Language Learners to BELF Users and the Emergence of A Finnish Way of Speaking English
8. Eric Henry: The Local Purposes of a Global Language: English as Intracultural Communicative Medium in China
Part III: Commentary
John O’Regan: Intercultural Communication and the Possibility of English as a Lingua Franca
