Introducing English as a Lingua Franca: an Online Tutorial

Table of Contents

1. What is English as a Lingua Franca?
2. The tutorial: who it's for and what it aims to do
3. The tutorial: how it works
4. Analysing talk (the slightly theoretical bit)
5. Recording and transcribing: why record, why transcribe, what to transcribe
6. Notation
7. Three examples of classroom talk with accompanying transcripts
8. The activity - section one: form a group
9. The activity - section two: select your recording equipment
10. The activity - section three: record your discussion
11. The activity - section four: transcription and analysis
12. The activity - section five: discuss your transcript
13. Photos of the project team
14. References
15. Further reading
16. Acknowledgements
17. How to print and cite this resource
18. Creative Commons Licence

The tutorial: who it's for and what it aims to do

As part of your university studies, you may want, or be required, to work in groups. Many universities, including York St John University, have an 'internationalisation strategy' that encourages staff and students to work in multi-national (and therefore often, though of course not always, multi-lingual) groups as a way of extending their professional networks and challenging their assumptions about their subject area.

This tutorial is therefore designed for students who are working in mixed language groups; that is, groups in which at least one (or more) member(s) is/are speaking English as a main (or only) language and at least one (or more) member(s) is/are speaking English as an additional language.

So what does this tutorial aim to do? Well, what we DON'T want to do is to try and give advice about how to communicate in multilingual groups. There are no 'ten top tips' for successful communication here (see also Gumperz and Roberts 1980, Gumperz 1982). We don't know what 'successful' communication looks and sounds like in your situation. We don't even expect or advise you to avoid misunderstanding. In fact, you can probably think of situations in which not understanding (or being misunderstood) would be an advantage!

What we do assume, however, is that you are working on a group task or project that is designed to require you to communicate and that your goal is to achieve a successful result in the task (including getting a good mark, if you are being assessed).

This tutorial therefore aims to raise your awareness of how ELF arises in specific contexts of use, including the role played by your own communication strategies, attitudes and linguistic identities. So, while we can't tell you how to communicate, we can aim to develop your sensitivity to talk by requiring you to notice how it happens and what effects it has on taks fulfillment.

To achieve this aim, we have designed an activity for you to do in mixed language groups. Depending on your module tutor, you may do some sections of the activity in class and others, or all sections, in your own time. For more information on how the tutorial works, click here.