English as a Lingua Franca and Its Implications
for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Tünde NAGY
Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (Miercurea Ciuc, Romania)
Department of Humanities
ngtunde@gmail com

Abstract. The analysis of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has received
considerable attention over the years There has been a lot of research
done both on the morpho-syntactic properties of ELF interactions and
the communication strategies used by ELF speakers in order to facilitate
communication and avoid misunderstandings Given the fairly large
number of findings, the question arises whether ELF should be introduced
in the curriculum or replace EFL (English as a Foreign Language) I believe
that although ELF data are significant and can benefit teaching English as a
foreign language, they cannot replace EFL, especially because English as a
lingua franca is primarily a communication tool and not a language variant
Also, while there have been other models suggested as alternatives to
teaching a standard version of English, none of these models seem practical
enough or have proven applicable in the classroom
After giving an overview of the research done on English as a lingua franca,
with a special emphasis on the notion of lingua franca core, the study
reflects on the repercussions of ELF findings on teaching English as a
foreign language
Keywords: ELF, Lingua Franca Core, communication strategies, language
teaching
1. Introduction
English as a lingua franca has received a lot of attention over the years due to
the spread of English among non-native speakers of English Today, we live
in an interconnected globalized world (a “global village”) where the number
of non-native speakers of English exceeds the native ones English, often seen
as a “practical tool” and also as a “working language” (Crystal 2003: 426), has
emerged as a lingua franca used by millions of people to engage in a conversation
with each other

The aim of the present study is multifold: on the one hand, it gives an insight
into the research done on English as a lingua franca (ELF) with a special emphasis
on the notion of lingua franca core, while, on the other hand, it reflects on the
repercussions of the ELF findings on teaching English as a foreign language (EFL).
ELF and its repercussions on foreign language teaching have been studied
extensively over the last few decades Considering the large amount of data, there
has been considerable debate about whether ELF should replace EFL (English as
a Foreign Language) or be introduced in the curriculum Although there have
already been several attempts to do so, the question as to how ELF could be
applied to foreign language classes still remains open I believe that, until a new
practicable model based on ELF data is offered to teachers, ELF cannot substitute
EFL. Nevertheless, I find that ELF data are significant as they shed light on the
areas that need more focus when teaching English as a foreign language

2. ELF. A definition
While there is no clear-cut definition of a lingua franca, two main understandings
of this term can be distinguished On the one hand, ELF is often considered a
“contact language” between people who do not share a common mother tongue
and use English as the chosen foreign language for communication (Firth 1996)
(as cited by Seidlhofer 2004: 211) On the other hand, ELF is also regarded as
interactions between two or more lingua cultures in English for whom English is
not the mother tongue (House 1999) (as cited by Seidlhofer 2004: 211)
The two definitions reflect two different perspectives on ELF, which, although
connected, also differ from each other. Thus, while the first one regards ELF as
a linguistic concept and sees ELF as a language variety, the second definition
defines ELF from a sociolinguistic perspective defining ELF as a working tool
rather than a language variety
In the present approach, ELF is understood in this latter sense; so, ELF is
defined here as a means of communication between speakers who do not share
the same mother tongue and who use English for ELF purposes. This definition
greatly corresponds with Penny Ur’s (2010: 85) understanding of ELF, defining
ELF “as interactions between people whose mother tongue is not English ”

3. The notion of Lingua Franca Core
There has been considerable research done on ELF communication Analysis
of ELF has focused mainly on spoken English data and has been carried out at
the level of (a) language, (b) lingua-cultural background of interlocutors, and (c)
domain (Seidlhofer 2004: 8) Concerning the level of language, ELF descriptions
have mainly focused on phonological and pragmatic features (such as long
pause, overlapping speech), but there have also been attempts to describe the
lexico-grammatical characteristics of ELF interactions Several corpora have been
compiled with the attempt to capture the lexico-grammatical features of ELF talk
(e g the English Department of the University of Vienna compiled the VOICE
(Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English) corpus with the intention to
analyse the morpho-syntactic properties of spoken ELF on the basis of non-native
speaker communication) Research carried out on linguistic properties of ELF
talk has resulted in a series of studies that focus on the repercussions of ELF
on language teaching and also language acquisition (Canagarajah 2007, Jenkins
2000, Seidlhofer 2004, etc.). There are also studies on ELF focusing on a specific
lingua-cultural background of interlocutors and delimiting the research to specific
regions (e g ELF in Southern Africa (Meierkord 2006)) Finally, some studies also
concentrate on a specific domain, like international business settings, such as ELF
in business telephone calls (Haegemann 2002) or analysing the use of English in
academic settings (Mauranen (2003), reports about the compilation of the ELFA,
the Corpus of English as a Lingua Franca in Academic Settings) Based on the
findings, there have been several attempts to describe a lingua franca core that
would contain the main phonological, morpho-syntactical, and also pragmatic
characteristics of ELF interactions
Jenkins (2000) uses the term lingua franca core for pronunciation elements
that are crucial for intelligibility in face-to-face lingua franca communication
The elements included in lingua franca core are all the consonant sounds (except
for /θ/ and /ð/), consonant clusters (addition (consonant insertion) is preferred to
deletion), vowel length distinctions, and nuclear stress On the other hand, some
of the elements that are focused on in a traditional syllabus of EFL but are not so
important for intelligibility are not included in lingua franca core Pronunciation
features that in Jenkins’ view do not impact ELF intelligibility are the sounds θ/
and /ð/ (for which most substitutions are possible, such as /f/ and /v/), dark [l] at
the end of the word, as in little, word stress, stress-timing, exact vowel quantity
and pitch movement 1
A lingua franca core has been suggested for morpho-syntactic characteristics
as well Seidlhofer (2004) gives a preliminary list of grammatical items which are
‘deviant’ from native-speaker norms, but which are considered unproblematic in
ELF communication These are:
1 Jenkins’s list of Lingua Franca Core has also received criticism Dauer (2005) calls Jenkins’s list
problematic in several respects, such as not giving enough reasons as to why it is only θ/ and /ð/
(which in her opinion could be rather substituted by /t/ and /d/, not /f/ and /v/) left out from the
consonants, also the lack of suprasegmental features in Lingua Franca Core, such as word stress,
intonation, features of connected speech, etc

– the omission of -s in third person singular: he look very sad;
– the omission of articles: our countries have signed agreement;
– treating who and which interchangeable;
– substituting bare infinitive for -ing: I look forward to see you;
– using isn’t it? as a universal tag
Mauranen (2010) also lists some of the main morpho-syntactical features of
ELF conversations Among the characteristics, she names the non-standard uses
of articles (of the Wilson’s disease) and of prepositions (discuss about, obsession
in), regularization of verb forms (teached, stucked), regularization of countable
and uncountable forms (furnitures, researches), also productive or non-standard
morphology (irrelatively, commentated), and creative solutions (far away uncle)
Research on ELF has shed light on the pragmatic aspect of ELF interactions
as well Several researchers (Seidlhofer 2004, Mauranen 2010, Hülmbauer et
al 2008, etc ) draw attention to the fact that in ELF communication partners
do not orientate themselves to native-speaker norms but negotiate meaning as
conversation unfolds by adapting their skills to those of their partner and to the
purpose of communication (Hülmbauer et al 2008: 25) Grammatical accuracy
does not play a significant role in ELF communication: more important than
formal correctness is functional effectiveness as ELF speakers are primarily users
and not learners of the language. Negotiation and adaptation are often defined as
key features of ELF interactions: speakers negotiate meaning as they engage in a
conversation adapting their skills and needs to those of their partners Mauranen
(2006) offers an interesting analysis of the strategies used in ELF interactions
by non-native speakers (NNS) of English in order to facilitate communication
and avoid confusion Misunderstandings in ELF interactions are rare and often
resolved either by topic change or by other strategies such as repetition or
rephrasing (Seidlhofer 2004: 11)
In what follows, a brief description of an analysis that focuses both on the
morpho-syntactic properties and the pragmatic elements of ELF interactions in
online communities will be given. Besides reflecting the everyday language use of
ELF speakers, these data can also help teachers tailor their teaching methodology
to fit their students’ needs.
4. ELF data as a source of inspiration for teachers
During the months of April and May 2012, a corpus-based research was carried
out on ELF communication in the Couchsurfing Online Community, a hospitality
and social networking website, aimed at providing free accommodation for
people all over the world Members of this community commit themselves to
hosting travellers and might also ‘surf’ on other people’s couches for free As
such, Couchsurfing offers a cheap way of discovering the world, allowing for
the encounter of people from different social and cultural backgrounds Thereby,
English is most often used as a language of communication The analysis of ELF
communication has been undertaken within the Vienna Couchsurfing Group, a
subgroup of the Couchsurfing community, counting more than 10,000 members
coming from Vienna but also people from all over the world including native
speakers of English The members have a great variety of communication forms at
their disposal They can choose to write on the bulletin message board, where they
can see what other members have written, and also comment on them, discuss
online in various subgroups, initiate new threads, or send private messages to
one another
The analysis of the morpho-syntactic and pragmatic aspects of the ELF has
yielded similar results to the ones mentioned by Seidlhofer (2004) and Mauranen
(2010) Regarding the morpho-syntactic properties, the most common mistakes
detected are the non-standard use of prepositions (sentences 1–2), the omission
of ‘s’ in third person singular or, on the contrary, its overuse (sentences 3–4), the
regularization of uncountable forms (sentences 5–6) and also verb forms (e g
‘what I mended’ (instead of ‘meant’)), or the different incorrect variants of the
look forward to vb + ing construction (sentences 7–8)
1) I was looking on the wrong month
2) (…) if you are interested to join me/us send me a message
3) if someone whant to join me
4) (… ) but cool a lot people wants to joining!
5) Advices for Vienna (title of a thread)
6) Hope you could share with me yours experiences and some informations :)
7) I’m looking forward having a fun holiday with CS spirit ;)
8) Looking forward to see you
Overall, it can be said that ELF speakers do not seem to worry much about
grammatical correctness as long as they mutually understand each other
Since they negotiate meaning during the conversations, adapting their skills
to those of their partner’s, the lack of grammatical correctness rarely causes
misunderstandings While some confusion can be noted during the interactions,
this results from the specificities of online communication (e.g. the lack of nonverbal cues) rather than the language skills of the interlocutors
There are several communication strategies adopted by ELF speakers in order
to facilitate understanding in the Vienna Couchsurfing Group. Placing a question
into the subject line is one of them; so, there is a great number of threads where the
subject contains a question or a request (like: Fare Dodging Vienna’s transport?
(asking for information), How to make friends in Wien? (seeking help as well
as advice), In town this week… looking for some friends or jogging partners
(request), How to get from Vienna to Adlitzgraben? (asking for information),
Someone up to meet today?? (initiating an activity), etc By using this strategy,
the users immediately signal whether they need help, information, or advice or
if they wish to organize something or are looking for friends Another important
strategy is self-regulation (altering or adapting one’s behaviour to the situation at
hand), characteristic of postings that contain larger discussions (posting a) is an
example of seeking approval) Such postings are usually much longer with more
elaborate sentences reflecting vivid talk with repetitions and the tendency for
overemphasis (postings b–c)
a) oh i am sorry if you or anybody else got the impression that i was talking
to a special person from the thread with “never say all” and criticise them [ ]
maybe i wasnt very clear in my words maybe you got now what i wanted to
say before ;) at least i hope so :P
b) i am austrian, with austrian roots and i really, really have to say that it isnt
that bad (and i am glad to have wonderful friends also from abroad) [ ]
c) As a conclusion I must say Austrians are very kind and respectful people, but
for a foreigner, it may seem hard to form friendships with them at the beginning,
due to misunderstandings [ ]
Finally, in the Vienna Couchsurfing Group, it often comes to code-switching
when members involved in a conversation are Austrians Taking into account that
this group has many Austrian members, code-switching used by both Austrians
and foreigners (which can be the case, too) can be regarded as a convergence
strategy, used by members to seek for approval and acceptance Sentence d) is
an example of how the person initiating the conversation switches to German
in order to seek for acceptance and at the same time states (maybe unwillingly)
her Austrian identity. The postings in this group reflect a colourful language use,
ranging from postings only in English or German to mixed responses, containing
phrases both in English and German
d) I think I’ll offer a visit to Kahlenberg, including some Geocaching for those
interested Bettina, hast du den Kahlenberg schon fertig abgegrast?
It seems then that ELF communication has a dynamism of its own with specific
characteristics and unwritten rules that are respected by natives and non-natives
alike While ELF as a construct seems to have characteristics that are common
to most interactions where English is used as a lingua franca, ELF should be
regarded primarily as a communication tool rather than a language variety
Nevertheless, as it has been pointed out above, studying ELF communication
brings along significant advantages for teachers of English, who gain an insight
into how English is used for ELF purposes
By analysing ELF data, teachers can realize the importance of teaching
communication strategies to their students While all components of a
communicative competence (grammatical competence (the use of grammatical
rules), sociolinguistic competence (appropriateness), and strategic competence
(the proper use of communication strategies)) (Canale & Swain 1980)) are
important and probably practised in class, the latter seems to be more neglected
despite the fact that it largely determines the learner’s fluency and conversational
skills This competence, which concerns the ability to express oneself in the face
of difficulties or limited language knowledge, involves the use of strategies that
are employed when problems arise in the communication process It incorporates
all those techniques that learners adopt when in their attempt to get a message
across to their partner they find that they lack the necessary vocabulary item or
structure (Fernández Dobao & Palacios Martínez 2007).
According to Corder (1981), strategic competences are of two types: message
adjustment strategies, also called avoidance strategies (when speakers lacking the
necessary vocabulary to refer to an object, avoid mentioning it or say something
different from what was originally intended), and resource expansion strategies,
or achievement strategies (when the interlocutors attempt to overcome the
communication problems by paraphrasing, approximation (using a similar term
to the needed one), non-linguistic means (e g gestures or miming), borrowed
or invented words (e g auto for car, etc ) These communication strategies can
be cooperative when students ask their partner for help (e g How do you call
it when…?) or non-cooperative when they try to reduce the communication
gap on their own (by paraphrasing, approximation, etc ) An important way of
developing conversational strategies can be done by the use of fillers, which can
range from very simple phrases like well, I mean, actually, you know to larger
structures and even phrases like to be quite honest, I see what you mean, as a
matter of fact, etc. (Dörnyei & Thurrell 1991). These fillers, meant to keep the
conversation going, can be practised from the beginner level onwards and can be
incorporated into various communication exercises
5. The relevance of ELF for teaching English as a foreign
language
The data on ELF and also ELF core are significant as they reflect the way English
is used among non-native speakers for ELF purposes The elements of lingua
franca core can often be detected not only in face-to-face interactions but in
online communication as well The linguistic (phonetic and morpho-syntactic)
properties together with the pragmatic aspects of interactions point to a specific
dynamism of ELF communication governed by the Let it pass principle (which
means that everything is possible as long as it does not hinder successful
communication)
This being said, the question arises whether these findings should be incorporated
in EFL curriculum and, if so, to what extent this should or could be done The
attitudes of researchers to ELF often differ from those of teachers in this regard From
the researcher’s perspective, a standard variety is not considered appropriate for
teaching English as a foreign language This is relevant especially for pronunciation,
so that learners of English should not be expected to accurately produce BrE or AmE
pronunciation but be allowed to preserve their own accent Generally speaking,
researchers require that a re-evaluation and a redefinition of teaching English as a
foreign language take place based on ELF results (Seidlhofer 2004)
Several models have been suggested as an alternative to teaching a national
variety One such model would be teaching ELF instead of EFL, based on a
“common core” syllabus that includes common non-native usages with features
that are considered ungrammatical according to grammatical norms (e g she
go, the people which, etc ) While the idea of including such elements in the
curriculum would be probably rejected by the majority of English teachers, other
suggestions like the combination of different models or variants or, by contrast,
a standard international variety, a world standard English (comprising usages
accepted in most international contexts) have also emerged
These latter models might not be applicable either due to different reasons:
despite the fact that teaching diverse variants might be interesting to students,
it might also be difficult to put into practice because of the limited number of
hours that teachers have to teach. In addition, students might not find them very
practicable since their primary aim is to use English in ELF contexts Finally,
considering a standard international variety, it is often argued that in fact this
does not exist (Ur 2010)
The idea of teaching ELF or incorporating any of the models listed above
is often rejected by teachers This might be partly due to the shortage of ELF
materials as well as the difficulties that come along with changing former ways of
teaching Furthermore, the reluctance of teachers to teach ELF can be explained
by the fact that none of the models mentioned above are practical enough to be
used in the classroom

6. How can ELF findings benefit teaching English as a
foreign language?
Despite the fact that more research is necessary on ELF, the findings are relevant
and should have an impact on teaching English as a foreign language ELF data
are important as they reflect the tendencies of NNS of English as regards both
the use of linguistic elements and the pragmatic aspects of communication The
notion of lingua franca core comprises elements that teachers should focus on
while teaching, including segmental elements like consonant and vowel length
distinction and also suprasegmental elements like nuclear stress Nevertheless,
the notion of lingua franca does not include all the elements that influence
intelligibility Discourse intonation, for example, though not included in lingua
franca core, is often regarded as a core element of communicative competence
since it signals prominence and structures discourse (Chun 2002) Ramirez
Verdugo (2005) draws attention to the fact that non-native speakers use other
intonation range and variety of contours than native speakers, and by doing so
they do not signal the same communicative and pragmatic functions as native
speakers do. Thus, teaching intonation to them would be beneficial. Besides
intonation, elements of prosody, such as stress (also words stress), pause, and
rhythm, influence intelligibility and, as such, should be also focused on in class.
ELF findings also point to the fact that instead of laying too much emphasis on the
accuracy of linguistic forms, as regards both pronunciation and morpho-syntactic
features, the focus should be shifted to non-linguistic forms that affect mutual
understanding This would imply not only a transition from the dominance of the
nativeness principle towards focus on intelligibility (the intelligibility principle)
but also the acquisition of communication and accommodation strategies that are
shown to be present in ELF communication
A shift towards intelligibility has already taken place in teaching ESL and
EFL Language teaching today is approached from a functional perspective with
a focus on the communicative needs of learners While communication practices
might commonly take place in the classroom, a special attention should be given
to them, all the more so since communication strategies play a significant role
in ELF interactions Effective teaching methods to improve the communication
skills of students could include interactive activities like students interviewing
each other, role play, small-group discussions, listening to and watching everyday
conversations in English, engaging learners with online communication tools
(by encouraging group work online) Practising communication strategies would
not only foster active learning, and thereby enhance the language competence of
students, but it would also help them to use the language more effectively and to
overcome difficulties resulting from cultural differences.
Regarding the expectations of ELF researchers that no native variety should
be seen as a norm to be followed is the most difficult requirement to fulfil. Since
ELF is primarily to be regarded as a communication tool and not as a language
variety, it cannot replace a standard variety in class Although there have been
other models suggested as an alternative to the standard variety, none of them can
be practicable in the classroom for the time being Also, as Penny Ur (2010) notes,
in order to show diversity and allow for deviations to take place, there should be
a norm to follow, so that a standard version is needed for teaching Following a
standard version, however, does not and should not exclude elements of L1 NNS
of English should not be discouraged from using their own accent or corrected
when they do not pronounce words according to the norms of a standard variety
This is even more so since it has been demonstrated that non-native pronunciation
does not hinder communicative success, on the contrary, it may even facilitate
mutual intelligibility (Deterding & Kirkpatrick 2006)
7. Conclusions
In conclusion, it can be said that ELF findings have a great relevance for teaching
English as a foreign language. The most important advantage of ELF findings
is that they reflect the language habits of ELF speakers, helping teachers asses
their students’ needs and adjust their teaching methods accordingly While
introducing ELF in the curriculum might not be needed at all, ELF findings
can be incorporated in language classes, by “translating” and “adapting” them
to students’ needs For this, it is necessary that a new language awareness take
place, which – although follows a certain standard – does not regard it higher
than other varieties and does not exclude influences of L1. This is especially
important for pronunciation since NS accents continue to be preferred not only
by teachers but also by students, as Nagy (2014) shows in her analysis of attitudes
towards NS and NNS pronunciation 2 It should be kept in mind that while a
certain percentage of learners might use English to communicate with native
speakers the majority of learners will most likely use English in an ELF context
As such, it is important that students be exposed not only to NS accents but also
to NNS accents of English
2 Nagy (2014) analyses the relationship between attitudes of non-native speakers of English
towards NS and NNS accents as well as the correlation between their perceived and actual
comprehensibility Students had to evaluate NS and NNS accents in terms of personal attributes
and comprehensibility While there was a preference of students for NS accents, the students
having evaluated them more positively with respect to both categories, their comprehensibility
was higher for NNS than NS accents

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Websites
Statistics: http://www.couchsurfing.org/statistics.
Vienna Couchsurfing Group: https://www.couchsurfing.com/places/europe/
austria/vienna