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SUMMARY:Negotiating varied proficiency levels in Lingua Franca English - D
 r Anne Ife\,  Department of English\, Communication\, Film and Media\,  An
 glia Ruskin University
DTSTART:20100222T170000Z
DTEND:20100222T183000Z
UID:TALK21290@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ewa Illakowicz
DESCRIPTION:It is now commonplace for people around the globe to use Engli
 sh as a language of wider communication or\, as it is now often called\, a
  lingua franca. Growing research into the use of lingua franca English (EL
 F) tends to focus exclusively on L2 speakers. In the case study to be repo
 rted here I assume a more liberal definition\, recognizing that L1 speaker
 s are also lingua franca users in many contemporary contexts. Inevitably\,
  levels of proficiency in lingua franca English are always likely to be va
 ried\, even more so when L1 speakers are also involved\, raising the quest
 ion of whether such disparities disadvantage\, or even marginalize\, less 
 proficient speakers.  \n\nThe paper reports a longitudinal study which aim
 s to assess the impact of  varied proficiency on communication among a gro
 up of  lingua franca English users who include both ‘true’ lingua fran
 ca users (in the now accepted ELF sense) and also some L1 (‘native’) s
 peakers. It examines discourse data gathered over a period of four months 
 from participants involved in a shared learning project and ostensibly fun
 ctioning as equals linguistically. It identifies the strategies adopted to
  deal with very varied proficiency\, and analyses how these develop over t
 ime as the group bonds as an ‘interculture’ group. The focus is primar
 ily on turn management and topic control and the emphasis is on the succes
 sful accomplishment of communication\, rather than on failed or  mis-commu
 nication. The findings suggest that the ability to adopt successful mediat
 ing strategies for varied proficiency depends on previous intercultural ex
 perience and experience of being learners and users of a second\, or forei
 gn\, language. The paper will consider the implications of this for langua
 ge education.\n
LOCATION:Faculty of Education\, 184 Hills Road\, Cambridge\, room GS5
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