Today, many people are using English in different parts of the world with differing degrees of competence. In order to do business together, they often use a reduced form of English which allows them to get the job done. This is often called English as a Lingua Franca, ELF, or English as a Communication Tool. When there are no native speakers in the mix, the users of ELF manage well with the language at their disposal. This has implications for teaching, as many of the features of English do not cause problems for understanding. This is especially important when deciding what to concentrate on in class, and what is not considered to be important to work on, or to correct, particularly in the field of pronunciation.
Jennifer Jenkins put together research into the main features of ELF. The core features can be found in the blog posts below. Laura Patsko has been working with ELF users for a long time and has written a very knowledgeable resource bank of ideas and materials. Research into BELF, or Business English as a Lingua Franca is also gaining attention. Although it cannot be taught in class, it is a good idea to be familiar with the concept, in order to develop an ELF-oriented approach to language learning. To find out more about what is considered important in the ELF core, look at the blog mentioned here.elfpron.wordpress.com |
|