1. EMI and CLIL and ELF:
how do they relate?
Barbara Seidlhofer
University of Vienna
Diversity in CLIL in Plurilingual Communities of Practice
26 January, 2019
2. ‚where I‘m coming from‘
University of Vienna
(after MA Vienna and MA & PhD University of London)
Vienna colleagues:
CLIL (Dalton-Puffer)
EMI (Smit)
ELF (Pitzl)
Applied Linguistics (incl. all of the above: Widdowson)
+ English linguistics & lit/cult studies, ‚didactics‘
My own focus:
English as a lingua franca (ELF)
➢ VOICE corpus,
➢ Journal of English as a Lingua Franca /JELF
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3. Global(ized) English =
English as a lingua franca (ELF)
"any use of English among speakers of different
first languages for whom English is the
communicative medium of choice, and often the
only option"
Seidlhofer, B. 2011,
Understanding English as a Lingua Franca, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, p. 7
4. ELF: corpus and journal
Vienna-Oxford International
Corpus of English
First generally accessible
ELF corpus
Free online access since May 2009,
Free download of xml corpus since
May 2011
Version with POS tagging since
January 2013
→http://www.univie.ac.at/voice
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Scope /Call for Papers/Guidelines:
http://www.degruyter.com/jelf
5. Terms/acronyms
and how do they relate?
ENL, ESL, EFL, EIL, WE … ELF
also: EMT as EMI!
CLIL /CEIL - EMI
ELF
EMI - EMT? - EME?
[Instruction – Training – Education]
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6. A great deal of research on
CLIL and EMI in Japan
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… and EMI – ELF:
7. ELF research in Japan
e.g.:
Edited volumes on ELF with international publishers
e.g. Murata 2016, 2018
CELFIL (Content and ELF Integrated Learning) project
Edited volumes on ELF with international publishers
e.g. Murata 2016, 2018
JACET ELF SIG and JACET ELF SIG Journal
Waseda ELF Research Group, ELF International Workshops
& Waseda Working Papers in ELF
English as a lingua franca program at Tamagawa University
Japanese data in ACE (Asian Corpus of English)
International research projects, PhD projects
Numerous contributions from Japan to the Journal of
English as a Lingua Franca
etc.
8. ' English as a global language'
"I believe in the fundamental value of a common
language, as an amazing world resource which
presents us with unprecedented possibilities for
mutual understanding, and thus enables us to find
fresh opportunities for international cooperation. In
my ideal world, everyone would have fluent
command of a single world language.
I am already in the fortunate position of being a
fluent user of the language which is most in
contention for this role, and have cause to reflect
every day on the benefits of having it at my disposal."
Crystal, D. English as a global language, CUP 22003, viii,
emphasis added)
9. So…
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English = English = English?
How much help are we getting from current
linguistics, SLA research, and language education
policy for rethinking the global linguistic landscape?!
10. Linguistics
The native speaker of a language has been given
great status by both structuralist and generative
linguistics, in both theoretical and applied linguistics
The notion of ‘native speaker’ is highly problematic,
though this has largely gone unnoticed.
(Bauer 2007: 76)
10
Bauer, L. 2007. The Linguistic Student’s Handbook. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
11. SLA
C-A-F (complexity-accuracy-fluency)
in TBLT (task-based language teaching):
All predicated on native-speaker norms and
conventions -
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“By default, the only adequate descriptions in
education are those of native speakers”
Cook, V. 2007. ‘The goals of ELT: Reproducing native-speakers or
promoting multicompetence among second language users? in Cummins,
J. and C. Davison (eds.): International Handbook of English Language
Teaching, Part 1, 237–248. p. 245
13. English as lingua frankensteinia
and lingua cucula
The elimination of linguistic diversity has been an explicit goal of
states attempting to impose monolingualism within their borders:
linguistic policies favour the lingua frankensteinia and lead to
linguicide. … Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) avoids seemingly innocuous
terms like 'language death' and 'language spread', concepts that
obscure agency, by referring to 'killer languages', language murder,
and linguistic genocide.
…
What therefore needs further analysis is whether English is a
cuckoo in the European higher education nest of languages, a
lingua cucula. Cuckoos substitute their own eggs for those in place,
and induce other species to take on the feeding and teaching
process.
(Phillipson, Robert (2009) Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia? English in European
integration and globalization. Ch. 7 of Linguistic Imperialism Continued. New York and
London: Routledge, pp. 149, 150f.)
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14. English in Europe and
'distributive justice'
Provided fairness is vigorously pursued along each of these three
dimensions*, it is possible to accept without indignation or
resentment the increasing reliance of English in Europe and in the
world. We need a lingua franca, and only one, if we are to be able
to work out and implement efficient and fair solutions for our
common problems on a European and on a global scale, and
indeed if we are to be able to discuss, characterize, and achieve
linguistic justice itself. But the sheer existence of a lingua franca is
not sufficient. We must urgently use it to argue, mobilize,
innovate, reform, and revolutionize the way our countries, our
Union, our world are run. (Van Parijs 2011: 209)
* He calls these"fair cooperation" (Ch. 2), "equal opportunity" (Ch. 3) und "parity of esteem" (Ch.
4).
Van Parijs, Philippe. 2011. Linguistic justice for Europe and for the world. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
15. “lingua franca natives”??
Van Parijs: “native speakers of the lingua franca” or “lingua franca natives”, used
interchangeably with “English natives” (cf. also Jenkins 2014 and passim) English
that native speakers are born to seen as the same English that is used in
international contexts – a local, national language for global international use.
Much of van Parijs' calculation depends on who is ‘at home’ in ‘the language’ and
therefore has to make a smaller effort. He also expresses this metaphorically:
“when it is in everyone’s interest that one should always meet in the same place,
it is fair that those who never need to do any travelling should be charged part of
the travelling expenses” (van Parijs 2007: 82)
If we conceive of English as a lingua franca, however, this
English is not the same place as a native language but, as
has often been pointed out, a third place, or even Third
Space. And a lingua franca has no native speakers by
definition, but all its speakers have to learn how to use it.
van Parijs, Phillipe. 2007. Tackling the Anglophones’ free ride: Fair linguistic
cooperation with a global lingua franca. AILA Review 20(1). 72–86.
16. Idealized constructs, convenient
fictions
unprecedented global mobility and spread of English >>
unprecedented ways of thinking about the language
>> untenable to persevere with conventional assumptions
about (native) language, (native) speech communities, (native-
speaker) competence, the (native) language-culture nexus,
(native) speaker rights, and (native-speaker) ownership.
>> genuinely new conceptualization of 'global English' is
required: English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)
17. Language and superdiversity
… although notions like 'native speaker',
'mother tongue' and 'ethnolinguistic group'
have considerable ideological force (and as
such should certainly feature as objects of
analysis), they should have no place in the
sociolinguistic toolkit itself.
(Blommaert & Rampton 2011: 6)
Blommaert, Jan; Rampton, Ben. 2011. “Language and superdiversity: a position paper”.
Working Paper in Urban Language & Literacies 70.
18. ‘community norms’ in the CEFR
“Can sustain relationships with native speakers
without unintentionally amusing or irritating them
or requiring them to behave other than they would
with a native speaker.“
(CoE 2001: 76, Illustrative Scale: B2 Conversation
emphasis added)
Example: the CEFR
19. Recent changes to A1-C1
descriptors
…Changes are also proposed to certain
descriptors that refer to linguistic
accommodation (or not) by ‘native
speakers’, because this term has become
controversial since the CEFR was
published.
CEFR Companion Volume with New Descriptors
CoE 2018: 50, emphasis added
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20. Now rephrased as:
CONVERSATION
B2 Can sustain relationships with speakers of
the target language native speakers without
unintentionally amusing or irritating them or
requiring them to behave other than they
would with another native proficient speaker.
CEFR Companion Volume with New Descriptors (Provisional Edition) CoE 2017:
50, emphasis added
Illustrative Scale: B2 Conversation
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21. 'Competence' and ELF
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"There is an important sense in which a normal
member of a community has knowledge with
respect to all these aspects of the communicative
systems available to him." (Hymes 1972: 282)
But there is, in today's world, an important sense
in which there is no ‘normal member of a
community’.
Hymes, D. 1972. ‘On communicative competence’ in J. B. Pride and J. Holmes. (eds.):
Sociolinguistics. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
22. CEFR, testing, ELF
A feature of language assessment internationally is its role in the
enforcement of language policies established by governments and
other educational and cultural agencies. This trend has led to the
near-universal adoption of curriculum and assessment frameworks,
the clearest example of which is the Common European Framework
of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
What does this movement represent? What is the source of the
authority of frameworks such as the CEFR, and why are they so
appealing to governments? The paper argues that the determination
of test constructs within policy-related frameworks leads to
inflexibility, and considers the case of the testing of competence in
English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication, in the context of
international civil aviation communication. (p. 500, abstract )
NcNamara 2011 Managing learning: Authority and language assessment. In
Lang. Teach. (2011), 44.4, 500–515
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23. CEFR, testing, ELF contd.
I will also argue that, ironically, standards-
based language learning, as currently
formulated, makes us less able to respond
to another result of globalization, the fact
that communication in the globalized
workplace takes place using English as a
lingua franca.
(McNamara 2011:502)
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24. What of the speakers …
…who are communicatively proficient, who
sustain relationships, make their meanings
clear as appropriate to their purposes, at
whatever CEFR level the descriptors would
locate them? They do not appear to be
catered for.
But if the criterion for ‘proficiency’ is
communicative effectiveness – then surely all
levels A1-C2 describe proficient use. And this
is what we can observe in ELF interactions.
25. Learners ~ users
What if we take a genuinely communicative approach
and recognize that ELF users (eg EMI students and
staff), plurilingual by definition, already have
communicative capability, that they are accomplished
language users ?
Seidlhofer & Widdowson 2018. ELF for EFL: A Change
of Subject? In Sifaksi & Tsantila eds. ELF4EFL. Multilingual Matters.
26. ELF research >> questioning
traditional concepts
the study of ELF calls for a rethinking of the traditional
notions of :
• 'community',
• 'competence', and
• 'legitimate speakers' of
• 'a language'
(This becomes a matter of immediate practical
urgency where ELF is the main medium of
communication in high-stakes encounters.)
27. ELF communication
What ELF research shows is the essential
nature of communication, which tends to be
concealed by our familiarity with forms, the
customary assumption that language has to be
correct/ well-formed in order to be
communicatively effective (< education,
literacy, prestige; our oracy also informed by
our literacy).
But people actually communicate in bits and
pieces, and non-verbally, strategically, least
effort, etc.
28. Competence> capacity > capability
Competence … is not something that is
directly taught but something that learners
fashion for themselves by recognizing the
need for conventional controls over their
creative efforts in the interest of better
communication.
(Widdowson 1984: 250)
Widdowson, H.G. (1984) Competence and capacity in language learning. In
Explorations in Applied Linguistics 2, Oxford University Press, 242-251 (based on
plenary at TESOL Convention Honolulu 1982[!])
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30. Implications, conclusions 1
Put function before form: understand how
language works communicatively, via
repertoires, (trans)languaging, not all, or even
mainly, verbal; accept that there is no direct,
1:1 relationship between correctness and
effectiveness, but conformity to local norms
sometimes appropriate and required (eg job
interview, most writing). Local variation and
appropriateness is key – which subject, in
which context? Bear in mind that using the
code does not require (rather, should avoid)
being idiomatic in terms of ENL communal
conventions.
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31. Implications, conclusions 2
Adapt, don’t adopt: beware of wholesale
transferring from original context to
others (cf Widdowson 1990 ‘Problems
with solutions’ in Aspects of LT); assert
local conditions/values
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32. Implications, conclusions 3
Realize that there are no native speakers
of ‘academic English’ or any academic lg;
there is no ‘native academic English’,
everybody has to learn it - and ENL
speakers may sometimes find it even
harder.
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33. Implications, conclusions 4
There is a need to clarify and make an
educational argument for or against
adherence to certain language
expectations – and about ways of
teaching certain subjects, eg medicine in
China not the same as medicine in the
UK.
(‚instruction‘ vs. ‚education‘ ?)
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34. Implications, conclusions 5
Consciously tap the potential of a
plurilingual staff and student body: these
plurilingual academics have special
knowledge, skills and experiences that
the whole community can benefit from
and draw on for jointly working towards a
better understanding of transcultural
communication in academic settings.
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35. Conclusion
Back to the initial acronyms:
ENL, ESL, EFL, EIL, WE … ELF
CLIL /CEIL - EMI
ELF
➢which E for EMI and CEIL?
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