Raising students’ awareness of the
construction of communicative
(in)competence in international classrooms
Rachel Wicaksono
Languages and Identities in Interaction Research Unit,
Centre for Languages and Linguistics,
York St John University, UK
Higher Education Academy, Teaching International Students,
Internationalisation of Pedagogy and Curriculum in Higher
Education: Exploring New Frontiers
June 2011
Thinking about English language1
Thinking about English language 1
That there are now several centers of power that
compete in promoting several native models of
English and market distinct [English language
teaching] methodologies cannot be denied. The
motivation is clearly the exploitation of the
economic power of English, as is obvious from
the following quote: "As the director of a
dynamic worldwide chain of English language
schools puts it, 'Once we used to send gunboats
and diplomats abroad; now we are sending
English teachers'" (Phillipson, 1992 p. 8).
Thinking about English language 2
The assumption of a default, ‘accent-free’,
version of each language is one of our
most powerful linguistic beliefs […] the
judgements involved are not linguistic at
all, but social. (Hall, 2005 p. 252)
Thinking about English language 2
[languages] are sociocognitive systems,
mediating between isolated individuals and
named groups living within regional or national
borders. Because of this, their own borders, in
both the minds of individuals and communities of
speakers, are very fluid indeed. Believing that
governments and academies can ring-fence a
language from outside influence is as naive as
believing that everyone outside the Italian border
can be prevented from eating pizza, or that
everyone outside the Chinese border can be
forced to celebrate the new year without
fireworks. (Hall et al, 2011 p. 12)
Thinking about English as a lingua
franca
multilingual communities have known [this] all
along: language learning and language use
succeed through performance strategies,
situational resources, and social negotiations in
fluid communicative contexts. Proficiency is
therefore practice-based, adaptive and
emergent…. The speakers are able to monitor
each other’s language proficiency to determine
mutually the appropriate grammar, lexical range
and pragmatic conventions that would ensure
intelligibility. (Canagarajah, 2007 pp. 923 - 925)
Thinking about English as a lingua
franca
Research is also beginning to show how
bad some native speakers are at using
English for international communication. It
may be that elements of an [English as a
lingua franca] syllabus could usefully be
taught within a mother tongue curriculum.
(Graddol, 2006 p. 87)
Extract 1
O: What- what parts of ummm like your lessons (.)
have you enjoyed (.) doing (.) with Rachel.
S: (2.0) Hmm?
O: What parts of your ermmm ((LS)) (1.0)
foundation programme have you enjoyed doing
with Rachel.
S: (.) We- I don’t have Rachel.
O: Oh you do:n’t? oh right. So what- (1.0) what
lessons d- what lessons are you doin’?
Extract 2
C: (.h) err (1.9) which do you feel is most
important when you learn English th- the
writing and understanding of the language
or the speaking and pronunciation which
do you find (.h) you should (.) you: should
err (.) err work more active? err (.) to be
emm (1.2) so to grammatically understand
the language or err (.) just so you can
speak and get by the pronunciation which
do you think is most important?
M: en it depends on situation I think=
Extract 3
B: So whilst you’ve been learning English what kind
of things have you covered already ( .) what (.)
areas have you covered whilst you’ve been
here.
G: (.) What do you mean?
B: (.) (.h) Well, have you looked at (.) erm (.)
travelling and directions °have you looked at°
°°how to you know like how to°° °catch the bus.
Have you looked at like in the supermarket° like
buying and selling [food?]
G:
[yeah ]
Creating (in)competence in
interaction
[repetition and re-phrasing, especially
preventative] as [an] identifier of
membership category may […] be labelled
'parasitic', in that its application draws
upon negative stereotyping at the expense
of the stereotyped, and to the benefit of
the stereotyper, who has thus successfully
legitimated his or her claim of being
naturally endowed with more rights than
her or his interlocutor. (Hinnenkamp, 1987
p. 173, emphasis in the original)
Introducing English as a lingua
franca: an online tutorial
• Contents page
• Background to ELF and our approach to the
analysis of classroom talk
• Transcribing
• Notation
http://www2.yorksj.ac.uk/EnquiryCommons/elf/elfsi
te/index.htm
Introducing English as a lingua
franca: an online tutorial
Discussing transcriptions: raising
awareness, directing attention, developing
sensitivity and challenging assumptions
http://www2.yorksj.ac.uk/EnquiryCommons/
elf/elfsite/index.htm
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/hall/
References
Brown, G. (2008). English - The world's language. 2008 speeches. Available online at:
http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page14289.asp [last accessed 4/4/11]
Brutt-Griffler, J. (2002). World English: A study of its development. Clevedon, England: Multilingual
Matters.
Canagarajah, S. (2007). Lingua franca English, multilingual communities, and language acquisition.
Modern Language Journal, 91, 923-939.
Clark, H. H. (1997). Dogmas of understanding. Discourse Processes, 23, 567-598.
Gardner, R. (2004). On delaying the answer: Question sequences extended after the question in
(eds) Second Language Conversations. R. Gardner & J. Wagner. London: Continuum.
Gargesh, R. (2006). South Asian Englishes. In B. B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. L. Nelson (eds) The
handbook of world Englishes (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics). Oxford: Blackwell.
Graddol, D. (2006). English next. British Council Learning. Available online at :
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-english-next.pdf [last accessed 4/4/11]
Gumperz, J. J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hall, C. J. (2005). An introduction to language and linguistics: Breaking the language spell.
London: Continuum.
Hall C. J., Smith, P.S, & Wicaksono, R. (2011). Mapping applied linguistics: A guide for students
and practitioners. London and New York: Routledge.
Hinnenkamp, V. (1987). Foreigner talk, code switching and the concept of trouble. In K. Knapp, W.
Enniger, A. Knapp-Potthoff (eds) Analyzing intercultural communication. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter.
Park, J. (2007). Co-construction of nonnative speaker identity in cross-cultural interaction. Applied
Linguistics, 28/3, 339-360.
Phillipson, R, (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wicaksono, R. (2009). English as a lingua franca: an online tutorial. Available online at:
http://www2.yorksj.ac.uk/enquirycommons/elf/ [last accessed on 5/4/11.
Widdowson, H. G. (1994). The ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly, 28/2, 377-389.
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