English as a lingua franca in an
increasingly post-EFL era: The
case of English in the Greek state
education curriculum
Nicos Sifakis
Hellenic Open University
Vally Lytra
Goldsmiths/King’s College, University of London
Richard Fay
The University of Manchester
3rd International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca
University of Vienna
22-25 May 2010
A bit of context (1)
Greece:
• Traditionally viewed as a societal context
characterised by a linguistically & culturally
homogeneous narrative
• Today, transformation from a migrantsending to a migrant-receiving country
• Significant numbers of newly arrived
immigrant and Greek-born children of
immigrant parents in mainstream schools
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A bit of context (2)
Greek TESOL:
• … seen as an Expanding Circle (EFL)
context
• … in which the traditional TESOL approach
has been underpinned by the TEFL
paradigm
However:
• Awareness of a new international function
of English
• Awareness of a new intranational function
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Characterising TESOL practice
 Traditionally:
EFL 
• (EFL1) FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
• (EFL2) EXAM-ORIENTED
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Characterising TESOL practice
 Another possibility:
ELF 
• (ELF1) INTERNATIONAL
function  ‘EIL’
• (ELF2) INTRANATIONAL
function  ‘MATE’
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Questions that arise
• what lead is provided regarding
– linkage between the language being learned
and any particular varieties of English? /
contexts (i.e. target culture, etc) involving
English?
– development of an
international/intranational cultural
awareness, generic and/or specific, through
English language education?
– how to teach English / what English to teach
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given the international use of English ?
Focus of our analysis
Examples…
• that can be described as a good basis for
MATE/EIL approaches.
• that are neutral to MATE/EIL but could be used
with a MATE/EIL perspective in mind (with
proper teacher training).
• that can be seen as obstacles to a MATE/EIL
approach.
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A few words
about the TESOL curriculum
• developed in 2003
• “cross-curricular”
• fundamental principles:
– literacy
– multi(/pluri?) -lingualism
– multi (/pluri-?) -culturalism
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General orientation
of the curriculum
• Literacy
– Communication, preparing learners for
coping with “every communicative situation”
(comprehensibility?)
– Appropriacy
– Negotiation
– “correct usage of English in various
contexts”
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General orientation
of the curriculum
• Multilingualism (“polyglossia”)
– “familiarization with other languages”
– awareness of “language polymorphy”
– accommodation strategies “foster
communication strategies aiming at
satisfactory communication, even if they do
not know the foreign language well”
– multi- or pluri- lingualism?
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General orientation
of the curriculum
• Multiculturalism (“polypolitismikotita”)
– development/exploitation of linguistic and
cultural difference
– “learn to adapt their discourse (oral and
written) to communicative situations, so as the
cultural dimension of the language is
promoted”
– English as a means of communication with
NS/NNSs
– multi- or pluri- culturalism?
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General orientation
of the curriculum
• Cross-curricularity
– learning to learn
– “global engagement with themes of social
content and combination of information from
different domains”
– “promote contexts for authentic
communication so that the parallel use of
languages will be achieved naturally and
effortlessly”
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General orientation
of the curriculum
• Teaching methodology
– link between English and other languages; reference
to “the mother tongue” (=Greek)
– teaching materials should promote learners’
“understanding of the multicultural dimension of the
English-speaking world”; learners should “not
develop a unidimensional (homogeneous?)
picture of native speakers of English”; “will
develop the skills to share their own culture with
others using English as the language of
communication”
– the teaching of English provides possibilities for the use of
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English as a tool for developing scientific thinking
General orientation
of the curriculum
• Assessment
– alternative assessment techniques favoured
– learners becoming aware of the intercultural
dimension of the foreign language “through
the discovery of representations of the other”
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Examples (1) – good basis for a
MATE approach
• “Interviews with people, especially foreigners who live
and work in our country, users of English in relation to
their jobs, lives, ways of life or their problems.”
• “Organization of a story telling competition of a makebelieve event using for the lead role an object, an animal
or a person or a folk talk from another country or from
each person’s place of origin.”
• “Organization of a week of folk dances or national food
or national or folk music or national costumes with the
participation of representatives from English and nonEnglish speaking countries using English as the
medium of communication.”
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Examples (2) – closer to an EIL
description
• “Investigation and presentation of jobs, the work
environment, goods and their differences across
countries, for instance being a fisherman in Greece, in
Egypt and the Philippines.”
• “Watching the narration of an event, such as an
earthquake in India and completion of maps or tables
with statistical data, such as the number of deceased, or
the different places that were affected”
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Examples (3) – neutral to MATE
• “Description and presentation of the neighbourhood,
the school or the house of each pupil and comparison
of elements. Visual representation of data in maps or
pictures.”
• “Narration of historical event, eg the bombing of
London by the Germans during WWII or the
presentation of a historical figure such as Gandhi
with continuous references to the past (tenses) and
connectors that indicate continuity or chronological order
between events”
• “In the context of Citizenship education to do role
playing where the roles involve presenting the members
of a family who are having a problem and taking a
position vis-à-vis the problem based on their role.”
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Examples (4) – obstacles to a MATE
approach
• “Presentation or acting out of seasonal celebrations
from English-speaking countries, such as Christmas,
Easter, the Carnival and customs or traditions of other
peoples that are related to time.”
• “Recording of stories with same or similar topics and
comparison of story themes from our country and
English-speaking countries.”
• “They use email to communicate with NSs with the
purpose of exchanging information about a topic or to
play a game with young people of their age from other
countries”
• “Putting together a display of foods from different
English-speaking countries.” / “Collection of myths or
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legends from Greece and English speaking countries”
Summing up
• Limited range of suggested activities provide some
lead for the development of a generic international
cultural awareness through English in the sense that
they identify an explicit role for English as the language
of international communication
• Limited range of suggested activities provide some
lead for the development of a generic(?) intranational
cultural awareness through English in the sense that
they provide some space to (re-)discover, (re-)think and
bring into the classroom the diversity within present day
Greek society.
• Examples that give space for MATE/EIL have strong
cross-curricular characteristics
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Summing up
• Multilingualism/multiculturalism loosely defined – no
major role for such activities
• Mediation activities include Greek and English; mother
tongue is assumed to be Greek (= the majority
language)
• Tension bt NS English (which narrows down the
language being learned) and English-speaking world
(which potentially opens it up). Unless, for the curriculum
designers English-speaking world is equated with NSs!
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Thank you!

sifakis@eap.gr
vally.lytra@pobox.com
richard.fay@manchester.ac.uk
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