I’ve been reading “English as a Lingua Franca: Attitude and Identity” (hence “the ELF” of the post title) by Jenny Jenkins, and although its a much easier read than that Pseuds Corner book title might make you think, the main reaction so far is “Who cares?”
To summarize 37 pages in 37 words, the concept of English as a Lingua Franca is that as more and more English is used between non-native speakers a new variety or varities of English are being created that are just as valid and important as Glaswegian English or even RP and SAE- and much more relevant than those forms to most students studying English. So far, so fascinating- if we are in the process of the language and teaching changing, you can probably tell from the post below that I’d be happy to have something to shake things up. The important little grammar word here, though, is “if”.
Let’s see what Prof Jen Jen has to say about it:
”if a substantial number of non-native speakers did come to see themselves as a single group with major shared interests, the impact on the international language would be considerable” C Brumfit, “Individual Freedom in Language Teaching” pg 116, quoted by Jennifer Jenkins, “English as a Lingua Franca: Attitude and Identity” pg 5
“it seems entirely reasonable that there will ultimately be ELF literature” pg 14
“it could be predicted that ELF will eventually fit all these criteria” pg 15
Elsewhere in the book she seems to be admitting that the majority of native speaker and non-native speaker teachers, students and linguistics don’t believe in ELF and that it is emerging at best and doesn’t yet meet most of the criteria for a variety of language.
So, not the most encouraging of messages on the present importance of ELF in the world and in our classrooms, especially for a book that is meant to be a defence against people who attacked her previous book and is in many ways a polemic against her critics. The good news is that being a polemic makes it very readable in a “Michael Lewis for our time” kind of way, and I found the dogmatism far less annoying in print than it was in her lecturers in my King’s College London MA- the ones that eventually made me give up on it…
So in summary, and in the place of the proper review of this book I will probably never write, a bracing read full of fascinating ideas that will never happen and the academic feuds that such things tend to lead to.