Description:
This book investigates the cultural and intercultural aspects of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Authors discuss how 'culture' and the 'intercultural' can be understood, theorised and operationalised in ELF, and how the concepts can be integrated into formats of ELF-oriented learning and teaching. The various cultural connotations are also discussed (ideological, political, religious and historical) and whether it is possible to use and/or teach a lingua franca as if it were culturally neutral. The chapters consider the communication and pedagogical implications of the cultural and intercultural dimensions of ELF and offer suggestions for new directions in ELF research, pedagogy and curriculum development.
Brief description:
Prue Holmes is Professor and Director of Research in the School of Education, University of Durham, UK. She is the editor of The Cultural and Intercultural Dimensions of English as a Lingua Franca (with Fred Dervin, 2016, Multilingual Matters).
Review Quotes:
This edited volume is exemplary in threading together two hitherto parallel intellectual traditions - Intercultural Communication Studies and English as a Lingua Franca - innovatively and critically through a constellation of theoretical and analytical synergies. The empirical case studies across diverse settings will no doubt pave the way for future research-cum-pedagogy in the above two traditions and their intersection.