World Englishes 

About: World Englishes is an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): World Englishes & Language assessment. It has an ISSN identifier of 0883-2919. Over the lifetime, 1567 publications have been published receiving 35167 citations. The journal is also known as: Englishes of the world & global Englishes.

English as a Lingua Franca: Interpretations and Attitudes.

Abstract: The phenomenon of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has become the subject of considerable debate during the past few years. What emerges from much of the discussion, however, is that there seems to be a good deal of uncertainty as to what, precisely, ELF actually is, and how it relates to the much more firmly established field of world Englishes (WE). This paper therefore begins with an explanation of my own interpretation of both WE and ELF. It goes on to focus primarily on ELF. First, I examine two frequent and diametrically opposite reactions to ELF: one that it promotes monolithicity and denies pluricentricity, the other that it promotes too much diversity, lack of standards, and an approach in which 'anything goes'. I then consider the attitudes implicit in the second of these positions, and, using data drawn from recent ELF research, go on to explore the possible effects of these attitudes on the identities of ELF speakers from Expanding Circle countries. The paper ends on an optimistic note, with evidence from participants in the European Union's Erasmus Programme 1 that demonstrates how first-hand experience of ELF communication seems to be raising their awareness of its communicative effectiveness. WORLD ENGLISHES AND ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA

World Englishes and applied linguistics

Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of the relationship between world Englishes (WE) and applied linguistics. The diffusion of English is seen in terms of three concentric circles: the Inner Circle (L1 varieties, e.g. the USA and the UK), the Outer Circle (ESL varieties), and the Expanding Circle (EFL varieties). The discussion is essentially restricted to the Outer Circle in which the institutionalized non-native varieties of English are used in multilingual and multicultural contexts. The discussion is about four major issues: theoretical, applied, societal and ideological, and focuses specifically on: (a) attitudes concerning the ontological status of the varieties of English, (b) generalizations about the creative strategies used for learning English in multilingual/multicultural contexts, (c) descriptions of the pragmatic and interactional contexts of WEs and their implications, (d) assumptions concerning multicultural identities of WEs, (e) assumptions about the role of English in initiating ideological and social change, and (f) assumptions about communicative competence in English. This paper is divided into the following sections: ontological issues, conflict between idealization and reality, acquisition and creativity, the ‘leaking paradigms’, cultural content of English, ideological change, where applied linguistics fails the Outer Circle of English, and types of fallacies about WEs. This study does not view applied linguistics as divorced from social concerns: the concerns of relevance to the society in which we live. This view, then, entails social responsibility and accountability for research in applied linguistics.

Connector usage in the English essay writing of native and non‐native EFL speakers of English

Abstract: In this study we focus on cohesion in discourse, and more specifically on connector usage. Acknowledging the importance of combining a top-down and a bottom-up approach in the study of discourse, we adopt a bottom-up approach which is favoured by our methodology. In the first section we evaluate previous studies of learner connector usage and the literature on contrastive French-English connector usage. We hypothesize that we will discover a general overuse of connectors by learners and use the ICLE corpus of learner English to test the hypothesis. Our study reveals no overall overuse of connectors by learners and thus contradicts the initial hypothesis. A more qualitative look shows strong evidence of overuse and underuse of individual connectors, as well as semantic, stylistic and syntactic misuse. We conclude that learners should not be presented with lists of ‘interchangeable’ connectors but instead taught the semantic, stylistic and syntactic behaviour of individual connectors, using authentic texts.

International intelligibility of English: directions and resources

Abstract: This is a summary of the state-of-the-art research in international intelligibility with emphasis on English. It also suggests some directions for future research. It is argued that in future research it would be desirable to make distinctions between three key concepts: intelligibility, comprehensibility and interpretability. The selected bibliography of 163 items has been assembled to give the reader an indication of how widespread this literature is, and at the same time to indicate its limitations. The sources searched include publications across various disciplines. This indicates that intelligibility can be approached from a variety of points of view and interests. Since intelligibility depends upon so many factors of different types involved in a given speech event, it is difficult to find ways of integrating approaches and parameters. That is a challenge for future research.