Page 11 - Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Mojca, and Maruška Seničar Željeznov, eds. 2018. Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in A New Educational Era. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 11
Promoting Giftedness through ‘English as a Lingua Franca’ Informed Language Teaching
and non-conformist options. In every communicative situation interlocutors
choose from the virtual language and decide which rules of the standard lan-
guage to adhere to and which to interpret creatively as to accommodate to
the communicative goal as well as the interlocutors’ needs.
At the moment, foreign language teaching focuses to a great extent on
linguistic conventions of the native speaker, which are only sometimes com-
plemented by audio and textual material from English used in countries such
as India, so English varieties in former colonies. Kachru’s (1992) World English
model of three concentric circles illustrates different uses of English. The Inner
Circle represents native speaker use of English in countries such as the USA
and UK and is the smallest. Next is the Outer Circle which describes English as
second language in countries like India and Nigeria. Around 150–300 million
people use English in this context. The Expanding Circle shows the biggest
number of speakers, 100–1.000 million, using English as a foreign language.
Kachru’s circle model distinguishes quite clearly between different uses of
English and highlights the vast number of people who speak English as a
foreign language.
Despite the fact, that there are more non-native speakers using English
regularly than native speakers, insights of ELF research have had no influ-
ence on English language teaching and testing practices. Interestingly, na-
tive speakers show less flexibility in their language use, while ELF users make
use of all their (multi)linguistic resources, not necessarily adhering to conven-
tions of the standard language. In international communication this might
even lead to an advantage for non-native speakers (Jenkins, Cogo, & Dewey,
2011, p. 284; Seidlhofer, 2011, p. 80).
A driving force behind language teaching and assessment in the European
Union is the Common European Framework of Reference (Council of Europe,
2001), which describes language competence measuring different levels of
competence against the native speaker standard. The highest level, C2, is in
this description the native-like use of the language and all other levels are
measured in accordance with this ‘authentic’ use of the language. Research
questions the existence of a native speaker and discussion on the owner-
ship of English (e.g. Widdowson, 2003, pp. 35–45) have led to a revision of the
wording of the CEFR. A new version (Council of Europe, 2016), only recently
published for international evaluation, uses the term proficient speaker as the
new goal to be reached by language learners. It remains unclear, however, to
what extent this differs from the traditional native speaker norm.
And while critique on the concept ELF claims it promotes simplistic and
wrong language teaching, Seidlhofer (2011, p. 198) proposes a new under-
9
and non-conformist options. In every communicative situation interlocutors
choose from the virtual language and decide which rules of the standard lan-
guage to adhere to and which to interpret creatively as to accommodate to
the communicative goal as well as the interlocutors’ needs.
At the moment, foreign language teaching focuses to a great extent on
linguistic conventions of the native speaker, which are only sometimes com-
plemented by audio and textual material from English used in countries such
as India, so English varieties in former colonies. Kachru’s (1992) World English
model of three concentric circles illustrates different uses of English. The Inner
Circle represents native speaker use of English in countries such as the USA
and UK and is the smallest. Next is the Outer Circle which describes English as
second language in countries like India and Nigeria. Around 150–300 million
people use English in this context. The Expanding Circle shows the biggest
number of speakers, 100–1.000 million, using English as a foreign language.
Kachru’s circle model distinguishes quite clearly between different uses of
English and highlights the vast number of people who speak English as a
foreign language.
Despite the fact, that there are more non-native speakers using English
regularly than native speakers, insights of ELF research have had no influ-
ence on English language teaching and testing practices. Interestingly, na-
tive speakers show less flexibility in their language use, while ELF users make
use of all their (multi)linguistic resources, not necessarily adhering to conven-
tions of the standard language. In international communication this might
even lead to an advantage for non-native speakers (Jenkins, Cogo, & Dewey,
2011, p. 284; Seidlhofer, 2011, p. 80).
A driving force behind language teaching and assessment in the European
Union is the Common European Framework of Reference (Council of Europe,
2001), which describes language competence measuring different levels of
competence against the native speaker standard. The highest level, C2, is in
this description the native-like use of the language and all other levels are
measured in accordance with this ‘authentic’ use of the language. Research
questions the existence of a native speaker and discussion on the owner-
ship of English (e.g. Widdowson, 2003, pp. 35–45) have led to a revision of the
wording of the CEFR. A new version (Council of Europe, 2016), only recently
published for international evaluation, uses the term proficient speaker as the
new goal to be reached by language learners. It remains unclear, however, to
what extent this differs from the traditional native speaker norm.
And while critique on the concept ELF claims it promotes simplistic and
wrong language teaching, Seidlhofer (2011, p. 198) proposes a new under-
9
