Nicos Sifakis

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens | uoa · Department of English Language and Literature

The ELF-awareness framework for ELT pedagogy and teacher education has been put forward as a comprehensive plan for incorporating ELF-related concerns within different teaching and learning contexts. The framework’s orientation is context-dependent and prioritises a critical reflective approach to the use, teaching and learning of English. This pap...

Research shows that, while exposure to English as a lingua franca (ELF) discourse and to discussion of ELF-related interactional strategies – such as rephrasing, paraphrasing and translanguaging – can help raise English language teachers’ and learners’ ELF awareness, this is often not enough nor is the value of such exposure adequately monitored. I...

The paper presents the background, design, implementation and impact of the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme of the EU-funded ENRICH Project, which ran from 2018 to 2021. The programme, which has been freely available online since January 2022 (http://enrichproject.eu), aims at implementing the principles and processes of ELF awa...

The paper presents four premises and two principles guiding the ENRICH Project, an EU-funded (Erasmus+) project that ran from 2018 to 2021 and developed an innovative online continuous professional development programme aimed at educating teachers of English as a foreign language in raising their own and their learners’ ELF awareness. I further dis...

Research in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), that is the medium of communication between people who come from different linguacultural backgrounds, has created a rich body of work in various areas. This article focuses on a more recent development of this research for teachers and teacher educators in the perspective of critical language education...

In this chapter I present the implications of ELF for pedagogy and teacher education. I am interested in seeing how learning about ELF can contribute to ESOL teacher development through a process I call ELF awareness. In what follows, I will discuss the challenges and opportunities that ELF awareness can have for ESOL practice and resent the basic...

In ELT contexts, the concept of ELF awareness has been proposed as a means of developing the skills, strategies, and overall outlook that learners require to competently participate in ELF interactions. Depending on the teaching context, this can be a demanding process. We discuss the ELF-aware instructional interventions carried out by two practit...

This article presents results from a needs analysis survey conducted in the first year of a European-funded project entitled ‘Teachers’ Assessment Literacy Enhancement (TALE)’. The survey questionnaire used asked 1788 learners of English in Cyprus, Germany, Greece and Hungary about their experiences of assessment; which of these they considered con...

span lang="EN-GB">In this paper I discuss the possibilities, opportunities, challenges and (even) perils in applying the ELF-aware perspective in teacher education. I focus on presenting two obstacles in enabling this application, the first related to teachers’ attitudes, which tend to be fundamentally negative, and the second referring to an uncer...

This chapter provides a state-of-the-art discussion of the ways in which transformative learning could be fostered in teacher education. It focuses on programmes which aim at raising English language teachers’ awareness of the implications of the current role of English as a lingua franca (ELF), namely as an international contact language. After pr...

The book aims at exploring innovative and practical ways of applying theoretical considerations of ELF (English as a lingua franca) in the EFL (English as a foreign language) classroom. ELF is a widely acknowledged and rapidly expanding field of Applied Linguistics. The term refers to the function of English as a contact language in communications...

The 10th Anniversary Conference of English as a Lingua Franca, held in Helsinki on 12-15 June 2017, had an exciting theme: “ELF and Changing English”. The general call for papers of the conference made reference to the function of ELF as “a pivotal driver of change in English” and underlined the need to “push the boundaries and explore possibilitie...

Please see the following links for more information: Link 1: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Language-Awareness/Garrett-Cots/p/book/9781138937048/////// Link 2: https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=4jg9DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q=bayyurt&f=false

The paper proposes a framework for integrating ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) research in English language teaching (ELT), predominantly pedagogy, but also teacher education, materials development and evaluation, policy design and planning, assessment and testing. The main concept here is ELF awareness, which orientates a set of principles that r...

P. 456 "INTRODUCTION Developments in ELF research in the past several years have raised implications for many different domains surrounding the use, teaching and learning of English involving non-native speakers. What this research has offered is a fresh way of looking at English-medium communications that include non-native users, raising seriou...

This edited volume seeks ways to present a unifying picture of TESOL policies and practices from different contexts in the broader Mediterranean basin and beyond. The book is divided into three major sections: (i) English language education; (ii) English language teacher education and recruitment policy; (iii) English language testing policies and...

Περίληψη This paper presents the design and initial implementation of an ICT-based distance learning framework that exploits current trends in distance learning, in particular e-learning tools and features that are collectively known as “Web 2.0 tools” (e.g., blogs, wikis, social networks, podcasting). The project involves people who live in remot...

We have been invited to contribute a brief comment on Éva Illés’ (ÉI) paper titled “Issues in ELF-aware teacher education.” First of all, we feel we should express our gratitude to ÉI for focusing on our proposal for what we have termed ELFaware teacher education (ELFATE) and for raising a series of stimulating issues that are of particular importa...

The paper describes a framework for the education of ESOL teachers that is inspired by principles grounded in research on English as a lingua franca (ELF) and world Englishes (WE). The essential feature of such a framework is that it involves interested teachers in a critical reorientation of their beliefs toward English language teaching, learning...

This chapter has two aims, which coincide with its two sections. In the first section we present a comprehensive proposal for “English as a Lingua Franca (henceforth ELF)-aware teacher education,” which is intended to provide continuing education for in-service teachers of English as a foreign language in Expanding Circle contexts. In this proposal...

Recent work in the field of English as a Lingua Franca (henceforth ELF) has been focused on defining, delineating, and clarifying the nature of ELF. While some work has addressed issues of teacher education and training (see below for a review), we have yet to see a comprehensive proposal that aims both to educate English as a Foreign Language (hen...

The paper discusses the challenges and opportunities that the English as a lingua franca (ELF) paradigm raises for ESOL teacher education. I argue that one of the prominent implications of the ELF paradigm for ESOL teachers is the need to review and ultimately change their convictions about key aspects of foreign language teaching, such as normativ...

The development of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has raised pressing challenges for language policy, curriculum design, teaching methodology and teacher education. Communication between non-native users of English on a global scale is more widespread than, and therefore at least of equal importance with, communication between non-native and nati...

The paper raises questions that focus on the ‘deep fundamentals’ of EFL curriculum designing, i.e., assumptions that tend to be taken for granted by policy makers involved in making decisions about Greek state-school English language curriculum designing, teaching, learning and assessment. I argue that such decisions should be informed by extensive...

In this paper we document the design and implementation of an ICT-based distance learning framework that exploits current developments in online distance education, in particular e-learning tools and features that are collectively known as “Web 2.0 tools” (e.g., blogs, podcasting, wikis, social networks). The project aims at training adults living...

The paper presents a notional account of the challenges facing the introduction of English as an international lingua franca (ELF) curriculum in the state schools of the expanding circle, taking Greece as a case in point. It broadly delineates an ELF curriculum as one focusing on the skills necessary for carrying out successful communication involv...

We report the findings of a survey of 388 primary and secondary EFL teachers in Greek state schools concerning their self-perceptions as practitioners and active users of and experts in different domains of the target language. The issues considered fall into three broad categories: general qualifications of EFL teachers, actual teaching practice,...

The article responds to the emerging need for a general framework for ELF (English as a lingua franca) teacher education that would appropriately inform and sensitize ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) practi-tioners about ELF teaching matters. The teacher education model put forward is based on the transformative framework for adult ed...

This article presents a survey of Greek EFL teachers' (N = 421) attitudes regarding their pronunciation beliefs and practices. It touches on two sets of questions. First, it refers to teachers' viewpoints regarding pronunciation-specific issues and the possible links between pronunciation teaching, English as an international language (EIL), and th...

The article concentrates on setting some specific criteria for the EIL (‘English as an international language’) classroom and raising teachers’ awareness of what is needed in order to identify and teach EIL classrooms. It starts by distinguishing between those communicative and teaching situations that are norm-bound and those that prioritise inter...

The paper brings together recent work in English for specific purposes/languages for specific purposes (ESP/LSP) and adult education and puts forward an integrative model for ESP curriculum design. It outlines a set of characteristics that identify the ESP learner within the general adult learning framework. Taking current theories on the adult lea...

The paper addresses the commonly acknowledged challenge of globalisation with respect to the area of English language teaching and, more particularly, teaching English to speakers of foreign languages. It is argued that some of the primary issues involved concern the increasingrole of technology and communication in modern soci-eties and the loomin...

The paper brings together recent work in English for specific purposes/languages for specific purposes (ESP/LSP) and adult education and puts forward an integrative model for ESP curriculum design. It outlines a set of characteristics that identify the ESP learner within the general adult learning framework. Taking current theories on the adult lea...