The dominance of English in scientific publications: The experience and attitudes of scholars working at a faculty in Serbia
Abstract
The author of the paper studied the experience and attitudes of 30 scholars working at a faculty in Serbia. The results of the questionnaire comply with the findings of much larger linguistic and sociolinguistic studies conducted on the subject in other non-English academic communities. Namely, to achieve personal academic goals and receive international recognition, all respondents are obliged to publish their papers in English. The choice of the publishing language is simple and does not depend on respondent's age, gender, degree of education, scientific field, knowledge of other foreign languages, and English competence. The choice of publishing language is obvious and comes down to English as a lingua franca (ELF) because 93% of scholars questioned consider English the most significant language for their scientific career and research field. Although they all publish their papers in ELF, most of these non-native speakers of English face both linguistic and non-linguistic issues in terms of lack of material resources, access to the latest research and technical problems. However, the bright side of the questionnaire is the finding that as much as 77% of respondents teaching at one faculty in Serbia publish their articles in the national journals in their native language. Thus, it is conclusive that ELF does not represent a threat to the Serbian language which still remains an important channel of publishing. Certainly, it is necessary to conduct a more extensive study on attitudes of a larger number of Serbian scholars regarding publishing in their native language and English, but this sample confirms that ELF is not necessarily a threat to local languages provided that it is regarded as a means of communication between scientists who do not speak the same native language.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
The objective of this chapter is to provide a brief overview of the ELT reality in Brazil, still predominantly ENL-oriented and inner- circle emulating, arguing that, despite resistance, ELF-sensitive classes are gaining ground in the country. Based on findings of a brief study whose goal was to analyze how a few English high-school textbooks approved in the 2015 edition of the National Textbook Program (NTP)1 are linguistically, methodologically and ideologically oriented, we propose an alternative ELF orientation to a previous EFL syllabus. In light of this work, we assume that an ELF-sensitive pedagogy is viable even when departing from general pre-existing materials. The targeted audience will be teachers, student teachers, teacher educators, researchers, materials designers and other stakeholders involved in language education. Upon finishing the chapter, readers will have been exposed to some theoretical ELF-related issues as well as given the opportunity to explore and reflect over a specific ELT experience which can signal possibilities to be related to, and potentially be applied to their own contexts. © 2019 Nicos C. Sifakis, Natasha Tsantila and the authors of individual chapters.
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 possibilities of cross-fertilisation between different approaches to contemporary change in English”.
In this context, the Colloquium that I put together in ELF10 aimed at inviting respected ELF scholars to reflect on the extent to which research in ELF is able to impact, and therefore inevitably change, English language teaching and learning in all its facets (most notably pedagogy, language learning materials design and implementation, assessment, policy, and, by extension, teacher education). The title of the Colloquium, which is also reflected in the title of this section, was “ELF-awareness in ELT: bringing together theory and practice”. It demonstrates the need for (a) developing a comprehensive model for linking, in whatever way, the ELF construct with the ELT domain, and (b) describing good practices that demonstrate this very link.
In this chapter we will explore emerging perspectives related to WE, ELF and ELT materials analysis and development, particularly in the context of teacher education. We will examine criteria for materials evaluation that take account of a WE- and ELF-aware viewpoint. We will then outline guidelines aimed at fostering the development of WE- and ELF-aware classroom activities in teacher education. Examples of activities and tasks within a plurilithic and more inclusive perspective will also be provided. © 2019 Nicos C. Sifakis, Natasha Tsantila and the authors of individual chapters.
This chapter is devised for ELT practitioners to reflect on how language and culture are portrayed in EFL textbooks, and explore how an ELF approach can be further integrated into their teaching practices through supplementary activities and teaching materials. The target audience is pre-service and in-service teachers as well as course-book designers. After reading the chapter, readers will become aware of several ELF-related teaching activities and materials that focus both on language and culture, so that they could explore and apply them in their teaching contexts. © 2019 Nicos C. Sifakis, Natasha Tsantila and the authors of individual chapters.
1. Introduction
Teacher education has been identified as one of the most important steps
in fostering a shift in perspective in English language teaching (ELT), one
that takes account of the complex reality into which English has
developed, and one that, by adopting a reflective approach, challenges
teachers’ deeply held notions and beliefs about language, learning and
teaching (Richards and Lockhart 1994; Freeman and Johnson 1998;
Johnson 2009; Freeman 2016). Seidlhofer (1999) noticed the shift
occurring in teacher professional development programs within contexts
where learners need to be guided toward the achievement of proficiency
in more than one language besides their own, while learning and
appreciating the cultures of other languages. These shifts in teacher
education, as well as the type of training required for the preparation of
future foreign language teachers, have been the object of numerous
research studies carried out by experts of the European Commission and
of the Council of Europe involved in the European language policies
(Lopriore 2016c, 101).
We are facing a gradual but unstoppable change in both the
components and the approaches adopted in teacher education courses for
foreign language teachers, specifically in those for teachers of English
(Bayyurt and Akcan 2015; Bayyurt and Sifakis 2015a, 2015b; Brown
2002; Lopriore 2010, 2016a, 2016b, 2016c; Lopriore and Vettorel 2015,
2016; Matsuda 2002, 2017; Sifakis 2004, 2007; Sifakis and Bayyurt 2015 Vettorel 2015, 2016; Vettorel and Corrizzato 2016a, 2016b; Vettorel and
Lopriore 2017). Raising teachers’ awareness of the current plurality of
English and of its extended role as a lingua franca can indeed have
significant repercussions in English language teaching and learning
practices. Since the textbook remains one of the main pedagogic tools and
reference points both for teachers and learners, teacher education should
include moments devoted to a critical reflection upon and analysis of
existing materials within a world Englishes (WE)- and English as a lingua
franca (ELF)-aware perspective. Jenkins, in discussing ways of introducing
an ELF-aware teaching approach in language courses, suggests:
[...] planned innovations are only likely to be implemented effectively if
the need for change is acknowledged by teachers themselves [...]. This is
more likely to be the case if teachers have, themselves been involved in
some way in the research that leads to the curriculum development.
[...]…because learning about English is so important for teachers, a
particularly good way to explore their beliefs and assumptions is through
language awareness activities. (2007, 248–9).
In this respect, this paper will illustrate how reflection on evaluating ELT
materials from a WE- and ELF-aware perspective was carried out in two
different teacher education contexts: Turkey and Italy. While the
reflections of pre-and in-service foreign language teachers on ELF
awareness of teaching materials will be explored at Boğaziçi University in
the Turkish context, exemplifications from pre- and in-service courses run
at Roma Tre and Verona University will be provided from the Italian
context. The participants that feature in this chapter are referred to either
with pseudonyms or with their initials in order to preserve their
anonymity.
This study investigates the use of three verbal inflectional suffixes, i.e., the present tense -s, the past tense -ed, and the progressive -ing, among Thai ELF learners. It examines how they deviate from ENL norms and the causes of deviations are analysed. Data were taken from the academic writing of 116 English-major students at a university in Bangkok. The results showed that Thai ELF learners who have advanced and upper-intermediate level English knowledge and skills have acquired the ability to use these three suffixes, but they sometimes deviate from ENL norms. They tend to omit the -s ending when there is a long distance between the main subject and main verb, when there is a heavy subject containing a head and pre-/post-modifiers, and when the subject appears as a structurally complex category. They often omit the -ed ending when there are several past tense verbs in a sentence. They extend the use of the progressive aspect to talk about a general truth or habit which is typically expressed by the present simple tense in ENL. Results suggest that linguistic and functional causes are responsible for these deviations. Thai ELF learners use the zero forms of present and past tense verbs as a result of both syntactic complexity and the pragmatic motives of the efficiency of communication as well as the exploitation of redundancy. They use progressive verbs with general truths or habits due to the attractive form and meaning of this aspect and also the pragmatic motive of added prominence. © 2018 Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All Rights Reserved.
With researchers around the world are under increasing pressure to publish in high-profile international journals, this book explores some of the issues affecting authors on the semiperiphery, who often find themselves torn between conflicting academic cultures and discourses.
The acknowledged advantage of corpus linguistics is that it provides access to data derived from actually attested language upon which a reliable description can be based. This enables linguists to make use of observation rather than being dependent on less reliable data, based on either introspection or elicitation. A prior decision that has to be taken, however, is what kind of attested language is to be selected.
Keywords:
English;
globalization;
intercultural communication;
language variation and change;
corpora;
corpus;
lingua francas
In this study, the communication strategy use of two pairs of English as a lingua franca (ELF) users was explored in relation to two contextual factors, the communicative goal and the ELF users’ thoughts and feelings about the interactions. The ELF users were video-recorded engaging in researcher-designed tasks which required sharing information to achieve a joint goal. Subsequent stimulated recall with individual speakers targeted instances of potential or actual difficulties in understanding. Recordings and transcripts of the paired tasks and stimulated recall were used to identify communication strategies used to address difficulties in understanding. Results showed that overall, 11 different strategy types were seen across both pairs of speakers. However, the pair which achieved the shared goal showed a different pattern of strategy use and of interaction than the pair which did not achieve the shared goal. The two pairs also differed in how they attributed responsibility for successful communication. These findings, discussed in the context of previous ELF communication strategy research, highlight benefits of investigating interlocutors’ contemporaneous thoughts and feelings and the ways in which communication strategies are used during interactions.