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Chinese ELF users’ perceptions of their L1 influence in ELF

Chinese ELF users’ perceptions of their L1 influence in ELF
Chinese ELF users’ perceptions of their L1 influence in ELF
The work on ELF has offered implications for the independence of Expanding Circle users from native English norms, and added promise to the positive role of L1 influence in their Englishes. Given the awareness that the legitimation of non-native Englishes largely depends on their users’ language attitudes, a growing body of literature has been devoted into ELF attitudes. While work has been done to reveal the significance of L1 elements in ELF users’ identity and practice, however, not much has been published to discuss specifically whether ELF users perceive traces of L1 elements in their Englishes as contributors to the ELF phenomenon as opposed to features of interlanguage and/or fossilization. The purpose of this paper is thus to explore L1 influences in Englishes that are used by Expanding Circle users through the lens of the users.

With the focus on Chinese ELF users, this paper draws on the data retrieved through questionnaires and interviews among proficient Chinese users of English from either university student background or professional background. Overall, the participants showed certain awareness of their L1 influence on ELF. While they welcomed some L1 elements to index Chinese culture identity and Chinese users’ linguistic resources, they had difficulties in accepting other L1 elements due to their option for the reference to native English. This paper discusses three questions: 1) what did the participants believe were the influences of L1 on their ELF? 2) What were their attitudes towards the perceived influences? 3) What were the factors behind their attitudes? The answers provide insights into Chinese ELF users’ agency in the development of their independence from native English and reveal a conceptual gap in the participants’ perceptions of their L1 influence. This paper concludes by proposing the integration of ELF concept into language classroom to fill in the gap.
Wang, Ying
dae44497-8e51-48ab-8173-7844f152f6e9
Wang, Ying
dae44497-8e51-48ab-8173-7844f152f6e9

Wang, Ying (2013) Chinese ELF users’ perceptions of their L1 influence in ELF. The Sixth International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca, Rome, Italy. 03 - 06 Sep 2013.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The work on ELF has offered implications for the independence of Expanding Circle users from native English norms, and added promise to the positive role of L1 influence in their Englishes. Given the awareness that the legitimation of non-native Englishes largely depends on their users’ language attitudes, a growing body of literature has been devoted into ELF attitudes. While work has been done to reveal the significance of L1 elements in ELF users’ identity and practice, however, not much has been published to discuss specifically whether ELF users perceive traces of L1 elements in their Englishes as contributors to the ELF phenomenon as opposed to features of interlanguage and/or fossilization. The purpose of this paper is thus to explore L1 influences in Englishes that are used by Expanding Circle users through the lens of the users.

With the focus on Chinese ELF users, this paper draws on the data retrieved through questionnaires and interviews among proficient Chinese users of English from either university student background or professional background. Overall, the participants showed certain awareness of their L1 influence on ELF. While they welcomed some L1 elements to index Chinese culture identity and Chinese users’ linguistic resources, they had difficulties in accepting other L1 elements due to their option for the reference to native English. This paper discusses three questions: 1) what did the participants believe were the influences of L1 on their ELF? 2) What were their attitudes towards the perceived influences? 3) What were the factors behind their attitudes? The answers provide insights into Chinese ELF users’ agency in the development of their independence from native English and reveal a conceptual gap in the participants’ perceptions of their L1 influence. This paper concludes by proposing the integration of ELF concept into language classroom to fill in the gap.

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More information

Published date: September 2013
Venue - Dates: The Sixth International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca, Rome, Italy, 2013-09-03 - 2013-09-06
Organisations: Modern Languages

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 374997
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/374997
PURE UUID: 4a9e0713-3c5d-4892-a716-7fc90492fe00

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Date deposited: 09 Mar 2015 13:22
Last modified: 11 Dec 2021 06:12

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