Orienting to the spread of English as an international lingua franca: voices from the Spanish-speaking world

Abstract

The study presented in this PhD thesis is concerned with the exploration of symbolic, perceptual and ideological aspects of the global spread of English as an international lingua franca. In particular, it investigates the ways in which university students from a variety of Spanish-speaking contexts conceptualise and position English as a global language, and the ways in which they label and evaluate the variability emerging from its lingua franca use (ELF).

English has come to be known as the worlds’ international language par excellence as a result of complex social, historical, political and globalisation processes. Learning more about the global use of English has led scholars to problematize long-standing theorisations of language and their suitability to explain the observed phenomena. Since language globalisation processes are not only affecting the ways in which we use English, but also the broader ways in which we think about it, it is necessary to explore the theorisations and representations of language with which (non-linguist) English users operate nowadays, how these may relate to their linguistic experiences and expectations, and how they may affect their future trajectories.

In this thesis, I provide qualitative insights into the views of Spanish-speaking undergraduates from Chile, Mexico and Spain. I examine how students construct their experiences, conceptualisations, attitudes and beliefs, by analysing elicited talk about English. Attention is placed on the functions and meanings that are associated with the language between global and local spheres of use, and on conceptualisations and evaluations of ELF interactions in relation to issues of intelligibility, linguistic variability, and identity expression. The findings introduce the multiple and conflicted interpretative repertoires with which participants construct their evaluations and the complex uses made of key language and communication-related notions. The analysis also showcases the multifarious ways in which students recreate, challenge and/or negotiate broader ideologies of language in metalinguistic practice. Overall, the study highlights the need to address the sharp contrasts existing between the ontological complexity and multidimensionality with which students view this language, and the one-sided, standard and native-speaker-oriented representations that typically dominate principles and policies of English Language Teaching (ELT). To conclude, the thesis considers the pedagogical opportunities that talk about language has to offer in itself for ELT.

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