Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca

Will Baker

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781501502163
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

The use of English as a global lingua franca has given rise to new challenges and approaches in our understanding of language and communication. One area where ELF (English as a lingua franca) studies, both from an empirical and theoretical orientation, have the potential for significant developments is in our understanding of the relationships between language, culture and identity. ELF challenges traditional assumptions concerning the purposed 'inexorable' link between a language and a culture. Due to the multitude of users and contexts of ELF communication the supposed language, culture and identity correlation, often conceived at the national level, appears simplistic and naïve. However, it is equally naïve to assume that ELF is a culturally and identity neutral form of communication. All communication involves participants, purposes, contexts and histories, none of which are 'neutral'. Thus, we need new approaches to understanding the relationship between language, culture and identity which are able to account for the multifarious and dynamic nature of ELF communication.

Chapter 1
Introduction

“Did the mind discover likeness in the unlike in order to clarify the world, or to obscure the impossibility of such clarification? He didn’t know the answer. But it was one hell of a question.”

– Salman Rushdie, Shalimar the Clown (2006: 180)

There is currently no shortage of books addressing intercultural communication, culture and identity. This should not be a surprise, as the quotation from Salman Rushdie’s character Max Ophuls underscores, questions about ‘likeness’, ‘the unlike’, or ‘the other’ to use a term from sociology and sociolinguistics, provide seemingly endless scope for discussion. These are certainly not new questions but the increasing contact with difference, the unlike and the other brought about through the acceleration of globalisation and associated communicative technologies in recent decades have raised awareness of these issues. Questions concerning our understanding of others and the cultures they are part of have been of interest to anthropologists, ethnographers, linguists and intercultural communication scholars, to name a few, for centuries. More recently, our ideas and construction of difference and the other have come under increasing scrutiny. Through investigating these topics are we trying to “clarify the world, or to obscure the impossibility of such clarification”? Is the other really as different or as similar as we think or are our comparisons simply an artefact of our preconceptions? Should we even be investigating the other, by undertaking such investigation are we not constructing and reifying the distinctions and differences we are trying to overcome? Should we be trying to ‘overcome’ the differences, is there a danger that in doing so we homogenise and restrict diversity?

Given the already extensive literature on these issues why add further to it? Firstly, as Rushdie’s Max Ophuls notes, it is “one hell of a question” and worthy of continued investigation. As societies and cultures change and develop so the answer, or rather answers, to questions of difference, likeness and the other are likely to change too. Secondly, and of central relevance to this monograph, issues of language are often marginalised and simplified in such discussions. While applied linguists are becoming increasingly interested in matters concerning intercultural communication, culture and identity, this is a relatively new development. Of course questions about the relationship between language and culture are not new. Indeed writings by Humboldt, Boas, Sapir and Whorf on this subject have been foundational for many branches of linguistics. However, these writings were typically concerned with intracultural communication, in other words communication within social or cultural groups.

Much less attention has been given to communication across or between cultural groupings. Since World War Two research into intercultural communication, or cross-cultural communication as it was typically termed, has grown considerably particularly through the influential work of Edward T Hall and Geert Hofstede. However, language does not form a central part of this research and when it is investigated it is often approached unproblematically with simplistic language, nation and culture correlations assumed. With the interest in inter-cultural communication in applied linguistics this is changing and the linguistic aspects of intercultural communication are now receiving considerably more attention. Yet, here too there are still major shortcomings in many of the approaches taken. In particular, there seems to be little awareness of, or interest in, the actual language through which much of this intercultural communication takes place, namely English. English is frequently approached as if it were a neutral choice as the medium of intercultural communication or in a reified and simplistic manner. Where the role of English is investigated, there is still little awareness of how it functions as a lingua franca in the majority of interactions and the implications this has for understanding intercultural communication.

It is these shortcomings or areas of neglect that form the rationale for this book. I will investigate these issues though a consideration of points of convergence and divergence between intercultural communication research and English as a lingua franca (ELF) research. In particular I will argue that ELF research has some major implications for our conception of the relationships between communication, language, identity and culture. This is not because there is something unique about communication through ELF, although the scale of ELF use is unprecedented in the history of lingua francas, but rather because the growing field of ELF research provides a substantial body of knowledge documenting how cultures and identities are constructed and enacted in intercultural communication. Thus, while intercultural communication is now a well-established field, although relatively new compared to many, and ELF a newly emerged but already substantial research domain (there is an annual conference, journal and book series devoted to the subject alongside numerous articles and monographs), there has been little attempt to synergise findings from the two fields. This has very recently begun to change. The first AILA Research Network on ELF in 2012 addressed this theme in part, the sixth annual international ELF conference in 2013 was entitled ‘Intercultural Communication: New perspectives from ELF’, an edited volume on this subject is in production (Dervin and Holmes, forthcoming) and a special edition of the Journal of English as a Lingua franca also addresses this subject (2015, 4/1). This monograph, thus, aims to join this newly emerging area of interest in exploring how ELF and intercultural communication research can inform each other and further add to our understanding of culture and identity in intercultural communication through ELF.

In this book I will argue that one of the main challenges that ELF gives rise to in our understanding of language, communication, culture and identity is to test the traditional assumptions concerning the purposed ‘inexorable’ link between a language and a culture and in turn identity. Due to the multitude of users and contexts of ELF communication the supposed language, culture and identity correlation, often conceived at the national level, appears simplistic and naïve. However, it is equally naïve to assume that ELF is a culturally and identity neutral form of communication. All communication involves participants, purposes, contexts and histories, none of which are ‘neutral’. Thus, we need new approaches to understanding the relationship between language, culture and identity which are able to account for the multifarious and dynamic nature of ELF communication. Such alternative approaches will have important consequences not only for ELF research but for how we characterise intercultural communication in general. Alongside this reconsideration of the links between languages, cultures and identities in intercultural communication there needs to be a proper exploration of the implications for practice, especially for teaching and learning.

Connected to teaching and learning, a central concern within both intercultural communication research and applied linguistics has been how we characterise the competences needed for successful intercultural communication. In particular new ways of looking at intercultural communicative competence are necessary that go beyond an understanding of ‘a language’ and its links to ‘a specific culture’. To understand how users of ELF communicate successfully we need a framework for conceptualising the knowledge, attitudes and skills they employ in relation to the diverse contexts of intercultural communication. This reconceptualization of culture in intercultural communication will in turn have wide-ranging ramifications for how we approach English language teaching (ELT) and teaching intercultural communication. The role of culture and intercultural communication in language teaching has gained in prominence, in theory at least, over previous decades. However, ELF studies suggest on the one hand that knowledge, skills and attitudes related to intercultural communication should be a more prominent part of ELT, while on the other, that the often simplistic notions of other cultures and languages envisaged in ELT materials should be questioned. An alternative, less essentialist, approach to ELT and intercultural communication pedagogy is needed. These concerns can be summarised in four questions presented below.

1. What are points of convergence and divergence between ELF and intercultural communication research?

2. What influence (if anything) do studies of intercultural communication through ELF have on our understanding of the relationship between culture, identity and language?

3. What are the implications of ELF research for conceptualising intercultural communicative competence?

4. What are the consequences (if any) of ELF and intercultural awareness (ICA) research for teaching English (ELT)?

These questions are used to guide and focus the discussion in this book and are explicitly addressed as the arguments develop. To accomplish this the book is roughly divided into two sections. In the first section theories and research related to intercultural communication, culture, identity and ELF are explored. In the second section implications for practice and particularly notions of intercultural communicative competence, intercultural awareness and English language teaching are considered. In writing this book I have been equally interested in both theory and practice and felt that it was important to include a proper in-depth exploration of the implications of current research and theory on intercultural communication and ELF for pedagogy. Too often research based monographs leave discussions of implications (which in applied linguistics are typically related to pedagogy) to the final chapter or a short section in the conclusion. While this may be perfectly justifiable given the research led aims of many texts, this relegation of pedagogy to a final afterthought often fails to adequately address the complexity of different pedagogic approaches, classrooms, learners, and teachers. Brief attempts to discuss pedagogy also frequently fail to offer enough detail in their pedagogic recommendations to be meaningful to those involved in teaching or teacher training and education. This book of course makes no claims to be relevant to all teachers or teaching settings but pedagogic concerns are given equal weighting to theoretical concerns. In dividing the book in this way the first section addresses the initial two questions outlined above, related to key theoretical concepts in intercultural communication, and the second section addresses the final two questions, related to more practical issues in intercultural education and ELT.

However, it is important that this is not interpreted as reifying distinctions between theory, research and practice. Indeed, constructing theory and conducting research are clearly forms of practice just as teaching is (Kramsch 2009). Likewise, in answering questions about intercultural communicative competence and awareness and related teaching approaches, research and theory will be drawn on. Furthermore, as the term ‘applied’ indicates in applied linguistics the relationship between theory and practice is closely interconnected. Widdowson (1980) in the first issue of the journal ‘Applied Linguistics’ makes a distinction between linguistics applied i.e. the application of linguistic theory to language issues or problems and applied linguistics which involves mediation between theory and practice with practice driving theory as much as vice-versa (see also Widdowson 2000). This point is reinforced by the most commonly cited definition of applied linguistics as “the theoretical and empirical investigation of real world problems in which language is a central issue” (Brumfit 1995: 27). Brumfit’s definition takes a similar perspective to Widdowson in positioning ‘real world problems’ related to language as central and then investigating how theory and empirical investigation can inform or be informed by these problems. Hence this monograph can be viewed as very much in the tradition of applied linguistics in investigating real world problems; how we understand culture and identity in complex and diverse intercultural communication scenarios through ELF and how we teach to prepare learners to use English as a lingua franca for intercultural communication. In attempting to address these problems the relationships between current theory and practice are explored in a holistic manner that eschews proposing or reinforcing distinctions between them.

1.1 English as a lingua franca (ELF)

Before proceeding further it is important to briefly outline what is meant by the term ELF in research. Other key terms in the title and questions above, ‘intercultural communication’, ‘culture’ and ‘identity’, are all dealt with in separate chapters, and discussions of the nature of ELF communication and research in relation to each of these are provided there. Thus, given the likely audience for this book and the already extensive recent writing on the nature of ELF (e.g. Jenkins, Cogo and Dewey 2011; Seidlhofer 2011; Mauranen 2012), an entire chapter devoted to a general discussion of ELF as a phenomenon and field of research did not seem necessary. Nonetheless, for those who are less familiar with ELF research a short overview of ELF and related terminology, as it is understood in this monograph, is given. Furthermore, this should also help to clarify the later discussions and avoid misinterpretation in understanding what is referred to when considering ELF studies and communication.

Firstly, one of the major factors for the increasing interest in ELF is the now well-documented growth in English language use in recent decades. The number of native speakers of English is estimated to be around 328 million, making it the third largest language in terms of L1 speakers, slightly behind Spanish (329 million), but a long way behind Chinese (over 1 billion) (www.ethnologue.com). However, where English becomes different to other languages is in terms of L2 or non-native users1. Although exact figures are difficult to produce, Crystal’s (2008) estimate of 2 billion is widely cited as a reliable ‘conservative’ estimate. The fact that L2 users of English now greatly outnumber L1 users of English has major implications for the way we view English as a language and as a medium for intercultural communication. In particular, scholars have been suggesting for several decades now that given the extensive use by L2 users, ‘ownership’ of English and the ‘norms’ of communication through English will no longer be the solely under the authority or influence of those users from its Anglophone origins (Widdowson 1994; Brumfit 2001). The use of English as an official L2, particularly in post-colonial settings, has been studied and documented extensively in World Englishes (WE) research, leading to the establishment and general acceptance of many ‘new’ varieties of English such as Indian, Singaporean and Nigerian English (e.g. Kachru 1990; 2005; Schneider 2007; Kirkpatrick 2012...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Table of contents
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. Intercultural communication and ELF
• Chapter 3. Understanding culture through ELF
• Chapter 4. Culture and identity through English as a lingua franca
• Chapter 5. Re-examining intercultural communicative competence: intercultural awareness
• Chapter 6. ELF and intercultural awareness: implications for English language teaching
• Chapter 7. Putting it into practice: a study of a course in ELF and ICA for language learners in Thailand
• Chapter 8. Conclusion
• Endnotes
• Appendices
• References
• Index