Communities of Practice and English as a Lingua Franca

This is a timely book on one of the most widely debated issues in applied linguistics: what is the social and cultural significance of English as a lingua franca for the internationally mobile students of the 21st century in Central Europe? Through an in-depth analysis of social practices, the book develops an exciting, innovative multilingual approach to out-of-class language use and language learning that engages students in the co-construction of identities. Apart from scholars, the book will appeal to policy makers and educators who are concerned with the internationalization of universities in Central Europe.

• The present study is innovative in that it applies the community of practice approach to a group using English as a lingua franca, and that it combines the Conversation Analytic method with the community of practice approach
• The book gives fresh insights into how languages in general, and English as a lingua franca in particular, can be conceived of by bringing the social into the linguistic
• The practical implications of the book include considerations of how to better prepare the students for the challenges of their future academic and professional lives, which they increasingly see as shaped by the forces of internationalization

Karolina Kalocsai, Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary.

"This volume certainly represents a welcome addition to research into ELF practices, first of all for its methodological approach that combines the CofP perspective with CA in analyzing ELF, shedding light on both linguistic and non-linguistic practices of a specific ELF group. The study effectively shows how a community is created through social and linguistic shared resources, relying on English as a common communication code, but including other languages, too, as shared resources in transactional as well as affective, social and witty humorous dialogic interactions."
Paola Vettorel, Iperstoria – Testi Letterature Linguaggi 6. 363-368