Startseite Linguistik & Semiotik Higher education students’ attitudes towards English as a lingua franca in virtual exchange settings
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Higher education students’ attitudes towards English as a lingua franca in virtual exchange settings

  • Alice Gruber ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Angela C. Bailey ORCID logo , Jeries H. Eady , Linda R. Weinberg ORCID logo , Brigitte Brath und Jorge Carroza
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 12. Januar 2024
Journal of English as a Lingua Franca
Aus der Zeitschrift Journal of English as a Lingua Franca Band 12 Heft 2

Abstract

Mentored online intercultural and international collaboration projects using English as a lingua franca (ELF) in tertiary curricula are a valuable pedagogical approach to develop intercultural communicative competence. However, students’ perceptions of ELF in virtual exchange (VE) projects remain largely unexplored. This mixed-methods study investigates students’ attitudes towards ELF interactions in the context of online collaborations involving four countries in the Global North and South. The students participated in a six-week VE and collaboratively completed tasks set by their teachers. Results of the qualitative and quantitative data show that the students’ attitudes towards ELF interactions varied in different contexts and that the experience encouraged reflections, for instance, on students’ linguistic effectiveness in intercultural situations. The findings show a (re)evaluation of native and non-native English and attitudinal shift for some students. The results indicate that online intercultural exchanges can be a catalyst for students to reflect on international English usage and global ownership. The article provides implications for setting up ELF-VE projects regarding its potential to (trans)form ELF identities and gives advice for ELF practitioners.

Zusammenfassung

Angeleitete interkulturelle virtuelle Austausche, bei denen Englisch als Lingua Franca (ELF) im universitären Sektor genutzt wird, stellen einen wertvollen pädagogischen Ansatz für die Entwicklung von interkultureller kommunikativer Kompetenz dar. Die Wahrnehmung von ELF bei solchen virtuellen Austauschprojekten aus der Perspektive der Studierenden ist jedoch bisher kaum erforscht. Diese Mixed-Methods-Studie beleuchtet die Einstellungen von Studierenden zu ELF-Interaktionen im Kontext virtueller Austausche, an denen vier Länder aus dem globalen Norden und Süden teilgenommen haben. Im Rahmen eines sechswöchigen virtuellen Austauschs bearbeiteten die Studierenden gemeinschaftlich Aufgaben, die von den Lehrenden gestellt wurden. Die Analyse qualitativer und quantitativer Daten ergab, dass die Einstellungen der Studierenden zu ELF-Interaktionen je nach Kontext variierten und zu Reflexionen über die sprachliche Kompetenz in interkulturellen Situationen anregten, beispielsweise über die sprachliche Effizienz der Studierenden in interkulturellen Situationen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine (Neu-)Bewertung von Englisch als Erstsprache und Fremdsprache und eine Änderung der Einstellung einiger Studierender. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass interkulturelle virtuelle Austausche einen Katalysator für Studierende darstellen können, um über den internationalen Gebrauch des Englischen und dessen globale Verbreitung zu reflektieren. Zudem bieten die Ergebnisse Implikationen für die Gestaltung von virtuellen Austauschprojekten unter Verwendung von ELF, besonders im Hinblick auf das Potenzial, ELF-Identitäten zu formen und zu transformieren, und geben praktische Empfehlungen für ELF-Sprecher:innen.

Keywords: attitudes; collaborative online international learning; English as a lingua franca; language ideologies; virtual exchange
Schlüsselbegriffe: Einstellungen; Englisch als Lingua Franca; Sprachideologien; virtueller Austausch
Corresponding author: Alice Gruber, Augsburg Technical University of Applied Sciences, Augsburg, Germany, E-mail:

  1. Research funding: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

  2. Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Appendix

Pre- and post-questionnaire statements

(Adapted from Ke and Cahyani 2014)

  1. Talking to an English native speaker is better for my English compared to speaking to a non-native speaker of English whose English is better than mine.

  2. You need to learn a lot about America, Australia and/or Britain if you want to learn English well.

  3. I don’t mind speaking English with a foreign accent.

  4. I want to speak like a native speaker of English.

  5. It is important to be able to understand different English accents, such as Indian English or Japanese English.

  6. If you are an English native speaker you don’t need to learn any other language.

  7. Everyone in the world should learn English the way it is used in America, Australia, and/or Great Britain.

  8. When I speak English, I feel international.

  9. It’s best to have English teachers who are native-speakers.

  10. English teaching materials should include cultures from all over the world, e.g., from Asia and Europe.

  11. In a conversation, native speakers of English should correct non-native speakers.

  12. When I talk to non-native speakers, I feel making mistakes is ok.

  13. Practising English with a non-native speaker is as effective as practising with a native speaker of English.

  14. It does not make a difference whether I talk to native speakers or non-native speakers of English when participating in a project like this one.

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Published Online: 2024-01-12
Published in Print: 2023-09-26

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Higher education students’ attitudes towards English as a lingua franca in virtual exchange settings
  4. Self-presentation as an ELF user in social media: an analysis of Japanese young adults’ online language practices
  5. English as the Academic Lingua Franca (ELFA) for research publication purposes: voices from Iraq and Turkey
  6. Preparing university students for multilingual EMI contexts in Türkiye
  7. Revisiting language teacher education in an ELF aware perspective: responses to innovations
  8. Book Reviews
  9. Piccardo, Enrica, Geoff Lawrence, Aline Germain-Rutherford & Angelica Galante: Activating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in the Language Classroom
  10. Pineda, Inmaculada & Rino Bosso: Virtual English as a Lingua Franca
  11. Kuteeva, Maria: Tension-Filled English at the Multilingual University: A Bakhtinian Perspective (Multilingual Matters 175)
  12. Rubdy, Tupas & Mario Saraceni: Bloomsbury World Englishes Volume 2: Ideologies
https://doi.org/10.1515/jelf-2023-2013
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
attitudes; collaborative online international learning; English as a lingua franca; language ideologies; virtual exchange

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Higher education students’ attitudes towards English as a lingua franca in virtual exchange settings
  4. Self-presentation as an ELF user in social media: an analysis of Japanese young adults’ online language practices
  5. English as the Academic Lingua Franca (ELFA) for research publication purposes: voices from Iraq and Turkey
  6. Preparing university students for multilingual EMI contexts in Türkiye
  7. Revisiting language teacher education in an ELF aware perspective: responses to innovations
  8. Book Reviews
  9. Piccardo, Enrica, Geoff Lawrence, Aline Germain-Rutherford & Angelica Galante: Activating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in the Language Classroom
  10. Pineda, Inmaculada & Rino Bosso: Virtual English as a Lingua Franca
  11. Kuteeva, Maria: Tension-Filled English at the Multilingual University: A Bakhtinian Perspective (Multilingual Matters 175)
  12. Rubdy, Tupas & Mario Saraceni: Bloomsbury World Englishes Volume 2: Ideologies
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