The fate of English as a Lingua Franca and what can teachers do for it
Before we start discussing whether English as a Lingua Franca is here to stay or will eventually disappear, we need to understand what a Lingua Franca is. Dr. Jenifer Jenkins (2017, p.1) describes it as: “English used as a contact language among speakers of different first languages, whether from choice or through some kind of coercion”. One might be familiar with ancient languages being linguas francas, such as Latin or Greek, Arabic, Persian or Tamil among others, but now everyone knows English as the current Lingua Franca. And why is that? Well, because it is the language that almost everyone, not to say everyone, uses to communicate with each other whether it is in a business field or context or not.
And how has become English a Lingua Franca? Professor David Crystal introduces in BBC’s podcast The Battle for English (2020), led by lexicographer Susie Dent, how a language can develop into a Lingua Franca. One of the reasons is through political power. As he states: “the British political and military power, which later on the American power added to, has been spreading the language worldwide since the sixteenth century. The second reason is the power of technology and the industrial field, followed by economic power and, of course, cultural power. All of these powers contribute to a language becoming a Lingua Franca.” (Crystal, D. The Battle for English. 2020)
But are Linguas Francas immortal? Well, not really. As we all know, Latin was the Lingua Franca for many centuries before being toppled. Therefore, is English going to face the same fate? Actually, no one can guarantee that it will continue being a LF for many more centuries, just like we cannot claim that in a short future (let’s say 10, 20 or 50 years) it won’t be. We’ll have to just let the time do its own thing. However, we can speculate and say our own piece on this topic.
Many might believe that Mandarin Chinese or Spanish might become the next LF. And why not? As Karry Brown adds in BBC’s Battle of English: "Mandarin is spoken by many people, not only because of its high population but also because lately China has been expanding its power and gaining a foothold in a business field worldwide” (Brown, C. The Battle for English. 2020). Nonetheless, everyone can agree that it is quite a difficult language compared, for instance, to English. Likewise, professor Chan Yeol San, argues in the BBC’s Battle of English (2020) podcast as well, how, for example, in the Chinese music field it is not as common to see songs being adapted. Chinese might not dominate the world, but for sure has an important role in the linguistic field.
Back to English, it is important to know that as Professor Crystal says: “the language is continuing to increase in numbers since many years ago, but not at the same range” (Crystal, D. Battle of English. 2020). And why is that? Well, nowadays, people are learning a language for many reasons: whether it is because of business or having more opportunities on an intercontinental level, for leisure, or just being able to communicate in a different country.
What we need to know is that learning English as a Lingua Franca, has its own debate and studies. When one person is learning another language, the main focus for every teacher around the world and regardless of the language is to perfect grammar, have a wide vocabulary knowledge… But grammar and vocabulary are not everything to know about a language, and it does not have to necessarily be the primary objective to perfect when learning a language.
As Professor Jenkins has repeatedly indicated in different studies: “ELF students know the rules, but they chose not to use them. Native English speakers sometimes can overlook how difficult it might be to learn their language” (Jenkins, J. The Battle for English - BBC Sounds. 2020). As many ELF students state: “it is quite easy to learn, but difficult to master” (The Battle for English - BBC Sounds. 2020). In some contexts, students might decide or have to dismiss the rules, because it is not their main focus, and it is not necessary to perfect the language at that specific moment or context. When learning ELF, this has to be something one must have in mind: the aim of learning a language is to be able to communicate with others, perfecting it will come later if necessary. We cannot obviate that as time goes on, a language changes and evolves (mainly because of its speakers), and rules might change eventually, but understanding each other is what is most important. Yet, let's not assume that rules are not important. If you learn a language, you must need to know the rules still. Only because in certain contexts it is not strictly necessary to follow them word by word, it does not mean that we should ignore all that creates a language, such as grammatical or lexical rules.
I want to talk a bit about my personal reasons for learning EFL in this first post. As a non-native English speaker, I started learning English because parents enroll you in language schools for ‘a better future’ or ‘another extracurricular activity’. Also, in Catalonia, Spain, where I was born and raised, learning English as a second language (third if we see learning Catalan and Spanish as L1 and L2 and not both of them as L1) is mandatory starting from primary school. However, as time went by I learned it because it was fun, and it helped me discover different cultures, enjoy TV shows in their own native language, listen to music and be able to feel the lyrics as if they were sung in my own heritage language…. But that is not the case for many nowadays. Most people I have known, and still know, only have one goal when learning English: get into a job or University, and have as many opportunities as possible. This is quite sad to see, honestly, as learning a language has now become more of a business matter rather than a leisure or cultural interest.
One important question related to English I have been constantly asked is: what kind of English are we learning? Should I learn British or American English? Well, foremost, it is important to state that I have no idea what type of English am I using most of the time. People ask me if I use American English, British English or Euroenglish. Honestly, I would not say I am using an ‘Spanish English’ either. Maybe the closest would be EFL (which is the one I taught to my students in the past few months). The language has been globalized so much, I have met so many people from all over the world and seen so many different shows (Australian, British, American, Irish), that it could be a mix of all of them, or maybe none at all. But what is most important to me is that I am able to communicate and understand all these varieties, dialects or ‘type of Englishes’. I believe that what happened to me and many others is the same as Professor Davis Crystal concludes in The Battle for English when it comes to ELF after Brexit: “because of how little natives are going to be, Euroenglish might unfold differently and end up creating a neutral language that is not going to be anyone’s L1” (Crystal, D. The Battle for English. 2020). And I have already seen this happen during the last few years of me studying, teaching and speaking English, so there is no doubt that a change will happen to ELF, eventually, at least in Europe.
So, reaching the end of this discussion, how can we, teachers, help EFL students? Well, firstly, that might depend on each teacher and on the students’ needs. Nevertheless, we should aim and focus on the communicative competence of EFL. As I previously stated, that does not mean that we should overlook at the rules or detailed accuracy of English, as in some fields and contexts they are very important (what if we started talking to our company’s CEO the same way as to our friends when hanging out in a café? What if we find ourselves in a political or business situation, and we do not really speak English as we should do at that context because we decided to overlook at the language rules?). We should be able to find a balance between communicative competence and detailed rules. Currently, people focus too much on perfecting English: I would not have enough fingers on my hand to count how many great English students I have seen terrified of taking an official English exam because of how strict the rules are whether you pass or not and have a language degree. However, I also find a lot of people not being able to conjugate correctly some tenses when being at a formal contextual situation. The balance between rules and communicative competence is the key to “master” (if that can ever exist) English. And EFL can help us achieve that.
Proceeding a little further on the topic of English language teaching (always speaking with more of a subjective or first-hand approach and here in Catalonia specifically), I can say that changes have already started somehow with teaching methods, especially in language schools. While in the educational system (such as primary and secondary education schools) the focus still remains on grammar competence, many teachers and language schools are focusing mostly on teaching through the communicative approach, immersion¹, group activities or TBL². Now, all we have to do is hope for future teachers and the educational system to continue focusing mostly on the students' needs, but without forgetting the balance between being able to communicate and speaking the language correctly. And EFL can help us reach our goals.
¹Immersion: “an approach to second language instruction in which the usual curricular activities are conducted in a second language which is the medium of instruction rather than the object of instruction.” Curtain, H. A. (1985, November 30th).
References used on this entry:
British Council. (n. d.). TBL. British Council. Teaching English. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/tbl#:~:text=Task%2Dbased%20learning%20is%20an,teacher%20discusses%20the%20language%20used
Curtain, H. A. (1985, November 30). ERIC - ED267626 - The Immersion Approach: Principle and Practice., 1986. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED267626
Dent, Susie. (Interviewer). (2020, March 23). The Battle for English. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000gkv4
Crystal, D. (2020, March 23). The Battle for English. Interviewed by Susie Dent. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000gkv4
Jenkins, J. (2020, March 23). The Battle for English. Interviewed by Susie Dent. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000gkv4
Brown, K. (2020, March 23). The Battle for English. Interviewed by Susie Dent. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000gkv4
Chan, Y. (2020, March 23). The Battle for English. Interviewed by Susie Dent. BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000gkv4
Jenkins, Jennifer & Leung, Constant. (2017). Assessing English as a Lingua Franca. 10.1007/978-3-319-02326-7_7-1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303371859_Assessing_English_as_a_Lingua_Franca
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