Latest Trends in ELF Research

Book excerpt: English as a Lingua Franca, or ELF for short, is currently one of the most dynamic topics in the fields of applied and socio-linguistics and English Language Teaching. It has been a thriving field of research for the last twenty years with a growing number of books and journals dedicated to the subject. The field has also seen the foundation of an annual international ELF conference series, which started in 2008 and attracts growing numbers year on year. This book has developed out of contributions to the Second International ELF conference held in Southampton (UK) in 2009. The papers in this volume provide new insights into ELF, by presenting and exploring the implications of some of the latest findings of empirical research in key ELF research areas including business and academic ELF, intercultural communication, language attitudes and ideologies, code-switching, and accommodation. These papers will have a broad appeal among applied- and socio-linguists, both academics and under/post-graduate students, as well as ELT practitioners around the world. They will also be of interest to language planners because of the potential of the research to inform English language policies and practices.