Dimensions of English as a Lingua Franca

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Authors

DONTCHEVA-NAVRATILOVA Olga

Year of publication 2008
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Acta academica karviniensia
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Education

Citation
Field Linguistics
Keywords lingua franca - intercultural communication - diplomatic language - academic writing - EFL - cultural awareness - socio-cultural context - genre - stance
Description This paper considers some aspects of the use of English as a lingua franca in three communicative contexts, namely diplomacy, scientific interaction and teaching English as a foreign language and considers how the insights gathered may provide a model for coping with the challenges of intercultural communication in general. The paper suggests that the some of the ways for coping with the challenges of intercultural communication are a critical assessment of one's own culture and open-mindedness towards other cultural backgrounds, text interpretation based on an understanding of genre conventions and the expectations of the target discourse community, and the use of a high level of explicitness and an avoidance of culture specific idiomaticity. The author claims that the new dimensions of English as a lingua franca need not be in conflict with the concern for protecting cultural and linguistic diversity in the modern global world.
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