English as a Lingua Franca among Adolescents

This series welcomes book proposals detailing innovative and cutting edge research and theorisation in the field of English as a lingua franca (ELF). The purpose of the series is to offer a wide forum for work on ELF, including aspects such as descriptions and analyses of ELF; ELF use in a range of domains including education (primary, secondary and tertiary), business, tourism; conceptual works challenging current assumptions about English use and usage; works exploring the implications of ELF for English language policy, pedagogy, and practice; and ELF in relation to global multilingualism.

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This volume is not only the first book-length investigation into adolescents’ use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), it also explores ELF in an African-European context, which has received little attention in ELF research so far. The book examines the interplay between language, culture and identity in adolescents’ ELF interactions. It combines quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore strategies secondary school students employ in a German-Tanzanian student exchange in order to reach their communicative goals. Introducing and drawing on the TeenELF corpus, the book investigates the speaker- and situation-specific potential of repetition and repair, complimenting, laughter and humour as well as various practices of translanguaging. The study reveals ELF as a transcultural space, in which different linguacultural influences meet and merge, while meaning, rapport and identity are interactionally negotiated. In the face of an increasing interest in ELF-informed pedagogy, the present approach investigates the communicative needs and competences of school students and derives both theoretical as well as classroom implications from its linguistic findings.