Abstract
A common theme in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) research is to focus on pragmatics and accommodation with regards to turn-taking, the status of the interlocutors, and contextual usage. There is less research available that is oriented towards the usage of ELF regarding spoken directives for task-specific purposes. As opposed to conversational English, such task-based communication requires that the participants be able to facilitate understanding to achieve the specific goals of the task. This presentation will discuss a research plan that proposes the implementation of a pedagogy for communication strategies where international university students are the target recipients. The plan posits the relevance of strategic competence within ELF while exploring its necessity in university classrooms. The pedagogy focusses on achievement strategies that are direct and interactional. Through direct strategies such as circumlocution, approximation and retrieval, students will learn some methods to comprehend and deal with their performance related deficits. They will also learn interactional strategies such as comprehension checks and expressing misunderstanding which will help to further mutual communication. Through a task-based assessment based on Yule’s theory of Referential Communication, the researcher will discover which of the prescribed communication strategies enhance performance while performing closed tasks. The referential and closed nature of the assessment will essentially provide the speakers of ELF with the opportunities to negotiate meaning. The presentation will conclude by highlighting the relevance of developing the strategic competence of university students in an increasingly competitive global market while offering recommendations for further integration into foreign language classrooms.
Author Information
Ernest Michael Seely, Assumption University, Thailand
Paper Information
Conference: ACLL2017
Stream: Interactional competence
This paper is part of the ACLL2017 Conference Proceedings (View)
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