A proposal for a book chapter (ELF4EFL)

A proposal to contribute in a book chapter by Richard and I have been accepted.

The chapter will be in a volume edited by Nicos Sifakis and Natasha Tsantila (and we were informed that Professor Henry Widdowson, Professor Barbara Seidlhofer and Professor Suresh Canagarajah have agreed to contribute chapters in this volume as well!) The tentative title of the book is “ELF for EFL Contexts” (ELF4EFL, for short) which is likely to be published by with Multilingual Matters in February 2017. The purpose of the publication, as taken from the editors is: “creating a practical handbook for everyone interested not just in ELF theory, but in putting that theory into practice. We choose to focus on EFL contexts because we believe that these are the contexts that need ELF-aware training the most, for reasons that have to do, among other things, with prevailing nativespeakerist attitudes that permeate instructional methodologies, curricular innovation, textbook implementation and testing approaches (which include perceptions about high-stakes examinations)”.

Here is our abstract:

Adding an interculturally-oriented ELF dimension to the EFL classroom in Thai universities

In this chapter, taking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching in Thai universities as a case to illustrate our argument, we explore how teachers might begin to re-orient their teaching away from an EFL concern with native-like norms and forms as allied to information about the target culture and instead promote an interest in English lingua franca (ELF) communication as allied to an English for intercultural communication (EIC) purpose (Tantiniranat, 2015; and forthcoming). In other words, we will use the Thai context to illustrate what the repositioning of EFL teaching as ELF-EIC might mean in practice for the teachers concerned. After briefly outlining this Thai university context, we draw upon existing thinking (e.g. Baxter, 1983; Fay et al, 2010; Fay et al, forthcoming; Sifakis & Fay, 2011; Trejo Vences & Fay, 2015) to present this interculturally-oriented ELF approach. Building upon this conceptual framework, and making illustrative use of existing EFL curricula and associated materials, we demonstrate how teachers might engage with this existing material in order to: i) identify what aspects already resonate with the suggested ELF-EIC purpose; ii) consider how these aspects might be further strengthened; iii) identify aspects supportive of the suggested re-orientation are currently absent; and iv) design new materials, methods and activities to fill the gaps identified.

References
Baxter, J. (1983). English for intercultural competence: An approach to intercultural communication training. In D. Landis & R.W. Brislin (eds.) Handbook of intercultural training (vol. 1) (pp.290–324). Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Fay, R., Lytra, V. & Ntavaliagkou, M. (2010). Multicultural awareness through English: a potential contribution of TESOL in Greek schools. Intercultural Education, 21(6), 581-595.

Fay, R., Lytra, V. & Sifakis, N. (forthcoming, 2016). Interculturalities of English as a lingua franca: international communication and multicultural awareness in the Greek context. In P. Holmes & F. Derwin (eds.), The cultural and intercultural dimensions of English as a lingua franca. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Sifakis, N., & Fay, R. (2011). Integrating an ELF pedagogy in a changing world: The case of Greek state schooling. In A. Archibald, A. Cogo & J. Jenkins (Eds.), Latest trends in ELF research (pp. 285-298). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.

Tantiniranat, S. (2015). Some intercultural implications of ASEAN and Thai educational policies for Thai higher education. Cambridge Open-Review Educational Research e-Journal, 1(2), 154-165.

Tantiniranat, S. (forthcoming). TESOL purposes and paradigms in an intercultural age: Practitioner perspectives from a Thai university. Unpublished PhD thesis: The University of Manchester.

Trejo Vences, P. & Fay, R. (2015). Developing general cultural awareness in a monocultural English as a foreign language context in a Mexican university: a wiki-based critical incident approach. Language Learning Journal, 43(2), 222-233.