Dynamic Approach to Language Proficiency—A Model

Abstract

Language proficiency is typically measured in relation to so-called ‘standard’ Englishes, such as American or British English. However, in today’s globalized world, such an approach to language proficiency is an anachronism. With NNS-NNS and NNS-NS communication in English on the rise, models of language proficiency are needed that can account for the varying patterns of language that emerge in these contexts. The Dynamic Approach to Language Proficiency (DALP) described in this paper is one way of doing this. Drawing on concepts from language variation studies (World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca) and Systemic Functional Linguistics, DALP posits that being proficient in a language implies that we are sensitive to the setting of the communicative event, and have the ability to select, adapt, negotiate, and use a range of linguistic resources that are appropriate in the context. This proficiency in language changes in a nonlinear fashion as our familiarity with diverse settings and contexts increases, and our repertoire of linguistic resources and strategies expands. In this paper, we use DALP to analyse written and spoken data from the literature in World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca, thereby demonstrating how the model can be operationalized to analyse language use in different settings and with different interlocutors. Through this choice in data, we demonstrate the development of language proficiency as a process that occurs for all speakers, regardless of their linguistic background, which stands in contrast to traditional approaches. Therefore DALP is a model of proficiency that is not based upon native speaker status but rather on one’s ability to adapt to and negotiate different contexts.