A Facebook-based Debate Through English as a Lingua Franca: A Move Toward Intercultural Awareness for a World of Differences

Abstract

Against the increasingly internationalized nature of higher education across the world using English as a lingua franca (ELF), the research reported by this paper is focused around an eight-week Facebook-based debate course to assist university learners of English in Iraq and their international counterparts in the US to negotiate and share social practices and other meanings through intercultural communications using ELF. Baker’s (2011) model of intercultural awareness is presented as the model underpinning its aims. Through thematic analysis, the results reveal participants’ ICA development, conceptual change, and representation of both in their intercultural communication as a social practice. Clearly, native-like proficiency in English is not at stake. The results show how dynamically emerging and situated the relationship is between ELF and users' cultures are for self and other (re-)presentation, a point that needs to be given considerable attention in higher-education contexts.