Views of university instructors and students on English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and World Englishes (WES)

Abstract

The rapid proliferation of English as a medium of communication has sparked large-scale debate on the role of English and the terminology such as ELF, WE, EIL, etc. The paradigms of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and World Englishes (WEs) are sometimes considered to be confusing to differentiate between, and in addition these terms are often used interchangeably. In order to obtain the perceptions of the instructors and students towards ELF and WEs, a questionnaire was implemented in a state university. The questionnaire consisted of both close-ended and open-ended questions. The participants were 44 English Instructors and 104 students of the English Language and Literature Department. The instructors of English ranged in age between 23 to 51 and the students were aged 18 to 25. The total number of participants was 148. Most of the participants stated that they want to sound like a “native speaker” and it would not be productive to have phonological or syntactic local varieties of English.