Iris Schaller-Schwaner Agency and awareness among ELF users: mediating English for plurilingual academic purposes in disciplinary communities of practice

Iris Schaller-Schwaner

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Agency and awareness among ELF users: mediating English for plurilingual academic purposes in disciplinary communities of practice at a “2+English” university in Switzerland

CALPIU Conference University of Roskilde 15 December 2008


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Preview

University of Fribourg/Freiburg: 3 types of Institutional Bilingualism (French/ diglossic German)

+ academic talk sustained by ELF(A) Historical development Three settings/Communities of Practice Differing roles and functions of English Agency and awareness Conclusions

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Based on ELFFRA case study Exploring English spoken in academic

settings of one particular bi- & plurilingual university context, viz. FRibourg/FReiburg

Conceptual lens of ELF(A) cf. Seidlhofer, Jenkins, Mauranen, House, James, Widdowson (cf. references) > ELF FR A

Ethnographic procedure in three disciplinary CoPs/speech-events inspired by Smit (2003, cf. also 2008)

Data collection of discourse in English 2004 – 2006, plus discourse about English before and after

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CH’s Bilingual University Slight (Swiss) German majority in French-majority canton

and town in territorially quadrilingual Switzerland Institutional Bilingualism as protection from linguistic

assimilation: select German or French ‘Bilingual Imperative’ of the late 1990s (new University Law

1997), accompanied by low visibility of English; ‘Brand Bilingualism’ since 2001 as a Unique Selling Proposition but

Varying realizations of Institutional Bilingualism (cf. next) in cooperation and/or segregation of F & G have continued, individual bilingualism is still optional in most cases!

Often different systems and discourse worlds, attitudes to the “partner” language not always favourable

Pre-05/06, English had no official status but an increasingly important role also as spoken EAP/ERP (interpreted territorially as representing as “wilde Dreisprachigkeit” (cf. Langner 2003), i.e. ‘trilingual anarchy’

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Ambiguity of Institutional Bilingualism (Brohy 2005):

Parallel bilingualism = twin monolingualism (language segregation) e.g. Arts Faculty, Law Faculty

Complementary bilingualism = monolingual parts result in a bilingual whole (e.g. bilingual degree options)

Integrated bilingualism = obligatoryreceptively, choice productively; French,German (and English) taken for granted without awarding bilingual degrees e.g. Science Faculty

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EAP/ERP and ‘Trilingual Anarchy’ Mostly L3/L4 English; “Scientific English is more

science than English” Not imposed from above but developed bottom-

up to fill local needs (agents of change) As the only shared lingua franca in international

research teams and occasional teaching language

Complicated through perceptions of conflict with territoriality principle despite 1997 law

Territorially a bone of contention, English was already increasingly emerging also in other academic settings

In the middle of data collection, it moved from niche to official existence when the discourse about English changed…

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Dies Academicus 2005: ‘2+English’The Rektor‘s public address in German and French on ‘How much English does Switzerland need?’ discussed the threat

Place-indexicality / territoriality complex, (heightened sensitivities due to primary school ‘language strife’)

Referred to English as an official lingua academica resembling Latin in Theology

Legitimisation and way of grappling with Research Purposes & non-territoriality

Announced that in February 05 the Sciences had adopted “Faculty of Science” logo, teaching their Master’s in Engl.

Making the new language plan look clean (‘tame’), orderly, monolingual (despite trilingual aspects that have remained)

Was accompanied by the university choir: ♬ I feel pretty, ♬ America & other pieces out of Bernstein’s West Side Story

Reaction to English: turning the Swiss into immigrants in their own country; for the sake of face-lifting

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Communities of Practice (cf. Wenger 1998: 73, 100f)

Joint enterprise - mutual engagement - shared repertoire (ELF cf. House 2003)

Practice constitutes community Practice is (a shared history of) learning that

requires some catching up for joining CoPs can have boundary objects that separate

one CoP from another The regular, communal, public speech events

recorded in 3 different academic settings are interpreted as CoPs. They differ with regard to discipline, event-type/genre, bilingualism background and the roles & functions of ELF

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Three ELFFRA Settings/CoPsI PsychologyArts Faculty

II BiochemistryScience Faculty

III Computer ScienceIT/Economics Fac.

Lunch Time Sem.Present.+ discus.

Beer & Lunch Sem.Present./JC+ discu.

Lecture& practical teaching Master ss

Twin monolingualsegregationimagined internat.

‘Trilingual anarchy’ to ‘primary TL’, lived internationality (India)

Complementary & Brand Bilingualismanticipated internat.

New common L, ‘chaired’ choice “because of bilingualism”, E is boundary object; but embedded in CS, framing

Only common L: 9 L1s, established tool, invited speakers framed; no framing in JC, interpersonal CS, E is much less of a boundary object

Instructional L, best linguistic behaviour, prep & support

(CS in breaks), E is often boundary object; competitive advantage

Emerging peer research event, CoP building

EduResearch event, doctoral socialisation into existing CoP

Teaching event, Transient CoP

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Setting II: Lang. choice & agency

There is no Choice but there can be agency: taking the initiative provides a way of coping; positioning oneself as the locus of control provides advantage

“The choice for BL-Seminars (and some other courses) to be given in English came very naturally and spontaneously. English is the vernacular language in science, it is today's Latin. As the best textbooks in the field are in English, we decided some 15 years ago to impose an English textbook to the students […] “

University Law 1997 gave faculties the right to authorize other languages of instruction

Starting small, developing one’s own practices, acting with a grass-roots (chair, institute/department, faculty) control: how, when, where; what is meant by English

Event-type/genre and purpose guide language choice: ELF as audience-, referee-, genre-design (CS suspended, defined by CoP’s expectations & purposes)

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Setting I: Lang. choice and agency ‘New’ common language for psychology dep., first

initiated by two individuals, one from each section (F/G), adopted and established as a successful peer genre

English for this event “because of bilingualism” “English please. […] our swiss german friends are also

very very interested in your question.” Non-territoriality also means above the linguistic

boundary; navigating the divide, room for common practice, changing representations of each other

Academic talk in L3 ELF(A) in parallel-bilingual settings can foreground solidarity in spite of otherization and help constitute a visible CoP

Disciplinary repertoire and community function (opting out of parallel bilingualism)

There is something in it for the people who decide to use ELF(A)

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Awareness Of what they need and what they can do Disciplinary (self-)socialisation: English is or needs to

become part of one’s productive repertoire Self-critical awareness of mistakes, problems, initial

challenges (triggered by recording?) but also variation awareness

Critical awareness of disadvantages in research and publication (only setting I) and of a certain double-bind

Awareness of the solidarity this may create; the advantage of using no one’s L1

Positioning: disciplinary and professional persona includes English, confidence comes with using it

Awareness that effort to include English in tertiary socialisation on one’s own terms is different from giving English ‘monolingual’ official status: test abolished!

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Conclusions Plurilingualism with English can be developed ‘on

one’s own terms’ in bottom-up agency Disciplinary awareness, non-territoriality, local

appropriation for ‘talking science’: ELF(A), EPAP The roles and functions of ELF(A) differ according

to local purposes and disciplinary CoPs -> top-down generalizations tend to be inappropriate

ELF(A) is often communicatively sine-qua-non, but participants may share other languages and be aware of this (ELF as no one’s L1, ELF as disciplinary purpose/genre)

English in a plurilingual repertoire is a communicative resource, a community resource, a symbolic resource

People position themselves as/by taking communal actions and decisions based on awareness of needs, options, resources

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Selected referencesBell, A. 2001. “Back in style: reworking audience design”, in Eckert & Rickford (eds.) Style and sociolinguistic

variation. Cambridge: CUP: 139-169.Brohy, C. 2005. “Overt bilingualism, covert multilingualism? Official languages and “other languages“ in a

bilingual French-German university”. Paper presented at the Conference “Bi- and multilingual universities: challenges & future prospects. 1 - 3 September 2005, Helsinki University.

House, J. 2003. “English as a lingua franca: a threat to multilingualism?” Journal of Sociolinguistics 7/4:556-578.

James, A. 2005.”The challenges of the lingua franca: English in the world and types of variety”, in: Gnutzmann & Intemann (eds.) The globalisation of English and the English language classroom. Tübingen: 133-144.

Jenkins, J. 2007. English as a lingua franca: attitude and identity. Oxford etc.: OUP.Langner, M. 2003. “Fachsprachen als Fremdsprachen: organisatorische und didaktische Herausforderungen

zweisprachigen Studierens”, in: van Leeuwen & Wilkinson (eds.) Multilingual approaches in university education. Challenges and practices. Universteit Maastricht: Valkhof Pers.

Mauranen, A. 2003. “The Corpus of English as Lingua Franca in Academic Settings”. TESOL Quarterly 37: 513-527.

Mauranen, A. 2006b. “Speaking in the discipline: discourse and socialisation in ELF and L1”, in Hyland & Bondi (eds.) 2006. Academic discourse across disciplines. Bern etc: Peter Lang: 271-294.

Meierkord, C. 2006 The sociolinguistics of lingua franca communication. Special Issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language .

Murray, H. & Dingwall, S. 1997. “English for scientific communication at Swiss universities: ‘God helps those who help themselves’”, Babylonia 4/97: 54 - 59.

Pölzl, U. & Seidlhofer, B. 2006. ”In and on their own terms: The ‘habitat factor’ in English as a lingua franca interactions”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 177: 151-176.

Saraceni, M. 2008 “Comment 7 [to Robert Phillip son]”, World Englishes 27/2: 280-281.Seidlhofer, B. 2001. "Closing a conceptual gap: the case for a description of English as a lingua franca"

International Journal of Applied Linguistics 11, 2:133-158. Smit, Ute 2003. “English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) as a medium of learning in a hotel management

educational programme: an applied linguistic approach” VIEWS 12/1: 40-74Smit, Ute 2008. Classroom interaction in English as a lingua franca. A discourse pragmatic ethnography in

international higher education. Unpublished Habilitationsschrift. Universität Wien.Stotz, D. 2006. “Breaching the peace: struggles around multilingualism in Switzerland“, Language Policy 5:

247-265.Swales, J. 2004. Research genres: explorations and applications. Cambridge: CUPWenger, E. 1998. Communities of practice. Learning, meaning and identity. New York: CUP.Widdowson, H. G. 1997 "EIL, ESL, EFL: global issues and local interests" World Englishes 16/1:135-146.

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Iris Schaller-Schwaner Agency and awareness among ELF users: mediating English for plurilingual academic purposes in disciplinary communities of practice