English as a Lingua Franca: Implications for Pedagogy and Assessment

• Published in: TEFLIN journal Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 57 - 70
• Main Author: Fang, Fan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malang Association for the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia (TEFLIN) 01-01-2017; State University of Malang, English Department, Faculty of Letters
• Subjects: assessment; Communication Strategies; Community Relations; Creativity; Cross Cultural Studies; Cultural Background; Cultural heritage; Cultural Pluralism; Educational Change; English; English (Second Language); English as a Lingua Franca; English as a second language; English as a second language teaching methods; English as an international language; English Instruction; English language; English language learners; Evaluation Methods; Foreign language learning; Ideology; Intercultural Communication; Language assessment; Language Variation; Linguistics; Multilingualism; Native Language; Native Speakers; Official Languages; Pedagogy; Postcolonialism; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Second Languages; Standard Spoken Usage; Statistical Data; Student Evaluation; Student Needs; Teaching Methods; World Englishes
• ISSN: 0215-773X; 2356-2641
• DOI: 10.15639/teflinjournal.v28i1/57-70

The English language functions as a global language that facilitates communication among people of different lingua-cultures. This background leads to the question of whether the traditional language assessment still fulfils the needs of the majority of language learners who will use English for various purposes with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This article illustrates the development and spread of the English language by focusing on two key paradigms: World Englishes (WE) and English as a lingua franca (ELF). This article argues that a native-oriented means of English pedagogy and assessment does not fit the current functions of the language and cannot meet the various and complex needs of the majority of English language learners. It therefore emphasizes the importance of an ELF-informed approach, such as the "post-method" approach to English language teaching and more flexible language assessment focusing on students' performance of tasks. The article concludes that English language teaching and assessment need to be more informed by ELF than by the entrenched, anachronistic native-oriented ideology.