The worldwide spread of English is one of the many different developments closely connected with the phenomenon of globalisation. This term, which is now recurrent in contemporary rhetoric and is a keyword in both academic and popular discourse on the economy, society, technology and culture “[…] can be taken to refer to those spatio-temporal processes of change which underpin a transformation in the organization of human affairs by linking together and expanding human activity across regions and continents” (Held and McGrew 2007, 15). The intensification of worldwide relations inevitably calls to the fore the question of the choice of the language to be used for contacts among people living in widely different places in the world. Lingua francas, that is “contact languages used among people who do not share a first language” (Jenkins, Cogo, and Dewey 2011, 281) have been in use for a long time and Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and other languages were once used for this function. In present times, the task of being a Lingua Franca to be used universally has fallen upon English. English has therefore become the dominant language in the higher education sector in Europe, as can be seen from objective indicators such as the growing number of degree programmes which use English as a medium of instruction (Gotti 2014; Dearden 2015). In this way it is easier to attract foreign students. But equally important is the wish to prepare students for the global workplace. As a consequence of observable

Enriching the University ELT Curriculum with Insights from ELF / Poppi, Franca. - ELETTRONICO. - 3:1(2016), pp. 127-152. [10.7359/791-2016-popp]

Enriching the University ELT Curriculum with Insights from ELF.

POPPI, Franca
2016

Abstract

The worldwide spread of English is one of the many different developments closely connected with the phenomenon of globalisation. This term, which is now recurrent in contemporary rhetoric and is a keyword in both academic and popular discourse on the economy, society, technology and culture “[…] can be taken to refer to those spatio-temporal processes of change which underpin a transformation in the organization of human affairs by linking together and expanding human activity across regions and continents” (Held and McGrew 2007, 15). The intensification of worldwide relations inevitably calls to the fore the question of the choice of the language to be used for contacts among people living in widely different places in the world. Lingua francas, that is “contact languages used among people who do not share a first language” (Jenkins, Cogo, and Dewey 2011, 281) have been in use for a long time and Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and other languages were once used for this function. In present times, the task of being a Lingua Franca to be used universally has fallen upon English. English has therefore become the dominant language in the higher education sector in Europe, as can be seen from objective indicators such as the growing number of degree programmes which use English as a medium of instruction (Gotti 2014; Dearden 2015). In this way it is easier to attract foreign students. But equally important is the wish to prepare students for the global workplace. As a consequence of observable
2016
Focus on LSP Teaching: Developments and Issues
Garzone, Giuliana, Heaney, Dermot and Riboni, Giorgia
9788879167918
LED Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere Economia e Diritto
ITALIA
Enriching the University ELT Curriculum with Insights from ELF / Poppi, Franca. - ELETTRONICO. - 3:1(2016), pp. 127-152. [10.7359/791-2016-popp]
Poppi, Franca
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
791-8-Garzone-Focus_16-09-29_1B-COL.pdf

Open access

Descrizione: Versione dell'editore
Tipologia: Versione pubblicata dall'editore
Dimensione 3.93 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
3.93 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

Licenza Creative Commons
I metadati presenti in IRIS UNIMORE sono rilasciati con licenza Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal, mentre i file delle pubblicazioni sono rilasciati con licenza Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale (CC BY 4.0), salvo diversa indicazione.
In caso di violazione di copyright, contattare Supporto Iris

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1121032
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact