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Intercultural Communication in Asia: Education, Language and Values pp 97–114Cite as

The Impact of English as a Global Lingua Franca on Intercultural Communication

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Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 24))

Abstract

This chapter first examines the concept “lingua franca”, moving from an historical overview to the present status of English as a lingua franca (ELF). English as a lingua franca is today used in many domains across many different ethnic groups, nation states and regions, and it is steadily becoming more important as a default language in many parts of Asia. As a lingua franca, English is also the first truly global language in history. And it is this unrivalled position of English today which has thrown up massive criticism – criticism directed at the assumption of the cultural neutrality of English as a lingua franca, at the elitist nature of English in many parts of the world, and at its potential for harming local languages in Asia. These points of criticism will be examined in the chapter from a socio-cultural and economic perspective.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The transcription conventions in all examples presented in this paper are simplified for better readability. The length of pauses (in seconds) as well as participants’ non-verbal actions are indicated by round brackets, emphasis by capital letters, laughter by @, overlapping speech and translations by square brackets, and latching by =. All names of interactants are anonymized.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Linguistics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Juliane HOUSE

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  1. Juliane HOUSE
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Correspondence to Juliane HOUSE .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, Anaheim University, Anaheim, California, USA

    Andy Curtis

  2. School of Languages and Cultures, and Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Roland Sussex

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HOUSE, J. (2018). The Impact of English as a Global Lingua Franca on Intercultural Communication. In: Curtis, A., Sussex, R. (eds) Intercultural Communication in Asia: Education, Language and Values. Multilingual Education, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69995-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69995-0_6

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