The Cultures of English as a Lingua Franca

The Cultures of English as a Lingua Franca WILL BAKER University of Southampton Southampton, England The cultural dimension of foreign and second language use and teaching has risen in prominence since the 1980s More recently there has been much interest in and debate concerning the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) However, there has been little empirical investigation into what communication through ELF might mean for an understanding of the relationships between languages and cultures This article reports on a qualitative study investigating seven users of English in a higher education setting in Thailand engaged in intercultural communication Analysis of these examples of intercultural communication, together with the participants’ metadiscussions of culture, revealed cultural frames of reference perceived of and made use of in a hybrid, mixed, and liminal manner, drawing on and moving between global, national, local, and individual orientations Although the limited number of instances reported means that further research is needed to confidently make generalisations, it is suggested that cultural forms, practices, and frames of reference through ELF may be viewed not as a priori defined categories, but as adaptive and emergent resources which are negotiated and context dependent Therefore, ELF needs to move beyond the traditionally conceived target language– target culture relationship to incorporate an awareness of dynamic hybrid cultures and the skills to successfully negotiate them he increased use of languages such as English for intercultural communication in lingua franca contexts brings up complex issues concerning any proposed relationships between language and culture Given the multilingual and multicultural contexts of much ELF communication, any attempt to propose a straightforward language– culture–nation correlation must be seen as a gross oversimplification Thus, a richer understanding is needed of the fluid and diverse relationships between languages and cultures Just as advocates of English as a lingua franca (ELF; e.g., Cogo & Dewey, 2006; Dewey, 2007; House, 2003; Jenkins, 2006, 2007; Prodromou, 2008; Seidlhofer, 2004), and others concerned with English used for intercultural communication (e.g., Canagarajah, 2005, 2007; Firth & Wagner, 1997, T TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 43, No 4, December 2009 Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:39 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 567 2007), have suggested that the norms of inner circle (Kachru, 1990) English-native-speaker pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary choice are inappropriate in lingua franca settings, so this article suggests that native-speaker cultural assumptions and frames of reference are equally out of place (see also Meierkord, 2002; Poălzl & Seidlhofer, 2006) Instead, cultures in ELF should be conceived as liminal, emergent resources that are in a constant state of fluidity and flux between local and global references, creating new practices and forms in each instance of intercultural communication At present, though, little empirical work has been undertaken investigating the connections between languages and cultures in ELF contexts In response to this, a study was undertaken which aimed to examine the language–culture relationship for a group of English language users and learners in a Thai university This article presents data that illustrate participants both discussing and engaged in intercultural communication through English These data highlight the liminal manner in which cultural frames are employed and perceived of in ELF communication ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Given the multifarious uses of English globally, a straightforward association between the English language and the traditional inner circle English-speaking countries is not sustainable, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States Owing to the vast extent of English use on a global scale, which Crystal (2008) roughly estimates as involving two billion users, it is necessary to construct a conception of English that accepts a plurality of Englishes and an understanding that English is not seen as the property of one culture or community To continue with Kachru’s distinction between inner circle, outer circle, and expanding circle English regions and users, the norms of so-called native English speakers are of questionable relevance to outer circle and expanding circle contexts where no native speakers may be present However, it should be acknowledged that both the concentric circles model of English and the term native speakers are problematic Kachru’s concentric circles fail to clearly distinguish between regions, nationalities, and users of English Equally significant is that the circles preserve the static nationality–language association of monolithic English in delineating and distinguishing between such categories as Indian English, Singaporean English, or Nigerian English, rather than more complex global flows of English across cultures (Pennycook, 2007) Despite these limitations, the three circles model may still be useful ‘‘as a shorthand for English worldwide’’ (Bruthiaux, 2003, p 159), albeit a 568 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:40 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) rather generalised one, and will be used as such in this article The term native speaker has been the subject of much debate over the last few decades (see, e.g., Cook, 1999; Davies, 2003; Rampton, 1990), and although it has been regarded as both inappropriate and ill defined, it still exerts a strong influence on English language policy and teaching The term English as a lingua franca is ‘‘a way of referring to communication in English between speakers with different first languages’’ (Seidlhofer, 2005, p 339) Lingua franca languages are traditionally associated with communication between people who have different first languages from the language being used to communicate Although this may be the case in many contexts of English use, given the majority of nonnative English speakers, it should be remembered that native English speakers also engage in international communication through English Therefore, Jenkins (2006, 2007), along with Seidlhofer (2004), offers an extended definition of ELF that involves communication in English between participants who have different ‘‘linguacultures’’1 (Jenkins, 2006, p 164), whether they are categorised as native speakers, second language users, or foreign language users This definition is also of relevance to the present discussion in using the term linguacultures to highlight the language–culture connection and the importance of different languages and cultures in communication Crucially, the norms of such communication are not driven by native English speakers, thus removing it from exocentric, monolithic language and communication norms associated with English-dominant regions and accepting a plurality of forms Research into intercultural communication through ELF has identified various features of such communication Jenkins’s (2000) lingua franca core documents phonological features, and lexis and syntax have been investigated most significantly through the ViennaOxford International Corpus of English, which has recorded and transcribed more than one million words from spoken ELF interactions (Seidlhofer, 2004) Further research in this area has also been undertaken by Cogo and Dewey (2006) and within academic contexts by House (2003) and Bjoărkman (2008) Just as important as an understanding of the phonological and lexicogrammatical features of ELF are the pragmatics of communication and a flexible approach to the use of language itself ELF communication, in common with other forms of intercultural communication, can also be characterised by mixing between varieties of a language and also code-switching with other languages (Canagarajah, 2005, 2007; Firth & Wagner, 2007; Although a detailed definition of linguaculture (or languaculture as it is often referred to) is beyond the scope of this article, it is used here to describe the manner in which a language is learned as a meaning-making cultural practice in a specific sociocultural context (see Risager, 2007, for a more detailed explication) THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:40 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 569 Kramsch & Whiteside, 2007; Meierkord, 2002) Indeed, researchers such as Jenkins (2007) and Seidlhofer (2007) state that ELF will be characterised by local variation alongside emerging, shared processes Such fluid conceptions of ELF thus reject the more prescriptive label that some have assigned to it (Prodromou, 2008) The extent to which ELF can be codified or is always in a ‘‘process of emerging’’ (Prodromou, 2008, p 246) is important Yet, these are difficulties inherent in any description of language (Brumfit, 2006; Kramsch, 2002; Larsen- Freeman, 2002, 2007) It is important to note that ELF approaches reject sharp distinctions between different kinds of English users such as native speakers or foreign language users, with speakers blurring and even crossing over between categories in intercultural communication For example, students within non–English-dominant countries who study a subject through English may feel more comfortable discussing and writing about their subject in English than in their mother tongue, and their proficiency in this area may be at least equal to that of users in inner circle countries Of particular relevance to this argument is that English is no longer viewed as connected to the culture of the traditional English-dominant countries This has important implications for the relationship between culture and language in ELF Culture, Language, and ELF Given that English can no longer be seen as the property of the traditional inner circle countries, a correlation between the English language and the cultures of those countries begins to break down A conception of culture and the relationships between cultures, languages, and communication in intercultural communication across many diverse cultures is needed Critical postmodernist stances reject the notion of cultures and languages as stationary homogeneous entities open to straightforward description Critical theories of culture take a more dynamic and heterogeneous perspective on culture and reject as simplistic the equation of a language, culture, and national identity Second language use and learning studies have concepts that help to explicate the language–culture relationship from a more critical perspective First, the link between language and culture needs careful consideration Although earlier conceptions, such as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis (Whorf, 1939) and the work of Geertz (1973), were key in laying the foundations for an understanding of the manner in which language both embodies and creates cultural reality, a more critical understanding is needed to properly explicate the relationship in intercultural 570 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:40 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) communication, in which specific languages and cultures are less easily identified Risager (2006) questions the perceived inexorable link between language and culture that has become a part of second language (L2) pedagogy Building on critical theory’s understanding of the dynamic nature, or as Risager views it, the complex and global flow of language and culture, Risager claims that from the perspective of users of English as a second or foreign language, languages and cultures can be separated To clarify what she means by this, she introduces a distinction between cultures and languages in the generic sense and in the differential sense (Risager, 2006, pp 4–5) In the generic or universal sense, language and culture are intertwined, as theories such as linguistic relativity proposed (Gumperz & Levinson, 1996; Whorf, 1939) At this level, language is always an enactment and embodiment of culture, and the two cannot be meaningfully separated However, Risager believes that when moving from discussing language and culture in this general way to examining specific languages and cultures such as English, in the differential sense, language and culture can be separated Though her argument is complex, the main premise is that all languages, and especially international languages such as English, can in practice (i.e., during actual instances of use) take on new cultural meanings, or what she refers to as languacultures (Risager, 2006, p 110), depending on the user and context, and that ‘‘the link between language and culture is created in every new communicative event’’ (p 185) Therefore, a language such as English will have as many languacultures as there are speakers of the language, and in this sense there is no identifiable culture to which a language is inseparably tied Yet, Risager adds a further qualification to this separation of language and culture She believes that at the individual psychological level, that is, at the level of an individual’s linguistic resources or competence, language and culture are again inseparable and develop in tandem based on the individual’s life experiences Risager suggests that this individual perspective may have led to confusion over the relationship between specific languages and cultures and consequent claims that languages such as English are in some way inevitably tied to British or U.S culture as in strong forms of linguistic relativity (Whorf, 1939) Significantly for this discussion, while maintaining that languages are never culturally neutral for their users, Risager’s conception of the relationship between languages and cultures allows English use in ELF to be separated from the cultures of the inner circle countries Kramsch (1993) views second language communication as operating in a ‘‘third place’’ (p 233) between the users’ first language and culture (L1/C1) and the target language and culture (L2/C2), but being part of neither Instead, she suggests, second languages operate along a THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:40 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 571 ‘‘cultural faultline’ (p 205) in which communicative practices are freed from the norms of both L1/C1 and L2/C2, opening up new perspectives on languages and cultures The notion of liminality, as proposed by Rampton (1995), shares many features with Kramsch’s third places In Rampton’s study of communication between different ethnic groups within the United Kingdom, he identified ‘‘liminal moments’’ or ‘‘crossings’’ (p 167) when language users who are not part of a given language community adopt that language for their own purposes or needs This leads to a code-alteration (p 280) of the L2 by minority or outside users Rampton believes such crossings are common in the L2 classroom and are a part of L2 teaching and learning practice Brumfit (2006) takes up Rampton’s concepts to propose that L2 learning and use is necessarily a liminal process that leads users into new areas, in which languages and their cultural codes are unique to each individual and communicative encounter Though none of these authors is writing specifically about ELF communication, the notions of third places and liminality have much to offer in highlighting the fluid, dynamic, and novel communicative practices and language–culture connections that might be expected in such contexts Also of relevance for an understanding of intercultural communication in ELF is a discourse approach to culture Kramsch (1998) provides a useful explanation of how culture can be conceived of through discourse in her definition of culture as ‘‘1: Membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and acting 2: The discourse community itself 3: The system of standards itself’’ (p 127) Furthermore, she claims that language is what expresses, embodies, and symbolises ‘‘cultural reality’’ (p 3) In other words, language is used to both represent shared experiences and knowledge and to create those experiences; furthermore, that use of the language itself signifies membership of the community, although what communities users of ELF might identify with is at present not clear Scollon and Scollon (2001a) choose the terms discourse and interdiscourse communication rather than intercultural communication These, they believe, are more appropriate terms, because within any one culture individuals will belong to many different discourse communities, relating to such groupings as gender, generation, and profession Thus, much communication even within a culture will be interdiscourse communication Fully accounting for the complexities of social interaction requires taking account of the multiple discourse systems simultaneously at work, which may lead to either shared or differing expectations and interpretations of communication Therefore, rather than analyse interaction based on a priori categories of group membership such as culture, they suggest focusing on what 572 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:41 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) categories emerge from the discourse as relevant to negotiation of interpersonal relations Then, if culture is brought forth in social transactions, its purpose and consequences need to be considered (Scollon & Scollon, 2001b, p 544) In sum, culture can be viewed as a discourse community, but one that is enacted alongside and in relationship with other discourse communities, and one whose role and relevance to communication is emergent in each individual instance At this stage, we are left with a complex picture of language and culture The links between the two can no longer be perceived as involving identifiable language entities and target cultures such as the English language and English-speaking cultures (see, e.g., the articles in Valdes, 1986) Culture can be viewed as a discourse or discourse community which is dynamic, complex, and negotiated and one of many possible means of interpreting meaning and understanding in interactions that may or may not emerge as relevant It is this more fluid, emergent stance on how culture and language interact in intercultural communication, embodied in notions of third places and liminality, that perhaps offers the most interesting means of investigating the role of culture in ELF communication Thus, it seems unlikely that a culture of ELF could ever be established or described owing to the scale of diversity of cultural references, forms, and norms across such a vast array of users However, this leads to a paradox As previously posited, languages and cultures are always linked at the individual level; there must always be cultural references, meanings, and communicative practices in each instance of communication One approach is to suggest that the cultural content or references of global Englishes may relate to fields of use as in Widdowson’s (2003) notion of registers of international English, to McKay’s (2002) discourse communities for areas such as science or commerce, or to Jenkins’s (2007) and Seidlhofer’s (2007) emerging ELF communities of practice However, a wider understanding of language and culture is needed because individuals not stay within such neatly defined boundaries as scientist or business person Thus, the cultural content or meanings of English language use will vary greatly depending both on the users and on context of use, and will range from more stable professional or specialist uses to highly variable individual meanings and communicative practices Another perspective on global uses of English and ELF is offered by Canagarajah’s (2005) focus on the ‘‘local in the global’’ (p xvi) Drawing on Clifford’s (1992) conception of ‘‘travelling cultures’’ (p 96), Canagarajah views cultures in global contexts as hybrid, diffuse, and deterritorialized English use and teaching needs to be understood from a perception of fluidity and mixing of languages, cultures, and identities THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:41 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 573 Learners of English are not learning to join a single language community, but are ‘‘shuttling between communities’’ (p xxvi), between the local and the global, in which a variety of norms and a repertoire of codes are to be expected This, Canagarajah proposes, should lead to a re-evaluation of the value of local knowledge and practices in English use, which he believes are as fluid and dynamic as the global, and a move away from reference to inner circle, native-English-speaker expertise Instead there should be a focus on multilingual and multicultural communicative practices and on negotiation and communicative strategies, a theme that I return to later in this article A commensurate characterisation of global uses of English and cultures is presented by Pennycook (2007), who, similarly to Risager (2006, 2007), uses the notion of transcultural flows to examine ‘‘the ways in which cultural forms move, change and are reused to fashion new identities in diverse contexts’’ (Pennycook, 2007, p 6) In his study of English language and global hip-hop cultures, Pennycook attempts to elucidate the ways in which global languages and cultures offer alternative identities and forms of expression, while at the same time being reshaped to meet local needs, and then being sent back out again with new forms and meanings in a circular or flowing process Thus, Pennycook believes that the relationship between culture and language should be viewed as in constant tension between the fluid and fixed in relation to locations, traditions, and cultural expression: ‘‘Caught between fluidity and fixity, then, cultural and linguistic forms are always in a state of flux, always changing, always part of a process of the refashioning of identity’’ (p 8) Meierkord (2002) investigated the concept of culture in lingua franca communication through a corpus of recorded conversations among overseas students in the United Kingdom As with the discussions of culture and language reviewed earlier, she too concluded that cultures are created in conversations and that they can be related to L1 cultures, shared communities, third place cultures, or hybrid cultures It is important to note that she emphasised the role of agency in proposing that the participants in ELF communication can choose how much and what culture to construct in their conversations In sum, linguistic and cultural forms expressed through ELF are likely to be hybrid, dynamic, and continuously adapting to local needs, global influences, and the demands of communicating across cultures Yet at this stage, apart from Meirkord’s (2002) study, there is little empirical evidence from ELF settings, and none from expanding circle environments, that is specifically concerned with understanding how cultural frames of reference and communicative practices operate in such a liminal manner in intercultural communication through English The remainder of this article is concerned with this task 574 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:41 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN THAILAND: A STUDY OF ELF IN PRACTICE Research Methodology, Setting, and Participants The data under discussion are taken from a larger ongoing study into intercultural communication, L2 learning, and intercultural awareness involving English language users at a university in Thailand The data presented here attempt to answer the following research question (adapted from those of the wider study): What are the cultures of English for these language users and how they operate in intercultural communication through ELF? It is hoped that in answering this question, a fuller understanding can be achieved of how culturally based frames of reference, practices, and forms function in intercultural communication through ELF The research approach adopted was predominantly qualitative, focusing on recordings of intercultural communication and the participants’ interpretations and attitudes toward them, drawing on multiple sources and levels of data from the micro to the macro A qualitative and interpretative approach was felt to be appropriate, because of the lack of previous investigations into the relationships between cultures and languages in expanding circle ELF contexts As a result, the research aims needed to be kept quite flexible and open to new areas of investigation as they emerged from the data Furthermore, it was important to obtain rich ethnographic data, including participants’ own interpretations, to more fully understand the examples of intercultural communication collected and the participants’ experiences, attitudes, and beliefs about intercultural communication The aim was to produce a holistic, dynamic, and multidimensional characterisation of how culture, language, and intercultural communication were perceived and experienced by the participants in the study, although space restricts offering a full account of the data The setting, a university in Thailand, was selected for a variety of reasons Thailand is traditionally assigned to the expanding circle of English, because at present it does not have its own established or codified variety of English (Butler, 1999, 2005; Watkhaolarm, 2005) However, English is in practice the de facto L2 and used in a wide range of domains including its use as the main, although not only, lingua franca of communication in regional and global contexts Thailand is thus often categorised as an ELF environment (Foley, 2007; Kirkpatrick, 2007; Taylor, 2006) English is a compulsory L2 in schools and in tertiary education and the most popular foreign language learned in school and in private tuition classes (Wongsothorn Sukamolsun, Chinthammit, THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:41 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 575 Ratanothayanonth, & Noparumpa, 1996, pp 93–95) Wongsothorn et al also found English to be the second most commonly used language in the media, after Thai, and the most frequently used second or foreign language in business both with native and nonnative English speakers English is perceived as an essential part of Thailand’s development and as a lingua franca to connect culturally, intellectually, and commercially with the rest of the world (Baker, 2008a; Foley, 2007; Wongsothorn, Hiranburana, & Chinnawongs, 2003) Nevertheless, as yet no identifiable Thai variety of English has emerged However, given the extensive role of English in Thailand, a Thai variety of English may eventually develop, and there are some signs that this may be already happening (Tan, 2005) This setting is also of interest because of the importance of ELF in academic settings, where English is emerging as the global lingua franca of academic communication and knowledge making and sharing (Bjoărkman, 2008; Jenkins, 2007) The fieldwork took place over a 6-month period covering one term at the university where the researcher had previously been an English language instructor During the fieldwork, the researcher served as a visiting lecturer, which enabled access to the research participants The researcher’s familiarity with the context under investigation permitted easier access to insider perspectives, which form an essential part of qualitative research (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995) However, the researcher’s insider status also involved a trade-off in relation to more objective outsider perspectives, which may uncover significant features that are taken for granted by those familiar with the setting To take account of these features, a research journal was kept detailing the research process and the researcher’s emerging interpretations Regular research reports were also produced, which were read by an external adviser not familiar with the research context The seven participants in the study were all final year undergraduates majoring in English This year group was selected because it was believed that higher level learners would have had more experience of intercultural communication Six participants were female, which reflected the predominance of female students in the class They were aged between 20 and 22, and Thai was the L1 for all The participants had a level of English at around upper-intermediate or above The individual participants were selected through purposive sampling (see Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007) based on maximum variety for English grades, time spent abroad, and responses in a culture and language learning survey, in an attempt to represent the larger group from which they were drawn at the university However, no claims can be made that this group represents wider groups of English language users beyond this university setting Written consent was given by all the participants, and anonymity was established through the use of pseudonyms 576 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:41 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 10 11 11 12 13 13 14 15 ((laughs)) don’t like it OY: err I don’t like it either CHAS: make a decision then ((gestures with hands to Nami and Oy)) OY: yeah you make it you’re older than me ((gestures with hand to Nami)) CHAS: ((laughs)) WILL: ((laughs)) NAMI: [I think like I think that’s (?)] OY: [a bit of respect] ((smiling and laughing)) NAMI: [thank you very much] ((places hand on Oy’s shoulder smiling and laughing)) WILL: [that’s very Thai] very conservative and Thai defer to the older person NAMI: you used to be Thai ((places hand on Oy’s shoulder laughs)) OY: ((laughs)) NAMI: actually no I don’t think so actually I have a lot of things to CHAS: ok OY: oh ok right (I’ll go as well) In Extract 1, Oy and Nami are consciously playing with what they perceive as different conventions for decision making In line 2, Nami associates the phrase ‘‘it’s up to you,’’ meaning deferring to another, as conservative female behaviour, which she rejects, and Oy agrees with this rejection However, Oy then defers to Nami as the older participant in the dialogue, although lines 10 and 11 suggest it is done in an ironic way and taken as such by Nami The researcher then joins in, repeating Nami’s earlier categorisation of this behaviour as conservative but also adding that it is ‘‘conservative and Thai.’’ Nami quickly picks up on this and addresses the ‘‘you used to be Thai’’ comment to Oy as a ‘‘joking’’ explanation for her behaviour.3 Finally, Nami makes the decision to end the conversation, line 13, thus rejecting the ‘‘conservative and Thai’’ interactional norm of deferring to an older, male participant (Chas) (O’Sullivan & Tajaroensuk, 1997) This example brings up interesting cultural frames of reference, along with other equally important discourse communities that emerge as relevant to interpreting the exchange Nami’s understanding of the meaning of ‘‘up to you’’ and her characterisation of a ‘‘conservative type girl’’ is embedded in a larger frame or schema she has based around her characterisation of Thai attitudes to women She explains this in an interview that followed the exchange in Extract 2, part of which is presented as Extract As Eggins and Slade (1997) note, jokes in casual conversation can often be a way of introducing and dealing with difficult topics that would be awkward if addressed directly 578 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:41 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) Extract 16 NAMI: oh that’s the great up to you yes that’s because Thai people if you observe I 17 think you observe that girls like to say they don’t like to make the decision everything 18 is just man make a decision and girls aren’t allowed to make a decision here in this 19 society and I don’t like it because I have my own right to that too to that too umm 20 and so that’s why I was like making it as a joke (?) 21 WILL: very interesting again so err you think then when you that you are going 22 against Thai culture or doing something different to Thai culture 23 NAMI: umm it’s against yes ((laughs)) but I think that it’s new generation right now 24 and all you need to the culture will change due to many thing factors and so I think it’s 25 a time that umm Thai culture need to change too In her explanation, Nami draws on three main groupings ‘‘Thai,’’ ‘‘gender,’’ and ‘‘generation,’’ suggesting that national cultural frames of reference are relevant but that other discourses are also of importance and relevant In this dialogue, she is communicating in a manner that is, she feels, different from traditional Thai communication modes However, she does not suggest that in using her English in this way she is following native English speaker conventions, but rather those of a ‘‘new generation’’ in Thailand It could be argued that the English native speaker conventions are implicit in this alternative new generation attitude to female roles Extract 26 NAMI: freedom like you know like Western people they also like to have 27 a lot of freedom 28 WILL: and so where you think you learnt these ideas of freedom from 29 NAMI: I think it’s from the movie and from the book and also with other people that I’m 30 talking to like the foreigners Nami’s comments support to an extent the notion that native English speaker conventions are implicit in the new generation attitude, as shown in Extract 3, which is taken from the same interview where she is discussing the influence of English language and culture on herself, but such a characterisation would be an oversimplification Nami believes THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:41 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 579 that English native speaker norms have certainly influenced her, but at the same time she has adapted them to suit her own needs and purposes, and arrived at a different place that is free from the conventions of any one particular culture, as she makes explicit in interview Extract Thus, Nami’s comments exhibit a complex interplay of frames of reference from gender, generation, and adapted cultural practices both from the C1 and other cultures Extract 31 NAMI: it’s different because in English you you can express yourself more you you 32 it’s also because of the cultural thing when when you umm yeah when you speak 33 with the native speaker right they are more open because of their culture as well 34 but even if you speak with the other people who isn’t who are non English 35 speaker err English is a kind of message containing something that it will make 36 other people more open I don’t know maybe I’m wrong but that is what I observe 37 people people speak more people tend to forget their own culture for a while and 38 they become more open Although Oy does not explicitly refer to Extract in her interviews, she holds a similar view of the influence of English cultures on her behaviour As Extract shows, her exposure to English cultures has not resulted in her becoming, or wishing to become, a ‘‘native’’ English speaker She feels, as she says in line 43, that English cultural practices need to be adapted in the Thai context, and that Thai cultural values should still be maintained, offering a rejection, in principle at least, to Nami’s earlier suggestion in Extract 1, that she was no longer Thai Extract 39 WILL: alright so you think English language or culture has any effect on Thai 40 language or culture 41 OY: yeah not not directly on me but I find just if I meet other people like some 42 people tend to basically accept English culture and not really trying to adapt into 580 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:42 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 43 Thai and they’re basically somehow sometimes they forget what they are and who 44 they are and they forget their culture To summarise, in the intercultural episode presented in Extracts 1–5, and the participants’ interview comments partly arising from it, both participants demonstrate an awareness of the different options and interpretations available to them in communication It is significant that the communicative practices are neither based on C1 / Thai (although it is referred to) or C2 / English Instead they are, to use the participants own terms, ‘‘adapted’’ and ‘‘open.’’ Also of significance is that, although two inner circle native English speakers are present in the intercultural encounter, Chas and the researcher (Will), they not take the dominant roles Oy and Nami seem comfortable using English for intracultural communication, according to their own norms Their comfort with English shows the extent to which English forms parts of their everyday repertoire of communicative practices, in which native English speaker or inner circle English speaker may be present, but in keeping with definitions of ELF (Jenkins, 2007; Seidlhofer, 2005) are not necessarily the dominant force in deciding conventions and norms Indeed, both participants report using English on a daily basis and being as comfortable expressing themselves in English as Thai, effectively making them functionally bilingual This brings into question the adequacy of existing definitions and characterisations of language users, including ELF, to deal with the type of communicative practices occurring in this episode, which cross many boundaries including those between native and nonnative speakers, bilingualism, and second or foreign language use Extract has been chosen from a second intercultural encounter, because it again illustrates Nami’s confidence in making alternative interpretations of culturally grounded meanings However, unlike the first episode, this episode occurs in a more prototypical ELF setting in which neither speaker shares a linguaculture In this example, Nami is talking to Philippe (pseudonym), a Belgian–French friend living in Thailand, in a cafe´ in Bangkok The researcher is not present for this recording Extract 45 PHILIPPE: no Marseilles is really nice really nice city south of France close you have 46 Nice Cannes it’s really cool the food is amazing and they drink err Ricard 47 NAMI: Ricard 48 PHILIPPE: they play err petanque THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:42 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 581 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 NAMI: err PHILIPPE: petanque NAMI: petanque ahh petanque PHILIPPE: yeah (?) NAMI: there’s some there’s some people from my school that PHILIPPE: you know that the French embassy they organise err a championship every year in Thailand NAMI: yeah PHILIPPE: I’ve been there a few times NAMI: you play PHILIPPE: ah NAMI: you play PHILIPPE: no I’m shit NAMI: ((laughs)) you’re really young ((laughs)) PHILIPPE: I know you have to be really old to play that game NAMI: NO ((laughs)) PHILIPPE: maybe I’m not old enough NAMI: no at school a lot of young students play petanque PHILIPPE: maybe they think it’s cool uhu In this extract, Philippe is offering information about Marseilles which Nami is planning to visit during her summer holiday He presents a somewhat tourist brochure characterisation, suggesting interesting places nearby, food, drink, and a local custom—playing petanque Nami offers some information regarding petanque as well, saying that people at her school (university) also play this game; thereby, she offers an alternative to the solely French associations given by Philippe Philippe continues with his characterisation of petanque as a French sport in talking about its connection with the French embassy Lines 60– 66 demonstrate these different interpretations and associations with petanque, resulting in what appears to be a misunderstanding on Philippe’s part When Nami says ‘‘you’re really young,’’ she appears to be offering it as an exclamation of surprise that a young person should be bad at this game, as Petanque is played by young students at her university, whereas Philippe interprets this as an excuse, saying that it is game played by the old Nami explicitly rejects this interpretation twice, in lines 64 and 66, and offers an alternative characterisation saying ‘‘at school a lot of young students play petanque.’’ Extract shows two very different culturally based interpretations of a phenomenon expressed through English and the degree of interpretation and negotiation needed for successful communication In this case, we have a French image of petanque as a game played by the old in the south of France and the alternative interpretation of petanque as a game played by young students in Thailand It is significant that, although the language through which this is expressed is English, the cultural 582 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:42 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) references are to France and Thailand rather than to English-speaking cultures Moreover, petanque in this exchange ceases to belong to either one of these cultures but is rather in a third place between the two, where alternative cultural associations are competing and also perhaps creating new associations Philippe now has the alternative image of petanque given by Nami, and Nami has also perhaps encountered for the first time the type of associations described by Philippe However, neither of the participants seems to have produced a dominant characterisation Although Nami does not reject Philippe’s interpretation of petanque, she does refute it as the only interpretation, twice repeating that it is not a game played by the old Similarly Philippe in the final line, 66, seems to be conceding that there may be alternative perspectives on the game when he says ‘‘maybe they think it’s cool.’’ As with Extract 1, this extract demonstrates culturally based references expressed through the medium of ELF communication that are fluid and negotiable, with both participants having to adapt to alternative semantic associations for petanque The following extracts are taken from interviews with other research participants and offer insights into how the participants themselves view intercultural communication through English In Extract 7, Por is discussing her time in the United States and her impressions of the differences between U.S and Thai culture, which she is struggling to explain: Extract 68 POR: because I get used to American culture and I can’t see the difference because 69 I’ve been there and I came back and I just can’t figure it out which one is real 70 American which one is real Thai like like the culture is mixed In this extract Por highlights that, for her, clear distinctions between the two cultures are hard to maintain and that there is no ‘‘real’’ American or ‘‘real’’ Thai culture For her, cultural practices are ‘‘mixed’’ and hybrid, similar to the views expressed earlier by Nami and Oy The importance of adapting and mediating cultural practices is a theme that occurs in a number of the interviews Yim in Extract is discussing what she thinks are some of the difficulties students in her university have when learning writing from native-English-speaking teachers She believes that she would make a successful writing teacher because she is an accomplished English writer (she consistently receives the highest grades in English writing classes) but also understands the difficulties Thai students have learning English THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:42 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 583 Extract 71 YIM: like I told you earlier that about like the teaching writing 72 WILL: yes uhu 73 YIM: there is some spaces between the foreign teachers and the students and yeah 74 and I think as I have had some experience with those problems and I should be 75 able to you know to delete the gaps between yeah and solve the problem some of them She seems to be suggesting here that mediation or, to use her own words, ‘‘to delete the gaps’’ between the different expectations of nativeEnglish-speaking teachers and Thai students would solve some of the problems Nami and Oy also express views of themselves as mediating between different cultural frames of reference in the interviews In Extract 9, Oy again brings up the idea of adaptation, this time suggesting that she can help non-Thais to adapt themselves to Thai culture Extract 76 OY: I am a Thai women or girl however you wanted to put it that way I still have to keep the 77 culture with me and knowing exactly what I can and what I can’t and I’m telling people 78 from the other part of the world as well that is wrong and what way the Thai culture is like 79 basically teaching them at the same time so they can adapt themselves to be able live in the 80 society in Thailand It is interesting that Oy again repeats that she still views her identity as Thai and taking on the role of mediator between cultures does not seem to undermine this In Extract 10 Nami similarly suggests that it is important to be an ‘‘interpreter’’ so as to be able to avoid, or at least explain, possible cultural differences Extract 10 81 NAMI: I think yes because you will one day you will use what you learn like English or 82 German with the people who is the native speakers so I think it’s quite important when you 584 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:42 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 83 communicate with them but then you speak something or you behave something badly in their 84 point of view you know people don’t like you at all what’s the matter why you use it why you 85 should be interpreter between two two countries and then you speak something and then you you 86 know you need to know the culture DISCUSSION The examples taken from real-time intercultural encounters presented in the preceding section illustrate culturally based communicative practices, for example, conventions for ending a conversation in Extract 1, and frames of reference and semantic associations for the game petanque in Extract 6, being employed in a fluid manner Furthermore, the interview Extracts to 10 demonstrate the manner in which many of the participants viewed cultures as mixed, hybrid, and open, and saw the need to adapt, interpret, and mediate between different cultures Thus, in answer to the research question, cultural references in intercultural communication through ELF, in these examples, occur in a third place that is not part of any one defined culture In doing so, they are freed from the conventions of those cultures and languages, with meaning and communicative practices emerging through negotiation, mediation, and accommodation on the part of the interlocutors For these participants it appears that rather than a focus on knowledge of specific cultures, what is needed is the ability to interpret, negotiate, mediate, and be creative in their use and interpretation of English and its cultural references It is significant that two of the participants, Nami and Oy, have never visited an English-dominant country, nor have they ever lived abroad Both report that the majority of their experience of intercultural communication through English has been within Thailand supplemented to a lesser extent by trips of a few months abroad to non–Englishdominant countries (neither inner nor outer circle) Clearly, then, it is not knowledge or experience of a target culture, for example the United Kingdom or the United States, which enables these speakers to communicate successfully in English It is equally significant that the examples cited earlier suggest that any categorisations of language and culture need to be treated flexibly, including those associated with ELF Certainly, the status of nativeEnglish-speaker norms of communication is questionable in the setting presented in these examples Although the participants are aware of native-English-speaker influences (and report being influenced by THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:42 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 585 them) they appear in the research, as shown in the extracts, to be comfortable occupying the kind of third space envisaged by Kramsch which is not tied to any one national idea of culture or associated norms These participants’ identifications seem to be more those of interpreters or mediators than native English speakers The extracts also suggest that culture and identity can be expressed through ELF, which contradicts the claims made by House (2003) and also to a lesser extent by Meierkord (2002) that ELF is culture and identity neutral Given the degree to which English is used by some of the participants in the study and the frequency with which they engage in ELF communication, in keeping with the arguments presented in Jenkins (2007), the participants seem to view ELF as a vehicle for expressing and perhaps creating cultures and identifications It is also not clear how comfortably these data sit with the more pluralistic notion of Kachru’s (1990, 2005) concentric circles of English Thailand is placed within the expanding circle in which English use is said to be norm dependent and predominantly a language for global rather than local communication Yet, it is not obvious from these examples which norms English is dependent on Although Kachru (2005) expounds on the importance of recognising the hybridity of culturally, linguistically, and ideologically complex Asian societies (p 103), how this relates to the norm dependency of expanding circle contexts is not apparent As already suggested, the speakers are not employing native speaker norms associated with any particular geographical location, either inner circle or outer circle It is also not clear how the two English users Nami and Oy would fit into the three circles model As Extract demonstrates, they appear as comfortable addressing each other in English in intracultural communication, as they are using it for intercultural communication, and they report using English on a daily basis, including with other Thais This is supposedly a feature of inner circle and outer circle Englishes, yet these English language users are not so easily categorised English can be used within and across multiple groupings and settings, involving native speakers and nonnative speakers, and intercultural and intracultural communication and in so doing, blurring any categorisations LIMITATIONS The examples cited earlier involve those participants in the wider research study who have extensive experience of ELF communication and can be considered successful intercultural communicators What has not been offered are other examples of ELF communication where culturally based frames of reference are more rigidly adhered to by the 586 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:42 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) participants Of the seven participants in the study, two in particular were noticeably less successful intercultural communicators (their contributions were shorter, less fluent, and the participants reported feeling less positive about the encounters) These participants offered few examples which demonstrated successful negotiation and mediation between emergent culturally based communicative norms and interpretations Without these skills, intercultural communication is more problematic Nevertheless, space restrictions have precluded the kind of explicit comparisons with alternative, less successful examples of ELF dialogues, which would be needed to strengthen the main argument Moreover, this study involved a very small number of participants in one setting over a limited time period Therefore, any attempts to generalise from these data can only be, at best, tentative More in-depth analysis, especially more extensive ethnographic characterisations of the participants and their environment, are needed than is possible in this article However, it is hoped that features of the data presented in this article may resonate with other researchers’ or readers’ experiences in different contexts The role of the researcher and the research process must also be recognised The researcher was responsible for initiating Extract and was present at the time During the interviews in particular, the participants would have become aware of the areas of interest for this research and its overall aims, including the underlying beliefs concerning the desirability of intercultural communication This would have focused the research participants on these areas of their language use and learning and related experiences However, given the extent to which the participants were able to engage with subjects related to English, ELF, intercultural communication, cultures, and language learning, it seems reasonable to assume that these areas were already of concern or interest to them It is important to note that the precise aims of the research, that is, the research questions, were not made clear to the participants for fear of overly influencing their responses The discourse type or genre of ELF conversations also needs to be considered The intercultural encounters recorded for this study were relatively informal conversations with no particular purpose or outcome expected It may be that in more transactional dialogue, communication with a specific task to complete, or high stakes encounters, different communicative practices would be present Studies of this type that examine the role of culture in ELF communication need to be repeated in many different settings and different genres of communication to further test the theoretical claims being made and to bring forth similarities and differences between various ELF contexts THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:42 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 587 CONCLUSION The study presented in this article has attempted to elucidate the relationships between cultures and languages in ELF contexts, focusing on the dynamic and hybrid nature of cultural forms and communicative practices in ELF communication The article has illustrated through the given examples the fluid way in which any attempt to describe or categorise communication in ELF settings needs to be approached In one sense there is no culture of ELF, since cultural references and practices will need to be negotiated in each individual instantiation of communication However, language can never be culturally neutral; each participant brings with them their own unique cultural history which results in particular communicative behaviours and expectations At the same time, individuals are not bound by this history and, as the cited examples show, are capable of, and indeed need to be able to adapt to new, alternative communicative practices and interpretations Thus, for learners of English as a lingua franca, the ability to negotiate, mediate, and adapt to emerging communicative practices is at least as important as systematic knowledge of languages and their specific relationships to other cultures This result has implications for teaching practice where learners are likely to use English for intercultural or ELF communication If it is not possible to identify a clear language–culture relationship for lingua franca communication, then how are participants in ELF communication to be prepared for the wealth and complexity of cultural backgrounds and the associated communicative practices and forms they are likely to encounter? Discussions of ELF have begun to address this issue, suggesting that areas including cultural awareness, language awareness, and accommodation skills are as relevant as the more traditional areas of language proficiency such as lexis and grammar (Baker, 2008a; Canagarajah, 2005, 2007; Deterding & Kirkpatrick, 2006; House, 2003; Jenkins, 2006, 2007; McKay, 2002) Canagarajah in particular has argued for the need in ELF to focus more on the types of communication strategies typically associated with multilingual communities These involve proficiency in negotiating multiple dialects, registers, and discourses rather than grammatical rules Furthermore, there are a wealth of studies examining intercultural communication, and the role of intercultural communicative competence and cultural awareness in second and foreign language education (e.g., Byram, 1997, 2008; Roberts Byram, Barro, Jordan, & Street, 2001) However, the relevance of this work to ELF, with a few exceptions (e.g., Baker, 2008a), has yet to be properly explored Given the manner in which cultures and languages function in intercultural communication through ELF, as suggested by the discussion and data offered in this study, further 588 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:43 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) research is required for ELT to develop in directions which meet the needs of users of English as a lingua franca ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This article is a revised and substantially expanded version of a paper given at the Cutting Edges Conference, Christchurch University, Canterbury, England, in June 2008 I am very grateful to Professor Rosamond Mitchell and Professor Jennifer Jenkins for their advice, support, and recommendations in this research and the writing of this article I also thank the four reviewers and editor of TESOL Quarterly for their insightful suggestions Finally, I thank all the research participants who gave up so much of their time Any errors or misunderstandings are, of course, my own THE AUTHOR Will Baker has taught English in Asia and the United Kingdom, and he is presently based at the University of Southampton, where he teaches English language teaching and applied linguistics His current research interests are language and culture, intercultural communication, intercultural awareness, and English as a lingua franca or global language REFERENCES Baker, W (2008a) A critical examination of ELT in Thailand: The role of cultural awareness RELC Journal, 39(1),141–146 Baker, W (2008b, June) The cultures of ELF Paper presented at the conference Cutting Edges: Identity in the Classroom, Christchurch University, Canterbury, England Bjoărkman, B (2008) So where we are? 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Lessons from a learner corpus ELT Journal, 59, 126–134 Taylor, R (2006) Investigating the role of connotation in communication and miscommunication within English as a lingua franca and consequent implications for teaching Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Durham University, Durham, England Valdes, J M (1986) Culture bound: Bridging the cultural gap in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Watkhaolarm, P (2005) Think in Thai, write in English: Thainess in English literature World Englishes, 24, 145–158 Whorf, B L (1939) The relation of habitual thought and behavior to language In J Carroll (Ed.), Language, thought and reality—Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Widdowson, H G (2003) Defining issues in English language teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press THE CULTURES OF ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:43 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003) 591 Wongsothorn, A., Sukamolsun, S., Chinthammit, P., Ratanothayanonth, P., & Noparumpa, P (1996) National profiles of language education: Thailand PASAA, 26(1), 89–103 Wongsothorn, A., Hiranburana, K., Chinnawongs, S (2003) English language teaching in Thailand today In H Wah Kam & R L Wong (Eds.), English language teaching in East Asia today: Changing policies and practices (pp 441–453) Singapore: Eastern Universities Press APPENDIX Transcription Conventions Spelling: British English spelling is used Punctuation: New utterances begin on a new line with no capital letter Capital letters are used for pronoun I and proper names Apostrophes are used for abbreviations, e.g., don’t, haven’t (?) (xxx) ((laughs)) … [] CAPS inaudible uncertain that word is correctly transcribed Nonlinguistic features of the transcription pause (untimed) indicates a section of dialogue not transcribed overlapping or interrupted speech The utterance on one line continues without a pause where the next picks it up strong emphasis 592 TESOL QUARTERLY Tesol Quarterly tesol205413.3d 30/12/09 20:04:43 The Charlesworth Group, Wakefield +44(0)1924 369598 - Rev 7.51n/W (Jan 20 2003)