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An inexorable trend in the use of global English is that fewer interactions now involve a native speaker. Proponents of teaching English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) suggest that the way English is taught and assessed should reflect the needs and aspirations of the ever-growing number of non-native speakers who use English to communicate with other nonnatives. Understanding how non-native speakers use English among themselves has now become a serious research area.

Different priorities in teaching English pronunciation, for example, have been defined. Teaching certain pronunciation features, such as the articulation of ‘th’ as an interdental fricative, appears to be a waste of time whereas other common pronunciation problems (such as simplifying consonant clusters) contribute to problems of understanding. Such an approach is allowing researchers to identify a ‘Lingua Franca Core’ (LFC) which provides guiding principles in creating syllabuses and assessment materials.

Unlike traditional ESL (English as Second Language), ELF focuses also on pragmatic strategies required in intercultural communication. The target model of English, within the ELF framework, is not a native speaker but a fluent bilingual speaker, who retains a national identity in terms of accent, and who also has the special skills required to negotiate understanding with another non-native speaker. Research is also beginning to show how bad some native speakers are at using English for international communication. It may be that elements of an ELF syllabus could usefully be taught within a mother tongue curriculum.

(David Graddol, English Next. Adaptado)