English as a lingua franca (ELF) is the use of English as a common means of communication between speakers with different languages. In Seidlhofer’s article regarding ELF she highlights the fact that only one out of four users of English in the world is an actual native speaker meaning the majority of ELF interactions then occurs between non-native speakers. This begs the question as to the phenomenon of how English has taken way as the common currency of language and the implications of this global spread.

Alastair Pennycook provides a critical view in exploration of this phenomenon, suggesting that English language teaching (ELT) is limited in its ability to translate the deeper social, cultural and historical meanings of other cultures. He argues that English as a global language, where the intention is to serve as a common means of understanding diversity is in fact counterintuitive to this goal due to the deliverance of ELT as a monolingual enterprise. The establishment of ELT and its emphasis on the English language itself while abstaining from translation of non-English languages was created in part due to political, business and ideological reasons. Commercial success of English only educators expedited this process as their methods were monolingual, widely received, and practices were centered on English only communicative language teaching. Local practices of bilingual teachers, whose form of teaching brought local language into the classroom was lost, and with it the art of understanding deeper cultural roots (Pennycook, 2008).

Pennycook further supports his argument on the limitations of the ELT establishment from a political standpoint, by using the example of competing positions of English within Europe where various states have raised concerns of English threatening local languages. This standpoint against English is argued as both a safeguard for local language, and as a concern that English is inhibiting creativity and causing degradation of expressiveness. Pennycook urges a change in ELT to operate in a multilingual pedagogy in order to reintroduce the complexity of translation, reduce conflict amongst users and improve the understanding of diversity (Pennycook, 2008).

We as educators need to be able to in include the learners’ culture and first language as part of their English education. Their origins must be respected and preserved and their English learning should not challenge nor threaten their cultural identity. 

Seidlhofer, B. (2005). English as a lingua franqua. Oxford university Press, ELT Journal volume 59/4

Pennycook, A. (2008). english as a language always in translation. European Journal of English Studies, 12(1), 33-47.doi:10.1080/13825570801900521geteaching