Sociolinguistics and Language Education.pdf

English as an International Language 93
in a variety of settings in which participants have various roles and
relationships. At this point, an initial data analysis has highlighted the use
of several grammatical forms that, although often emphasized in language
classrooms as being in need of corrections, do not appear to cause problems
in communicative success. These include:
• Dropping the third person present tense –s.
• Confusing the relative pronouns who and which.
• Omitting the defi nite and indefi nite articles where they are obligatory
in ENL [English as a native language], and inserting them where
they do not occur in ENL.
• Failing to use correct tag questions (e.g. isn’t it? or no? instead of
shouldn’t they?).
• Inserting redundant prepositions, as in We have to study about . . .
• Overusing certain verbs of high semantic generality, such as do, have,
make, put, take.
• Replacing infi nitive-constructions with that- clauses, as in I want that
• Overdoing explicitness (e.g. black color rather than just black).
(Seidlhofer, 2004: 220)
Phonological features
Finally, research on ELF interactions has led to the identifi cation of the
phonological features of ELF interactions. Jenkins (2000), in her work on
the phonology of English as an International Language (EIL), analyzed
the interactions of six learners of English – two Japanese, three Swiss-
German and one Swiss-French – all at the upper-intermediate to low-
advanced level, who were recorded as they practiced for the Cambridge
Certifi cate in Advanced English speaking examinations. Some of these
interactions were between interlocutors with the same L1, others were
between speakers of different L1s. Using this data, Jenkins identifi ed 40
occasions where there was a breakdown in communication due to pronunciation,
lexis, grammar, world knowledge or ambiguity. All of the
breakdowns in the data occurred between speakers of different L1 backgrounds.
In addition, the vast majority of breakdowns (27) were due to
pronunciation problems, with another eight due to lexis.
On the basis of her investigation, Jenkins (2000) delineates what she
terms a phonological Lingua Franca Core, that is, phonological features
that appear to be most crucial for intelligibility among L2 speakers of
English. Based on her data, the central features of this core appear to be
the following ( Jenkins, 2000: 132):
(1) Most consonant sounds.
(2) Appropriate consonant cluster simplifi cation.
(3) Vowel length distinction.
(4) Nuclear stress.