ELF Communication: From Pedagogical Catalyst to ELT Game Changer

Raising speaker-learners’ and their teachers’ awareness of the possibilities and challenges of authentic ELF communication is a powerful catalyst in the process of understanding what it means to be out in the wild. But where do they turn for orientation when it comes to their own spoken and written productions? From a social constructivist perspective, I argue that ELT’s standard native speaker orientation is not the problem. Rather, what counts is what speaker-learners are allowed and encouraged to do with it. Against this backdrop, I propose a pedagogical lingua franca approach that moves ELF communication from a position outside ELT to a game changer position inside ELT and helps learners develop their own voice as emancipated non-native speakers of English.