ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA – IMPLICATIONS FOR ESP PRACTITIONERS
ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA – IMPLICATIONS FOR ESP PRACTITIONERS

Summary/Abstract: Globalization, increased mobility of workforce and the boom of communication technology are all fertile grounds for cultivating a language more and more people can use. English has been the leading candidate for a long time and the number of people who want to learn it is ever growing. But a position of dominance has been slowly occupied not by English ‘as we know it’ but by what has come to be English as a lingua franca or global English. The present paper explores some of the trends fostered by the use of English as a lingua franca in professional contexts, from the perspective of the practitioner in teaching ESP. The implication of the use of global English in professional contexts are explored focusing on needs analysis trend and, course and materials development strategies. The most interesting outcome this review presents is the turn towards local context of use of ESP, with adapted approaches to needs analysis of learners seen as individuals who must be able to control their learning process, adapt their learning curricula and use the teaching materials in flexible ways. The models for target competence are no longer the privilege of a proficient native-speaker but of other peer professionals from non-native backgrounds. Native proficiency has been replaced with functional nativeness as the ultimate goal of learning and teaching ESP.

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