Linguistic identity and English as Lingua Franca: Issues and implications for Southeast Asia

Abstract

This descriptive-exploratory-reflexive study investigated the dominant issues related to English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in the Southeast Asian context and drew the critical implicatures from the intra/transnational ELF demographics of the current status quo. Guided by the Kachru’s Circles Model, the Schneider’s Dynamic Model and the critical World Englishes (WE) perspectives, the study explored on the impact of ELF on linguistic identity and the related notions of ethnicity, culture, multilingualism, diglossia, mutual intelligibility, and acceptability. To achieve this goal, content analysis was carried out on the WE-SEA literatures and studies. A checklist on content analysis sampling strategy (CASS) facilitated the selection of the texts. The reflexive approach’s introspection and retrospection modes were employed to enrich the research discourse. The study’s most significant finding revealed the challenging yet encouraging linguistic terrain of ELF in Southeast Asia, with the exponential growth of speech and discourse communities of English, the region seeing the emergence of the New Englishes. Given the complex dynamics of language teaching, ideological influences, and power play, the study recommends continuous scholarship and investigations on ELF and the relevant linguistic developments in Southeast Asia, to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.