Teacher employment practices at a new language center, the Center for English as a Lingua Franca (CELF), are not limited by the widely held assumption that only native speaker-like forms of English are appropriate for conversations across international borders. The CELF, an initiative of a private university in Tokyo, was founded with serious consideration given to the pedagogical implications and increasing awareness of the widespread use of English as a lingua franca (ELF). Such deliberation is not yet prevalent among academics and practitioners who should be most affected by ELF (Seidelhofer, 2011). The transformation occurring in English as it is being used as a lingua franca need not be viewed as unusual, but can be seen as part of the process of language evolution (Seildhofer, 2011).
This presentation reports on research in progress and how an ELF perspective may influence current pedagogical practices.
