English As a Lingua Franca in Higher Education ― A Discourse Pragmatic Ethnography

As the English language has ridden on the back of guns and money to a dominant position in world affairs, the field of applied linguistics has not paid much attention to the phenomenon. Smit (U. of Vienna) analyzes the role of English as a lingua franca, an international language, in the classroom, taking as a case study an Austrian training program in hotel management, Applying a qualitative applied linguistic approach informed by ethnography, she views the participating students and teachers primarily as interlocutors who try to meet their interactional aims with the help of English as a language of communication, rather than as learners of English as a second or foreign language that they work to improve their skill with. She looks at conceptual considerations, research methodology and study design, an ethnographic account of the study site, classroom interaction under repair, directives in aid of classroom organization and educational talk, and interactive explaining as negotiating knowledge. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Ute Smit, University of Vienna, Austria.