IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/joinma/v11y2019i3p45-65n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

English as Lingua Franca and First Language Comfort Zones at an Internationalized University in Warsaw

Author

Listed:
  • Aleksandrowicz-Pędich Lucyna

    (SWPS University of Social Sciences, and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study has been to analyse the use of English as lingua franca at an internationalised university in a non-English speaking country, the challenges caused by the need to use English for academic and social purposes as well as the use of other languages by a multicultural student community.Methodology: The methodology was based on qualitative research and involved open-ended interviews with students of 14 nationalities as well as staff members, both local (Polish) and from English-speaking countries.Findings: The main findings indicate: a degree of mismatch between the self-perception of English language competence and the actual ability to use it; the key function of language for social bonding; frequent recourse to first language comfort zones rather than the use of the lingua franca.Value Added: The research focuses on English language issues in a non-English speaking country, an understudied area in higher education. It draws attention to the use of Russian as a secondary lingua franca among students for whom it is their other language of fluent communication.Recommendations: University level educators should be more aware of the specificity of the problems in the use of English by international students, including such as underestimated listening comprehension issues, tensions connected with the use of polite forms and the mismatch between communication skills in English and the academic needs. The impact of language identity on international students social networking should be taken into account as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Aleksandrowicz-Pędich Lucyna, 2019. "English as Lingua Franca and First Language Comfort Zones at an Internationalized University in Warsaw," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 11(3), pages 45-65, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:vrs:joinma:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:45-65:n:3
    DOI: 10.2478/joim-2019-0017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/joim-2019-0017
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/joim-2019-0017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    English; lingua franca; internationalized higher education; first language; communication;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:joinma:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:45-65:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.