Research project Intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca
This project prioritizes pronunciation teaching within English as a Lingua Franca – ELF, focusing on intelligibility over “perfection.” It aims to identify key features for global communication and make language education more inclusive and relevant.
Project description
Traditional English instruction often emphasizes pronunciation and rules based on British or American English norms. However, since English functions as a lingua franca—a shared language that connects people with different mother tongues—being understood is more important than achieving so-called “perfection,” which can be interpreted and judged in many different ways.
By integrating English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) into teaching, students are better equipped to use English practically and functionally in their future professional and international contexts. The aim of this project is therefore to help set priorities for pronunciation teaching in English, with intelligibility as the primary goal.
The Lingua Franca Core (LFC) is a concept introduced by Jennifer Jenkins in 2000, offering guidance on which aspects of pronunciation matter most for being understood in communication between non-native speakers. In this project, we evaluate various aspects of the LFC through detailed testing using laboratory-based and behavioral research methods, including acoustic analysis.
Early results suggest that ELF intelligibility at the segmental level is more complex than the LFC outlines. Certain sounds and pronunciation features appear to play a more varied role in communication than previous research has indicated. As a result, future studies in this project may focus on both segmental features—such as individual sounds—and suprasegmental features, including intonation and rhythm.
Project members
Project managers
Mara Haslam
Senior lecturer
Members
Elisabeth Zetterholm
Associate professor
