Research project Intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca

This project aims to help setting priorities for pronunciation teaching in areas where English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is taught with intelligibility as a pronunciatio goal.

Jenkins (2000) produced the Lingua Franca Core (LFC), which provides guidance as to what areas of pronunciation are most important for ELF communication. This project evaluates the aspects of the LFC by testing them in detail using laboratory, behavioral research methods and acoustic measurements.

The results have already demonstrated that, for segmentals, the picture of ELF intelligibility is more complex than described in the LFC. Future research includes possible continued work on segmentals as well as suprasegmentals.