AsiaTEFL Logo        The Journal of Asia TEFL
   
The Journal of Asia TEFL
Articles By Subject
Current Issue
Past Issues
Special Issue
Information of the Journal
Editorial Board
Submission Guidelines
Ethical Guidelines
Manuscript Submission
Journal Order
Search
Today 426
Total 5,467,046
Current Issue
Go List

Volume 16 Number 3, Autumn 2019, Pages 768-1068   


 http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2019.16.3.7.876 PDF Download
   

Korean Adult English Learners' Perceptions of the Common Grammatical Features of English as a Lingua Franca

    Injae Lim & Jongbai Hwang


The present study examines Korean adult English learners' perceptions about English as a lingua franca (ELF) and the common grammatical features of ELF. 276 university students participated in this study through an online survey portal. The survey consists of two parts: part one asks participants' attitudes and perceptions about ELF statements, and part two is an acceptability judgement task for common grammatical features of ELF. Overall, the participants showed moderately positive attitude toward most ELF statements despite they manifested stronger preference for native speaker-oriented English learning on a few aspects. The results from the acceptability judgement task for 19 grammatical items consistently remained between neutral and slightly positive ranges. These results indicate that the participants already possess the concept of ELF, at least beyond a non-negative stance, and admit the features of ELF as acceptable forms of English for global communication. Participants' major, study abroad experiences, and experiences of communicating with foreign people did not cause consistent and significant difference in their attitude toward ELF, nor in their acceptability judgements. For timely and effective incorporation of ELF into English classrooms in Korea, further research need to be conducted with various learner groups regarding the perception about ELF, the development of teaching activities and materials, and the empirical data from on-site applications.

Keywords: English as a lingua franca, World Englishes, common grammatical features of ELF, Korean adult learners of English