English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)
entry by Julie M. Marx, Global Family Expert at Expat Valley
The use of English as a shared communicative medium between speakers who do not share a common first language and for whom English is not typically a native tongue. ELF is the dominant communicative mode in international schools, multinational corporations, international organizations, and globally mobile communities. Distinct from ENL (English as a Native Language) and ESL/EAL in that ELF use does not imply learning English but rather deploying it as a tool for cross-cultural communication — and in that ELF speakers may legitimately use non-standard forms that serve communicative purposes within their multilingual context.
Comparable terms
Lingua franca identity (see separate entry — the identity dimension of ELF use) · ELF community (applied linguistics — the social grouping formed around ELF use) · International English (applied linguistics — related concept; English as a global variety rather than a national one) · World Englishes (Kachru — the framework recognizing multiple legitimate national and regional varieties of English globally; related to but distinct from ELF)
Why this matters
For many global families, English is not “the” language but one of several shared bridges. ELF users shape English in creative, legitimate ways that differ from native norms. Seeing this reframes accents and non‑standard forms as resources instead of stigmatizing them.
Cross-references
Lingua Franca Identity (Language & Identity); Linguistic Repertoire (Language & Identity); Translanguaging (Language & Identity); Code-Switching (Language & Identity); Language Identity (Language & Identity); Multilingualism (Language & Identity); EAL (Education). Code-switching documents the specific linguistic practice through which speakers move between ELF and other languages in their repertoire; language identity documents how ELF use shapes the social and cultural self-concept of internationally mobile multilingual individuals. Multilingualism provides the broader linguistic context within which ELF operates as one communicative mode among several; EAL describes the educational designation applied to students for whom the school language (frequently an ELF context) is not their home language.
Sources
Jenkins, J. (2007). English as a Lingua Franca: Attitude and Identity. Oxford University Press. The foundational text establishing ELF as a distinct applied linguistics construct and documenting the identity dimensions of its use.
Canagarajah establishes that for many multilingual individuals in ELF contexts, identity is not located in a single named language but in the capacity to move across linguistic repertoires — a formulation that challenges the assumption that ELF speakers are linguistically deficient relative to native English speakers and instead positions ELF competence as a sophisticated multilingual achievement. Canagarajah, A.S. (2007). Lingua franca English, multilingual communities, and language acquisition. Modern Language Journal, 91(s1), 923–939.
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