The integration of ELF and sociocultural theory via network-based language teaching. Best practices for the English classroom.

The present-day primacy of English as an international lingua franca (ELF) (Cogo & Dewey, 2012; Crystal, 1997; Graddol, 2006; Jenkins, 2000, 2007, 2014; Kirkpatrick, 2006; Mauranen, 2012; Seidlhofer, 2003, 2011; Widdowson, 2003) is a natural concomitant of the economic, cultural and political globalization that has reached its maturity at the turn of the new century. As Schneider (2011) points out, the reasons for the pervasiveness of English are not intrinsically linguistic, but largely depend on external circumstances that in time have led to the progressive spread of this language throughout immense areas of the world and to the inescapable emergence of a wide range of varieties in diverse contact situations. Similarly, Mauranen (2012, p. 17) comes to the conclusion that “The emergence of one language that is the default lingua franca in all corners of the earth is both a consequence and a prerequisite of globalisation. [...] [I]t is clear that there is nothing in the English language itself that destined it to linguistic world dominance; the reasons lie in the social and economic factors.” The main component of this chapter will be concerned with applied research into the new frontiers of English language teaching (ELT) in the digital age. A selection of ELF-based activities for the English classroom will be examined through the lens of sociocultural theory (SCT) (Vygotsky, 1978; Lantolf, 2000a; Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Swain, Kinnear & Steinman, 2011; van Lier, 2004), whereby the Internet is used as an “affordance” (van Lier, 2004, p. 94) that connects participants from different linguacultural backgrounds, who carry out communicative assignments (e.g. telecollaboration, fanfiction and cooperative writing) to enhance their intercultural competence (Byram, 1997; Kramsch, 1998, 2009). In the same vein, the final part of this chapter will focus on the challenge of crafting an ELF-aware pedagogy with a look to the future of mainstream ELT.