Virtual English as a Lingua Franca

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Virtual English as a Lingua Franca: Investigating the Discourse of Digital Exchanges and Understanding Technology-Enhanced Learning by Inmaculada Pineda and Rino Bosso

Part 1: Analyzing VELF Discourse

Chapter 1 Understanding hybridity in VELF exchanges: Overt, covert and technology enhanced translational phenomena by Rino Bosso

Chapter 2 Virtual English as a lingua franca, Transmodal, Translingual and transcultural strategies in Twitter: The case study of @EEII_UMA by Inmaculada Pineda

Chapter 3 A multimodal and translanguaging approach to video-mediated interaction in Virtual English as a Lingua Franca contexts by Maria Grazia Sindoni

Part 2: Creativity in VELF

Chapter 4 Virtual Singlish as a Lingua Franca: Translingual Entrepreneurship Through Poetry by Eunice Lim and Suresh Canagarajah

Chapter 5 Exploring creativity and competence in online discussion forums using Virtual English as a Lingua Franca by Zhichang Xu

Chapter 6 "I’m so jealous": A Corpus-pragmatics Analysis of Compliments and Praise in Virtual English as a Lingua Franca (VELF) by Boudjemaa Dendenne

Part 3: Teaching experiences and Teacher training through/with VELF

Chapter 7 Exploring the impact of Virtual Exchange in Virtual English as a Lingua Franca (VELF): Views on self-efficacy and motivation by Anna Nicolaou and Ana Sevilla-Pavón

Chapter 8 Designing Synchronous Online Learning Experiences with Social Media as Semiotic Technologies by Fei Victor Lim

Chapter 9 VELF in pre-service teacher education: Insights from Brazilian ELT by Eduardo H. Diniz de Figueiredo, Lucielen Porfirio and Sávio Siqueira

Conclusions

Virtual English as a Lingua Franca: Taking stock of the lessons learned and looking ahead by Rino Bosso and Inmaculada Pineda

Contributor Bios

Index

Contributor Bios

Rino Bosso has been a research fellow in corpus linguistics and adjunct professor in English for Specific Purposes at the University of Cagliari, Italy. Over the years, he has developed a keen interest in the online use of English as a lingua franca and has completed a PhD on this topic at the University of Vienna, Austria. His research has focused, in particular, on understanding how pragmatic meaning is realized in naturally-occurring VELF exchanges on Facebook. His longitudinal investigation reveals that multicultural social formations develop innovative online communication strategies over time, which sustain mutual understanding among their members.

Suresh Canagarajah is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor and Director of the Migration Studies Project at Pennsylvania State University. Suresh comes from the Tamil-speaking northern region of Sri Lanka. He has taught before in the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, and the City University of New York. His publication Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations (Routledge, 2013) won the best book award from American Association of Applied Linguistics, British Association of Applied Linguistics, and the Modern Language Association of America. He was formerly the editor of the TESOL Quarterly and President of the American Association of Applied Linguistics.

Boudjemaa Dendenne is an associate professor of English language and linguistics in the Department of Foreign Languages at an Algerian Teachers College (École Normale Supérieure – Messaoud Zeghar, Sétif). Boudjemaa’s main research areas include: pragmatics, teaching/researching pragmatics in an EFL context, and English as a lingua franca and its implications to EFL pedagogy. Latest publications of Boudjemaa appeared in journals like the Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, Journal of Pragmatics, TESL-EJ, and Language Related Research. In addition, he presented at the 17th International Pragmatics Association Conference (IPrA17) (held in Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Winterthur, Switzerland).

Eduardo H. Diniz de Figueiredo　is a tenured Professor of English at Universidade Federal do Paraná. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Arizona State University. He is one of the authors of　A Linguagem na Vida　(Pontes, 2021) and The　Sociolinguistics of Digital Englishes　(Routledge, 2016). His work has also appeared in such publications as Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, Applied Linguistics, Trabalhos em Linguística Aplicada and World Englishes. His research interests lie in the areas of English as an International Language, Critical Applied Linguistics, and Language Teaching.　

Eunice Ying Ci Lim is a PhD Candidate of Comparative Literature and Asian Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests are in translingualism, decoloniality, and sound studies in Contemporary Southeast and East Asian literature and media, with a focus on language policies and non-Mandarin Sinitic languages and Singlish use in Singapore. Her work has previously been published in the Routledge Handbook of Food in Asia and the journal Antipodes.

Fei Victor Lim is Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He researches and teaches on multiliteracies, multimodal discourse analyses, and digital learning. He is an editor of Multimodality and Society and an associate editor of Asia Pacific Journal of Education, and Designs for Learning. He is also author of the book Designing Learning with Embodied Teaching: Perspectives from Multimodality and lead author of Designing Learning for Multimodal Literacy Learning: Teaching Viewing and Representing, both published in the Routledge Studies in Multimodality.　

Anna Nicolaou is an English Language Instructor at the Language Centre of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). She holds a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin focusing on intercultural education and global competence learning through virtual exchange, a Master's degree in English Language Studies and Methods from Warwick University, and a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Athens. Her research interests include intercultural education, virtual exchange, multilingualism, internationalisation, immersive technologies, and computer-assisted language learning. She has published scientific articles in internationally acclaimed journals and has participated in various research projects and academic conferences.

Inmaculada Pineda is an Assistant Professor at the University of Málaga (Spain) and a Visiting Senior Lecturer at King’s College London (UK) as a recipient of a Next Generation EU Scholarship (2022-2023). Applying ELF research implications into Teacher Training and ELT, she has published on multimedia resources in Teacher Education from an ELF perspective; pre-service teachers’ metalinguistic attitudes; ELF Pedagogy and CLIL and EMI teacher training programs for Spain and Taiwan. Her current research interests focus on ELF Pedagogy and teacher training, VELF and trans- practices.

Ana Sevilla-Pavón is Associate Professor in the Department of English and German Philology at the University of Valencia and researcher at IULMA, SILVA and TALIS. She was awarded a pre-doctoral contract from GVA to complete an international PhD (UPV and University of Massachusetts Amherst). She has Degrees in English and French Philology from the UV. She received the outstanding student of the year award. She has led and participated in national and international research projects (iTECLA, YES3D, TALIS Philippines, VELCOME). She is section editor of Eurocall Review. Her research interests include: CALL, ESP, educational innovation, intercultural communication and virtual exchange.

Lucielen Porfirio　is currently a Professor at Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará (UNIFESSPA). She holds a Phd in Language and Culture from Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), MA in Language and Society from State University of West of Paraná (Unioeste). She also holds two undergraduate degrees, one in Education and another one in Languages - English. She has worked for about 10 years in as a Professor of English with a major focus on teacher education. Her research interests lie on Language Teaching, Teacher Education and English as a Lingua Franca.　

Maria Grazia Sindoni is Professor of English Linguistics and Translation at the University of Messina (Italy). Her main research interests include multimodal studies, systemic-functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis. She participated in several international research projects, as a team member and as principal investigator. Her publications include monographs, edited collections, as well as articles and chapters, on theories and methods to investigate how semiosis of communication works in digital environments.

Sávio Siqueira　is Associate Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at Bahia Federal University, Salvador, Brazil, where he teaches both graduate and undergraduate students. He has conducted post-doctoral studies on critical language pedagogy at the University of Hawai'i Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA, and collaborates with the MA in Multilingualism, Linguistics, and Education from Goldsmisths University of London, UK and the Máster Interuniversitario en Enseñanza Bilingüe y Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (MIEB) from the University of Jaén, Spain. His main research interests are ELF, World Englishes, language teacher education, critical language pedagogy, and intercultural education.　

Zhichang Xu (Marc) is Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University, and Associate Editor for English Today. He has teaching experiences in Beijing, Perth, Hong Kong, and Melbourne. He has a disciplinary background in Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Education, and his research areas include World Englishes, Applied Linguistics, Cultural Linguistics, English as a Lingua Franca, Intercultural Communication, and Language Education.　　

Biography

Inmaculada Pineda is Assistant Professor at the University of Málaga (Spain). Applying ELF research implications into Teacher Training and ELT, she has published on multimedia resources in Teacher Education from an ELF perspective; pre-service teachers’ metalinguistic attitudes; ELF Pedagogy and CLIL/EMI training programs. Her current research interests focus on ELF Pedagogy and teacher training, VELF, and Transmodality and Translanguaging.

Rino Bosso is an independent researcher with a keen interest in intercultural pragmatics and online communication. He has worked as a research fellow and lecturer in English for Specific Purposes at the University of Cagliari, Italy, and has recently completed a PhD on VELF communication at the University of Vienna, Austria. His most recent publications focus on the longitudinal investigation of informal learning processes enacted through naturally-occurring VELF exchanges.

"This compelling volume presents pioneering work into Virtual English as a Lingua Franca and provides significant insights into discourse, practice, and implications of VELF for ELT professionals in the fast-moving and interconnected world in the digital age. It is a welcome collection that explores ELF practice constructed amid spatial repertoires in virtual communities. It is an enjoyable read with theory-based analyses of fascinating data, which offer rich resources for teachers and students who look for timely inspiration to make ELT classrooms and learning activities more engaging!"- Ying Wang, University of Southampton