English as a Lingua Franca in the Information Age: Insights into Its Role in Promoting Global Citizens and Creating New Definitions of the Self

Authors

  • Valentin Valentinov Tassev Assumption University of Thailand

Keywords:

culture, identity, self, lingua franca

Abstract

This research paper will explore whether learning and communicating in English allows learners to adopt new multiple identities and participate in new frameworks of communication and communities on a global scale. As such, this research paper will analyse whether English has become a medium through which learners could find new means for self-expression and self-identification, and integrate themselves more deeply in new frameworks of cooperation that operate on local, regional and global scales. In light of this, I will try to determine whether English as a lingua franca online allows for opportunities for civic engagement, social action and, lastly and most importantly, the extension of the self. I will, therefore, examine the intertwined and interdependent relationship between contemporary language and culture and discuss the role of English in fostering the development and the promotion of global citizens in the new information age. My aim is to conduct a case-study of a selected group of advanced students at the university level and determine if while communicating in English, they establish and participate in various communities possessing shared goals, interests and practices that allow them to drive social action and find new means for individual expression, self-identification and communicate issues of daily life.

References

Andrews, L. 1998. Language Exploration and Awareness: A Resource Book for Teachers. 2nd edition. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Brown, H. 1986. ‘Learning a Second Culture’. In Culture Bound: Bridging the Cultural Gap in Language Teaching. Edited by Valdes, J. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dornyei, Z. 2001. Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hall, J. 2002. Teaching and Researching Language and Culture. London: Pearson Education Limited. Kramsch, C. 1998. Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Published

2015-12-29

How to Cite

Tassev, V. V. (2015). English as a Lingua Franca in the Information Age: Insights into Its Role in Promoting Global Citizens and Creating New Definitions of the Self. ASEAN Journal of Education, 1(1), 130–135. Retrieved from https://so01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/AJE/article/view/180805

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2015): July - December 2015

Section

Research Articles

License

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