Chinese speakers' attitudes towards their own English: ELF or Interlanguage

Abstract

The globalisation of English has motivated the research into English as a lingua franca (ELF) and the debate concerning non-native English speakers’ (NNESs’) own English. Despite the scholarly justification of NNESs’ variations from native English, how users of non-native Englishes perceive their own English is crucial in the discussion of linguistic pluricentricity. This paper sets out to investigate Chinese speakers’ perceptions of their own English in order to offer insights into this issue. The findings reveal a positive sign of the consciousness of ELF in the participants’ language attitudes and indicate that further efforts are needed to raise awareness of the changing role of English in the on-going process of globalisation