Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca: Reducing Skepticism and Increasing Practicality

The status of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has become an increasingly popular topic in Applied Linguistics and there is a lively discussion around which pronunciation model to use in classrooms (Dauer, 2005).Jenkins (1998, 2000, and 2002) proposed the Lingua Franca Core (LFC): a list of features which are presumably the minimum required to result in intelligible communication among non-native speakers of English (NNSs) and should form the basis upon which the pronunciation syllabus of learners of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) should be designed. While very few teachers of English today would (theoretically) argue that aiming at native-like pronunciation is necessary or even desirable, many teachers, nevertheless, remain skeptical about the teachability of the LFC (Jenkins, 2007). This paper addresses this doubt introducing the construct of the 'LFC', its potential implication in classroom, and its scope and function beyond classroom setting.