Pragmatics and transcultural communication through English as a lingua franca

The deep connections between English, globalization and intercultural communication are now well established. Research in English as a lingua franca (ELF) has made clear that this is a multilingual use of English in which other linguistic and communicative resources are present and frequently a core part of the interaction. Furthermore, ELF studies have highlighted that pragmatic strategies are a central part of those communicative resources. Yet how to approach pragmatics within an ELF framework has not been straightforward. Cross-cultural perspectives comparing the norms of first language communication in relatively static communicative contexts have little relevance to the dynamic and fluid communicative practices of ELF. This has led scholars to adopt intercultural frameworks to conceptualizing and documenting pragmatics in ELF interactions in which cultures and languages, and the accompanying pragmatic strategies, are viewed as adaptable and hybridized. Nonetheless, there are limitations to such intercultural perspectives due to the range and complexity of communicative resources we see documented in the superdiverse settings of much ELF communication. It is not always possible to delineate which languages or cultures are being hybridized and adapted and the ‘inter’ of intercultural communication becomes problematic. Transcultural communication perspectives are a recent extension of intercultural communication research in which interactants are seen to move through and across (rather than in-between) cultural and linguistic borders. Transcultural perspectives align with translanguaging and transmodal theories with participants making use of their full range of communicative resources in a manner which transcends national borders. Communicative resources and references may simultaneously index multiple levels or scales from the local, to the global, without being fixed to any single scale and often involve the use of emergent resources and practices. In this brief position piece, I will discuss a transcultural communication approach and consider its relevance for understanding, researching and teaching pragmatics in ELF.