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Self- and Other-Reference in Social Contexts: From global to local discourses
Edited by Minna Nevala and Minna Palander-Collin
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 342] 2024
► pp. 166–192

Chapter 8
Positioning the self and other in English lingua franca interactions

Reference systems and the dynamics of identification in a German–Tanzanian school exchange

| University of Bamberg

This chapter explores the dynamics of identification in a German–​Tanzanian school exchange, in which participants use English as a lingua franca (ELF). It investigates which particular reference systems adolescents activate for positioning themselves and their interlocutors in this context, and how orientations change in the course of their encounter. In a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative corpus investigations with content analyses, the contribution focuses on the contextual use of pronouns and the discursive construction of categories of belonging in authentic ELF interactions, but also draws on information from background questionnaires and interview data collected in the framework of the student exchange. The study thus contributes a speaker-informed picture of reference systems at play in the co-construction of identities through intercultural interactions in ELF.

Keywords: adolescents, English as a lingua franca, identity, intercultural interaction, mixed methods, reference systems
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework: Identity in interaction
    • 2.1Identity as an interactionally negotiated construct
    • 2.2Reference systems
    • 2.3Fluidity and hybridity in ELF interactions
  • 3.Research approach
    • 3.1Participants and setting
    • 3.2Data collection
    • 3.3Research process
  • 4.Data analysis: Reference systems and the dynamics of identification
    • 4.1The use of pronouns
    • 4.2Reference systems evoked in interviews and questionnaires
    • 4.3Content analysis of corpus data
    • 4.4Deictic approach
  • 5.Discussion and outlook
  • Appendix
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 March 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.342.08beu
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