Viktoriia Pyniak
Filologia angielska, grupa A3
A critical review of John P. O'Regan’s ‘English as a Lingua Franca: An
Immanent Critique’ published in Applied Linguistics, Volume 35, Issue 5, 1
December 2014, Pages 533–552
“English as a Lingua Franca: An Immanent Critique” was published in Applied Linguistics
in 2014. The paper was written by Professor of Critical Applied Linguistics John P. O’Regan. In
this work author criticizes English as a lingua franca research in different aspects, which led to
disputes between scholars. O’Regan says: “the ELF movement is inconsistent and misleading in the
claims that it makes and that it often falls into contradiction.” (2014:3). In the critique Professor
mentions that “ELF” researches estimate the concept of “ELF” as hypostatized thing-in-itself,
discusses fetishism, poststructuralist perspectives on globalization and postcolonialism.
According to the paper, despite hybridity, fluidity, and flexibility of the language forms,
users of English(es) in any multicultural settings are able to become speakers of hypostatized
“ELF”. O’Regan’s immanent critique of ‘ELF’ identifies that hypostatization is fatal to itself.
There is a disagreement which arises from hypostatization of “ELF”, considering “ELF” as a
variety while at the same time claiming that it is not. According to arguments of “ELF” researches,
“ELF” it is a thing-in-itself, but O’Regan states that abstract ideas that are unnaturally projected
into existence cannot be thing-in-itself .(2014:2) In addition to this, “ELF” researches regularly
apply such expressions in their writings as : “ELF speakers”, “ELF settings”, “ELF interactions”,
“ELF” as “an emerging English”, rather than evaluating “ELF” as a static and homogenous field.
(2014:3)
“ELF”, like the commodity, is that mysterious thing, on this occasion here and yet not here,
fluid and yet congealed, normative and yet hybrid— appearing to exist in some reified and yet
simultaneously liminal space in the circulation of Englishes in the world.(2014:7)
O’Regan states that a difference between commodity fetishism and the lingua franca
fetishism of the “ELF” movement is that the commodity is a real entity in a relation with other
commodities, but the lingua franca fetishism is artificially made real through the hypostatization of
an abstract concept. Unlike the commodity, “ELF” has no physical presence, so that the
hypostatization and fetishism of ‘ELF’ as a thing-in-itself thus constitutes the irreal mystification,or
projection, of a real content which is obscured.(2014:7)
According to an immanent critique, poststructuralist perspectives on globalization and
postcolonialism are “ problematically meshed with positivist and empiricist perspectives on
knowledge and truth so that the result is a theoretical discourse and politics of knowledge which is
in contradiction with itself”. (2014:4)
O’Regan says that the problem is that the meaning of such terms as ideology, discourse,
power, reality, and truth and the relations between them as well depends on the theory. What is
more, there is no single explanation to such issues. Accordingly, the theoretical “ELF” research of
these terms should be done in order to be able to give detailed explanation about these issues and
the relations between them. Baker,Jenkins&Baird do not agree with Professor and they claim that
questions of standard language ideology, native speaker ideology and the ideology of “ELF”
scholars were discussed and debated. O’Regan answers that only the reference to ideology is not
enough and should be theoretical account of this in the literature. What is more, ideology that was
presented is opinion-based, without theoretical facts and basis. The author of the critique states that
in “ELF” literature is absent a more theoretically- nuanced explication of ideology as, for example,
backgrounded common sense, subject position, habitus, discourse, or interpellation.(2014:5)
“ELF” is hypostatized and problematic and critics are often accused of misinterpreting and
misunderstanding “ELF”. The aim of O’Regan’s immanent critique was to show that deep
theoretical “ELF” research needs to be done in order to have proofs and be able to give answers to
all questions and critiques about “ELF” that may appear.
REFERENCES
John O’Regan. J. (2015). On anti-intellectualism, cultism, and one-sided thinking. O’Regan replies
Applied Linguistics 36 (1), 128-132.
John P. O'Regan’s ‘English as a Lingua Franca: An Immanent Critique’ published in Applied
Linguistics, Volume 35, Issue 5, 1 December 2014, Pages 533–553.
Baker, W., Jenkins, J. and Baird, R.,( 2014). ELF researchers take issue with 'English as a lingua
franca: an immanent critique'. Applied Linguistics, 36(1), pp.121-123.
Widdowson, H., 2014. Contradiction and Conviction. A Reaction to O'Regan. Applied Linguistics,
36(1), pp.124-127.
