REVIEWS
TESOL Quarterly welcomes evaluative reviews of publications relevant to TESOL pro-
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Edited by DIANE PECORARI
Linnaeus University
Exploring ELF: Academic English Shaped by Non-native Speakers
Anna Mauranen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Pp. x + 271.
doi: 10.1002/tesq.88
& Sceptical readers hesitant to plunge into what might seem yet
another volume on English as a lingua franca (ELF) should discard
their reservations, for this is not only a rich, stimulating exploration of
ELF in academia but also a book that has much to tell us about lan-
guage and communication more generally. For the most part the
author, a well-known ELF scholar, steers clear of ideological debate
(necessary and exciting though that may sometimes be) to give space
to an in-depth discussion of empirical data from the Helsinki-based
ELFA corpus (English as a lingua franca in academic settings), draw-
ing our attention to significant features of ELF communication at
different linguistic levels from the word upward. Description of these
features, of their form and function, is combined with persuasive
explanations of how they may have emerged and what they signify
about ELF communication.
For this, Mauranen draws on a theoretical framework outlined in
Chapter 2, titled “Three Perspectives on ELF.” The first of these
perspectives is macrosocial, an approach in which the author discusses
contact-induced linguistic change and associated processes such as sim-
plification and levelling. An interesting point made is that it may take
as long as 60 years for the linguistic changes attributable to ELF influ-
ence to become fully evident. Next comes the cognitive perspective,
and here Mauranen explicitly adopts usage-based accounts of language
in which frequency effects play a significant role both in acquisition
and use. Individuals generally have less lifetime aggregate exposure to
TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 47, No. 2, June 2013 431
© 2013 TESOL International Association
their additional languages than to their first acquired language and
this can, we are informed, lead to less deeply entrenched cognitive
representations, imposing greater strain on working memory in pro-
duction and possibly more limited lexical and syntactic repertoires.
These additional processing pressures are mitigated in ELF talk by
the use of strategies of approximation, in which comprehensibility is
given priority over adherence to standard language norms. The third
perspective is the microsocial, where Mauranen discusses how ELF
speakers collaboratively manage spoken interaction to maximise under-
standing through processes of accommodation, adaptation to variabil-
ity, and enhanced explicitness. A key motif underlying these three
perspectives, and indeed pervasive throughout the book, is that of
frequency. Frequency is implicated in language change in that the
more frequently used innovations tend to survive longest. More
frequent language features also tend to be more deeply entrenched in
the individual speaker, and this allows them to be more readily
accessed.
Chapter 3, which outlines design features of the ELFA corpus, is
preparatory to a detailed discussion of the corpus data in Chapters 4
and 5. Chapter 4 focuses on vocabulary, starting with a comparison of
word frequencies in the ELFA and the MICASE corpora, the latter
taken to be representative of ENL usage (English as a native lan-
guage). What we learn, in summary, is that ELF vocabulary is similar,
and similar in distribution, to ENL vocabulary use, though there is
some evidence of a smaller range of vocabulary. The second part of
the chapter focuses on such lexical processes as rephrasing, lexical
searching, echoing, and, above all, approximation, whereby conven-
tional lexical items of standard first-language (L1) English are
replaced by nonstandard items close in form or meaning to the for-
mer, but crucially without impairment of communication. Chapter 5,
in many ways pivotal in the book, explores larger linguistic units—
grammatical constructions, phraseologies, and multiword items. Recur-
rent features of ELF lexicogrammar—for example the lower frequency
of the indefinite article a relative to ENL usage—are discussed and
variously attributed to such processes as regularization, structural
simplification, and the extension of morphological productivity
beyond conventional boundaries. The author also explains how a rela-
tively shallower level of cognitive entrenchment can lead to greater
variability in ELF production, but this and the use of nonstandard
lexicogrammatical features rarely, if at all, obstruct comprehension.
Mauranen goes on to show that ELF is largely similar in phraseology
to ENL usage, though with somewhat greater variability in patterning.
We are also presented with evidence of ELF speakers beginning
to converge on phraseological patterns that exhibit a degree of
432 TESOL QUARTERLY
innovative divergence from ENL ones (e.g., as the matter of fact; on/in
my point of view).
ELF encounters often bring together individuals of quite different
linguacultural backgrounds and this can introduce a degree of uncer-
tainty into interactions. One response to this entails adjustments
toward greater explicitness, and this constitutes the subject matter of
Chapters 6 and 7. Buttressed by copious exemplification, Chapter 6
examines how explicitness is achieved in ELF talk with particular atten-
tion given to discourse organisation or metadiscourse. Chapter 7,
following the same theme, focuses on repetition, echoing, and
rephrasing, all of which are common in ELF talk. However, far from
regarding these negatively, Mauranen points out how they facilitate
interaction and comprehensibility. Chapter 8, the final chapter, offers
a useful summary of “key points on ELF” and discusses implications
for teaching and learning; this latter section, however, is less strong
than previous chapters.
In a brief review such as this it is difficult to convey a sense of the
range of insights to be found in this book, so in conclusion I would
simply urge a reading of it. It is in many respects an excellent book,
innovative in its conjoining of social and cognitive perspectives, and
destined to become a key reference work in ELF studies.
GIBSON FERGUSON
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, England
Unlocking the Power of Academic Vocabulary with Secondary
English Language Learners
Yu Ren Dong. Gainesville, FL: Maupin House, 2011. Pp. v + 158.
doi: 10.1002/tesq.89
& This volume proposes a systematic and engaging approach to the
teaching of discipline-specific vocabulary. Underlying this approach is
the premise that teaching academic vocabulary is not an optional
extra; rather, it underpins successful learning of academic knowledge,
making it an indispensable aspect of subject teaching.
The book provides an inventory of strategies for teaching vocabulary,
grounded in theory and research. Drawing on the established work of
Nation, Nagy, Genesee, Bialystok, Cummins, and others, it offers a sound
and innovative alternative to the received wisdom of memorisation and
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