Timbur In Light Of Ricento

Note: If you see this sentence then I'm working on a Google slideshow presentation of what is below.

The acronym ELF provides an abbreviated means of discourse for the overused and lengthier--contained/labeled--concept of English as a lingua franca.

The letters ELF say nothing as to the nature of what English as a lingua franca means yet presupposes a level of understanding.

To those unacquainted with the acronym, it appears presumptuous thereby making the reader more acceptable to believe once the definitions of the Italian words are known that the concept is understood.

As Thomas Rincento illustrates throughout Language Policy and Political Economy, the acronym is as obscure as a worn out label on a bottle of an unidentified and unidentifiable substance. Although, if and sometimes when clarification of what the chemical composition of the contents is the labeling ELF has value.

Despite the uncertainty of categorization and tendency to extrapolate special case studies to imply that what takes place in the microcosm will take place in the macrocosm, educators, sociologists, and policymakers use and misuse the concept of English as a lingua franca.

My presentation attempts to illustrate some of the issues to be wary of through a contrast and comparison of John Trimbor's essay "Linguistic Memory and the Politics of U.S. English" and Ricento's book.

Admittedly, Ricento and the many authors of the information contained in Language Policy provide me with an unfair advantage for the contestation of Trimbur's conclusion which states the author's desire to have a "national language policy [that he believes], goes beyond a discourse of linguistic rights to imagine the abolition of English monolingualism altogether and the creation in its place a linguistic culture where being multilingual is both normal and desirable, as it is throughout much of the world" (587).