English as a Lingua Franca in the Asian Context

To identify the features of ELF in the Asian context, this study examined how non-understanding in communication is indicated and responded to in Asian ELF speakers" discourse. Analysis of 34 pair conversations revealed relatively infrequent occurrences of communication breakdowns in need of a negotiation process. In moments of non-understanding, troubles in comprehension were indicated using the means of echoing, explicit indication, inappropriate response, and nonverbal response. The ELF speakers were also found to deploy a more proactive strategy of formulating specific clarification questions and statements to precisely articulate the matter causing the non-understanding. Responses offered to resolve the trouble sources took the forms of expansion, repetition, and rephrasing. Additionally, full explanation was adopted to elaborate on the information necessary to clarify the trouble point. Based on the findings of the study, some pedagogical suggestions are made with relevance to ELF.