Communities of practice and English as a lingua franca

This chapter provides an overview of the potential and the limitations of applying the concept of community of practice to empirical research into English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). It briefly traces the origins of the concept and its first applications in sociolinguistics. The chapter describes the three criterial dimensions of a community of practice such as mutual engagement, its joint enterprise and a shared repertoire. After a brief consideration of research methodological implications, empirically derived insights into the socially embedded and dynamic nature of ELF-based shared repertoires is summarized and discussed with regard to four exemplary facets of ELF communication. The four exemplary facets of ELF communication include strategies, multilingualism, sociopragmatic hybridity and ELF speakers' identities. The chapter concludes by reviewing the concept of community of practice in its capacities as an analytical tool, as a theoretical notion and as an educational model.