ABSTRACT

One theme that has accompanied accounts of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is change, and attitude research has featured so prominently in ELF research because the changing linguistic landscapes observed have a closer connection with people's thinking and practices than with the language forms themselves. This chapter seeks to address potential mismatches between current conceptualisations of language practices in the ELF field of enquiry and approaches to attitude research undertaken in this field. It discusses how framing attitudes while simultaneously ignoring or deemphasising contextualised thought processes or variability in social identification processes can be ineffective in understanding the nature of people's thinking and the social phenomena with which they engage. The chapter presents considerations for approaching perceptions of language practices in a way that is in alignment with broader and more holistic approaches to language practices in ELF research.