The role of English as a lingua Franca in academia: the case of Turkish postgraduate students in an anglophone-centre context

Abstract

In the media of scholarly publications, English is considered to be the language of science in academia (Crystal, 2003). Although a majority of scholars are able to improve their English locally in the peripheral countries, others have benefitted or will benefit from opportunities to study in an Anglophone-centred context. To the best of my knowledge, scant research has been undertaken on the next generation of scientists. This preliminary study aims at investigating the perceptions of Turkish post-graduate students who have been studying in the United Kingdom and the United States of America regarding the use of English as the international language of science. The data were collected through interviews (n=32). Participants' perceptions was investigated regarding language and scientific communication, including their perceptions about the benefits and drawbacks of English as the primary language of communication in scientific fields and about whether they believe they are at a disadvantage or at an advantage when participating in professional activities. The main findings indicate that these students believed that the benefits of English as academia's primary language outweighed its negative aspects; the participants focused on English as a universal mode of communication to share research and meet professional needs, although most of the post-graduate students (78.125%) felt they were operating at a disadvantage. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of WCLTA 2013.