Perceptions of Identity and Foreign Language Use in Thai Hotel Workers: Insight into Sociocultural Understandings of Foreign Language Learning

Abstract

The various ways in which the English language is used across the world has given rise to an assortment of foreign language variations and personalities. In considering the curent position English has as the dominant world language, much attention has been directed into studies of World Englishes and to the use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) (Jenkins, 2006: Kirkpatrick, 2007; Seidlhofer, 2001). In contrast, few studies have been done into the roles English fulfils and the attitudes towards it in the countries in which it operates, and how these impact the identities of its users...