With the majority of global English users being non native speakers in Asian contexts, how can educators help Japanese students shift their perspectives of ideal linguistic role models from the idealised native speaker standard to the competent (NNS) plurilingual user of English? This presentation discusses language use during a field trip in Cambodia where Japanese university students exploited diverse opportunities for English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication finding near-peer role models among Cambodian students and local people in daily interactions.

Priming learners to use English as a Lingua Franca with other plurilingual speakers during fieldwork in Cambodia