English stretching its boundaries: new contexts and lingua franca uses (Schneider)

The dynamism of the expansion of English into new roles and territories seems to have reached a qualitatively new dimension in the very recent past, over the last two or three decades. English is coming to be used in novel ways and new contexts, and in functions which substantially go beyond its former roles. One major manifestation of this trend is the increasing use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), a type of context which has generated a new, focused sub-discipline of its own (with textbooks, a journal and a conference series devoted to it) over the last few years. In addition, uses of English in media and web manifestations, in grassroots forms by speakers who have not had any formal access to it, or for "specific purposes" constitute fascinating realizations of this development. Some of these I have addressed in some recent research, and they continue to attract my interest.

Publications
Schneider, Edgar W. 2012. “Exploring the interface between World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition – and implications for English as a Lingua Franca.” Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 1, 57-91.
Schneider, Edgar W. 2013. "Leisure-activity ESP as a special kind of ELF: the example of scuba diving English." English Today 115 29: 47-57.
Schneider, Edgar W. 2016. "Hybrid Englishes: An exploratory survey." World Englishes 35. DOI: 10.1111/weng.12204
Schneider, Edgar W. 2016. "World Englishes on YouTube: treasure trove or nightmare?" In Elena Seoane & Cristina Suárez-Gómez, eds., World Englishes: New Theoretical and Methodological Considerations. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins, 253-281.
Schneider, Edgar W. 2016. "World Englishes and ELF." In Marie-Luise Pitzl and Tuth Osimk-Teasdale, eds., English as a Lingua Franca: Perspectives and Prospects. Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter Mouton.
Schneider, Edgar W. 2016. "Grassroots Englishes in tourism interactions." English Today 32(3), 2-10.