International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2021 рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa LETTER TO THE EDITOR A Topical Methodology Research Subject in the European Area of Higher Education: ELF, EFL or ESP? Maslov Y. V.1 1 Belarusian State Economic University, Belarus Received: 28.05.2021; Accepted: 11.06.2021; Published: 30.06.2021 Keywords: university teaching, English as a lingua franca (ELF), English as a foreign language (EFL), English for specific purposes (ESP), methodology Copyright: © 2021 Maslov Y. V. Published by Archives of International Journal of Science Annals DOI and UDC DOI https://doi.org/10.26697/ijsa.2021.1.6 UDC 378:005:009 Conflict of interests: The author declares that there is no conflict of interests Peer review: Double-blind review Source of support: This study did not receive any outside funding or support Information about Maslov Yury Vsevolodovich – https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5715-6546; the author: maslove@tut.by; Doctor of Philosophy in Pedagogy, Associate Professor, Belarusian State Economic University, Minsk, Belarus. Dear Editor, The European “ecosystem” of higher education seems to more focus not on EFL studies but on research in the field have been affected by the global pandemic in a number of ELF and ESP (English for Specific Purposes). It is of ways. Some of these impacts may well be viewed as explained by the fact that the ability to use ESP is now a negative; some others, as giving a new impetus to the highly desirable skill for the majority of professionals development of the entire educational system. It is working in the post-communist part of Europe. evident, for instance, that the dire necessity to “go Traditionally, teaching EFL/ESP at tertiary level in virtual” has created new avenues for the intensification countries like Ukraine and Belarus has been viewed as of contacts between educators who previously were less high-quality and effective. However, it mostly embraced motivated to do so (Magomedov et al., 2020; Melnyk et teacher training programs that typically last four years al., 2020). and end in obtaining an EFL teacher certificate. In That clearly manifests the fact that the ongoing process contrast, ESP programs offered to students of of transformations taking place in national higher engineering or natural sciences seldom take more than a education systems across Europe has not slowed down at year and generally yield far more modest educational all, which has made some of the current cultural and outcomes. educational challenges even more pressing. One such Universities across Western and Central Europe have challenge is the necessity to effectively use ELF (English long offered multiple courses in English. Yet higher as a lingua franca). education establishments operating today in Eastern In recent years, the phenomenon has been covered in Europe are not quite capable of following the same path. many publications whose authors studied it from multiple The most common reason is the lack of educational perspectives (Barančicová & Zerzová, 2015; Cogo, 2016; cadres who can teach their subjects using English. There Jenkins, 2009). The most common approach seems to be are many competent English teachers but they are unable the linguistic one, the research question being whether to teach courses other than those related to EFL. To do ELF is or isn’t a qualitatively new linguistic entity. so, they need to obtain at least an additional Master’s Researchers working in post-communist countries have degree in the respective field (law, economics, etc.). made valuable contributions to linguistic studies, There is also another dimension to this problem. English especially in the area of EFL studies, as these countries is undoubtedly the language of the European academia. clearly belong to the so-called Expanding Circle. This brings about the need to use English throughout the However, the social and cultural realities of today call for entire university continuum. A specific aspect of faculty 43 International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2021 рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa members’ activities is research, as well as subsequent Journal of Language and Cultural Education, publication of results. A novel academic requirement for 3(3), 30–51. https://doi.org/10.1515/jolace-2015- teaching staff working at universities across Eastern 0018 Europe is the need to publish articles in English-language Cogo, A. (2016). English as a Lingua Franca in Europe. journals (preferably those with high impact factors). At In A. Linn (Ed.), Investigating English in present, however, few university teachers are able to Europe: Contexts and Agendas (pp. 79–89). De meet such a requirement competently. Collaboration Gruyter Mouton. between educators working in various fields (including https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614518952-014 teaching EFL) may be viewed as a possible solution. Hiver, P., & Al-Hoorie, A. H. (2016). A dynamic However, it is a short-term solution. Setting far-reaching ensemble for second language research: Putting goals requires a major shift in the theory and practice of complexity into practice. The Modern Language teaching ESP, which has been pointed out repeatedly Journal, 100(4), 741–756. (Maslov, 2005; Maslov, 2016). It should gradually move https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12347 towards a different paradigm that focuses on teaching Jenkins, J. (2009). English as a Lingua Franca: English as a lingua franca. The logic of such an approach interpretations and attitudes. World Englishes. can help remove the contradiction between the “national” 28(2), 200–207. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- and “global” dimensions of the teaching process, which 971X.2009.01582.x seems to be one of the perennial apples of discord in the Magomedov, I. A., Khaliev, M.S-U., & Khubolov, S. M. post-Communist methodologists’ community. (2020). The negative and positive impact of the At present, many authors emphasize the growing need for pandemic on education. Journal of Physics: research in the field of methodology that may take Conference Series, 1691, 012134. ecological and dynamic points of view (Hiver & Al- https://doi.org/10.1088/1742- Hoorie, 2016). It means that the specifics of local 6596/1691/1/012134 contexts are supposed to receive more attention. We can Mammadova, T. (2020). Exploring English language witness the first signs of the growing interest in these teaching in post-soviet era countries matters. One recent example is the book by Tamilla perspectives from Azerbaijan. Routledge. Mammadova (2020) entitled “Exploring English Maslov, Y. V. (2005). Poetic impulse as means to Language Teaching in Post-Soviet Era Countries produce healthier communication in English. Perspectives from Azerbaijan”. It considers the teaching Prace Naukowe Akademii im. Jana Dlugosza w of English as a lingua franca at all education levels in the Czestohowie: Kultura Fizyczna, 6, 201–211. countries of the former Soviet Union, with particular Maslov, Y. V. (2016). Foreign-language training at emphasis on universities. tertiary level: In search for “Principled We are convinced that more research in the field of ELF eclecticism”. Visnyk Chernihivskoho can definitely enrich the practices existing in East natsionalnoho pedahohichnoho universytetu – European education. It can also contribute to the global Bulletin of Chernihiv National Pedagogical treasure house of methodology through publishing University, 141, 117–120. activity, as worthy educational ideas will travel east and http://nbuv.gov.ua/UJRN/VchdpuP_2016_141_ west more freely. 29 Melnyk, Yu. B., Pypenko, I. S., & Maslov, Y. V. (2020). Acknowledgements COVID-19 pandemic as a factor revolutionizing The author expresses his gratitude to Dr. Yuriy Melnik the industry of higher education. Rupkatha for the kind offer to publish this letter in the journal. Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 12(5). References https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s Barančicová, J., & Zerzová, J. (2015). English as a lingua 19n2 franca used at international meetings. JoLaCe Cite this article as: Maslov, Y. V. (2021). A topical methodology research subject in the European area of higher education: ELF, EFL or ESP? International Journal of Science Annals, 4(1), 43–44. https://doi.org/10.26697/ijsa.2021.1.6 The electronic version of this article is complete. It can be found online in the IJSA Archive https://ijsa.culturehealth.org/en/arhiv and in the KRPOCH Publishing Repository https://ekrpoch.culturehealth.org/handle/lib/71 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en). 44