Second Language Learning and Language Teaching

People using an L2 with spouses, siblings or friends
L2 users may speak their second language within a small social group. People have
often joked that the best way of learning a language is to marry someone who
speaks it; such married bilingual couples feel they are quite capable of passing for
native speakers (Piller, 2002). Parents can choose to use a language with their chil-
dren that they will not encounter outside the home. Indeed, unrelated pairs of 
people can decide to use a second language: Henry VIII wrote love letters to Anne
Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon in French (Vatican City, n.d.), the language of
courtly love.
Language and groups of speakers 203

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People using an L2 internationally for specific functions
English as lingua franca (ELF) belongs to a variety of groups of speakers. One 
is made up of academics, using the language for academic journals and confer-
ences everywhere. Other groups use specially designed varieties of English, like
SeaSpeak for mariners (Weeks et al., 1988) or ASD Simplified Technical English, a
carefully restricted English for technical writing (ASD, 2007). And of course, 
international business uses English regardless of L1, say, Danish businessmen 
talking to Indians or Syrians on the phone (Firth, 1996). People who speak ELF
belong to communities that cross frontiers, united by a common interest. In one
view, English no longer counts as learning another language; it is an addition to
the three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic), necessary for primary school chil-
dren everywhere (Graddol, 2006). But supercentral languages also have special-
ized transnational uses, for instance, Japanese in martial arts or Arabic for
Muslims.
Students and teachers acquiring or conveying an