English lingua franca to motivate sixth graders to use it orally in Guatapé

Abstract

This an action research that intended that the sixth graders in an official school in a touristic city in Colombia use linguistic landscape (LL) analysis and interviews to nonnative English speakers (NNES) to foster English lingua franca (ELF) awareness to increase the motivation to use the target language orally. The research occurred during the four last weeks of the school year in the outbreak and returning to the school environment. The pre and post questionnaires about speaking motivation and oral skill perception showed a significant difference after the intervention in their beliefs about native speakirsm. Although the students felt nervous at first, at the end they could be understood and reflected on their performance, they were more motivated to use the language orally through the awareness of other cultures and the variety of languages in the visitors that come to the city of Guatapé.