‘They are not really accommodating’: Willingness To Accommodate in a Medical English as a Lingua Franca context

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ID: 333184
2026
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Abstract
Abstract This paper introduces the concept of Willingness To Accommodate (WTA)—a readiness to adapt communication to foster understanding—in the context of Medical English as a Lingua Franca (MELF) in Hong Kong. Drawing on interviews with ethnic minority patients and local healthcare staff, the study explores how patients often perceive low WTA from staff, leading to perceived exclusion and unfairness. Staff, meanwhile, report that anxiety, low perceived English competence, and institutional constraints contribute to limited engagement. However, when both parties signal their WTA, such as through translanguaging, interactions were perceived as respectful. The paper proposes a WTA framework informed by factors such as perceived competence, anxiety, responsibility, security, and institutional pressures, with translingual practices as observable attempts to display WTA that facilitate (M)ELF interactions. WTA can be used for understanding ELF workplace communication and institutional fairness. The study contributes to existing ELF scholarship which underexplores the predisposition for accommodation and to applied linguistics research by extending Willingness to Communicate theory into professional ELF contexts and highlighting the role of translingual practices in mitigating perceived unfairness.
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openalex_W7223172412 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Alessia Cogo, Shawnea Sum Pok Ting
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Journal international journal of applied linguistics and english literature
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/applin/amag101
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amag101
Keywords Keywords not found

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