A role for English as lingua franca in the foreign language classroom?

International students comprise a substantial proportion of students in British universities and English is normally the medium of communication, not the focus of study, for home students and international students alike. One less obvious type of classroom where international students are to be found is the foreign language classroom. Some would argue that in such a context there should be no role for English since communication should occur in the target language. Experience shows, however, that even where target language input is the norm, international learners will use their common lingua franca (L2) to reflect on the target language (L3) and engage with other learners, including both L1 and other L2 English-speakers, in collaborative task-based activity. This paper argues that the lingua franca can play a role in providing enriched input in L3 learning.