PROJECTING ASIAN ENGLISHES DICTIONARY: AN ALTERNATIVE SOURCE FOR DEVELOPING EFL/ESL LEARNERS’ INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

In the English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) context particularly in ASEAN region, Asian Englishes dictionary can possibly foster intercultural competence which has been very crucial for successful communication. There some important aspects in projecting the dictionary. Firsty, in terms of the target users, Asian Englishes dictionary designed as a speciliazed dictionary is aimed to provide EFL/ESL teachers and students an alternative learning source which incorporates culture elements in ELT as required in the use of English as a lingua franca. Secondly, the dictionary entries only consist of visible culture elements (products) such as foods, dress, dance, music/musical instruments, cultural ceremonies/festivals, holiday customs and literature. Thirdly, this dictionary covers the cultural elements from only four ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and ɒrunei due to most these four countries’ words pertaining to the historical linguaculture can be traced back to Malay, Sanskrit, Javanese and Chinese. Lastly, this dictionary absolutely articulates the values and interests of non-native speakers particularly in the ASEAN context.