Multilingual ELF interaction in multicultural student teamwork at Europe's largest business university

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected and English is perceived as a dominant language of commerce, business universities often see English-medium instruction as a means to attract more and highly qualified international students as well as to prepare their graduates for a career in the globalised workforce. As a result, English is not only the medium of instruction in the classroom, but also the lingua franca outside it. While there has been considerable in-depth research on the use of English in the formal classroom setting, there is still a need for studies that investigate how students use language in more interactional and less formal settings. This chapter examines multicultural student teamwork on an English-medium master's programme at WU Vienna to see how students use English and other languages in this lingua franca setting. The chapter begins by conceptualising English as a lingua franca in the international business university, synthesising research from applied linguistics and management studies. It then analyses data from an ethnographic study of multicultural student teamwork, focusing on instances of multilingualism in negotiating meaning, building rapport and creating humour.