ELF or NELF? English pronunciation standard preferences among younger generation of Polish speakers

The ongoing debate as to the English pronunciation model to be selected for training both at academia and for school in Poland remains unresolved. At school not much is done in terms of pronunciation training per se, with frequent acceptance of poor performance, and only occasional excursions into more subtle distinctions and features. It appears that English teachers follow implicitly the idea of a simplified instructional model of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) of Jenkins (2000), with the Lingua Franca Core pronunciation component. Until recently, no reasonable, well-argued-for alternative was available. Now, the model suggested in Szpyra-Kozłowska (2015) termed Native English as Lingua Franca (NELF) fulfils the needs of professional and ordinary users of English. This paper reports on the preferences as to the desirable standard in pronunciation instruction among younger generation of Poles. The subjects have been selected among the adolescent speakers of Polish and learners of English as a Foreign Language. The focus will be more on the reasons behind the stated preference. The survey analysis reveals rather high aspirations among the sample, as well as reasonably realistic judgments as to their own performance. The prevailing attitudes seem to agree with the idea behind the NELF concept.