In relation to the complexities bracing ASEAN these days brought about by diversity of her foundation, the need for continuing research on many different areas, especially English as an ASEAN‟s lingua franca, must be boosted. As Pakir (2010) described, “Southeast Asia can be likened to a vast laboratory…huge platform for understanding how languages are learnt, taught and used in communication” (p. 330).
This study on the comprehensibility of English varieties spoken by the four Outer Circle nations to the six Expanding Circle countries will fill in the research gaps on people‟s interaction within the regional bloc. Levis‟s (2005) WE speaker-listener matrix was used as the main framework of the study. Figure 2, World Englishes speaker-listener intelligibility matrix, illustrates the Outer Circle–Expanding Circle paradigm. The speakers are from Outer Circle countries such as Brunei,
1st Mae Fah Luang University International Conference 2012 4
Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore. The listeners are from the Expanding Circle countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Thus, this study is timely and suitable as the upcoming full integration of ASEAN in 2015 is fast approaching.