The paper concerns the concept of English as a lingua franca (ELF) and its potential implications for ELT practices. The paper aims to present fi ndings of the study conducted among secondary school students, who were asked to express and justify their desires concerning the model of English they wish to follow. The author of the study wants to gather information about students’ preferences concerning varieties of English they want to adopt as models. Are students’ opinions grounded in full awareness of the paradigm shift that has taken place in current ELT methodologies? Or do they simply reflect the status quo of the language classroom that is still permeated by conservative tenets upheld in the Polish educational system? A questionnaire with six open-ended questions was administered to 120 students from four senior high schools. Attitude patterns that emerge from the responses indicate that standard language ideology is prevalent among the participants. They feel commitment to native-speaker norms and hold conventional beliefs about the English language.

The purpose of laboratory tests was to determine the effect of sodium silicate and selected hydrophobic agents on the basic physical parameters and freeze-thaw durability of mortars made with Sorel cement in variable proportions. In order to determine the mortars’ parameters, samples of the dimensions of 4x4x16 cm and boards of the diameters of 1x4x16 cm were prepared. Parameters such as water absorption, capillary absorption, compressive and flexural strength and frost resistance were tested. Mortar supplemented with sodium silicate in the quantity of 2.6% of all components demonstrated the best properties. None of the other hydrophobic agents that were used to mitigate the negative effects of water on Sorel cement mortars demonstrated such positive properties. Flexural strength tests of all mortar batches, performed on cuboid samples and boards of the thickness of 1 cm, demonstrated a similar improvement in strength. The lowest value of compressive strength was recorded for the reference batch at 46.6 MPa, whereas the highest value was recorded for the second batch containing sodium silicate, at 49.8 MPa. During the testing of frost resistance, the lowest reduction of compressive and flexural strength was recorded for the reference mortar and for mortar with sodium silicate. All mortars were varied in the MgO/MgCl₂ ratio and the total amount of water, the observed effects may be caused by other variables. However it is possible to notice the positive effect of selected hydrophobic agents.