Section 1. Guidelines for reading texts on the use of international English in European business

Business English as a lingua franca (BELF) has come to dominate as the shared code used to “get work done” in international business. In this article, Evan Frendo explores internationally operating business professionals’, teachers’ and trainers’ perceptions of BELF communication and its “success” at work, based on selected data from surveys and in-depth studies conducted in European multinational companies. The findings show that BELF can be characterized as a simplified, hybridized, and highly dynamic communication code. BELF competence calls for clarity and accuracy of content (rather than linguistic correctness) and knowledge of business-specific vocabulary and genre conventions (rather than only “general” English). In addition, because BELF interactions take place with nonnative speakers (NNSs) from a variety of cultural backgrounds, the relational orientation is perceived as integral for BELF competence. In sum, BELF competence can be considered an essential component of business knowledge required in today’s global business environment.

Text. 1-20. ENGLISH FOR THE WORKPLACE: SHARING THOUGHTS WITH TEACHERS AND TRAINERS OF BUSINESS ENGLISH AND ESP

(Based on Evan Frendo’s presentation in BELF101)

Over the last couple of years BELF (Business English as a Lingua Franca) has been gaining prominence, with articles appearing in various publications. Last year the Journal of Business Communication devoted an entire issue to it. And Vicki Hollett has invited several prominent speakers to discuss the issue in the next BESIG webinar. What I would like to do in this post is to introduce the idea of BELF and discuss some its implications for us as teachers and trainers of business English.

Note: BESIG, the Business English Special Interest Group of International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), is a truly professional body representing the interests and serving the needs of the international business English teaching community.

First of all, what is ELF?

English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has been around (and hotly debated) for a while now. (See the Wikipedia page for a useful list of references). Research by people like Jennifer Jenkins and Barbara Seidlhofer have worked on looking at various features, but there is still a lot of discussion about just how useful ELF is to teachers and trainers. For example, Jenkins (2007) says that “ELF emphasizes the role of English in communication between speakers from different L1s, i.e. the primary reason for learning English today.” On the other hand Swan (2009), argues that “In a pedagogic context, … there is little justification for its use: it is both redundant and confusing, and we would do better to avoid it.”

The crux of the issue seems to revolve around how we define ELF. For ELF researchers it seems to be a way of talking about how English is used between people who do not have English as their own native tongue. They are not suggesting that ELF is a specific variety of English, although there have been some attempts to try and describe its general characteristics, or “common core”. Indeed for some researchers (Firth, 2009; Jenkins, 2007) ELF is about a new attitude to English as a language – it should not be seen as a sort of incorrect or deficient type of English, which non native speakers (NNS) use in their communication with each other, but rather as a language in its own right. In ELF it is the end result that matters, not whether interactions contain “mistakes” when measured against some standard variety of English. The problem is that as teachers and trainers we have become used to providing a model (normally our own variety of English) for our learners to aim at – this is difficult with an ELF approach, where there is no easily identifiable model. As Seidlhofer points out, “spontaneous ELF communication always has an element of adhoc negotiation of relevant norms, because speakers’ systemic/linguistic and schematic/cultural backgrounds vary from case to case, by definition”(2006)

And what about BELF?

This article explores the role of English and other languages as perceived by members of upper management in a family-owned German multinational corporation in the technology sector. The findings show that, in the 21st century, English has become an indispensable “must” in the company and that there is a general understanding that staff at all levels develop their language skills as they see appropriate for their roles within the company. What needs to be learned, however, is not English as a native language but communicative effectiveness in English as a business lingua franca, which – as an international contact language – brings together nonnative as well as native Englishes from various linguacultural backgrounds spoken with varying degrees of proficiency. Learning to cope with the challenges of such diversity, in the context of business communication, seems to happen most effectively in business “communities of practice” rather than in traditional English training. The study also shows that, despite the dominance of English, other languages are not disappearing from the scene but are, indeed, used as a pragmatic or strategic resource. In particular, German, as the headquarters’ language, maintains an important role among individuals and within the organization.

Should English be the lingua franca in international companies?

Professor Maury Peiperl: Yes!

International companies and international commerce generally imply a fundamental need for people to communicate across the globe, at least at a basic verbal and written level. Translation and multi-lingual communication are important, but unless there is one common language everyone doing global business can speak, the complexity these imply (which increases as the square of the number of languages used) makes it unwieldy for cross-border businesses to function. Multi-lingual firms will always find it difficult to compete with those who use a single cross-border language, as will those who use something other than the de facto global language, for both will pay higher transaction costs.

Should English be the lingua franca in international companies?

Research FellowKarsten Jonsen: No!

Non-native English speakers and companies should not be language-submissive. Linguistic diversity is worth fighting for. English as a common business language is an easy choice, and much like most doctrines celebrating homogeneity, the one-company/one-people/one-language-fits-all cultural mentality is deceptively easy. Economical reasoning predicts that this will happen increasingly in multinational companies. While a common language facilitates socialization processes, communication and team building, social identity theory speaks to how language barriers set boundaries with many people.

To give you an idea of what some people think about BELF, here are some recent quotes from researchers who are active in the field.

“BELF refers to English used as a neutral and shared communication code. BELF is neutral in the sense that none of the speakers can claim it as her/his mother tongue; it is shared in the sense that it is used for conducting business within the global business discourse community, whose members are BELF users and communicators in their own right – not non-native speakers or learners.” (Louhiala-Salminen, Charles & Kanraanranta, 2005)

“Rather than focusing on language proficiency … the findings of such research could then drive teaching and training materials to focus more efficiently on those areas that are likely to cause a problem. ” (Gerritsen and Nickerson, 2009)

“BELF … implies a starting point where the code of communication is investigated in its own right, not as “English” in the traditional sense of the word. ” (Rogerson-Revell and Salminon, 2010)

“Our findings suggest that English in today’s global business environment is “simply work” and its use is highly contextual. Thus, knowledge of the specific business context, the particular genres used in the particular business area, and overall business communication strategies are tightly intertwined with proficiency in English, which impacts upon teaching." (Kankaanranta and Louhiala-Salminen, 2010)

"For our conceptualization of BELF, the “B” is of utmost importance. " (Kankaanranta and Louhiala-Salminen, 2010)

“ … the concept of language competence, which has traditionally been gauged against the yardstick of a native speaker’s skills, has to be reevaluated in the light of recent (B)ELF research.” (Ehrenreich, 2010)

"BELF competence calls for clarity and accuracy of content (rather than linguistic correctness) and knowledge of business-specific vocabulary and genre conventions (rather than only “general” English). In addition, because BELF interactions take place with nonnative speakers (NNSs) from a variety of cultural backgrounds, the relational orientation is perceived as integral for BELF competence." (Kankaanranta and Planken, 2010)

It seems that BELF is very much about adapting English to specific contexts and specific users so that the business is successful. If we look at business English an a continuum, then at one end we have what might be called “General Business English”, where we do not know very much about the target context, or where learners have less defined aims, and at the other end we have BELF, which is a quite specific use of language which depends on the context and the speakers. The key is that this specific use of English can only be measured against its own rules for successful communication, not against a “norm” imposed by outsiders. As Hanford (2010) argues, “the most important issue in business is not language ability, but the experience and ability to dynamically manoeuvre within the communities of practice which business people inhabit.”

What does it mean to us as trainers?

The answer to this lies in our learners – what is it that they actually want from us? Is our primary role to help our learners learn English in the traditional sense, or is it to help them communicate in their business context? Clearly one of our tasks is to help our learners decide what is appropriate in any given context, and what isn’t, but this is too simplistic. For an ELF teacher BELF research suggests a pedagogic approach which has:

1. A much greater emphasis on needs analysis. People who use BELF work in very specific contexts and use very specific lexis, genres etc. Understanding this is key.

2. More listening to / analyzing of real BELF conversations, ideally with the learner as one of the interlocutors.

3. Materials which focus on relevant spoken genres (e.g. meetings, small talk) and written genres (e.g. emails / contracts etc), and not interviews or articles from newspapers and the internet. And content which resembles BELF interaction, not native speaker (NS) interaction, and is based on BELF corpora, not NS.

4. Tasks which do not focus so much on lexis and structures and more on why particular interactions are effective or ineffective, and strategies to deal with such situations.

5. Less focus on the trainer as the provider of the “model” and the arbiter as to what might be successful communication, and more focus on input from the target community of practice and other BELF users.

6. Tests which do not focus on form but on effectiveness.

Seidlhofer, Breiteneder, and Pitzl (2006) finish their discussion on ELF in Europe and the associated challenges for applied linguistics with this comment: “Uncoupling any language from its native speakers is, of course, a challenging idea that will require a considerable effort of adjustment of attitudes and long-established concepts of just what a language is.”

Perhaps this is the crux of what BELF is really about.

EXPLICATION OF KEY FACTS AND IDEAS GIVEN IN THE TEXT, SELECTING KEY WORDS, ABSTRACT WRITING

Instruction: Below are the guidelines for abstract writing continued. This is an adaptation of several texts placed in the Internet without copyright limitations. You are sure to realize that to write a good abstract you will have to gain experience of using all steps recommended in this unit. Your abstract must be in the right format to meet necessary requirements. On following the given steps and writing a good abstract your purpose is not only to acquire the standard guidelines along which an abstract is written but also to get ready to discuss abstract writing skills in class.