BELF, Communication Strategies and ELT Business Materials

Authors

  • Paola Vettorel University of Verona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2019.i13.552

Keywords:

BELF, corpus linguistics, linguistics

Abstract

Communication strategies (CSs) have been shown to be an essential element of ELF, with participants cooperatively constructing communication through pragmatic moves. In BELF settings, CSs aimed at enhancing explicitness and checking comprehension are seen as an essential skill. Together with business know-how, clarity of message, explicitness and the ability to draw on plurilingual repertoires (e.g. Cogo 2016a, 2016b), they have been shown to be highly relevant in international business communication.

While the use of CSs in ELF has been looked into in teaching materials (e.g. Vettorel 2017, 2018), BELF research in this area has been less explored (e.g. Franceschi 2018; Lario de Oñate and Vázquez 2013; Caleffi and Poppi this issue; Pullin 2015). This paper aims at contributing to this area of research through the analysis of recently published Business ELT coursebooks at elementary/pre-intermediate/intermediate levels, investigating whether awareness and use of CSs are taken into account in any way, drawing mainly on Björkman’s taxonomy of CSs in ELF (2014). Aspects related to the inclusion of the different layers of the Global Communicative Competence (GCC) model in the materials under examination are also looked into. Findings show that the materials under examination do not consistently acknowledge the competences that have been shown to be paramount in BELF communication, and do not regularly include CSs within a BELF perspective.

References

Angouri, Jo. “‘If We Know About Culture It Will Be Easier to work with One Another’: Developing Skills for
Handling Corporate Meetings with Multinational Participation.” Language and Intercultural
Communication 10.3 (2010): 206-224.
Baker, Will. Culture and identity through English as a Lingua Franca. Berlin/Boston: Mouton de Gruyter, 2015.
Batziakas, Bill. “Communicative Practices in English as a Lingua Franca Interactions: Some Examples from
Asian University Students in London.” Asian Englishes 19.1 (2017): 44-56.
Bayyurt, Yasemin, Lucilla Lopriore, and Paola Vettorel. “WE/ELF Awareness in English Language Teacher
Education: Starting from Materials.” Contextualizing ELF: From data to insights. Ed. Xavier MartinRubió. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2018. 251-275.
Bayyurt, Yasemin, and Nicos C. Sifakis. “ELF-aware In-service Teacher Education: Transformative
Perspective.” International Perspectives on Teaching English as a Lingua Franca. Eds. Hugo Bowles
and Alessia Cogo. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. 117-135.
Bjørge, Anne Kari. “Conflict or Cooperation: The Use of Backchannelling in ELF Negotiation.” English for
Specific Purposes 29.3 (2010): 191-203.
---. “Expressing Disagreement in ELF Business Negotiations: Theory and Practice.” Applied Linguistics 13.4
(2012): 406-427.
Björkman, Beyza. “Pragmatic Strategies in English as an Academic Lingua Franca: Ways of Achieving
Communicative Effectiveness?” Journal of Pragmatics 43.4 (2011): 950-964.
---. English as an Academic Lingua Franca. An Investigation of Form and Communicative Effectiveness. Berlin:
Mouton de Gruyter, 2013.
---. “An Analysis of Polyadic English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) Speech: A Communicative Strategies
Framework.” Journal of Pragmatics 66 (2014): 122-138.
Bremner, Stephen. “Intertextuality and Business Communication Textbooks: Why Students Need More Textual
Support.” English for Specific Purposes 27 (2008): 306-321.
Caleffi, Paola-Maria, and Franca Poppi. Email-writing Training in Business-English ELT Materials.
Presentation given at ELF11, 11th International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca
King’s College London, 4th-7th July 2018.
---. “The Training of Business Professionals in ELT Materials: a Focus on Email Writing.” (2019): this issue.
Cogo, Alessia. “Accommodating Difference in ELF Conversations: a Study of Pragmatic Strategies.” English
as a Lingua Franca: Studies and Findings. Eds. Anna Mauranen and Elina Ranta. Newcastle-uponTyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2009. 254-273.
---. “ELF and Super-diversity: a Case Study of ELF: Multilingual Practices from a Business Context.” Journal
of English as a Lingua Franca 1.2 (2012): 287–313.
---. “’They All Take the Risk and Make the Effort’: Intercultural Accommodation and Multilingualism in a BELF
Community of Practice.” Intercultural communication: New Perspectives from ELF. Eds. Lucilla Lopriore
and Enrico Grazzi. Rome: Roma Tre-Press, 2016a. 365–383.
---. “Conceptualizing ELF as a Translanguaging Phenomenon: Covert and Overt Resources in a Transnational
Workplace.” Waseda Working Papers 5 (2016b): 1-17.
Cogo, Alessia, and Martin Dewey. Analysing English as a Lingua Franca. London/New York: Continuum, 2012.
Cogo, Alessia, and Marie-Luise Pitzl. “Pre-empting and Signalling Non-understanding in ELF.” ELT Journal
70.3 (2016): 339-345.
Diemer, Stefan, and Marie-Luise Brunner. “’You Are Struggling Forwards, and You Don’t Know, and Then
You… You Do Code-switching’ – Code-switching in ELF Skype Conversations.” Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 7.1 (2018): 59-88.
Ehrenreich, Susanne. “English as a Lingua Franca in Multinational Corporations.” English as a Lingua Franca:
Studies and Findings. Eds. Anna Mauranen and Elina Ranta. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge
Scholars, 2009. 126-151.
---. “English as a Lingua Franca in German Multinational Corporations: Meeting the Challenges.” Journal of
Business Communication 47.4 (2010): 408-431.
Faucette, Priscilla. “A Pedagogical Perspective on Communication Strategies: Benefits of Training and an
Analysis of English Language Teaching Materials.” Second Language Studies 19.2 (2001): 1-40.
Franceschi, Valeria. “Making Sure Everybody is on the Same Page: Interactional Communication Strategies
in BELF Encounters.” Submitted.
---. “Enhancing Explicitness in BELF Interactions: Self-initiated Communication Strategies in the Workplace.”
(2019): this issue.
---. Training successful BELF Users: Communication Strategies in Business English Textbooks. Presentation
given at ELF11, 11th International Conference of English as a Lingua Franca, King’s College London,
4th-7th July 2018.
---. “Plurilingual Resources as an Asset in ELF Business Interactions.” Journal of English as a Lingua Franca
6.1 (2017): 57–81
Jafari, Janina. “Communication Strategies Among ELF Interlocutors in International Contexts: a Study of
University Students.” Presentation given at ELF & Changing English, Helsinki, 12-15 June 2017.
Jenkins, Jennifer. “Repositioning English and Multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca.” Englishes in
Practice, 2.3 (2015): 49-85.
Jokić, Nikola. “Did We Get Our Wires Crossed? The Analysis of Communication Strategies Among Erasmus
Students.” Presentation given at ELF9 Conference, Lleida, 27-29 June 2016.
Gerritsen, Marinel, and Catherine Nickerson. “BELF: Business as a Lingua Franca.” The Handbook of
Business Discourse. Ed. Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini. Edimburgh: Edimburgh University Press, 2009.
180- 192.
Giménez-Moreno, Rosa, and Hanna Skorczynska. “Business Communication Across Three European
Cultures: A Contrastive Analysis of British, Spanish and Polish Email Writing.” Ibérica 26 (2013): 77-98
Kalocsai, Karolina. Communities of Practice and English as a Lingua Franca. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2014.
Kankaanranta, Anne, and Leena Louhiala-Salminen. “English as a Lingua Franca in Nordic Corporate
Mergers: Two Case Companies.” English for Specific Purposes 24 (2005): 401-421.
---. ”English? – Oh, it’s Just Work!: A Study of BELF Users’ Perceptions.” English for Specific Purposes 29
(2010): 204-209.
Kankaanranta, Anne, and Leena Louhiala-Salminen. “’What Language Does Global Business Speak?’ – The
Concept and Development of BELF.” Ibérica 26 (2013): 17-34.
Kankaanranta, Anne, and Brigitte Planken. “BELF Competence as Business Knowledge of Internationally
Operating Business Professionals.” Journal of Business Communication 47.4 (2010): 380-407.
Kankaanranta, Anne, Leena Louhiala-Salminen, and Päivi Karhunen. “English in Multinational Companies:
Implications for Teaching ‘English’ at an International Business School.” Journal of English as a Lingua
Franca 4.1 (2015): 125-148.
Kaur, Jagdish. English as a Lingua Franca: Co-constructing Understanding. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag, 2009a.
---. 2009b. “Pre-empting Problems of Understanding in English as a Lingua Franca.” English as a Lingua
Franca: Studies and Findings. Eds. Anna Mauranen and Elina Ranta. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge
Scholars, 2009. 107-123.
---. “Achieving Mutual Understanding in World Englishes.” World Englishes 29.2 (2010): 192-208.
---. “Raising Explicitness Through Self-repair in English as a Lingua Franca.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (2011):
2704-2715.
Kirkpatrick, Andy. “The Communicative Strategies of ASEAN Speakers of English as a Lingua Franca.” English
in Southeast Asia: Varieties, Literacies and Literatures. Ed. David Prescott. Newcastle-upon-Tyne:
Cambridge Scholars, 2007. 118-137.
Lario de Oñate, M.Carmen, and María Vázquez Amador. “The Intercultural Component in Business English
Textbooks.” Ibérica 26 (2013): 171-194.
Lopriore, Lucilla, and Paola Vettorel. “Is There ELF in ELT Course-books?” Studies in Second Language
Learning and Teaching 3.4 (2013): 483-504.
Louhiala-Salminen, Leena. “The Fly’s Perspective: Discourse in the Daily Routine of a Business Manager.”
English for Specific Purposes 21 (2002): 211-231
Louhiala-Salminen, Leena, and Anne Kankaanranta. “Professional Communication in a Global Business
Context: The Notion of Global Communicative Competence.” IEEE Transactions on Professional
Communication 54.3 (2011): 244–262.
Mauranen, Anna. “Signalling and Preventing Misunderstanding in English as a Lingua Franca
Communication.” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 177 (2006): 123-150.
---. “Hybrid voices: English as the Lingua Franca of Academics.” Language and Discipline Perspectives on
Academic Discourse. Ed. Kjersti Flottum. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2007. 243-259.
---. “Features of English as a Lingua Franca in Academia.” Helsinki English Studies 6 (2010): 6-28.
---. Exploring ELF. Academic English Shaped by Non-native Speakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2012.
McConachy, Troy, and Kaori Hata. “Addressing Textbook Representations of Pragmatics and Culture.” ELT
Journal 67.3 (2013): 294-301.
Meihami, Hussein, and Mobin Khanlarzadeh. “Pragmatic Content in Global and Local ELT Textbooks: a Micro
Analysis Study.” SAGE Open (2015): 1-10.
Nickerson, Catherine. 2002. “Taking an Interdisciplinary Approach in the Analysis of Multinational Business
Discourse.” Research and Practice in Professional Discourse. Ed. Chris N. Candlin. Hong Kong: City
University of Hong Kong Press, 2002. 641-662.
Palmer-Silveira, Juan Carlos. “The Need for Successful Communication in Intercultural and International
Business Settings: Analytic and Comparative Studies, New Trends and Methodologies.” Ibérica 26
(2013): 9-16.
Pashmforoosh, Roya, and Esmat Babaii. “Whose Culture and How Far? Culture Presentation in Current
Business English Textbook Series.” Journal of Teaching in International Business 26 (2015): 2016-236.
Pitzl, Marie-Luise. English as a Lingua Franca in International Business. Resolving Miscommunication and
Reaching Shared Understanding. Saarbrücken: VDM-Verlag Müller, 2010.
---. “Communicative ‘Success’, Creativity and the Need for De-mystifying L1 Use: Some Thoughts on ELF and
ELT.” Lingue e Linguaggi 24 (2017): 37-46.
Poncini, Gina. “Communicating Within and Across professional worlds in an intercultural setting.” The Use of
English in Institutional and Business Settings. An Intercultural Perspective. Eds. Giuliana Garzone and
Cornelia Ilie. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2007. 283-312.
---. “Multicultural Business Meetings and the Role of Languages Other than English.” Journal of Intercultural
Studies 24.1 (2003): 17-32.
---. “Investigating Discourse at Business Meetings with Multicultural Participation.” International Review of
Applied Linguistics 40 (2002): 345-373.
Pullin, Patricia. “Small Talk, Rapport, and International Communicative Competence.” Journal of Business
Communication 47.4 (2010): 455-476.
---, “From Curriculum to Classroom; Designing and Delivering Courses in Workplace Communication.”
Babylonia 2.13 (2013): 32-36.
---. “Culture, Curriculum Design, Syllabus and Course Development in the Light of BELF.” Journal of English
as a Lingua Franca 4.1 (2015): 31–53.
Ren, Wei, and Zhengrui Han. “The Representation of Pragmatic Knowledge in Recent ELT Textbooks.” ELT
Journal 70.4 (2017): 424-434.
Sifakis, Nicos C. “ELF Awareness in English Language Teaching: Principles and Processes.” Applied
Linguistics (2017): 1-20 https://academic.oup.com/applij/advance-articleabstract/doi/10.1093/applin/amx034/4259230?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Sifakis, Nicos C., Lucilla Lopriore, Martin Dewey, Yasemin Bayyurt, Paola Vettorel, Lili Cavalheiro, Domingos
Sávio Pimentel Siqueira and Stefania Kordia. “ELF-awareness in ELT: Bringing Together Theory and
Practice.” Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 7.1 (2018): 155–209
Tsuchiya, Keiko, and Michael Hanford. “A Corpus-driven Analysis of Repair in Professional ELF Meetings: Not
‘Letting it Pass’.” Journal of Pragmatics 64 (2014): 117-131.
Vettorel, Paola. “Communication Strategies, ELF and ELT materials.” A Cor das Letras, Special Issue. (2017):
74-98.
---. “ELF and Communication Strategies: Are They Taken into Account in ELT Materials?” RELC Journal,
Special Issue-Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL): Realistic or Idealistic? 49.1 (2018):
58-73.
---. “Communication Strategies and Co-construction of Meaning in ELF: Drawing on ‘Multilingual Resource
Pools’.” Journal of English as a Lingua Franca (submitted).
VOICE. The Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (version POS Online 2.0). Director: Barbara
Seidlhofer; Researchers: Stefan Majewski, Ruth Osimk-Teasdale, Marie-Luise Pitzl, Michael Radeka,
Nora Dorn. 2013. http://voice.univie.ac.at/, Last Visited March 7, 2019.

Downloads

Published

2019-06-01