Fifteen of us met on Saturday 10 September 2022 to have a conversation about Teaching BELF Communication Strategies. As always, the group consisted of a mixture of experienced business English trainers, and some who were relatively new to the field. The group was made up of business trainers from all over the world, some from Europe and South America as usual, and this time, we welcomed some colleagues from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. The event started with each attendee introducing themselves and sharing some information about their professional background and working contexts and then a discussion ensued of Vettorel’s definitions below, as a warm-up activity to trigger debate.
“given the relevance of CSs, from repetition and clarification requests to paraphrase in ELF communication in meaning co-construction and achievement of mutual understanding, it would seem reasonable to make learners aware of such aspects in ELT materials. Providing exemplifications of how these expressions are used in context, as well as opportunities for guided and freer practice in (ELF) naturally occurring conversations, would seem equally important.”
Vettorel (2017, 90) and Vettorel (2017, 80-81; see post from 24 August 2022 and mind maps
This initial discussion revolved around BELF not being a goal but an outcome, not a product we teach but an attitude towards the language our learners will be using at the workplace. To make sure we were all on the same wavelength and to clarify some common misconceptions regarding ELF/BELF, we made it a point of BELF not being a variety that can be taught.
After that, we got together in three breakout rooms to discuss more thoroughly which CS we typically employed in our sessions and how we went about the whole thing in real practice.
After the breakout room mini debates were over, we got back together and these are some of the highlights of our group discussion:
The use of L1 or the learner’s own language together with English in many real business contexts to get their jobs done as a common practice in most countries, no matter what the cultural differences at play might be. The term translanguage was used at this point to make reference to this phenomenon occurring in bilingual and multilingual communities.
The use of translation apps used in real business transactions, such as meetings and presentations as a very widespread reality.
Communication strategies were characterized as going beyond language to include body language and other paralinguistic features.
Intercultural competence and politeness were also mentioned as key factors to deal with in our BE sessions to help learners become communicatively competent in today’s multicultural settings.
Emphasis was also laid on the teaching of style or register as a core area in any business English syllabus (i.e., formal vs informal language).
There was ample consensus that a clear focus should be placed on teaching functional language.
A heated discussion arose in one of the BORs about the teaching of Grammar in BELF sessions: what to teach, how much to correct and how much time should be devoted to the explicit teaching of Grammar in this new BELF mindset. Are things the same as in pre-ELF/BELF paradigm shift?
Another fruitful debate arose when one of the participants brought up the following question: Isn’t it natural to make use of communicative strategies when trying to put meaning across, when attempting to co-create knowledge with your business interlocutors? Isn’t this part and parcel of any L1 exchange where good communicators will do their best to get their jobs done? We concluded that maybe our job was precisely to help them build their confidence and learn the language they need to achieve their goals in business through the use of communication strategies
One attendee working at university level in Asia mentioned that pre-experienced learners in business programmes there had low motivation to engage in BE sessions, unlike experienced participants already in business, who tend to be self-directed learners with a high motivation to become successful BELF users.
As stated by Astrid Ollinger in her MA thesis’ concluding paragraph:
”the good ELF user is both able to use his existing competencies, and to exploit the virtual language in order to cooperatively negotiate meanings with his interactants. Accordingly, I believe that the development of a strategic capability must assume a prominent role within a pedagogy devised for those who intend to use English predominantly as a means for international communication. An awareness of the importance and composition of such a strategic capability may form the basis of ELF-oriented teacher education”
References:
Ollinger, Astrid. (2012). The good ELF user: A qualitative meta-analysis of strategic language use behaviours in English as a lingua franca. (MA Thesis. University of Viena)
https://www.academia.edu/4499546/Communication_strategies_in_ELF
*Please find the references of all the mentioned authors in our “Resources”
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