Abstract
Globalization has transformed English from a foreign language into a lingua franca. The pragmatic paradigm and pragmatic features of English as a lingua franca (ELF), are different from those of native English, especially in the business context, defined as English as a business lingua franca (BELF), which has contributed to a series of studies on pragmatic competence, pragmatic strategies and pragmatic awareness in the (B)ELF context. Relevant studies offer insights into the pragmatic competence of BELF users, which is crucial in the accomplishment of communicative goals in business settings. This paper first reviews relevant theoretical studies on (B)ELF and evaluates their characteristics from the perspective of pragmatics. Then, the focus is placed upon the diversified features of interpersonal pragmatic competence and intercultural pragmatic competence in the BELF context, revealing that the traditional paradigm of pragmatic competence based on native English does not apply to this diversified intercultural context. This paper argues for a re-conceptualization of pragmatic competence in the BELF context and a re-examination of the institutional features of BELF interactions and the dynamics of pragmatic competence, pragmatic strategies, and pragmatic awareness in this context.
Highlights
English is widely used by people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds to share ideas, especially in interactions between non-native English speakers (Jenkins, 2007). Quirk (1985, p. 6), a linguist who used to insist on native English as the teaching standard, argues that with the globalization of English, those learning objectives set for English standards fail to meet the current demand for intercultural communication
This paper argues for a re-conceptualization of pragmatic competence in the business lingua franca (BELF) context and a re-examination of the institutional features of BELF interactions and the dynamics of pragmatic competence, pragmatic strategies, and pragmatic awareness in this context
The connotation of pragmatic competence should not be confined to what is normal in the native English context; instead, research on pragmatic competence seeks to involve interpersonal pragmatic competence and intercultural pragmatic competence in a specific context
Summary
English is widely used by people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds to share ideas, especially in interactions between non-native English speakers (Jenkins, 2007). Quirk (1985, p. 6), a linguist who used to insist on native English as the teaching standard, argues that with the globalization of English, those learning objectives set for English standards fail to meet the current demand for intercultural communication. Most existing ELF studies have focused on phonetic features (Jenkins, 2000), lexis and syntax (Seidlhofer, 2004; Björkman, 2008), and communicative strategies (House, 1999; Björkman, 2011) It is universally acknowledged in traditional studies to take the pragmatic norms of native English speakers as the standard; with the increasing globalization of political, economic, technological, cultural, and informational exchanges, new theories, such as intercultural pragmatics (Kecskes, 2013, 2014), have emerged on the connotation of pragmatic competence in the ELF context. Focusing on the business context, this paper reviews relevant research in this area, starting from an overview of ELF and BELF interactions, and exploring the pragmatic competence in BELF interactions, namely interpersonal pragmatic competence, and intercultural pragmatic competence, to gain some implications of the reconstruction of pragmatic competence in the BELF context
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