Abstract
Education and training have become the cornerstone for the development of today's knowledge society and economy. The goal of the European Union (EU) is a challenging one—to become the most competitive, active, and dynamic knowledge-based economy worldwide, featuring sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs. The purpose of this article was to identify genres and foreign language competencies used by managerial staff in everyday work situations at C1 level. The article addresses the communication capital, made up of language competence, communication competence, and intercultural competence necessary for managers working at any level of the organizations. A linguistic language methodology was employed to determine language competence of managerial staff. Following the primary need analysis, an interview containing open-ended questions with managerial staff was performed. Having analyzed the responses, a questionnaire for the managerial staff was developed. To make the survey respondent-friendly, a genre approach (genre as a text type) was selected and respondents described their competence while referring to individual genres. After investigating the responses, a list of language competencies required for managerial staff was developed. It was found that managers are faced with fifteen genres in their everyday work situations, which require fifty five foreign language competencies (“can do” statements) at C1 level. The competencies required for managerial staff can serve as guidelines for language teachers and course designers. On one hand, they can be used to underpin the fundamental lexical, structural, and functional syllabus of the course. On the other hand, the competencies required help to determine the teaching methodology applied in the course delivery. Thus, students in business and management will be able to acquire the skills that are transferable in nature and can be employed in a wide range of managerial situations.
Highlights
The European Union top representatives have emphasized that education and training are essential to the development of today's knowledge society and economy
Based on the data obtained, we have identified sixteen genres: presentations, negotiations, teamwork, workshops, presentations of projects and products, managerial staff practice listening and speaking skills during social events, business lunches, etc., with 55 descriptors of foreign language competencies
Concerning the genre of telephone calls, managerial staff practice listening and speaking skills during social events, such as business lunches, breakfasts, dinners, etc. and need the following competencies: ability to speak on the telephone in a polite, clear, and effective manner, and initiate mediation if necessary; ability to understand a variety of accents on the telephone; ability to utilize an appropriate repertoire of clichés typical for telephone calls
Summary
The European Union top representatives have emphasized that education and training are essential to the development of today's knowledge society and economy. With regard to language learning, the Heads of States and Governments in Barcelona in 2002 noted the absence of data on the citizens’ actual language skills, and called for the establishment of a European indicator of language competency Such an indicator was to provide valuable data for decision-makers in the field of education and training. CEFR describes language ability on a scale of levels from elementary (A1) up to advanced mastery of foreign language (C2), providing a basis for the mutual recognition of language qualifications and facilitating educational and occupational mobility The latter is designed to support the development of learner autonomy, plurilingualism, and intercultural awareness and competence and allow users to record their foreign language learning achievements and their experience of learning and using foreign languages. In addition to standardization of foreign language competence, transparency of the competence descriptors, and indicators is to be guaranteed
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