Business Lingua Franca Research Articles

‘It’s a matter of personal attitudes rather than speakers’ nativeness’: Korean professionals’ perceptions of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF) communication

ABSTRACT This study explores the perceptions of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among Korean professionals in English as a business lingua franca (BELF) communication. The findings highlight the participants' emphasis on the importance of fluency, focusing primarily on the functional aspects of fluency rather than native-like proficiency. The analysis also indicates that the ability to accommodate others plays a crucial role in achieving effective ICC in BELF, facilitating the resolution of variability and misunderstandings. Consequently, communicative competence in BELF requires enhanced flexibility and adaptability, enabling professionals to develop the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes to comprehend and navigate cultural and linguistic diversity.

Multilingualism in performance appraisal interviews: strategies to bridge language gaps

This paper explores three multilingual strategies to bridge the lack of a shared first language as they are used during performance appraisal interviews, namely English as a business lingua franca, receptive multilingualism, and a lay interpreter. The study is based on authentic video-recorded performance appraisal interviews at a globally active Belgian company, and follow-up interviews with the managers. The analysis focuses on how the company deals with multilingualism from a management perspective, how the managers perceive these multilingual strategies from a language ideological perspective, and how these language ideological beliefs shape the language practices of the performance appraisal interviews. We conclude that this study provides novel insights into how globalized companies deal with multilingualism in the high-stakes and potentially sensitive interactional context of a performance appraisal interview by underlining the intertwined nature of language ideological beliefs and language practices as part of a broader multilingual language management strategy.

English as a Lingua Franca in Global Business: Balancing Efficiency and Cultural Sensitivity

This work focuses on English as an international business lingua franca in the realisation of effective international communication and collaboration. A globally integrated market has seemingly perceived English as an imperative medium in order to eliminate the barrier of language and play a facilitative role for multinational ventures; it adds an edge in organisational performance among diverse cultural landscapes. The dominance of English, on the other hand, also means that potential linguistic inequities might be bred, and the subtleties in the cultural differences might go on unnoticed. The study adopts a qualitative paradigm, through which it uses structured questionnaires to elicit insights with respect to the pros and cons associated with using English as the second language in business environments. Participants mentioned that English facilitates international transactions, helps in bringing the unity of diversified groups in terms of language, and supports the strategies of worldwide businesses. Critics say that a cavalier attitude towards non-native speakers will dominate and crop up as cultural insensitivity. Therefore, the findings in this article highlight that while English as a Lingua Franca may have innumerable advantages in worldwide business communication, there does always need to be a sense of balance and a certain amount of appreciation for diversity in languages to foster an inclusive global business environment.

Transnational Technical Communication: English as a Business Lingua Franca in Engineering Workplaces

Recent scholarship argues for increased attention to students’ linguistic diversity and intercultural communication competence. Our study examined the experiences of 10 working engineers who had graduated from an English-medium international branch campus in the Arabian Gulf. An analysis of their interviews reveals the complex role of English as a business lingua franca (BELF) in workplace communication. Interviewees’ reflections about their university experience indicate that they had not previously understood the full rhetorical and communicative nature of BELF. We provide implications for instructors who wish to provide methods that center intercultural professional communication and decenter English as a standardized, static language.

The Case-Method as a Tool for Enhancing Effectiveness Of Communication in Multicultural Settings (with Studying Business Foreign Language Taken as an Example)

The article covers the issue of using the case method as a type of interactive technology and the conditions for its successful application aimed at enhancing effectiveness of communication in multicultural settings of students of non-language majors with business degree specializations while studying business English. The potential of the case method as a technology correlating with the components of the communication competence in multicultural settings in the context of studying business English is analyzed. The concepts related to the communicative and intercultural approaches as well as barriers to communication and information diversity have been researched taking into consideration the view on English as a business lingua franca (BELF). This approach is used to determine the favourable conditions for the application of the case method in this context with the emphasis on transforming from a traditional teacher to a learning facilitator. The types of case, as well as the stages of case-based learning have been studied to determine the effective framework of case-based learning in Business English classes. It has been noted that some of the frameworks lack the so-called interactive warmup stage which can ensure a gradual immersion of students in the case topic. Thus, it is argued that this stage is a crucial component aimed at enhancing the students’ cognitive interest and developing their anticipatory and critical thinking. At this particular stage, students try to anticipate the key problematic aspects in general by answering questions related to the subject of the case, and the tier of multicultural settings can be naturally added here to match the international background of most cases. It has also been found out that there are certain features typical of case studies in Business English courses of British publishing houses, thus their benefits and downsides have been analyzed. As a result, the ways of increasing the effectiveness of case studies in Business English classes in the context of enhancing effectiveness of communication in multicultural settings have been suggested. A number of online resources with the case studies in the key business areas and international communication have been researched. It has also been stated that, given a different skillset and a competence portfolio, an English teacher will be more successful in adapting a case study to match the intended learning outcomes which the students are supposed to gain while studying Business English rather than in developing their own case study related to the business areas. It has been concluded that in case-based learning in Business English classes, students develop not only their speaking skills and intercultural ones, but they also improve such soft skills as cooperation, creativity, problem solving, anticipatory and critical thinking, teamwork, interpersonal skills and leadership, which are important for enhancing effectiveness of communication in multicultural settings.

Polite impoliteness? How power, gender and language background shape request strategies in English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF) in corporate email exchanges

AbstractInternational business is increasingly conducted through the medium of English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF). Yet, little is known about interactional strategies in BELF, specifically in internal written business communications. Our study turns to this hitherto less explored area and investigates one of the most important speech acts in the context of workplace communication, i.e. requests. The data under study come from a unique corpus of 398 authentic internal emails produced by the multilingual employees of an international insurance corporation. Using a combination of corpus-linguistic and discourse-analytical methods, we identify and classify request strategies formulated by BELF users with ten diverse first-language (L1) backgrounds, and assess how their choice of pragmatic strategies might be influenced by their lingua-cultural background as well as extralinguistic factors, notably the email senders’ power position within the corporate hierarchy and their gender. Across the corpus, the level of directness in request strategies was high, suggesting that most BELF users prioritised ‘getting the job done’. Yet, the directness of email senders’ request strategies was modulated by a complex interaction between lingua-cultural factors, power position and gender. The most crucial observation was that high-power employees chose more direct strategies than low-power employees, but this pattern was modulated by their lingua-cultural background and by gender.

Commodification of English and English-like structures in shop names in Lombok Island, Indonesia

Abstract English has been for centuries seen as the native language of speakers in the English-speaking inner circle countries, as the second language of speakers in the former British-colony outer circle countries and as an international business lingua franca among speakers in the techno-economically powerful extended circle countries. Little is known how speakers in the Expanding Circle countries where English is learned as an additional foreign language make use of the language in everyday life, for communication, and for business purposes. This article fills the gap by examining how and why English and English structures have been used in shop naming in the Expanding Circle. Surveying and observing shop names, products on sale, and neighborhood’s socio-economic conditions, the study identifies possible connection between the nature of the language used, the types of products being sold and the socioeconomic nature of the neighborhood. Distributing questionnaires and interviewing shop owners, staff and buyers in the central business districts on Lombok Island, Indonesia, the study establishes linguistic ideology and socio-economic and cultural expectation behind the name selection. Three clusters of CBDs were observed: urban, suburban and tourism areas. With Chi-square analyses, the study establishes a strong relationship between the choice of language for shop names and the types of products on sale irrespective of the socio-economic conditions of the shop neighborhood. With linguistic analyses, the study shows that the choice of names in English or in English-like structures is affected by the ideology of English as the language of science, technology and modern lifestyle. English is strongly associated with modern lifestyle and the majority of lifestyle, entertainment and fashion shops are named in the English language. English-like structures are connected to English as the language of technology and shops dealing with electricity and machinery technologies are named in English-like structures. The use of these linguistic ideologies is expected to boost the image of the shops and the sale of the products and this expectation was statistically verified.

Saving and Maintaining Face: Metapragmatic Expressions in BELF Meetings

English as a business lingua franca (BELF) has contributed to an increasing number of intercultural studies that aim to evaluate its complexities and participants’ pragmatic competence in this context. The worldwide use of BELF interactions is subject to multiple contextual factors, with metapragmatic expressions (MPEs) serving as one of the linguistic devices and pragmatic strategies. Based on BELF meetings from the Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (VOICE), this paper explores how MPEs are used to save and maintain face in order to promote the effectiveness of communication. It is found that the use of MPEs in BELF meetings can help speakers to accomplish their transactional goals by showing concern for face in this intercultural business context. Also, the use of MPEs dynamically reflects the participants’ interpersonal pragmatic competence in intercultural settings. The present study deepens the understanding of metapragmatic awareness and the mechanism of MPEs in BELF interactions.

Englishnization in Francophone Africa? Insights into Workplace Language Use

In this essay, the authors describe the results of a study that measured the use of English and French as perceived by one group of female managers and employees working in logistics and global supply chain management positions in Francophone Africa, Women in Logistics-Africa. The goal was to determine if “mandating English as the common corporate language,” sometimes called Englishnization (Neeley, 2012), has attained a significant presence within corporations operating in Francophone Africa. The 124 subjects from 94 companies in Francophone Africa, responded to a 14-question survey; 24 subjects participated in follow-up interviews. The results indicate that English is highly valued among the vast majority of respondents and is mostly used in exchanges between the French-speaking employees and their English-speaking bosses, clients, and suppliers. French, however, remains the dominant workplace language used overall as the 124 French-speaking professionals communicate almost exclusively in French with co-workers and French-speaking clients and suppliers. Consequently, English is not always the business lingua franca as claimed by Neeley (2012, 2017), and other Business English as a Lingua Franca (BELF) researchers (see e.g., Kankaanranta et al., 2015, 2018). Instead, the findings in the current study add to an increasing pool of evidence of multilingual workplace settings, even among multinational corporations where English is the official language (Ehrenreich, 2009; Janssens & Steyaert, 2014; Sacco, 2017, 2019a).

A Review of Pragmatic Competence in BELF Interactions

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.

Communicative Effectiveness in BELF (English as a Business Lingua Franca) Meetings: ‘Explaining’ as a Pragmatic Strategy

AbstractThe study investigates business professionals of different language backgrounds using English as a business lingua franca (BELF) in formal internal meetings. In particular, it examines how these participants deploy ‘explaining’ as a pragmatic strategy to increase communicative effectiveness. The data comprise 6 internal business meetings, totaling 293 minutes of video recordings. A discourse analysis of the meeting data reveals that the participants move to explain even in the absence of a request for an explanation or following an implicit request for further information. The strategy of explaining allows the speaker to provide additional information or background details that contribute to increasing communicative clarity and enhancing shared knowledge. The findings offer insights into the pragmatic competence of BELF users that is crucial in the accomplishment of communicative goals in the business setting. The findings also have pedagogical implications in that they point to the relevance of incorporating the teaching of pragmatic strategies such as explaining in business communication courses to address the needs of future business practitioners in a globalized world.

Diversity and Communication in Virtual Project Teams

Introduction: Virtual teams, especially project teams, increasingly rely on computer-mediated communication for interaction when collaborating and completing their tasks. Team members represent various cultures, occupations, and industries. Virtual teams often use English as a business lingua franca in communication. This study investigates critical factors related to virtual project teams that influence computer-mediated communication. Research questions: 1. How is diversity in video meetings experienced by the members of multidisciplinary and multicultural project teams? 2. Do differences in team members' occupational or industrial backgrounds show in their opinions on video meetings? Literature review: The effectiveness of communication has been identified as playing a critical role in the success of virtual projects. Diversity, whether disciplinary or cultural, enriches teamwork by bringing different viewpoints to discussions. On the other hand, diversity can also set some challenges for communicating these viewpoints. Research methodology: Mixed methods were used to analyze data obtained from 104 responses to an online survey. Spearman's correlation coefficient and Kruskall-Wallis nonparametric tests were used for statistical analysis, and open comments were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results and conclusion: The findings show that linguistic, cultural, and occupational diversity facilitates communication in virtual project team meetings. In addition, applying appropriate features of video meeting tools in different stages of project teamwork leads to better communication in virtual teams. A high level of English proficiency is not required, but clear communication rules are essential. In addition, some occupational or industry-specific differences in opinions on communication could be identified.

Communication strategies in BELF: From users’ perception, corpus and textbook analysis to pedagogical implications

English as Business Lingua Franca (BELF) has become an important domain of study within ELF research, where strategic competence, in addition to business know-how and multicultural awareness (Louhiala-Salminen, Kankaanranta 2011), is extremely important due to the high-stakes nature of many business interactions. Meaning negotiation through Communication Strategies (CSs) has been shown to contribute to clarity and accuracy as well as to preventing and solving comprehension problems in both oral (Franceschi 2019) and digital (Brunner, Diemer 2019; Caleffi 2019; Ren 2018) interactions. BELF users’ own perceptions confirm the importance of an effective use of strategies in addition to knowledge of relevant business practices and of specialized register Franceschi forthcoming). However, their importance is not reflected in Business English coursebooks, where attention to CSs and their functions is scarce both in terms of raising awareness of the relevance of these strategies and of practicing their use in BELF communication (Franceschi 2018; Vettorel 2019). This paper combines reflection on the state-of-the-art of communication strategies in BELF, their presence – or lack thereof – in current teaching materials and the actions that may be undertaken in order to integrate CSs in Business English training. Exemplifications on how to foster reflection and implement guided and freer activities involving the use of common communication strategies, including clarification, multilingualism and paraphrasing/interpretative summary, are also provided.

Communication strategies in BELF e-mailing: ‘Only’ a matter of shared understanding?

Research in BELF (English as a Business Lingua Franca) has increasingly focused on pragmatic and sociolinguistic aspects of business communication (Kecskes 2019). In particular, a number of studies has explored the employment of Communication Strategies (CSs) in interactions in the workplace, both in oral communication (Franceschi 2019; Haegeman 2002; Poncini 2004) and in digital written exchanges (Incelli 2013; Ren 2018; Zummo 2018). CSs have mainly been analysed from a perspective of ‘problematicity’ (Bialystok 1990), in that they are usually presented as moves undertaken to repair (Watterson 2008), signal (Cogo, Pitzl 2016), or pre-empt (Mauranen 2006) problems of understanding, with the aim of achieving successful communication (Pitzl 2010). This paper suggests a broadening of the notion of communication strategy in the domain of BELF that includes the achievement of goals other than, or at least complementary to, shared understanding. It does so by analysing some examples from a collection of business e-mails which seem to suggest that there may be other reasons, besides mutual intelligibility, for business partners to employ certain communication strategies. The pedagogical implications of this broadening are also considered, with reference to the findings of current research concerning Business English (BE) teaching material (Vettorel, Franceschi 2020).

Communication Strategies in BELF: Implications for Business English Language Teaching

Research has shown that Communication Strategies are one of the main tools employed by ELF users to reach common understanding and effectiveness in communication, with participants cooperatively and jointly constructing meaning through several pragmatic moves. In English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF) in particular, Communication Strategies aimed at enhancing explicitness and checking comprehension, such as requests for clarification and repetition, or paraphrasing and reformulation, are seen as an essential skill, together with business know-how, clarity of message and explicitness. The pedagogical implications of findings in BELF communication have so far been researched to a certain extent, for instance looking at the inclusion of Communication Strategies in ELT business materials, and at BELF-oriented training in some higher education programmes. This paper aims at contributing to this research area by exploring how BELF findings can be taken into account in terms of materials development and classroom practices that are oriented at fostering the development of communication skills to effectively communicate in international and intercultural business contexts.

Developing shared communication practices: A study of BELF in multinational team meetings

Abstract A growing number of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) adopt English as their official corporate language. Research on English used as a business lingua franca (BELF) in such contexts shows how its use is negotiated, context dependent, and influenced by cultural and linguistic diversity. Multinational teams (MNTs) are legion within MNCs, and need to find efficient ways of communicating across their diversity, in particular in demanding and complex interactions such as meetings. This case study uses non-participant observation and interviews to study how one MNT has developed shared BELF communication practices for meetings. It examines the BELF communication practices in both the MNC context and at the team level. The analysis of the data shows that team members were highly aware of the challenges posed by cultural and linguistic diversity, and how they developed their local communication practices by processes of developing common ground, building trust, and good leadership.

The Use of Multimodal Resources by Technical Managers and Their Peers in Meetings Using English as the Business Lingua Franca

Background: Engineers increasingly work and advance their careers in international business settings. As technical managers, they need management and technical skills when working with different stakeholders with whom they may not share a common first language. Studies have revealed that informal oral communication skills are of prime importance for global engineers who face challenges in building shared meaning and formulating clear messages in meetings with non-native speakers of English. This article proposes that studying the use of multimodal resources (spoken language, gaze, gestures, and objects) in meetings can unpack how work tasks are accomplished in business through different communicative strategies. Literature review: This paper focuses on engineers’ and technical managers’ needs and challenges in professional and intercultural communication where English is used as a business lingua franca (BELF) in multimodal meetings. While multimodal conversation and discourse analytic studies highlight the dynamic nature of meeting interaction, previous technical and professional communication and BELF research on multimodality is limited. Research questions: 1. How do technical managers use multimodal resources to articulate their ideas in BELF meetings with their peers? 2. How does the use of multimodal resources contribute to the construction of shared meaning in explanatory, consensus-seeking, and solution-finding communication? Methodology: This study reports on two case studies and multimodal discourse analysis of video-recorded meetings among technical managers and their peers in four companies. The use of multimodal resources is analyzed in explanatory, consensus-seeking, and solution-finding communication. Results and conclusions: In BELF meetings, assemblages of spoken language, gestures, tools, whiteboard, and documents contribute to constructing shared meaning. This study has implications for global professional and engineering communication. Future research should further examine multimodality in BELF meetings.

Engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor: reconsidering the notion of language learning

ABSTRACT This article explores the idea of “engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor.” Drawing on narrative accounts from seven employees who are/were affiliated with Japan-based companies that have adopted English as an official corporate language (EOCL), the article argues that even in these supposed “global” organizations, English does not exist simply to be learned or used as a business lingua franca; the language can also serve as an ideological construct that encourages employees in their neoliberal endeavor to be needed workers, with the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) functioning as a surveillance mechanism that drives the employees to continuously study the language with enthusiasm. Using this argument as a basis, the article offers an empirical alternative to how people’s multifaceted understanding of English and the learning of the language in the current neoliberal capitalist world can be captured. The examples used, as well as the idea of “engagement with English as a neoliberal endeavor,” contribute to opening up academic discussions to reconsider the notion of language learning.

English as a lingua franca in china-based workplace communication

This paper reports the findings of a multifaceted investigation into the communicative needs of using English as a business lingua franca (or BELF) in three types of companies in Mainland China: state-owned, privately-owned, and multinational companies. The findings were derived from online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with Chinese business professionals. The findings suggest that English has played an increasingly important role in the workplace communication in Mainland China, especially in multinational companies. Using English has become a business convention in multinational companies, although the extent of its use differs depending on various contextual factors, primary among which are a professional’s duties and English proficiency. The findings also illustrate that culture plays a role as important as language in BELF communication at work. For example, social interaction, due to both cultural and linguistic reasons, has long been an issue concerning and challenging Chinese business professionals. Cultural differences may not be an insurmountable barrier, but the lack of cultural sensitivity and knowledge can cause a disruption in communication or lower the chance of promotion in a company

BELF expert users: Making understanding visible in internal BELF meetings through the use of nonverbal communication strategies

The worldwide use of English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF) has led to increased research of BELF that seeks to elucidate its complexities, and the multiple competencies of its users that contribute to its success. As much of previous BELF research has focused on verbal communication, little is known of how nonverbal conduct contributes to facilitating shared understanding in the business context. This paper focuses on the nonverbal communication strategies (NVCS) participants use as shared repertoire and resources in formal internal meeting interactions for successful and effective communication. Combining Community of Practice (CofP) and Conversation Analysis (CA) frameworks, and applying a multimodal approach, three video-recorded meetings were analyzed. The paper explores three salient NVCS: head nod, hand pointing gesture, and eye contact and gaze; each serves specific functions such as contextualizing or enhancing verbal communication, providing clarity and feedback, and making understanding visible. The findings not only contribute to the existing understanding of BELF but also offer an empirical basis regarding NVCS that may inform ESP: in business communication courses, raising awareness of effective NVCS based on authentic use in specific settings could provide valuable insights on communicative competence as part of the multiple competencies of BELF expert users.