1. Business English as a lingua franca : a cross-cultural perspective of teaching English for business purposesNataša Gajšt, 2014, review article Abstract: In our era of globalisation, English is at the top of the languages used in international business. A vast majority of business communication in English is carried out by non-native speakers of English. In a cross-cultural exchange of information, the sender and the recipient come from different cultural backgrounds. The patterns of communication vary across the globe and non-native speakers tend to apply their native language patterns when communicating in English. This paper thus focuses on the concept of spoken communication and dimensions of culture and how they are reflected in communication patterns in different business situations. It also addresses the teaching of Business English as a lingua franca and the role of Business English teachers in helping learners develop their communicative and intercultural competence in order to communicate effectively in a multicultural work environment.
Keywords: Business English, lingua franca, cross-cultural communication, communication patterns, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), communicative competence, intercultural competence
Published in DKUM: 12.05.2017; Views: 1699; Downloads: 209
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2. Euro-English in the European Commission: Language Use and AttitudesTina Balič, 2016, doctoral dissertation Abstract: This dissertation deals with a sociolinguistic analysis of attitudes towards Euro-English (E-E), denoting a specific variety of the English language as is primarily used within the multicultural and multilingual professional contexts of the European Union (EU) institutions. Particularly within the European Commission (EC) English has acquired the role of the primary working language. This is apparent from the most recent figures provided by its translation service, according to which as many as 81.3% of source documents were written in English in 2014 (as compared to 77.6% in 2012 and 62% in 2004), followed by French with only 5%.
Consequently, 285 EC representatives from different EU member states were surveyed on their attitudes towards E-E, primarily focusing on those respondents whose mother tongues are not English. Crucially, they were asked to evaluate several sentences that deviated from Standard English according to their perceptions of what is acceptable English usage and what is not. Beforehand, a corpus-based analysis was conducted in order to determine which potentially E-E features to integrate within the acceptability test. Importantly, the authors of the examined EU material are deemed congruent as much as possible with the participants of the attitudinal analysis, as they all work for one of the main EU institutions.
The main findings reveal that the high acceptability rates of the proposed deviant sentences among the surveyed non-native English-speaking EC representatives were primarily related to their lower proficiency in the English language and/or mother tongue interference, whereas we argue that the surveyed native speakers accepted most of them because they failed to apply a known language system accurately. Accordingly, we found out that the participants as a whole generally adhere to native models of English, i.e. British English, and thus do not personally endorse a European variety of English as a standard of linguistic correctness in their minds. Although specific usage that differs from the standard use of English has to an extent been developed within the EU institutions, the identified features must be regarded as EU jargon; which may be more or less obvious; rather than a particular E-E variety already expressing common EU culture and identity. We conclude that an independent variety of English, comparable to the Inner or Outer Circle Englishes, neither exists to date nor is in its earliest stage of development within the EU institutions.
Keywords: sociolinguistics, attitudes towards language, Euro-English, lingua franca, European Commission, working language, corpus linguistics, linguistic features, competence in English.
Published in DKUM: 13.06.2016; Views: 1623; Downloads: 179
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3. ENGLISH AS A LANGUAGE OF CONVERSATION USED BY SLOVENE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTSMaja Rauter, 2012, undergraduate thesis Abstract: English is the lingua franca of the world and it is as such affecting many languages; Slovene is no exception to this process. In the indirect contact between English and Slovene, the former is affecting the later in different areas, but the most receptive are the areas of media and the spoken discourse of young people. In the language of conversation of high school students in Slovenia, English is mostly used to fill lexical gaps, but lately it is also used in cases where there already exists a Slovene equivalent. This is a consequence of an increased influence of English on Slovene. There are some English words and phrases that are used by high school students independently of the fact where these students live, and there are some words and phrases that vary from city to city. Students of three different cities (Ljubljana, Maribor, and Murska Sobota) were included in the research sample. The purpose of this diploma paper was to find out the degree of students’ awareness of English influence on Slovene, to find the differences in the use of English among students living in different cities and to determine words and phrases that are most commonly used in the language of conversation of young people in Slovenia.
Keywords: the English language, the Slovene language, lingua franca, language influence, the language of conversation
Published in DKUM: 20.03.2012; Views: 2930; Downloads: 200
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4. Attitudes of different age groups of Slovene speakers toward EnglishLaura Gerenčer, 2011, undergraduate thesis Abstract: English is the most widely spread language of today's world. Its functions exceed the ones of a lingua franca, as it is not used only for the purpose of international communication, but is also more and more widely used within non-English-speaking countries in different domains. Thus English exerts a great influence on other languages, their lexis, syntax, orthography and cultural aspect. All this brings up certain attitudes towards the language. Language attitudes are opinions, ways of thinking, feeling and reacting toward a language or its speakers, and can significantly affect people’s behaviour. The purpose of this paper was to research the attitudes of three different age groups of Slovene speakers toward English. In the theoretical part the theory behind language attitudes, the current status of English and its presence in Slovenia are presented. In the empirical part the results of the questionnaire, which was filled out by four different groups – the 8th grade pupils, the students of English, the students of other study programmes and the adult learners of English – three age groups in total, are analysed and interpreted.
Keywords: the English language, language attitudes, lingua franca, World English, World Englishes
Published in DKUM: 05.09.2011; Views: 2391; Downloads: 154
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