Section 1. Guidelines for reading texts on the use of international English in European business

Business English as a lingua franca (BELF) has come to dominate as the shared code used to “get work done” in international business. In this article, Evan Frendo explores internationally operating business professionals’, teachers’ and trainers’ perceptions of BELF communication and its “success” at work, based on selected data from surveys and in-depth studies conducted in European multinational companies. The findings show that BELF can be characterized as a simplified, hybridized, and highly dynamic communication code. BELF competence calls for clarity and accuracy of content (rather than linguistic correctness) and knowledge of business-specific vocabulary and genre conventions (rather than only “general” English). In addition, because BELF interactions take place with nonnative speakers (NNSs) from a variety of cultural backgrounds, the relational orientation is perceived as integral for BELF competence. In sum, BELF competence can be considered an essential component of business knowledge required in today’s global business environment.

Text. 1-20. ENGLISH FOR THE WORKPLACE: SHARING THOUGHTS WITH TEACHERS AND TRAINERS OF BUSINESS ENGLISH AND ESP

(Based on Evan Frendo’s presentation in BELF101)

Over the last couple of years BELF (Business English as a Lingua Franca) has been gaining prominence, with articles appearing in various publications. Last year the Journal of Business Communication devoted an entire issue to it. And Vicki Hollett has invited several prominent speakers to discuss the issue in the next BESIG webinar. What I would like to do in this post is to introduce the idea of BELF and discuss some its implications for us as teachers and trainers of business English.

Note: BESIG, the Business English Special Interest Group of International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), is a truly professional body representing the interests and serving the needs of the international business English teaching community.

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Items involving parallel structures	\|	First of all, what is ELF?

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