Introduction

As English continues its growth as a lingua franca, more and more speakers across the world find themselves in front of an audience that needs to hear the speaker’s message in a language that neither speaker nor listener is entirely comfortable with. One reason for the discomfort can be traced to the extra time it takes to formulate one’s message in a second language (ESL). Slower English speakers in business meetings have inhibitions about taking the floor from native speakers, and both Swedish and international students may be frustrated by their ability to formulate responses quickly enough to contribute to classroom discussion (J. Jones, 1999). Though researchers have begun to explore the effect of L2 language use in interactive situations such as the meeting or the seminar, the ramifications of slower L2 speaking rates when holding an instructional monologue, such as a presentation or a lecture, have not been explored.

Understanding differences in speaking rate is important for many reasons, one of which is the changing linguistic situation in universities across Europe. By facilitating the movement of students between countries, the Bologna Process has instituted a dramatic increase of the use of L2 English in the university classroom (Wilkinson, 2004). For example, at Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), the balance between native Swedish students and foreign students has changed greatly in recent years. As many as 70% of its Master’s programs are now being given in English to serve the needs of the growing numbers of students who don’t speak Swedish. More than 20% of the student engineers who participated were soon to leave the classroom and enter the lingua franca environment of Northern European industry, and were practicing one of the most critical and high-stakes tasks they would need to perform in their future careers.

For that reason, I believe, it is appropriate to use the term ‘English as a lingua franca’ regarding the study. Many of the university’s students come from outside Sweden. For teachers, this of course means a switch from teaching in one’s native language to teaching in a lingua franca medium. Neither teachers nor students are entirely satisfied with this new linguistic situation. Teachers complain that they lose spontaneity in their teaching; students complain about the quality of their teachers’ English.

English courses for teachers have been instituted at many northern European universities, but teachers often do not have time to attend them. The pedagogical implications for students of the shift to English-language instruction have also been studied. Klaassen (2001) concluded that, at least after the first year of instruction, a teacher’s pedagogical skill was more important than the language used. Airey & Linder (2006), on the other hand, found that when lectured in English, “students asked and answered fewer questions and reported being less able to follow the lecture and take notes at the same time,” (2006) even though the students themselves had not anticipated differences in the learning situation.

The cognitive demands of using a second language result in a slower rate of speech for most speakers. When time is limited, as it usually is when one is to deliver a lecture or an oral presentation, a slower rate of speech must affect the content of the lecture in one way or another. The best-case scenario would be a more concisely delivered L2 lecture; the worst-case scenario would be that important information was omitted for lack of time. The purpose of the research reported on in this paper was to first quantify differences in speaking rate when speakers hold presentations in their native language and in fluent English, and then to examine the effect of different speaking rates on the information content of the two presentations per speaker.

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<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Unit 1-21. THE USE OF ESP IN BUSINESS ORAL PRESENTATIONS	\|	The present study

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