MODULE 2-4. ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA IN EVERYDAY INTERNATIONAL INTERACTION
Unit 2-19. THE USE OF ENGLISH IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Guidelines for extensive reading of ESP texts on the use of English for European business
This is the continuation of P. Rogerson-Revell’s study of using English for European business communication. Rogerson-Revell reports on preliminary research which forms part of a larger scale study to explore further the nature and role of EIB, focusing specifically on its use in international business meetings in Europe.
The overall study has both a theoretical and practical goal, on the one hand, aiming to build on earlier research in this field and, on the other hand, aiming to relay the findings back to the European organization involved, in order to help it improve communications in future international events, and ultimately, to use the findings in the development of training materials to facilitate international professional communication.
The initial study aims to provide ‘hard’ data (i.e., factual, background information such as the demographic makeup of the participants, the frequency of their use of EIB) to support the second stage of the research. However, it also aims to provide ‘soft’ data regarding participants’ perceptions of the use of EIB in such contexts: data which seems relatively scarce in current research.
The rest of this paper, then, reports on this preliminary study which explores the use of EIB in business meetings within a particular European professional organisation, based on documentary evidence from an internal report together with the findings of an initial questionnaire.
Text 2-19. USING ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS: A EUROPEAN CASE STUDY
(After P. Rogerson-Revell’s article in English for Specific Purposes, #26, 2007. Continued from Text 1-19)