Communication Strategies in BELF: Implications for Business English Language Teaching

Authors

  • Paola Vettorel University of Verona, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/17131

Abstract

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.

Author Biography

Paola Vettorel, University of Verona, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures

Paola Vettorel is assistant professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures - University of Verona. Her main research interests include ELF and its implications in ELT; ELF and digital media. Among her publications: (2014) English as a Lingua Franca in Wider Networking. Blogging Practices. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; (2015) (ed.) New Frontiers in Teaching and Learning English. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars; (2017) “Communication Strategies, ELF and ELT materials”, A Cor das Letras, Special Issue/18; (2019) “BELF, Communication strategies and ELT business materials”, Iperstoria13; “Communication strategies and co-construction of meaning in ELF: Drawing on ‘Multilingual Resource Pools’”, Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 8/2.

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Published

2020-11-01

How to Cite

Vettorel, P. (2020). Communication Strategies in BELF: Implications for Business English Language Teaching. Status Quaestionis, 2(19). https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/17131

Issue

No. 19 (2020): An Interdisciplinary Approach to English as a Lingua Franca

Section

Articles

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