Achieving Mutual Understanding in the Global Workplace: A Questionnaire-based Survey of BELF Users’ Perceptions and Practices

Abstract

Maintaining mutual understanding is one of the pillars of ELF communication, and even more so in the business context, where high-stakes interactions often take place. In order to achieve their communicative goals in and outside the professional context, ELF users engage in proactive, cooperative behavior to ensure that comprehension is achieved, employing a range of strategies to prevent or solve instances of miscommunication. This study aims at contributing to the investigation of workplace interactions by exploring BELF users’ perceptions and practices through a questionnaire-based survey including close-ended and Likert-scale questions. The survey, aimed at non-native speakers who use English as a Lingua Franca for professional purposes, focuses on both oral and digital interaction, analyzing these contexts separately due to their inherently different nature. Respondents, recruited through network sampling, were asked to identify what they perceive to be the essential aspects of successful communication and those that on the contrary may lead to mis- or non-understanding. The survey also aims at shedding light on which Communication Strategies users employ when faced with potential challenges, and at comparing preferences of use in different oral and digital media of communication.