This book presents a critique of current English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF) practices using research conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The authors identify English communication behaviors that hinder or promote success in the workplace, and trace these back to curricula and teaching practices. The authors suggest which skills employers need and expect from employees, and question whether English courses concerned with general academic English skills and business vocabulary are sufficient training for linguistically-complex workplaces. The book also examines whether the focus on achieving native-like proficiency with high grammatical standards and a strong emphasis on form are adequately preparing students who aspire to use English in professional contexts as a means to ‘get their job done’.

This book brings together chapters that describe, investigate, and analyze the place of English in education in multilingual Philippines. Unlike most studies on languages in education, which take a neutral, de-contextualized stance, this volume take a pluricentric view of the English language by positioning it in relation to its varieties, as well as to other languages in the country. Because of the changing realities of English in the Philippines, traditional assumptions about the language as monolithic and unchanging, as well as about how it should be taught and learned, need to be revisited and re-conceptualized.

This edited volume unpacks the familiar concepts of language, literacy and learning, and promotes dialogue and bridge building within and across these concepts. Its specific interest lies in bridging the gap between Literacy Studies (or New Literacy Studies), on the one hand, and SLA and scholarship in learning in multilingual contexts, on the other. The chapters in the volume center-stage empirical analysis, and each addresses gaps in the scholarship between the two domains. The volume addresses the need to engage with the concepts, categorizations and boundaries that pertain to language, literacy and learning. This need is especially felt in our globalized society, which is characterized by constant, fast and unpredictable mobility of people, goods, ideas and values. The editors of this volume are founding members of the Nordic Network LLL (Language, Literacy and Learning). They have initiated a string of workshops and have discussed this theme at Nordic meetings and at symposia at international conferences.

This book provides readers with the latest research on the dynamics of language and language diversity in professional contexts. Bringing together novel findings from a range of disciplines, it challenges practitioners and management scholars to question the conventional understanding of language as words with stable meanings, an assumption which treats language as a tool that can be managed by language policies that ‘standardize’ language. Each of the contributions is designed to recognize the strides that have been made in the past two decades in research on language and languages in organizational settings while addressing remaining blind spots and emerging issues. Particular attention is given to multilingualism, sociolinguistic approaches to language in the workplace, migration challenges, critical perspectives on the power of language use and the management of organizations as dialogical, discursive spaces.

The Routledge Handbook of Language and Professional Communication provides a broad coverage of the key areas where language and professional communication intersect and gives a comprehensive account of the field. The four main sections of the Handbook cover: Approaches to Professional Communication Practice Acquisition of Professional Competence Views from the Professions This invaluable reference book incorporates not only an historical view of the field, but also looks to possible future developments. Contributions from international scholars and practitioners, focusing on specific issues, explore the major approaches to professional communication and bring into focus recent research. This is the first handbook of language and professional communication to account for both pedagogic and practitioner perspectives and as such is an essential reference for postgraduate students and those researching and working in the areas of applied linguistics and professional communication.

This two volume handbook provides a comprehensive examination of policy, practice, research and theory related to English Language Teaching in international contexts. More than 70 chapters highlight the research foundation for best practices, frameworks for policy decisions, and areas of consensus and controversy in second language acquisition and pedagogy. The Handbook provides a unique resource for policy makers, educational administrators, and researchers concerned with meeting the increasing demand for effective English language teaching. It offers a strongly socio-cultural view of language learning and teaching. It is comprehensive and global in perspective with a range of fresh new voices in English language teaching research.

Introducing Course Design in English for Specific Purposes is an accessible and practical introduction to the theory and practice of developing ESP courses across a range of disciplines. The book covers the development of courses from needs analysis to assessment and evaluation, and also comes with samples of authentic ESP courses provided by leading ESP practitioners from a range of subject and global contexts. Included in this book are: The basics of ESP course design The major current theoretical perspectives on ESP course design Tasks, reflections and glossary to help readers consolidate their understanding Resources for practical ESP course development Examples of authentic ESP courses in areas such as business, aviation and nursing Introducing Course Design in English for Specific Purposes is essential reading for pre-service and in-service teachers, and students studying ESP and applied linguistics.

This book constitutes the post conference proceedings of the 5th International IFIP Working Conference on Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems (CONFENIS 2011), held in Aalborg, Denmark, October 16-18, 2011. The 12 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 103 submissions. The papers are organized in four sections on conceptualizing enterprise information systems; emerging topics in enterprise information systems; enterprise information systems as a service; and new perspectives on enterprise information systems. These papers are complemented by two keynotes and a short summary of the co-located Workshop on Future Enterprise Information Systems using Lego Serious Games.

Noting ASEAN's adoption of English as its sole workng language, this book analyzes the language education policies of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Sri Lanka and China, and traces the influence of globalization on English language education in Asia.

In this collection, Canadian scholars articulate a response to their collective concerns about the impact of global policy on teacher education, provoking a far-reaching dialogue about teacher education in and for our times. The first two decades of the new millennium have witnessed unprecedented appraisal, analysis, and educational policy formulations related to teaching (K–12) across the Western world. In turn, teacher education has been greatly impacted, as governments around the world see the reform and management of teacher education as a key component in restructuring education toward greater economic competitiveness. The result has been an unwarranted and undesirable level of standardization. It is vital to the future of teacher education, and concomitantly public education, that we imagine alternatives to the homogenization of the educational experience that globalizing policies install. What is needed are vocabularies that enable educators and teacher educators to discern and articulate educational purposes beyond capital and which focus on the kinds of educational experiences that can help prepare the young to lead good and worthwhile lives. Using lessons learned from the Canadian context, the authors identify and investigate the importance of initial and continuing professional education that fosters teachers’ intellectual freedom and study; advances an informed and critical appreciation of civic particularity and historical circumstance; and cultivates ethical (i.e., pedagogical) engagement with ideas and histories—teachers’ own and their students—as crucial themes of teacher education globally. This book is published in English - Les chercheurs canadiens qui ont participé à cet ouvrage collectif proposent une réponse à leurs préoccupations collectives qui portent essentiellement sur l’impact de la politique globale sur la formation des enseignants, et ce, afin d’établir un dialogue franc et approfondi sur la formation des enseignants telle que pratiquée à notre époque. Durant les deux premières décennies du nouveau millénaire, le monde occidental a connu une augmentation sans précédent des analyses, des évaluations et des propositions les plus diverses portant sur la politique éducative (du jardin d'enfant à la fin du secondaire). En conséquence, la formation des enseignants a été très fortement impactée dans un contexte global où les gouvernements considèrent la réforme et la gestion de la formation des enseignants comme une composante clef de la restructuration de l’enseignement, et ce, afin que l’enseignement dispensé soit plus compétitif sur le plan économique. Force est de constater que cette approche s’est traduite par un niveau de standardisation indésirable et totalement injustifié. Pour garantir l’avenir de la formation des enseignants et donc de l’éducation publique, il est aujourd’hui fondamental d’imaginer des alternatives à l’homogénéisation de l’expérience éducative, qui résulte des politiques adoptées dans le cadre de la mondialisation. Dans cette perspective, il est nécessaire de fournir aux enseignants et aux éducateurs un vocabulaire et une terminologie spécifiques qui leur permettent de définir et d’articuler leurs objectifs éducatifs, au-delà de la notion réductrice de capital, tout en privilégiant les différents types d’expérience éducative qui préparent les jeunes à mener des vies satisfaisantes et utiles. En s’inspirant des enseignements tirés du contexte canadien, les auteurs de cet ouvrage ont identifié et évalué l’importance d’une éducation professionnelle initiale et qui continue de favorisé l’apprentissage et la liberté intellectuelle des enseignants ; promeut une appréciation critique et informée des spécificités civiques et des circonstances historiques ; et favorise un engagement éthique (et donc pédagogique) qui prend en compte les idées et les antécédents des enseignants et de leurs élèves et les considèrent comme des thèmes cruciaux de la formation globale des enseignants. Ce livre est publié en anglais.