TY - JOUR
T1 - Needs Analysis for Business Professionals in the Taiwanese Steel Industry
AU - Hsu, Keng Chih
AU - Tsou, Wen Li
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Taiwan English for Specific Purposes Association. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Given the rapid development of international business and the pervasiveness of intercultural communication in the era of global cooperation, English indisputably serves as a lingua franca (ELF) in business contexts around the world. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted on the analysis of English needs for working business professionals in the Taiwanese steel industry. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the tasks requiring English and related English skills needed in the business field in steel companies in Taiwan. In addition, some evidence-based pedagogical implications and guidelines are also offered for the implementation and design of English for specific business purposes (ESBP) courses. In accordance with the needs analysis methods employed from previous research, an online survey questionnaire containing rating scale questions and open-ended questions was developed for quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Results showed that regarding English skills used in the workplace, reading and writing skills are used with higher frequency and are considered to be more important, while communicative events that need listening and speaking skills are found to be more challenging. Findings also indicate that common communicative tasks include reading and writing emails, listening skills are required when receiving spoken instructions or advice, while speaking skills are needed for telephone and video conferencing communication. In addition, the study also identified cultural and linguistic challenges in business communications, including unfamiliar accented English and a lack of professional workplace terminology. In response to the problems, it is suggested that ESBP curriculum developers and course designers should develop learners’ cultural awareness and ELF communication skills with authentic learning materials and tasks in real-life working contexts. Moreover, the incorporation of genre-specific training and corpus-based learning could also assist working business professionals in improving their English business communication skills.
AB - Given the rapid development of international business and the pervasiveness of intercultural communication in the era of global cooperation, English indisputably serves as a lingua franca (ELF) in business contexts around the world. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted on the analysis of English needs for working business professionals in the Taiwanese steel industry. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the tasks requiring English and related English skills needed in the business field in steel companies in Taiwan. In addition, some evidence-based pedagogical implications and guidelines are also offered for the implementation and design of English for specific business purposes (ESBP) courses. In accordance with the needs analysis methods employed from previous research, an online survey questionnaire containing rating scale questions and open-ended questions was developed for quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Results showed that regarding English skills used in the workplace, reading and writing skills are used with higher frequency and are considered to be more important, while communicative events that need listening and speaking skills are found to be more challenging. Findings also indicate that common communicative tasks include reading and writing emails, listening skills are required when receiving spoken instructions or advice, while speaking skills are needed for telephone and video conferencing communication. In addition, the study also identified cultural and linguistic challenges in business communications, including unfamiliar accented English and a lack of professional workplace terminology. In response to the problems, it is suggested that ESBP curriculum developers and course designers should develop learners’ cultural awareness and ELF communication skills with authentic learning materials and tasks in real-life working contexts. Moreover, the incorporation of genre-specific training and corpus-based learning could also assist working business professionals in improving their English business communication skills.
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U2 - 10.6706/TIESPJ.202212_13(2).0001
DO - 10.6706/TIESPJ.202212_13(2).0001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85184899381
SN - 2079-7761
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 38
JO - Taiwan International ESP Journal
JF - Taiwan International ESP Journal
IS - 2
ER -