Investigating Discourse Practices Within a Company (1)

8/12/2019 Investigating Discourse Practices Within a Company (1)

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Investigating

discourse practices

within a company

Evan Frendo


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Business discourse is allabout how people

communicate using talk or

writing in commercialorganisations in order to get

their work done.

Bargiela-Chiappini et al, 2007:3


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IT companythese materials

were developed for a group

of German programmersworking on software for a

steel mill in Korea.

Here are some in-housematerials I designedcan you guess the type

of company thestudents came from?


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Teaching the language of meetings

Imagine you are going to teach the language of

meetings in the same IT company. The training

manager tells you they are just normal

internal meetings. What sort of things would

you do in the lessons?

Write down some ideas in

the chat box.


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Often too specific

Need to fit in with trainingobjectives

They might not know

Focus should be on

training, not analysing

needs

Difficult to access

Often very academic

Not specific enoughAre normally not based on

research findings

Possible sources of information

Published materials

The learners

Research

Authentic materials

Other

trainers


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Corpus analysis techniques

Interviews / discussionsObservations / field notes /

recordings

Stakeholder feedback

Discourse community

Community of practice

Outline

Theoretical

frameworks

Gatheringevidence

L

E

S

S

O

N

S

L

E

A

R

N

E

D


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Discourse communities

Common goals

Mechanisms of

communication Requires

participation

Genres


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Koester, 2006: 33-34

Unidirectional

Briefing

Service encounters

Procedural and directivediscourse

Requesting

Reporting

Collaborative

Arrangements

Decision-making

Discussing and evaluating

Liminal talk

Non-transactionalOffice gossip

Small talk

Spoken workplace genres


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Written genres - emails

D

I

S

C

O

U

R

S

E

FL

O

W

intertextuality

Styler, 2011


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Genre

linguistic

contextual

textsituationdynamic / fluid

static / stable

Flowerdew, 2011: 135


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Common goals

Mechanisms of


participation

Genres Specific lexis


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Label the items in

the picture


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There are two reason that I do not agree with their

interpretation. First, section 6.3 begins with"notwithstanding any other provision of the Plan."This indicates that any other payout methodologiesdescribed in other sections of the plan which deal

with normal distribution at termination do notapply. Second, the language in section 6.3 stating"a single sum distribution of all of the Participant'sdeferral accounts" indicates that one payment will

be made not a cash payment separate from a sharedistribution.

Styler, 2011


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Common goals

Mechanisms of


participation

Genres Specific lexis

Expertise required

Swales, 1990:24-27


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Community of practice

A community of practice is an aggregate of

people who come together around mutual

engagement in an endeavour ... practices

emerge in the course of this mutual endeavour."

Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 1992: 464


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stories

styles

artifacts

tools

historical events

actions

discourses

negotiated enterprisemutual accountability

interpretations

rhythms

local response

Communities of practice

joint

enterprise

shared

repertoire

engaged diversity

doing things together

relationships

social complexity

community

maintenance

mutual

engagement

Wenger, 1998:73


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Ehrenreich, 2010: 408

Learning to cope with the challengesof such diversity, in the context of

business communication, seems to

happen most effectively in business

communities of practice ratherthan in traditional English training.


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Handford, 2010: 145

the most important issue in

business is not language ability, but

the experience and ability to

dynamically manoeuvre within the

communities of practice which

business people inhabit.


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Questions you should be able to

answer

What lexis and structures will my students need to be able to use tooperate effectively in their chosen field?

Will they need to know very technical vocabulary, for example, inorder to understand procedures and processes?

And if they do need this language, what do they already know? Likewise, what genres will they need to be familiar with and which

of these are they already proficient at using?

What types of contexts and situations will they be using English in?

Which of these situations are most critical to the well-being of the

organisation? Where will misunderstandings in communication cause problems?

What types of activities should we be using to make sure thatmaximum learning takes place in this particular teaching context?

Frendo, 2012


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CEF Professional Profile

A. Target profession

B. Occupational information

C. Context information

D. The most frequentsituations

E. The most demandingsituations

F. Snapshot

Huhta et al, 2013:50


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Gathering evidence


Frequency

Real language in context

Works well with written data


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Spindle

Insert a new tool into the spindle.

Place tool #3 in the spindle.

Check the spindle drive fuse.Note the spindle speed.

The spindle speed can be overridden

To decrease the spindle speed or feedrate, rotate the ...With the spindle turning in reverse,

If the spindle is locked, you may have to


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Gathering evidence


Interviews / discussions


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What differences are there between

your presentations at work and in

the English training?

As we go through the interview, make notes about how

the training materials might be improved.


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Quite a few. For example, no-one tells me the topic

or the time I have. If I have to do a presentationthey, I mean the boss, will ask me how long I need.

Not you have ten minutes, and someone sits there

with a watch. And my presentations are normally

in a meeting. With colleagues. So I never stand

always sit. And its normally about a technical

problem, not selling something ...


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the topic is normally technical, to do with

my job. Everyone in the room understands

what I am talking about. Good content ismore important than no grammar

mistakes. In the English class the teacher is

normally the only one who doesnt know

about the topic, so the focus is not on thecontent. The teacher says I should not use

jargon, but its the words of myjob.


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Well, somehow not at school. Buthere, in the company, yes. I think

company training should be different

from school, and the trainer should

know more about our jobs.

Do you expect your teacher to

know about this stuff?


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Maybe the biggest difference is there is no

rule like English only at work. We change

from language to language all the time, andwe translate for each other. Translation is a

way of helping understanding too, but the

English teacher doesnt like us doing this. Yes

we do it to learn English, but

Anything else?


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Insights

Comment So what?

Learner normally sits during presentations

Include in trainer guidelines / discuss with

learners early on in the training

programme

Success of presentation judged on

content, not language

Presentations cover technical topics, not

sales

Learner expects trainer to know about the

context of his presentations

Translation normal in workplace context


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Gathering evidence



Observations / field notes / recordings


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Spoken interaction

Frendo, 2005: 20


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A telephone call

Chinese (A) /German (B)

A call to discuss

a possiblemeeting in

Shanghai


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A: yea thats the idea so here [phone rings] oh just moment

B: no problem

A:[Conversation in Chinese] sorry er so here now ummm [1] hello? can youhear me now?

B: yes, yes Im here perfect yep very good connectionA: so recently since the er company has been bought by the [Company Name]

B: yes

A: er you know there is the guy who names Michael Chan from the [CompanyName] er Kenneth er he has been here

B: yesA: once and another guy er remember two guy two young guy guys from[Company Name] during Shanghai meeting

B: yes

A: they will come again

B: oh ok

A: for visit in August they will like to attend to develop their business inWuhan next year as er important areas they want to devoted to

B: yes I see thats thatsDavid Simon is the one in Hong Kong? Right?

A: Yes Simon is the person in Hong Kong you met him

B: yes the tall one? in Shanghai?


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A: not not so tall

B: and then there was a very young guy with him right? I think

A: yea, yea yea yea yea the young guy is the tall young guy thats not working in forChina the other department or something like that

B: ah ok okA: ah production or something like that

B: right ok ah ah

A: and I was told Tims office has been moved to the er [Company Name] offices

in in Singapore

B: in Singapore yea

A: and I met Sophie Cho you know Sophie Cho?B: I know Sophie Cho yea

A: yea yea yea in Singapore they will have a meeting er in the next months during thenext months

B: yes

A: they will have a meeting about talking about how combine those two groups

B: yesA: people from [Company Name] and even maybe the other people appeared in thecoming year

B: I see yes yes

Frendo, 2013, in press


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Discussion afterwards with GermanComment So what?

Typical that business partners in

China are less competent English

speakers

Materials may need to reflect this

Accent can be a problem Materials may need to include audio /

video with Chinese speakers

Different communication style

Chinese need a lot of talking

(superfluous from Germans

perspective)

Materials may need to include

activities about communication styles

German carried on with other work

during the phone callapparently he

often does this


activities about communication styles


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A meeting

An internal company meeting with eight people.(one American, one Spanish, one Russian, oneIndian, one British (project leader), three German).

One of the Germans has just finished presenting anew design for a jib (part of a crane). The team isnow discussing the presentation. The American isnew to the company.


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[Laughter]

British: although then that was an insider comment I didnt understand thejoke you two had about a dog

[All talking at once]German 1: [yea well actually]

British: [yea thats fine but ]

American: what does that mean? was that a joke? a [company name] joke?

German 1: actually we we brought all the ideas of the lightweight design intoone jib when we looked at it we thought it was like a Bunte Hund which woulddirectly translated direct translate into colourful dog

American: wow

German 1: like combination of everything

British: some people understood that and some didnt you didnt understandthat Ranita?

Indian: no I didnt understand thatGerman 2: jibs internal joke

American: internal joke hehe

British: sad people who have jokes about jibs

[laughter]

Frendo, 2013, in press


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Discussion afterwards with group

Comment So what?

Idiomsno-one had questioned or asked

about the idiom during the presentation


communication strategiesimportance of

clarifying and checking / importance of

using simple language

The explanation was not quite the

meaning of the idiom (bunte Hund

normally means to stand out rather

than to combine)

Materials could include practice in

clarifying own cultures idioms /

expressions

Useful to discuss language at the end of

the meeting

Such practice could be encouraged,

particularly with multicultural teams


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Gathering evidence



Observations / field notes / recordings

Stakeholder feedback


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Investigating discourse practices in a

company - lessons learned

Evidence not intuition Not language of a profession much more blurred

Written documents Intranet not internet

Documents they use, not have access to Discourse flows, not single examples

Spoken interaction Keep asking So what?

Multiple perspectives / thick description Check insights with other stakeholders

Use experts to tell you what counts as successfulcommunication


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ReferencesBargiela-Chiappini, F., Nickerson, C., Planken, B. (2007). Business Discourse. Basingstoke: PalgraveMacmillan.

Eckert, P., and McConnell-Ginet, S. (1992). Think practically and look locally: Language and gender ascommunity based practice. Annual Review of Anthropology, 21, 461-490.

Ehrenreich, S. (2010). English as a Business Lingua Franca in a German Multinational Corporation:Meeting the Challenge. Journal of Business Communication, 47, 408-431.

Flowerdew, J. (2011). Reconciling Contrasting Approaches to Genre Analysis: The Whole Can Equal MoreThan the Sum of the Parts. In D. Belcher, A.M. Johns and B.Paltridge. (eds.), New Directions in Englishfor Specific Purposes Research. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 119-144.

Frendo, E. (2005). How to teach Business English. Harlow: Longman.Frendo, E. (2012). On the importance of Needs Analysis. Available online athttp://www.pearsonlongman.com/vocationalenglish/pdf/articles/On_the_importance_of_needs_analysis.pdf

Frendo, E. (2013). How to Write Company In-House Material. ELT Teacher 2 Writer (in press).

Handford, M. (2010). The Language of Business Meetings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Huhta, M., Vogt, K., Johnson, E., &Tulkki, H. (2013) Needs analysis for Language Course Design: A holisticApproach to ESP. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Koester, A. (2006). Investigating Workplace Discourse. London: Routledge.Styler, W. (2011). The EnronSent Corpus. Technical Report 01-2011, University of Colorado at BoulderInstitute of Cognitive Science, Boulder, CO.

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

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