Title

1) Developing
Technical
Communicatio
n Education for
Chinese
Industry
Professionals:
Preliminary
Findings and
Suggestions

Author(s), Year,
Source Details

Abstract

Keywords

Research
Questions/
Research
Objective/ Aims

H. Yu,
Developing
technical
communication
education for
Chinese industry
professionals:
Preliminary
findings and
suggestions,
IEEE Trans.
Prof. Commun.,
vol. 53, no. 2,
pp. 102115,
Jun. 2010.

Abstract
Existing
literature
argues, in
general terms,
that China has a
growing need
for technical
communication
and technical
communication
education.
Following up
on these
studies, this
paper more
closely
examines
Chinas needs
for technical
communication
education.
Based on
interviews with

China, industry
practice, needs
for education,
technical
communication.

Aim:
-To examine
Chinas
needs for
technical
communication
education.
Research
Questions:
-Who
among Chinas
industries and
workplaces
needs to
practice
technical
communication?
-What are those
communications
like? What are
these industry
professionals
levels of

Methodology
sample,
where study
carried out,
method
how data
collected
Sample:
-6 Chinese
industry
professionals
in Shanghai
and Beijing.
Criteria of
the
participants:
(1) the
participants
workplace
uses English
as the
working
language
(2) the
participant
uses English
to
produce
workplace
writing.

Findings

Types of workplace
writing:
1) Emails: the
participants
emails are
informal and
straightforward
and acronyms
are used without
being defined as
well as the
presence of
surface-level
errors. He
claims that the
purpose of these
emails is to
solve problems
quickly, not to
produce a
perfect
discourse.
2) Informal
reports: the

Discussion
and
Conclusion

industry
professionals
and reviews of
their
writing
samples, this
paper seeks to
find out who
among the
industry
professionals in
China needs
technical
communication,
what their
communication
practices are,
the areas in
which they
need education,
and what US
technical
communication
professionals
can do to help
develop this
education.
Preliminary
findings and
suggestions
as well as

communication
competency?
-What English
education do
they have and
what
more do they
need?
-How can US
technical
communication
professionals
help develop
relevant
education?

Methods:
-Interview
-Writing
sample
analysis
(emails and
reports).

reports are
written in
simple
declarative
sentences, as a
result, the
reports are
choppy and may
come off as
simplistic. Same
as the email, the
reports also
contain
undefined
acronyms and
surface-level
errors.
3) Instructions:
some
mechanical
errors exist and
many acronyms
and contractions
are not defined.

topics for future

research are
presented.
2) English? Oh,
its just work!:
A study of
BELF
users
perceptions

A. Kankaanranta
and L. LouhialaSalminen,
English?Oh,
its just work!:
A study of BELF
users
perceptions,
English Specific
Purposes, vol.
29, pp. 204209,
2010.

Abstract
With the
increasing
number of
business
professionals
operating
globally,
knowledge of
successful
English lingua
franca
in business
contexts
(BELF) has
become an
important
element in
overall business
know-how.
Here, we report
on a
research project
focusing on
everyday BELF
communication
at work. It

consists of an
extensive
survey, and
related
interviews
among
international
business
professionals.
In addition to
offering some
quantitative
data on
communicative
situations,
the survey
results show the
respondents
views of
situationspecific factors
in their
communicative
situations in
relation to each
other. Our
findings
suggest that
English in
todays global
business

3) Belf
competence as
business
knowledge of
internationally
operating

A. Kankaanranta
and B. Planken,
BELF
competence as
business
knowledge of

environment is
simply work
and its use is
highly
contextual.
Thus,
knowledge of
the specific
business
context, the
particular
genres used in
the particular
business area,
and overall
business
communication
strategies are
tightly
intertwined
with
proficiency in
English, which
impacts upon
teaching.
Business
English as a
lingua franca
(BELF) has
come to
dominate as the

BELF (business
English as a
lingua franca);
international
business
communication;

Aim:
-To explore the
perceptions of
internationally
operating
business

business
professionals

internationally
operating
business
professionals, J.
Bus. Commun.,
vol. 47, no. 4,
pp. 380407,
2010.

shared code
used to get
work done in
international
business. In this
article, the
authors explore
internationally
operating
business
professionals
perceptions of
BELF
communication
and its
success at
work, based on
selected data
from an online
survey (N =
987) and indepth
interviews (N =
27) conducted
in
European
multinational
companies. The
findings show
that BELF can
be

international
business;
globalization;
communication
competence;
business
knowledge

professionals
about BELF
communication
and its
success at
work.

characterized as
a simplified,
hybridized, and
highly dynamic
communication
code. BELF
competence
calls for clarity
and
accuracy of
content (rather
than linguistic
correctness)
and knowledge
of businessspecific
vocabulary
and genre
conventions
(rather than
only general
English). In
addition,
because BELF
interactions
take place with
nonnative
speakers
(NNSs) from a
variety of
cultural

backgrounds,
the relational
orientation is
perceived as
integral for
BELF
competence. In
sum, BELF
competence can
be considered
an essential
component of
business
knowledge
required in
todays global
business
environment.
4) When Culture
and Rhetoric
Contrast:
Examining
English as the
International
Language of
Technical
Communicatio
n

K. S. Amant,
When culture
and rhetoric
contrast:
Examining
English as the
international
language of
technical
communication,
IEEE Trans.
Prof. Commun.,
vol. 42, no. 4,

5) English as a
Business
Lingua Franca
in a German
Multinational
Corporation

pp. 29300, Dec.

1999.
S. Ehrenreich,
English as a
Business Lingua
Franca in a
German
multinational
corporation, J.
Bus.
Commun., vol.
47, no. 4, pp.
408431, 2010.

This article
explores the
role of English
and other
languages as
perceived by
members of
upper
management
in a familyowned German
multinational
corporation in
the technology
sector. The
findings
show that, in
the 21st
century,
English has
become an
indispensable
must in the
company and
that
there is a
general
understanding
that staff at all

levels develop
their language
skills as they
see appropriate
for their roles
within the
company. What
needs to be
learned,
however, is not
English as a
native language
but
communicative
effectiveness in
English as a
business lingua
franca, which
as
an international
contact
language
brings together
nonnative as
well as native
Englishes from
various
linguacultural
backgrounds
spoken with
varying degrees

of proficiency.
Learning to
cope with the
challenges of
such diversity,
in the context
of business
communication,
seems to
happen most
effectively
in business
communities
of practice
rather than in
traditional
English
training. The
study
also shows that,
despite the
dominance of
English, other
languages are
not
disappearing
from the scene
but are, indeed,
used as a
pragmatic or
strategic

6) Is English
Needed in a
Malay
Workplace?

Ting, S. H.
(2002). Is
English needed
in a Malay
workplace?
RELC
Journal, 33(1),
137-153.

resource. In
particular,
German, as the
headquarters
language,
maintains an
important role
among
individuals and
within the
organization.
Research has
indicated that
support staff are
less likely to
speak
English in the
workplace (e.g.
Morais, 1990;
1998; NairVenugopal,
1997; Tiong,
1996). The
present study
examines
whether support
staff
need to use
English in a
predominantly
Malay

Research
Question:
1. What is the
English
language
proficiency of
the support
staff?
2. Do the
support staff
need to use
English in a
Malay
workplace? If
so, for what?
3. What
strategies do
they use to cope
with English
language needs

organisation,
and how
they cope with
the English
language
demands of the
workplace. The
questionnaire
and interview
results show
that
communicating
in
English with
the public
posed a
problem for the
support staff
although
the nature of
their work did
not require
them to read or
write in
English.
They found
ingenuous ways
of coping with
the situation,
but their
work

in the
workplace?

performance
was affected.
The findings
suggest that it is
worthwhile to
give greater
emphasis to the
teaching of
English oracy
skills in school
to students who
may enter the
workforce as
support
staff so that
they have a
sufficient
command of
English for
basic
communication.