scholarly journals BELF Courses and Iranian Learners’ Perception Regarding Success in Business Communication

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Mojgan Rashtchi ◽  
Rahim Joze Ramezani
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Business English ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Top Managers ◽  
Automotive Parts ◽  
Parts Manufacturing ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
English As Lingua Franca

The present qualitative study aimed to investigate the role of Business English as Lingua Franca (BELF) courses in learners’ success in communication in an Iranian company. In doing so, 25 adult BELF learners were selected from an automotive parts manufacturing company in Tehran, Iran. They were the employees of a company consisting of men and women in the 30 to 45 age group who worked in different departments as bosses, middle managers, top managers, and directors. Their English proficiency levels were elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate. The participants took part in the interviews and answered a 20-item questionnaire. The questionnaire mainly focused on using English in the workplace. The interviews primarily focused on eliciting the respondents’ views regarding the benefits of using English at the workplace. The interviews and respondents’ answers to the questionnaire showed that BELF courses lead to job performance efficiency, higher self-confidence when communicating, willingness to use more English at the workplace, and fewer misunderstandings. It also could enhance participants’ language proficiency level and communication skills. Moreover, participation in BELF courses could facilitate English in the workplace and encourage a professional atmosphere compared to the past.

scholarly journals Willingness to Communicate and Second Language Proficiency: A Correlational Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 517
Author(s):  
Pornapit Darasawang ◽  
Hayo Reinders
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Second Language Proficiency ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

This study attempts to answer one straightforward question: “what is the relationship between students’ proficiency level and their willingness to communicate?”, i.e., their “readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons”, using an L2 Understanding the link between proficiency and WTC is important as a great deal of effort is expended by teachers worldwide on encouraging learners to engage in L2 interaction more. If their willingness to do so depends (in part) on their proficiency level at the time, this may affect what type of activities and instruction are to be provided in class, especially compulsory English classes where students have less autonomy and motivation. To establish this relationship, we correlated 1836 Thai university students’ English Placement Test scores with their level of WTC as measured through a three-part survey instrument, with WTC operationalised as “self-perceived willingness to communicate”, “communicative self-confidence”, and “self-perceived L2 use”. We found a weak to moderate correlation between WTC and language proficiency, with the construct of “self-confidence” being the most strongly correlated. We discuss some of the implications of these findings in relation to EFL teaching.

scholarly journals Parents’ Educational Level and Children’s English Language Proficiency

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Simin Jalili
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Educational Level ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
University Education ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Desire To Have Children ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Role Of Parents

The expansion of the English Language utilization, the concept of Lingua Franca, and the English language proficiency’s role in children’s social and vocational future, make children’s learning English a vital affair for parents all around the world. Minding the role of parents’ educational level is an understudied issue in children’s English language proficiency level. To address this unexpected topic, the purpose of this study is finding the relationship between parents’ educational level and children’s English language proficiency. For this study, the researcher gave a TOEFL test (for evaluating the children’s English language proficiency) and a questionnaire (for determining their parents’ educational level) to eighty participants both female and male who are in their twenties and thirties. They were students in Intermediate and Upper Intermediate level in Gatt Language Center (GLC) in Tehran. After collecting the data the researcher considered each participant’s score two times: First regarding to their fathers’ educational level, second regarding to their mothers’ educational level. The researcher ran Independent Sample t-Test for differentiation between children whose parents have university education and children whose parents do not have university education. This study showed that children whose mothers have university education have higher level of English language proficiency. But there is no significant difference of English language proficiency level between children whose fathers have university education and those whose fathers do not have university education. In accordance with this study, unlike fathers’, mothers’ educational level, especially university education, could affect children’s English language proficiency level. So all parents especially mothers who desire to have children with high English language proficiency level, should take the prominence of their own educational level into account.

scholarly journals NEW APPROACHES TO TEACHING BUSINESS ENGLISH TO FUTURE ECONOMISTS

10.23856/2610 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-91
Author(s):  
Larysa Dzevytska ◽  
Oksana Romanenko
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Business English ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Business Partners ◽  
Teaching Business ◽  
New Methods

The article deals with the problems of teaching business English to future specialists in Economics in the context of quickly changing business environment. The authors of the article investigate the challenges which face professional training of future economists and prove a very important role of acquiring skills in English for special purpose for future professional activity describing the current requirements to teaching business English to students of non-linguistic specialties. The new methods of teaching a foreign business language are revealed and the importance of gaining skills to maintain the stable contacts with business partners by means of perfect knowledge of English is proved. The authors define the main principles of organizing a business foreign language teaching in higher educational establishments and analyze the indicators of successful acquiring of language skills by students of economic faculties. The set of tasks aimed at further formation of language competence and acquisition of practical skills of language proficiency is suggested.

A study of Importance of English Language Proficiency in Hospitality Industry and the Role of Hospitality Educators in Enhancing the Same Amongst The Students

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arati Prabhu ◽  
Prachi Wani
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Hospitality Industry ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Hotel Management ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Teaching Learning

The study is undertaken to understand the importance of English language skills in the Indian hospitality industry, and the gaps therein. It studies the challenge as it exists in Pune city, and how AISSMS College of Hotel Management & Catering Technology has attempted to address the issue(s). The study aims at gathering primary information by means of questionnaires. It sheds light on the gap between existing and desired standards of English proficiency. It also highlights the attempts by the three important stakeholders in order to address the issue. Though, attempts are made from the industry, teachers and students, it is recognized that joint efforts need to be made to tackle the problem collectively and from all sides. It is an urgent calling for innovative teaching learning practices and encouraging sound develop initiatives and commitment. The primary data is across the cross section of Pune hoteliers, teachers and students of the college. The findings reflect the importance of English as the universal medium of communication, and its importance in rendering quality service and importantly.

Parentheticalism and (Ir)rational Agency

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Henning
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Rational Agency ◽  
Willingness To Use

This chapter considers various cases of irrationality (such as akrasia, weakness in executive commitments, doxastic incontinence, etc.), all of which involve a break between an agent’s considered judgment and her effective mental states. It is shown that parentheticalism can solve puzzles that these phenomena typically raise. The discussion leads into a deeper grasp of the rationale behind parenthetical and non-parenthetical uses of verbs like “believe” and “want”: They are associated with aspects of rational agency that normally coincide but can come apart. In the latter cases, our willingness to use verbs like “believe” and “want” is conflicted in a way that confirms parentheticalism. Finally, I suggest that parentheticalism can help us understand the role of the agent in rational agency and solve the Missing Agent Problem.

Missed Opportunity: How Induction Policy Fails to Explicitly Address English Learner-Classified Students

2021 ◽  
pp. 002248712110000
Author(s):  
Lucrecia Santibañez ◽  
Christine Snyder ◽  
Danielle Centeno
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Induction ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching Skills ◽  
English Learner ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Teaching Knowledge ◽  
Classified Students ◽  
Specific Teaching ◽  
Missed Opportunity

English Learner-classified (ELC) students are one of the nation’s most marginalized student populations. One promising but understudied strategy to strengthen teaching of ELC students is teacher induction. This article examines the role of teacher induction in strengthening novice teachers’ EL-specific teaching knowledge and skills. Through a detailed analysis of induction in California, we find that the state has little external assurance that teachers who have undergone induction can meet ELC students’ unique and diverse needs. California’s decentralized, flexible, teacher-led induction may support teachers’ development of general teaching skills, but misses an opportunity to support teachers in an area where many of them struggle. The study raises other problematic issues around mentoring for equity such as monolithic views of ELC students, lack of timely and actionable information about language proficiency, and lack of guidance as to what constitutes acceptable evidence of competency teaching ELC students.

In retrospect: The influence of chief executive officers’ historical relative pay on overconfidence

2021 ◽  
pp. 147612702110048
Author(s):  
J Daniel Zyung ◽  
Wei Shi
Keyword(s):  
Chief Executive Officers ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Executive Officers ◽  
Leadership Research ◽  
The Relationship

This study proposes that chief executive officers who have received over their tenure a greater sum of total compensation relative to the market’s going rate become overconfident. We posit that this happens because historically overpaid chief executive officers perceive greater self-worth to the firm whereby such self-serving attribution inflates their level of self-confidence. We also identify chief executive officer- and firm-level cues that can influence the relationship between chief executive officers’ historical relative pay and their overconfidence, suggesting that chief executive officers’ perceived self-worth is more pronounced when chief executive officers possess less power and when their firm’s performance has improved upon their historical aspirations. Using a sample of 1185 firms and their chief executive officers during the years 2000–2016, we find empirical support for our predictions. Findings from this study contribute to strategic leadership research by highlighting the important role of executives’ compensation in creating overconfidence.

scholarly journals Predictors of Successful Reading Comprehension in Bilingual Adults: The Role of Reading Strategies and Language Proficiency

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Deanna C. Friesen ◽  
Bailey Frid
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Background Knowledge ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Analysis Strategies

The current study investigated the type of strategies that English–French bilingual adults utilize when reading in their dominant and non-dominant languages and which of these strategies are associated with reading comprehension success. Thirty-nine participants read short texts while reporting aloud what they were thinking as they read. Following each passage, readers answered three comprehension questions. Questions either required information found directly in the text (literal question) or required a necessary inference or an elaborative inference. Readers reported more necessary and elaborative inferences and referred to more background knowledge in their dominant language than in their non-dominant language. Engaging in both text analysis strategies and meaning extraction strategies predicted reading comprehension success in both languages, with differences observed depending on the type of question posed. Results are discussed with respect to how strategy use supports the development of text representations.

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