(B)ELF in multicultural student teamwork

Miya Komori-Glatz

doi:10.1515/jelf-2017-0007

Article

(B)ELF in multicultural student teamwork

Miya Komori-Glatz
Miya Komori-Glatz is Research Assistant at the Department for Foreign Language Business Communication at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria), where she also teaches English Business Communication. She gained her first degrees from Cambridge University (UK) and the University of Vienna (Austria), and is currently working on her PhD. Her broader research interests include internationalisation in higher education, language and culture contact, and English language teaching.

Published/Copyright: March 14, 2017

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From the journal Journal of English as a Lingua Franca Volume 6 Issue 1

Abstract

Many researchers agree that multicultural teams are a “double-edged sword” with the potential for high levels of creativity and production, but also conflict. This paper argues that effective communication is vital for developing “virtuous,” rather than vicious, circles and that research into (B)ELF offers an insight into what effective communication in multicultural and multilingual teams can look like. The conceptual frame develops research into ELF and BELF by also drawing on organisational and management research to examine team processes and the role of language within them. The second part of the paper presents illustrative examples from data collected in an ethnographic study from an English-medium marketing master’s programme at WU Vienna. The students’ teamwork project comprises an international market entry simulation and can be seen as a training ground for managing both business content and team processes. The findings indicate that both the ELF context and the ELF talk furthered the development of rapport, and that the students’ “casual talk” supported their “work talk.” The paper finishes with a call for more empirical research into language use among recent business graduates and how to prepare students better for a globalised workplace.

Zusammenfassung

Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse belegen, dass multikulturelle Teamarbeit zwar oft von Konflikten geprägt ist, aber dennoch auch über ein hohes Potential für Kreativität und Produktivität verfügt. Die vorliegende Arbeit will anhand von Situationen, in denen Englisch als Arbeitssprache in multikulturellen Teams verwendet wird, zeigen, wie effektive Kommunikation erfolgreiche Teamarbeit fördern kann. Der konzeptuelle Teil des Artikels kombiniert sprachwissenschaftliche mit betriebswissenschaftliche Forschungsergebnissen, um Einblicke in die Rolle der Arbeitssprache in Teamprozessen zu gewähren. Der empirische Teil illustriert diese Einblicke anschließend anhand einer ethnographischen Studie eines englischsprachigen Masterprogramms an der Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass zum einen der multikulturelle Kontext und, zum anderen, die Interaktion zwischen den Studierenden, den sozialen Zusammenhalt im Team positiv beeinflussen. Des Weiteren konnte festgestellt werden, dass Gespräche über informelle Themen arbeitsrelevante Diskussionen und Kommunikation erleichtert.

Keywords: ELF; BELF; multicultural teamwork; rapport; language in IB

Schlagworte: ELF; BELF; multikulturelle Teamarbeit; interkulturelle Kommunikation; internationale Betriebswirtschaft

About the author

Miya Komori-Glatz

Miya Komori-Glatz is Research Assistant at the Department for Foreign Language Business Communication at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria), where she also teaches English Business Communication. She gained her first degrees from Cambridge University (UK) and the University of Vienna (Austria), and is currently working on her PhD. Her broader research interests include internationalisation in higher education, language and culture contact, and English language teaching.

Appendix: Transcription conventions

Transcriptions use the VOICE transcription conventions (https://www.univie.ac.at/voice/page/transcription_general_information).

<1>word</1: overlap
=: other-continuation
(.): brief pause
(1): longer pause (in seconds)
:: lengthening
?: rising intonation
WORD: emphasis
@: laughter (in syllables)
wo-: word fragment
<un>x</un: unintelligible speech
<pvc>word</pvc: pronunciation variations and coinages
<ipawɜːd</ipa: phonological representation of variation
<L1de>wort</L1de: non-English speech, L1 German
{words}: author’s translation
((words)): contextual information

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Published Online: 2017-3-14

Published in Print: 2017-3-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jelf-2017-0007

Keywords for this article

ELF; BELF; multicultural teamwork; rapport; language in IB