“Getting the point across” – Adult students’ view of business English skills, usage at professional contexts and learning purposes

This thesis investigates adult students’ views on Business English as Lingua Franca (BELF), a topic that has received limited attention in previous research. The theoretical framework explains the concepts of English as Lingua Franca (ELF) and BELF. In addition, BELF is discussed in the context of cross-cultural communication, BELF skills and BELF teaching. The data for this study were collected from adult learners taking part in BELF courses around Finland, either in a higher education organization or in an extracurricular course in a continuous learning institution. The research questions set to find out: 1) how much do the participants use BELF at work, for what purposes and with whom, 2) what do the BELF students consider as their most important reasons to participate in BELF courses, 3) which skills do the participants view as the most essential BELF skills and why, and 4) are there any recurring differences in the participants’ views of the most important BELF skills among the students that took a BELF course on a voluntary versus mandatory basis? The data consists of 63 anonymous online questionnaire responses, including both numerical and open-text data. The numerical data was analysed by using descriptive statistics, whereas analysis triangulation was used for the open-text data by combining qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics. The results show that almost all adult students (92%) use English at work to some extent. Many participants report that they use English orally (49%), while 25% use it both orally and in written form and 17% use it for writing only. The most common purposes for English usage include 1) searching for information, 2) oral communication (especially with customers) and 3) reading instructions and/or manuals. Mostly, the participants reported to use English either with other English as a foreign language (L2) speakers (41%) or with both L2 speakers and native speakers of English (40%). The most important reasons for participating in a BELF course were: 1) the wish to improve general confidence in English communication situations, 2) obligation, 3) improving oral communication and 4) enhancing professional vocabulary. The BELF skills that were perceived as most important were: 1) achieving mutual comprehension both in oral and written form, 2) understanding different English varieties, 3) the ability to socialize in English, 4) professional vocabulary skills and 5) goal-oriented operational skills (such as asking questions and giving instructions). The participants saw these skills as tools that enable them to communicate effectively with others. Furthermore, the most important BELF skills were considered to be a basic professional skill requirement in the job market. The voluntary course-goers perceived operational, social and written communication skills as the most important BELF skills. In contrast, the mandatory course-goers perceived the skills related to comprehension as the most important. Both groups gave their lowest ratings to the skill of sounding as close to a native speaker as possible in oral communication as well as to negotiation and sales skills. The findings suggest that the most important goal in BELF situations, at least for the study participants, is to achieve mutual comprehension and communicate meaning successfully. This is enabled by having specific types of oral and written communication skills, professional vocabulary and operational skills. Linguistic errors are tolerated and accepted, since BELF is seen primarily as a communication language. This observation is in line with previous literature. Furthermore, BELF skills are considered as success factors in individual BELF communication situations and one of the basic skill competence requirements of modern working life. The findings implicate that BELF is seen as a goal-oriented communication language and successful BELF communication requires both specific and adaptation skills