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I think the main elements which characterize the business language learner are: motivation, time and of course interest in the language.
As everyone knows, language plays a very important role in someone’s career and life and that is ehy, learners are so motivated to learn and improve it.
Their interest in the language depends on their profession and the use of this language in their career,
In my opinion focusing on language that is related to their profession will increase their interest and motivate them and so they will try to improve and improve what they are learning.Time: As I told in the previous discussion point, time is a factor which differs a business learner form other kind of learners and the trainer has to keep it in a particular consideration.
Socializing and networking: I didn’t put it in my list because I think this is not related only to business learners.
Cultural considerations: As above.
Political correctness: This is a very important aspect that I consider as a part of the whole group of the hierarchy relations.
Objectives: For business learners these are the focus of their reason to learn the language.
Accountability: Not all the business language learners take it in a big account. So it there is not in my list.
Specific needs: I told it in a previous discussion point, each learner has got his own specific needs so, even if different from the needs of other learners, they are, anyway, needs.
Professionalism: This is the most important point, because learning a language and be able to speak it well and with the appropriate vocabulary in business makes the difference.
In my opinion, one of the most important factors when teaching business language learners is the element of time. these students tend to have a limited time to learn the required language so the teaching content should be picked selectively to target their individual needs. there is also the factor of cultural barriers when working with people internationally and this should be taken into account to avoid misinterpretations. additionally, another important factors is the specific needs and objectives of the leaner based on which industry they work in and in order to improve the learner’s motivation, the target language should be in line with the language they require to use in their work place. and finally, these learner’s require to learn formal and professional language to be able to successfully communicate and interact with other business professionals in their field of work.
Business learners have a different perspective on gaining the new foreign language. They are highly motivated because normally the company pays lot of money for the course. If they can really use the language in the practise they are aware of learning more and more and also to use this advantage for the better career and payment.
As I wrote before, business learners have limited time since they work, so trainers should plan lessons that improve the language of business learners in short period of time. Motivation is another significant factor; business learners have specific goals/ objectives, so they are motivated to improve or learn a foreign language. Learning and speaking a foreign language well, using business vocabulary and terms properly will create professionalism. Culture is another important point; business learners can learn culture when they learn a foreign language since culture is embedded in a language. To sum up, time, motivation, objectives, professionalism, cultural considerations are important, these characterize business language learners.
One of the most important points for me is to direct the learning curve towards formal language. Business learners often have little time to learn the target language, so it is essential to target from the start the objectives to be achieved during the courses. If this is a one-to-one course, it is also possible to respond directly to a specific request from the learner to progress more effectively. In a group course, you need to find common goals and use each other’s knowledge to move the group forward together.
Business class students have different characteristics. Their age, purposefulness, motivation, discipline and lack of time are important characteristics. It is necessary to know all these features and try to make a connection between them and the students.
The factors that characterize business learners include
(1) the motivation to learn how to communicate clearly and concisely in the target language and particularly in the language skills (e.g. speaking, listening, reading, writing) that they need for their specific business transactions;
(2) good time management as they will need to balance their time spent on studying the target language with their work;
(3) the need to know and negotiate the language learning outcomes/objectives of a course of study. Business learners may have specific goals and, therefore, want to take individual or customized courses;
(4) the need to be familiar with the culture and political environment in which they do business, which includes how to socialize appropriately (and which topics to avoid) with the business people/clients from the target culture.• Cultural considerations
Business learners should familiarize themselves with the culture of the countries in which they do business as this will help to avoid any misunderstanding and loss of business. Specifically, business learners need to have knowledge about how to address people, greetings, the meaning of gestures, the relationship between men and women as well as the amount of personal space thought to be appropriate in the target culture. They also need to study how business usually takes place in the target culture. For example, business people in some cultures like to have lengthy conversations before getting down to business or expect very detailed information about a product or service while others prefer to get down to business immediately and may require less information about the product/service. It is, therefore, important for business learners to practise socializing and talking on topics unrelated to business as well as talking about their service/product in detail.• Specific needs
Business learners have specific needs and, therefore, trainers will need to include language items and activities which are related to their areas of interest. If learners are learning on a one-to-one basis, it is easier to customize the learning goals of the lesson to the individual learner. However, even in a small group situation, business learners can focus on their own specific needs during the production stage.• Professionalism
Since professionalism relates to the behavior and conduct of people, it is hoped that business language learners already possess this characteristic. From a language point of view, business learners should be able to communicate clearly, concisely and politely with business clients. This characteristic brings in the factors already mentioned above such as cultural and political consideration, knowing the language involved with greetings, listening politely, checking any words or concepts that they do not understand to avoid misunderstanding, negotiating, presenting and writing clear, polite emails and reports.• Time
Business learners need to spend more time on learning vocabulary because they are required to learn business vocabulary besides general. They need to learn more academic writing types. For example, business mails, articles, reports and so on. Naturally, the style and structure is completely different from a typical letter. For example, a learner who needs to pass a university exam or a level needs to spend overall 2 month, or a traveller who wants to travel to an English speaking country needs to spend 3 month in order to make himself/herself understood. However, business learners need more time to learn different structures and grammar and plus terminology. Even people with good English need to learn business English because they feel it is unethical to speak to a partner with general English structures or vocabulary.• Objectives
Their aims are actually not reaching a curtain level of language but a target. For example, a typical general English learner aims to reach to the point that she/he can express himself/herself fluently. However, Business English as is known has lots of branches that have been comprehensively prepared according to the needs of Business learners. That’s why timing also differs from learner to learner. For example, an engineer in oil and gas sector doesn’t need to learn terminology of medicine. However, they need to spend the same amount of time to learn formal English to some extent.• Specific needs
Not every business learner needs to spend the same amount of time and effort on it. They might have their own weaknesses or the points that need to be improved. They might have different needs such as learning to write academic letters, speaking with more formal English, learning to give presentations or simply learn business ENGLISH.
Sometimes business learners might need flexibility in terms of time. They mostly complain about having lots of work and not managing to attend in the lesson. That is why they might offer to organize online lessons. Talking about lack of time, it is worth to mention learners who don’t want to do homework. They need to be fed only in class and this make the process longer.As well as all the points mentioned in the previous sections (time, motivation, interest in the language), I believe socializing and networking is worth considering. In the business world this can be particularly important to create relationships that will enhance the connection between partner companies or between a company and a client. The trainer should dedicate time to exemplify real-life situations so that the student can feel more confident to navigate such a context, if need be.
Of course, if the student works in an international company cultural issues need to be taken into account as well. Embarassing gaffes or rude behaviors must be avoided, as they could spoil or damage rapports.
The question of professionalism is connected to this last point; if a learner does not respect or know about the interlocutor’s culture, their professionalism could be at stake.I think this topic relates to the previous one because we have to take into consideration the characteristics of the business language learner, such as motivation, time management, and so on.
From my experience, I can say that the three main points to elaborate on are: time, objectives, and professionalism. I have already explained the factor of ‘specific needs’ in the previous discussion, so, it would be excessive to go over it again. However, it’s definitively one of the most important factors to consider when teaching, not only to business learners but learners in general. Another factor I have noticed that it’s of fundamental importance is ‘networking’, but it would be the subject of another discussion due to all the aspects it encompasses.
Time is one of the main factors for the business language learner because this kind of student doesn’t frequently have enough time to focus entirely on the course. At the same time, these students are the ones who need the course the most, it’s, therefore, a challenge for the trainer and the student to reach the goal on schedule. In order to avoid struggling with attendance and completion of my.lab, which, by the way, is an amazing resource to practice grammar, the learner must be committed to his/her learning, always considering his/her agenda and the slots available in it. I think we, as a company, are very flexible when scheduling a class, because we understand how is to deal with busy people, so that should not pose a problem for this topic. Now, sometimes time can be an issue to achieve what students have in mind because learners need the knowledge to keep working their way up inside their companies or to fulfill the requirements of their job, but they don’t have time to make that happen, becoming a source of frustration, it would completely depend on how learners cope with their responsibilities. Fortunately, in that case, they usually find the motivation needed to get time to learn. They see the course as an investment more than a requisite.
Objectives are linked to time and motivation, so, the business language learner usually has specific goals to reach, and that becomes a motivation, whether they want a pay raise, a promotion, or just better qualifications. They normally have clear objectives and they are used to setting deadlines. It’s necessary to let them know that the completion of their aims must match with the time they devote to reach those goals.
Professionalism is common ground among business learners. In order to sound professional when communicating with people abroad, maybe in other branches or in the head office, whether they are their superiors or peers, they look to broaden their vocabulary and fluency to understand and be able to participate in conversations or meetings. As I said before, they must find time to comply with my.lab, because they often want to improve their writing skills to write and reply to emails.In my opinion, the points that I consider quite important when teaching business language are: cultural considerations, specific needs and time.
Culture has to be taken into account in this type of teaching, since in each country and for each person a different topic can be dealt with. The coach has to inform himself and has to consider the cultures of his students, in order to focus the lesson in one way or another.
On the other hand, the specific needs are important, since as we have commented in another moment, it is not a question of teaching the target language as it is done on other occasions, but rather that it is intended to treat specific content and it is intended to achieve some specific objectives as well.
In addition, time is also important, as these courses usually last a specific time and are usually shorter than the normative courses.Timing, speaking previously in the other discussion, timing can be a changing factor between Business English learners and general English learners. There may be a lot more to achieve in a smaller time frame.
Cultural considerations aren’t necessarily linked to business learners, i think there should be a certain decorum whether you a business English learner or a regular English learner.
Professionalism is very important for a business English learner, they need to know how to conduct themselves in any work related situation, and have the correct formal language to express and be understood well by colleagues.
In my opinion, these are the most important factors to take into account:
Time: It’s a critical success factor, hence the saying “timing is everything”. There may be a great need for employees to learn the language due to dealing with English clients. In addition, English is the required spoken language that meets clients’ needs around the world. The longer a company takes to develop their employees in the language, the harder it will be to sell products and services, this will affect the bottom line greatly.
Objectives: Objectives are the mileposts to guide you and your employees on the way to building the business. Objectives are important because they convert visions into clear-cut measurable targets. Employees are well aware of what they are expected to achieve and when. Therefore, the business language learners will have to focus their efforts on learning the English language in order to deliver, contribute and assist the company in order to meet the client’s needs.
Accountability: The business language learner needs to take accountability when it comes to improving themselves, should the company require it. Therefore, when the company insists that an employee do the course, then the learner needs to do so in order to allow for effective performance and growth within the organization.
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