The need for successful communication in intercultural and international business settings: Analytic and comparative studies, new trends and methodologies

Communicating is a need in today’s business world; if professionals are not able to express their ideas appropriately, it will be difficult for them to reach positive agreements while operating internationally. This special issue of Ibérica is devoted to the analysis of successful experiences aimed at communicating accurately in intercultural and international business settings. Needless to say, the traditional difference between domestic and foreign markets has basically disappeared nowadays, as trade barriers have been removed thanks to the increasing amount of commercial agreements among countries. This situation has forced professionals to learn languages in order to survive in international markets, where they will have to find their space against a larger number of competitors (Selmier II & Oh, 2012). As a result of this new international stage, learning other languages has become a must for most of those professionals, and English is often used as the business lingua franca in order to negotiate internationally (Ehrenreich, 2010; Evans, 2013). Nevertheless, this can present some challenges, as Rogerson-Revell (2007) pointed out, as in many situations these communicative interactions are carried out among speakers whose native language is not English (Kankaanranta & Lu, 2013; Nickerson & Crawford-Camiciottoli, 2013). Additionally, we should also consider that these challenges may not only be linguistic, but also cultural

Intercultural business communication and simulation and gaming methodology [Ressenya]

Review of the book: Intercultural business communication and simulation and gaming methodology / Guillén-Nieto, Carmen Marimón-Llorca & Chelo Vargas-Sierra (eds). - Bern: Peter Lang, 2009. - 392 p. - ISBN: 978-3-03911-688-1Ressenya del llibre: Intercultural business communication and simulation and gaming methodology / Guillén-Nieto, Carmen Marimón-Llorca & Chelo Vargas-Sierra (eds). - Bern: Peter Lang, 2009. - 392 p. - ISBN: 978-3-03911-688-

Un enfoque multimodal a las presentaciones para la industria del turismo: el aprendizaje de las habilidades comunicativas en un programa de máster

El éxito del proceso comunicativo se basa en el lenguaje, si bien muchos mensajes son expresados mediante la utilización de diversos modos que acompañan a las palabras para incrementar su significado. Este hecho es clave en el mundo de los negocios, puesto que los mensajes deben ser sencillos y directos, de manera que los clientes de todo el mundo puedan obtener la información que necesitan. Este estudio analiza un total de 28 presentaciones mediante las cuales los estudiantes deben persuadir a un grupo de ejecutivos norteamericanos para que utilicen un hotel como posible destino para turistas acaudalados que visitan España. En esta simulación, los ejecutivos organizan viajes a Barcelona y están buscando un hotel de cinco estrellas en el que sus clientes puedan alojarse. Para preparar la presentación, los estudiantes cuentan con una semana para recopilar información y 8-10 minutos para llevarla a cabo en el aula. Analizamos el uso de cinco recursos multimodales: a) mirada/contacto visual; b) gestualidad; c) movimientos; d) entonación, cadencia y ritmo; y e) recursos visuales. El artículo concluye con algunas sugerencias pedagógicas.Successful communication is based on language, although most messages are delivered through a large number of modes apart from words in order to implement meaning. This is paramount in the business world, as messages have to be clear and simple, so that customers from all over the world can get all the information they might need. In our study, we analyse 28 presentations in which students have to persuade a group of North American business executives to use a hotel as a possible destination for wealthy foreigners visiting Spain. In this simulation, these executives organise trips to Barcelona, and they look for a 5- star hotel to stay in. To prepare the presentation, students have a whole week to gather information, and then 8/10 minutes to deliver the presentation. Five elements are analysed to study the type of multimodal resources used by students to perform these presentations. These are: a) gaze; b) gestures; c) movements; d) intonation, pace and rhythm; and e) visuals. Some pedagogical remarks will be suggested

Introducing Business Presentations to Non-Native Speakers of English: Communication Strategies and Intercultural Awareness

In international business environments, the ability to communicate effectively is essential. Good communication skills help professionals to clinch deals, to sell more products and to enhance the economic stability of a firm. Professionals often admit that communicating a message is not a simple activity, as many elements take part in the process of sharing ideas, concepts and feelings within a business setting. Additionally, that difficulty is even higher when a professional has to use a foreign language to communicate. If learning a foreign language is a demanding activity, using it in a specific business setting can be something traumatic for a non-native speaker

Authentic materials in the Business English classroom: Annual Reports

International firms are interested in getting the best possible professionals, those who are able to communicate accurately at the workplace. To help them, the use of authentic materials in the classroom can enhance students’ options to succeed in their prospective working environment. From a genre-based perspective, annual reports can be useful for that purpose, as they offer a real corporate image of the companies, helping students to understand better how firms work. This paper shows a practical implementation of three activities that are carried out among three different groups of students at a Spanish public university to promote their communicative skills. To do so we have followed a multimodal approach, so that our students can experience, conceptualize and apply meaning to a genre (annual report), completing some tasks in which they have to communicate in English the information appearing in those texts. The final pedagogical recommendations enhance the benefits of using authentic materials in the English for business communication classroom. The combination of multimodality and genre-based pedagogy lead students to understand the current meaning construction in professional settings.

A multimodal approach to business presentations for the tourism industry: learning communication skills in a master’s programme

Successful communication is based on language, although most messages are delivered through a large number of modes apart from words in order to implement meaning. This is paramount in the business world, as messages have to be clear and simple, so that customers from all over the world can get all the information they might need. In our study, we analyse 28 presentations in which students have to persuade a group of North American business executives to use a hotel as a possible destination for wealthy foreigners visiting Spain. In this simulation, these executives organise trips to Barcelona, and they look for a 5-star hotel to stay in. To prepare the presentation, students have a whole week to gather information, and then 8/10 minutes to deliver the presentation. Five elements are analysed to study the type of multimodal resources used by students to perform these presentations. These are: a) gaze; b) gestures; c) movements; d) intonation, pace and rhythm; and e) visuals. Some pedagogical remarks will be suggested

La utilización de la publicidad en Internet dentro del aula de Inglés

El autor de este trabajo expone cómo ha utilizado la publicidad que aparece en Internet para aumentar la capacidad lectora de sus alumnos de Inglés en la Diplomatura de Ciencias Empresariales. Con esta finalidad introduce las diferencias entre los conceptos «banner ad» y «target ad», observando la capacidad de sus alumnos a la hora de distinguir aquellas características propias de estos géneros publicitarios. Sugiere el autor un mayor énfasis en la utilización de las nuevas tecnologías en el aula de lengua extranjera, en especial a partir del uso de Internet como elemento pedagógico.The author of this work explains how he has used the advertising that appears on the Internet to increase the reading ability of his students of English in the Diploma Program of Business Sciences. With this purpose, he introduces the differences between the > and > concepts, analyzing the ability of his students when differentiating those typical characteristics of these advertising genres. The author suggests a bigger emphasis on the use of new technologies in the foreign language classroom, especially from the use of the Internet as a pedagogic element

English Communication for International Business II

Llibre i audioENGLISH COMMUNICATION FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS II is the second book of a collection oftwo addressed to those students involved in learning English to communicate in business contexts. As the previous one, the book is conceived as self-learning material which includes the keys to most activities although the support ofthe instructor in the classroom becomes necessary for some of them. This book is content-based, trying to emphasise the written and oral communicative necessities of the international business world. The book is organised in six units which deal with some types ofbusiness written and oral communication, such as meetings and negotiations, international trade procedures related to Incoterms, packing, delivery and insurance, methods of payment and their corresponding documents, orders, and complaints. All units deal with reading, writing, and listening skills, as well as translation. The CD provided with the book is higWy useful for the listening activities. Speaking and interaction can also be worked in all units although always with the teacher's guidance. Each unit starts with a general explanation of the topic, followed by reading comprehension and vocabulary activities. Along the unit, several specific explanations can be found including examples of the documents and of the written and spoken communicative events involved. Students are then required to produce their own documents and effective pieces of communication. At the end of each unit, two communicative situations have been included, asking students to solve a business problem. After the situations, each unit is provided with references for further reading either in books or in websites. As a complement to the units in both volumes, a series of seventeen case studies have been created. These case studies reproduce real situations in a company, such as launching a new product, hiring a new employee, strategies to sell a product, reacting to claims, negotiating staff reduction, etc

Análisis multimodal del discurso mediante sistemas electrónicos: Un posible avance

Oral academic discourse is multimodal. Tus, research on this feld should study verbal and non-verbal features of speakers. Moreover, regarding university teachers, this is usually combined with emotions which can be transmitted to students and affect somehow the knowledge transmission. Our purpose is to present an electronic tool that detects objectively the facial features and transmitted emotions. We try to prove the complementarity of this system with the traditional methods of teachers’ discourse analysis and their multimodal analysis, showing that it can be of great help to improve research on this feld.El discurso académico oral es multimodal. La investigación en este campo debe, por tanto, estudiar los aspectos verbales y no-verbales de los hablantes. Además, este discurso, en el caso de los docentes universitarios, suele ir acompañado de emociones que pueden trasmitirse a los alumnos y afectar de diferentes formas la transmisión del conocimiento. Nuestro propósito es presentar una herramienta electrónica que detecta de manera objetiva los rasgos faciales y las emociones que se transmiten. Pretendemos probar la complementariedad este sistema con los métodos tradicionales de análisis del discurso de los docentes y su análisis multimodal, y demostrar que su ayuda puede mejorar los estudios en este campo