Challenges of Teaching and Learning Business English in Ukrainian Universities

Abstract

The English has been widely used and expanded with the globalization of the business world, notably ESP is considered a part of it. This study aims to seek out the challenges of teaching and learning Business English in Ukrainian universities. Considerable experience as Business English teachers at several Ukrainian universities and ongoing contact with colleagues in the professional community of ESP teachers, provides an opportunity to affirm that the results we found in the empirical study are typical for most Ukrainian universities. This assumption was also supported in the discussions with the ESP teachers from different regions of Ukraine during the British Council's “English for Universities” project (2015-2018). Data collection was done by conducting a questionnaire survey for the ESP practitioners that had the issues in teaching ESP course at the Faculty of Economics, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv The findings revealed the challenges that ESP practitioners face, particularly: difference in students’ language competence, course content selection, lack of motivation, in-class hours etc. and possible solutions in overcoming the constraints in teaching. The study suggests that Business English practitioners should develop and improve practical tools for evaluation and certification of results following the requirements and further improvements should be implemented in the methodology and organization of ESP teaching, the content of the course, the course design, the development of course-books and supplementary teaching materials for each specialty.

ICHTML 2022 – Education under attack

“…The theoretical analysis of constructive ideas of women's professional education experience of the late 19th -early 20th century in the new context of Ukraine's socio-economic development is substantiated. This article highlights further research by the authors, begun in [5][6][7].…”

Learning English in an Arabic context: a study of first-year Libyan university students' challenges in the learning of English.

“…In addition, English is also becoming essential for building cross-cultural relations and for accessing the global job market (Borg, 2011;Solak & Bayar, 2015;Hossain, 2019;Avsheniuk & Seminikhyna, 2020). According to the British Council, English is critical for a country's successful participation in the global economy, in that it provides individuals with access to crucial knowledge, skills, and employment opportunities and enables organisations to create and sustain international links.…”

“…It is, therefore, no wonder to find several countries that have compulsory courses in English that learners must pass in order to progress to the next stage of their academic careers (Khalid, 2017;Crystal, 1997). Hence, an estimated 80 percent of speakers of English are believed to be bilingual speakers (Crystal, 1997;Solak & Bayar, 2015;Vyomakesisri, 2017;Avsheniuk & Seminikhyna, 2020). Libya is no exception in this regard, as English is predominantly the mode of communication in oil, manufacturing, and other transactional global trade.…”

“…Therefore, the English language is broadly recognised as an international language and people find it necessary to study it for personal, economic, and academic growth. For a Libyan who may be able to converse in English, this may provide employment opportunities internationally (Khalid, 2017, Hossain, 2019Avsheniuk & Seminikhyna, 2020).…”

“…The majority of Middle Eastern and North African countries view English as a vital foreign language and many Middle Eastern people appreciate the worldwide application of English in business, education, and in general communication (Malallah, 2000;Hamdan & Hatab, 2009) , education, andcommunication (Khochen-Bagshaw, 2017, Avsheniuk &Seminikhyna, 2020).…”