Requests for Help in a Multilingual Professional Environment Testimonies and Actantial Models

Abstract

Professional multilingual environments using English as a lingua franca are prone to imbalances in communication, linguistic insecurity and rising tension. Non-native English speakers develop avoidance strategies in order to lessen their apprehension. To overcome these imbalances, this research aims to understand the relationships formed around languages focusing on the dynamics of integration and the requests for help. Guided by the actantial models of Greimas (1966), this qualitative study employs semiolinguistics and discourse analysis, including 19 narrative interviews with employees of Airbus and UNESCO in Hamburg, Germany in 2013. This methodology draws on actors connected through relationships of power and/or collaboration. The actantial models applied seek linguistic input through designational paradigms, shifters and modal occurrences. The actantial models illustrate how a good language competence provides a better understanding of one's direct as well as passive environment. The learning process is shown to be a conduit to integration. The actantial model and discourse analysis shed light on the complex situation of multilingual communication settings by highlighting the influence of individuals' linguistic skills. As a matter of fact, depending on the role of each individual in a given situation, lending a helping hand sometimes equates to upsetting the balance.

Efficacy of the Speaking and Writing ESP Modules for Working Adults: Government Officials

“…These statistical findings show no mediating effect from work experience on the participants' speaking and writing achievements. This echoes findings from other studies that found tailormade ESP module content that cater the learners' specific needs using authentic scenarios and tasks performed at workplace helped enhance their awareness of the range of structural and linguistic choices available in the professional settings in which they are actually made (Lejot, 2017;Zainuddin, Pillai, Dumanig & Phillip, (2019).…”