Training, Language and Culture

'Reconceptualising English for international business contexts: A BELF approach and its educational implications' by Elma Dedovic-Atilla and Vildana Dubravac is an excellent piece of research into the use of Business English as it is used internationally with recommendations for changes in how the language is used and should be taught, with suggestions for further research. Well-structured and narrated in an easy-to-follow style, it includes a research project carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina in southern Europe, what the authors describe as the ‘Global South’. The research examines the need for Business English, what future professionals need and where problems in communication arise in the workplace where English is the international language. The use of English has dramatically increased in the last few years with globalisation and massive increases in the migration of labour stressing the need for a common language in the multicultural workplace. The lessons of the research as related to curriculum, classroom activity and the workplace apply not just to international business English but also to other widely spoken languages and are useful not just to English language teachers and researchers but specialists in other languages doing research into the use of their language in business in a multicultural environment.