Learning Power and Politeness in International Business Communications: A reflective approach to researching learning and teaching in English for specific purposes (ESP) within a community learning environment and with particular reference to the language of respect

Learning and languageare inexorably linked and, for students whose first languageis different to that spoken in the learning environment, may find they are studying both a new languageas well as learning content. To perform, students need functional languageskills in the new language, including grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary, and knowledge of context-specific terms. Of importance in these learning environments, are sociolinguistic systems of politeness and power, often reflected through persuasive, confident, powerful or submissive verbal and non-verbal communication in both teaching and learning communication. Methodologies designed to aid learning through context-awareness and interactive strategies for teaching Englishfor Specific Purposes(ESP) are applicable, but these practices still place significant weight on languageskills, knowledge of context-specific vocabulary, and social languageskills. Educators, therefore, need to be not only content experts, but for students with English as a second language(ESL), also languageteachers. Vitally important in any teaching environment, but more so with the teaching of Englishfor Specific Purposes, educators must hold communicative competenceto be effective in conveying meaning and to externalise linguistic knowledge suitable for their particular audiences (Widdowson, 2009). Communicative competencein this circumstance goes beyond the linguistic proficiency, and must include high level nonverbal and body languageskills, especially in an international business setting. It is proposed that a methodological approach for teaching ESP, which is somewhat based on the CLT Model ( Communicative Language Teaching, Nunan, 2013) but which also makes use of first languageacquisition systems, languageinfluenced by community, realistic and topic specific languagewith fewer rule-based constraints, and less reliance upon etymologicalprocesses, may enhance the opportunities for students to acquire languagecompetence. Included in this proposed methodology are social functions of language, designed to assist students in the development of identity within the new languageand to support learning through languageinclusivity. Using an action research process, it is proposed to trial the methodology with international master’s degree students, and it is anticipated that the results will be of interest to a range of practitioners within the ESP, ESL and a variety of education domains.