Holmes, J., Joe, Angela, Marra, Meredith, Newton, Jonathan, Riddiford, Nicky and Vine, Bernadette (2011) Applying linguistic research to real world problems: the social meaning of talk in workplace interaction. In: Candlin, Christopher N. and Sarangi, Srikant, (eds.) Handbook of Communication in Organisations and Professions. Handbooks of Applied Linguistics [HAL] (No.3). Berlin, Germany / New York, NY, U.S.A.: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 533-550. ISBN 9783110214222

Abstract

Focusing on the communications challenges facing migrants with professional qualifications, this chapter describes how linguists can work with lay-people to identify and research areas of mutual concern, presenting research which is paradigmatically "applied linguistics applied" (Roberts, 2003). The research was designed around a course aimed at providing well-educated migrants with the socio-pragmatic skills they need to analyse workplace interactions for themselves. Incorporating a critical dimension helps prepare learners for encounters beyond those presented in class, and encourages them to engage with native speakers from a position of strength. The course includes both classroom instruction and workplace experience, and draws on previous analyses of effective workplace communication by the research team, as well as current workplace interactions in which the learners are involved. The course and the related research involves people who are fundamentally disadvantaged in a wide variety of ways when they join a new society, because of their lack of social power, as well as their unfamiliarity with societal norms. The research adopts an approach which aims to empower, rather than simply attempting to make skilled migrants fit into the host culture.

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