Holmes, J., Joe, Angela, Marra, Meredith, Newton, Jonathan, Riddiford, Nicky and Vine, Bernadette (2008) Enhancing socio-pragmatic skills among professional qualified workers. In: American Association of Applied Linguistics Conferece, Washington D.C., U.S.A., Mar 29 - Apr 2, 2008. Published in: Language in the Workplace Occasional Papers (No.10). ISSN 1175-4850.
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Abstract
Although socio-pragmatic skills have been identified as important aspects of communicative competence in the workplace, little research has been undertaken to evaluate the effects of classroom-based support in developing these areas of language proficiency. Nor has the potential for incorporating a critical component in such support been explored.
New Zealand attracts an increasing number of professional migrants with the potential to make a considerable contribution to New Zealand society. However, many find it difficult to secure permanent employment. Inadequate communication skills are identified by employers as a major obstacle to hiring migrants. Migrants themselves also identify increased English proficiency as a desirable goal. Whether these perceptions of what is required to secure employment are accurate or not is worthy of investigation. This paper outlines an innovative collaborative project with workplaces willing to offer temporary placements to professional migrants on our Workplace Communication Skills course. The primary goal is to evaluate the extent to which the socio-pragmatic skills acquired in the course prove relevant once the migrants enter a New Zealand workplace. Analysis will focus on identifying changes in the migrants’ socio-pragmatic proficiency in a range of aspects of relational discourse which have been identified as crucial to effective workplace communication.
| Item Type: | Conference Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HM Sociology P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Applied Linguistics |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Language in the Workplace Occasional Papers |
| Publisher: | Victoria University of Wellington |
| ISSN: | 1175-4850 |
| Official Date: | 29 March 2008 |
| Dates: | Date Event 29 March 2008 Completion |
| Number: | No.10 |
| Status: | Not Peer Reviewed |
| Publication Status: | Published |
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons open licence) |
| Description: | This item was presented in the Symposium "New Directions for Applied Linguistics: Discourse Analysis in Applied Linguistics: what does the future hold?", organised by Chris Candlin and Ron Carter. |
| Version or Related Resource: | This item was also presented in a School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies Research Seminar, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand, Apr 11, 2008. |
| Conference Paper Type: | Paper |
| Title of Event: | American Association of Applied Linguistics Conferece |
| Type of Event: | Conference |
| Location of Event: | Washington D.C., U.S.A. |
| Date(s) of Event: | Mar 29 - Apr 2, 2008 |
| URI: | https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/48506/ |
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