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).

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.

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