Navigation – Plan du site

Sommaire - Document précédent - Document suivant
Vol. XXXII N° 1 | 2013 : Les langues de spécialité en Europe
Articles

Considering cultural content in Language for Specific Purposes: Business Spanish curricula

Considérations sur les contenus culturels dans la langue de spécialité : l’enseignement de l’espagnol des affaires
María Buendía Cambronero
p. 61-74
Résumé | Index | Plan | Texte | Bibliographie | Notes | Citation | Auteur

Résumés

English Français

In the Spanish context of teaching languages for specific purposes, it seems a consensus has been reached on the fact that teaching a specialized language and teaching a language for specific purposes are two sides of the same coin. The first is a theoretical perspective on how language works in a specific environment. The second is a practical approach that provides learners with the necessary tools to manage communicative situations in a specific context with specific aims. Culture and other extra-linguistic features play a key role in the practical approach, when handling a range of specialized vocabulary and a thorough knowledge of syntax is not enough to achieve communicative goals.

Dans le cadre de l’enseignement de l’espagnol sur objectifs spécifiques, il semble qu’un consensus ait été trouvé sur le fait que l’enseignement d’une langue de spécialité tout comme l’enseignement d’une langue sur objectifs spécifiques sont deux aspects d’un même phénomène. La première est une perspective théorique sur le fonctionnement de la langue dans un cadre spécifique. La seconde est une approche pratique qui fournit aux apprenants les outils nécessaires pour gérer la situation de communication dans un contexte donné avec des moyens spécifiques. La connaissance d’un vocabulaire spécialisé et la maîtrise de la syntaxe ne suffisent pas pour atteindre des objectifs de communication, et la culture ainsi que d’autres éléments extralinguistiques jouent un rôle clé dans l’approche pratique.

Haut de page

Entrées d’index

Mots-clés :

programme d’espagnol des affaires, culture d’espagnol des affaires, enseignement culture d’espagnol des affaires, communication interculturelle

Keywords :

business Spanish syllabus, language for specific purposes (LSP), business Spanish culture, intercultural communication
Haut de page

Plan

Introduction
1. Common views on the definition of cultural content for business Spanish curricula
2. Establishing relevant cultural content through a previous needs analysis
3. A proposal to define cultural content in business Spanish curricula
3.1. First type of cultural content
3.2. Second type of cultural content
3.3. Third type of cultural content
4. Implications for including culture in LSP: a specific methodology
Haut de page

Texte intégral

PDF 444k Signaler ce document

Introduction

1In the Spanish context of Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP), teaching a specialized language and teaching a language for specific purposes are now seen as two sides of the same coin. On one side is the theoretical approach. On the other side is the practical approach of providing learners with the necessary tools for communication in a specific context with specific aims. Critical in examining these perspectives is what one considers as culture. These concerns are discussed in the four sections of this article:

  • Common views on the definition of cultural content for Business Spanish curricula.

  • Establishing relevant cultural content through a previous needs analysis.

  • A proposal to define cultural content in Business Spanish curricula.

  • Implications for including culture in LSP: a specific methodology.

2In the Spanish teaching context of the last two decades, it has been generally accepted that the concept lengua de especialidad, taken from the French langue de specialité, includes the nature and variations of a language when it deals with a specific field, as stated by Moreno (1999: 4) or Martín & Sabater (2011: 16). These specific fields have been traditionally classified into two categories: scientific-technical and legal-economic. The concept lengua de especialidad in the Spanish teaching context refers mainly to a theoretical approach that focuses on the analysis of specialized language.

3This approach points out the specificity of certain lexical, grammatical or pragmatic phenomena as well as speech and text typology. On the basis of ‘specificity’, different focuses of analysis have been emphasized since the sixties. Initially stress was put on the use of different ‘levels of language’ that must be considered when preparing a language course (Halliday & McIntosh 1964: 202). A decade later, particular emphasis was placed on the target situation, whose models of analysis were developed primarily by Munby (1978).

4During the eighties, what could be called a more “practical” approach analyzed the role that the development of the four communication skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) had in the learning process. Starting from this model, Hutchinson and Waters presented their learning-centred approach (1987) which focused, in a very innovative way, on methodology and the learning process itself. Development in the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has strongly influenced the approaches used in teaching Spanish as a foreign language and also in teaching LSP. The main distinction that teaching Spanish for specific purposes implies is that, besides discourse analysis, of contexts and of communicative needs in a specialized domain, certain methodological differences must be taken into account and need further research.

5In the current context of increasing complexity in professional relations and new communication technologies, answers are needed for these three questions:

  • How is a specialized language used by certain users when it comes to effectively managing communicative situations?

  • What other non linguistic factors play a role and when?

  • How should they be integrated into the learning process?

6In the teaching of language in its general scope, culture has taken a predominant role following the consolidation of the communicative approach and task-based learning in the nineties. It is widely accepted that language learning implies cultural comprehension alongside linguistic acquisition. This linguistic acquisition can hardly be complete or may even be ineffective if it is not accompanied by correct use in a cultural sense. However, this general affirmation is still a problematic issue when it comes to including cultural content in learning materials or syllabuses. What aspects of culture should be included in each stage of the learning process? How can culture be taught so that it avoids stereotypes or axiomatic messages?

7Quite a few studies have addressed the aforementioned questions concerning General Spanish teaching. The questions have also been applied to teaching Spanish for specific purposes. However, thorough research on cultural matters in this domain is still scant.

1. Common views on the definition of cultural content for business Spanish curricula

8The ideas of Hofstede (Aguirre 2011: 125) and Trompenaars (Felices 2004: 8) have definitely influenced the business Spanish curricula. Using their theories, a series of oppositional cultural groups have been defined according to the relation they display towards variables such as space, time, hierarchy or personal emotions.

9Following the principles of Trompenaars and Hofstede, manual authors have selected cultural content on the basis of a categorization of attributes that business groups in different Spanish-speaking countries are supposed to have. In his conclusions, based on empirical data collected through questionnaires worldwide, Hofstede (2001: 11) provided a categorization of cultural components that are present in work organizations, taking national cultural patterns as the main reference to establish categorization. This fact, however, does not imply that we can always find the same components being displayed by different groups with the same nationality or even by all members integrating one group.

10Other theories such as Hall’s, have also had an impact on teaching manuals for Business Spanish (Aguirre 2011: 121). Hall classifies culture in two dimensions, context and time, where he distinguishes cultural groups according to their level of dependence on the situational context or their concept of time (Aguirre 2011: 124).

11Provided that intercultural communication is based on predictable and to some extent pre-established assumptions, some widespread axiomatic messages have been persistent in the teaching context of business Spanish, such as:

  • Foreign professionals must know and understand the fact that Spanish-speaking professionals come late to business meetings (Felices 2003: 18-19).

  • Business negotiations take place in restaurants (Lozano & Vaquero 2005: 111).

  • Meetings last for a long time as a lot of irrelevant, even personal issues are discussed before coming to the point (idem).

  • Spaniards often interrupt others during professional meetings and nobody should feel uncomfortable for this reason (Tano 2009: 28; Iriarte & Núñez 2009: 28-29).

12The opposition between different national groups interacting with each other has been thoroughly studied from the perspective of discourse analysis by Scandinavian researchers. Fant & Grindsted (1995) did research on the analysis of discourse of Scandinavian and Spanish business negotiators when they interacted with each other in business meetings. They first identified the interlocutors’ professional objectives and then determined professional aims to be a fundamental variable in intercultural professional communication. Furthermore, participants’ data such as nationality, age, professional background and goals relevant for the communicative situations they were participating in were described.

13With professional objectives as the focus, a clear objective of the discourse analysis was also established: it would focus on the discursive strategies used by each party to achieve communicative goals. Fant’s research (1989) showed that communicative goals influence the type of cultural information provided by each communicative situation.

14A further crucial element dealt with by Fant and Grindsted (1995) is the differentiation between ‘stable’ cultural values and ‘situation-dependent’ values. Situation-dependent values are those which are easier to change and adapt to each situation, such as management of time, manners or dressing. Stable values are described as those which are less subject to change, more attached to mentality or a certain way of making things work. Fant’s approach (2007) proposes changeability as a key factor in interculturality. Cultural information provided by teaching manuals must be adapted to different contexts and communicative situations. This fact needs to be emphasized in order to avoid counterproductive effects and essentialist views of culture, a phenomenon which was criticized by Dahlén (1997), among others.

15Understanding cultural content as simply a result of opposition between cultural groups can lead to develop curricula which are, regrettably, 1) completely independent from linguistic acquisition and communication effectiveness and 2) irrelevant for learners’ communicative needs.

16There is a general consensus on using the model of needs analysis to define linguistic and communicative content in curricula for specific purposes. I propose using this method to determine learners’ needs in relation to the cultural component for specific purposes.

2. Establishing relevant cultural content through a previous needs analysis

17Some general key questions need to be answered when planning a syllabus for specific purposes: why would course participants need the kind of specific course that we are planning? And what do they want the course for? These questions, which may seem quite obvious at first, do not necessarily have to be asked in regard to a course for general Spanish. The content is based on the Plan Curricular del Instituto Cervantes and by taking general Spanish courses, students accept the assumptions and requirements generally established by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

18The answers to the aforementioned questions are usually found through an analysis of learners’ needs. The model of needs analysis, derived from Munby’s framework, is considered the first step to establishing a course syllabus for specific purposes. Needs analysis can be done by collecting data from the course participants with questionnaires or interviews. However, a more solid needs analysis can be provided by identifying communicative situations derived from the professional functions and goals. A selection of professional goals is the first step to conceiving a syllabus for specific purposes.

  • 1 Curricular Plan for Business Spanish.

19Within the framework of a communicative situation, professionals will have to work out specific tasks which imply both oral and written communication skills. Swales’ proposal for a definition of task (1990: 75) points out that “tasks are clearly ‘sequenceable’ both in practice and theory, […] the activity needs to be ‘goal-directed’ for assignation of task status”. A sequence of tasks has also been called an ‘event’, a term which is also used by the Plan Curricular de Español de los Negocios1 (Martín & Sabater 2011: 26).

20According to Munby (1978: 98), communicative events

derive basically from the nature of the participant’s work and the interaction of relevant inputs from the following variables: occupational/educational purpose, physical setting, role-set, medium, mode and channel […] Those activities, from which grammatical features eventually derive, are later processed into microfunctions and then linguistically realized.

21This identification of events shows that the specialized language in a specific professional field may vary according to working positions, professionals’ communicative aims, their speech partners and their situational context. It is clear that, besides specialized vocabulary and syntax, a wide range of pragmatic and intercultural skills is needed.

22This is illustrated in the following diagram (figure 1).

Figure 1. The role of the cultural component in professional communication

spacer
Agrandir Original (png, 54k)

23A needs analysis based on linguistic features can be done by looking into a specific communicative situation integrated into a professional event. Once communicative needs for a specific situation have been identified, discourse analysis will provide information on grammatical, lexical or functional elements that learners need to acquire.

24However, communicative situations may not always clarify what kind of cultural content is involved. Cultural content is better identified in events or tasks, where professional decision-making influences communicative goals and strategies. In this regard, the authors Martín & Sabater have designed the Plan Curricular de Español de los Negocios, which displays the B1-B2 content of the Plan Curricular del Instituto Cervantes, focusing on the further specification of communicative functions and means for the business context. Among other elements, cultural references and content are kept the same as in the general Spanish curricula. It seems then that neither needs nor discourse analysis have been used to further describe cultural content for professional purposes.

25The analysis of communicative needs can provide useful information on relevant cultural elements to be considered in a course syllabus, but it is still a pending issue whether to connect the conclusions of discourse analysis in the professional field with the cultural components that the communicative functions may refer to. This has led to a diffuse notion of what cultural content is in foreign language teaching for professional purposes. The identification of cultural elements in business Spanish must be related to a needs analysis, similar to the one that has been made to identify linguistic needs. This will provide a selection of cultural content relevant to learners’ needs and consistent with the linguistic elements of a syllabus.

3. A proposal to define cultural content in business Spanish curricula

26Culture in business is changeable and adaptable, so the question is how cultural content can be defined and transmitted so that learners can use cultural information in a practical way and connect it with communicative and professional goals. To achieve this, three types of cultural content can be included in LSP manuals.

3.1. First type of cultural content

27The first type of cultural content proposed here deals with what Fant and Grindsted call ‘stable cultural values’ (1995: 114). Fant (1989: 250) had argued that values may change in the different cultures but undoubtedly, influence in a certain way the different steps of doing business. These values coincide with a national mentality that has been modeled by a series of variables. Values attached to mentality are, therefore, difficult to adapt to a different scenario and usually persist in changing situations. As an example, Fant mentions the way of conceiving group membership, self-assertiveness or cooperativeness in negotiations. Fant examined empirical data in order to measure to what extent certain cultural values determined communication between Spaniards and Scandinavians.

28However, although we could find stable values playing a role in e.g. negotiation types, it has not been proven that this kind of information has a practical impact on successful language learning or on successful intercultural business communication. In order to become meaningful, a set of values needs to be contextualized in communicative situations and connected with communicative tools and functions. At the same time, communicative functions need to be associated with specific cultural meanings in order to become effective.

29Below is an example from activity 1.3 in Felices’ reference manual for business and culture in the Spanish-speaking context (2004: 14-15):

  • 2 El negociador o negociadora de Argentina: correcto, cordial, emotivo, le da importancia a la famili (...)

What is the negotiator in Argentina like? He is correct, friendly and emotional, family is important to him, he respects hierarchies, he dresses in a conservative way, he usually respects timetables although he can accept short delays2. (Our translation)

30Setting aside whether or not this description of an Argentinian negotiator is based on empirical research, it brings to mind an ideal of the Argentinian ‘mentality’. It seems in this example that national features have been transferred to the business ‘personality’. However, to what extent is this kind of information relevant for learning purposes? How can this information be used by a professional in a practical way? Does it not imply a pre-conceived idea of how Argentinian negotiators should be? What happens when our learners meet business Argentinians who do not match this description? Does this information give us a hint as to how Argentinians ‘make things work’ in business?

31The activity then provides the following information: if a foreigner is going to work in Argentina, he/she should know that waiting for a negotiator before a meeting is quite normal. In the example provided by the book, an impatient German negotiator leaves before the Argentinian negotiator has arrived. The solution offered for this cultural conflict is then a writing task where the German negotiator apologizes for his leaving and asks for a new appointment.

32Regarding this solution, learners could ask themselves the following questions: how long is the foreigner supposed to wait? Is the foreigner never entitled to feel rejection because of a delay? Is there a justified cause for the delay? Is it a strategy or is it just carelessness? An alternative solution to this conflict could be to call the delayed person on the phone if the person waiting considers that the delay is becoming too long. This alternative depends on the individual’s concept of time, if both parties have intercultural skills they will find a mid-point between their respective time concepts.

33This idea of ‘making people wait for an interview or a meeting’ is also recurrent in the Spanish context. This matter is connected to social habits, where being on time is a more flexible concept than in other countries. However, there are reasonable limitations to delays and new technologies have made it inexcusable to make someone wait without giving him/her notice.

34In short, the kind of information that has to do with social behaviours in business should not be automatically assumed. We could talk about a ‘globalized’ common sense where correctness in appointments and first contacts is appreciated in a very similar way. Precisely these matters that have to do with time concepts have been globalized by the new communication technologies.

35When dealing with cultural content that derives from the national context, the practical relevance of information must always meet the learners’ needs. In the following example I propose here, a German enterprise is carrying out negotiations with a Spanish architecture firm for a construction project in Germany. After several months of negotiations, the Germans are getting frustrated as they have not managed to sign a written contract with the Spanish company. At the same time, the Spanish architects assure them of their commitment and that they have already started to work on the project. The Germans suspect that reluctance to sign a contract can mean a possible lack of engagement, while the Spaniards consider German anxiety as a sign of unjustified mistrust as they are already actively involved in the project. This case study will be useful for learners who are likely to open businesses or look for counterparts in Spanish-speaking countries.

36An analysis of the tendency towards the use of verbal contracts in the Spanish context will surely help our learners to react positively when a trust relationship is being developed. According to A. Señor’s research, ‘trust’ and ‘flexibility’ are considered important values when setting up negotiations (Señor 2002: 940). These values reflect the ‘personality’ of the Spanish negotiator, which is then connected to cultural values at a national scale.

37The questions of ‘trust’ and ‘flexibility’ in the business system means that unnecessary bureaucracy might be avoided and verbal contracts would usually be seen as valid as written ones if a trust relationship exists. In this case, an extended practice which may find an explanation in national cultural values is also validated by law. Article 51 of the Spanish Commercial Code establishes freedom of choice in the business contract form. Foreign investors and enterprises should be aware of the common practice of verbal contracts and their possible consequences in order to decide what to do in each case.

38Cultural content associated with national values is not only relevant for direct interaction, oral or written: it is also valuable knowledge for decision-making in different business areas. For example, international businesses attempting to capture the attention of a target audience in the Spanish market will need to become familiar with national cultural values, habits and widespread social concepts in order to develop successful marketing strategies.

39The Spanish teacher’s objective is not to provide learners with the right answers to professional practice. Learners will use their own professional experience, their common sense and their professional goals to make their own decisions when they are in possession of enough relevant cultural information.

3.2. Second type of cultural content

40The second type of cultural content proposed here is also connected with national cultural structures, even though remarkable variations can be found in the business field and even in the different activity sectors.

  • 3 The difference between and usted is generally considered sociolinguistic. However, we will see t (...)
  • 4 Royal Spanish Academy.

41One relevant issue here is the use of and usted (translated in French as tu and vous) in the business context3. The pragmatic use of these two pronouns is influenced by cultural concepts both in the general language context and in the business context. Generally speaking, the first difference between both pronouns refers to the informal () and the formal (usted) registers. According to the RAE4 definition (2005), usted implies certain emotional distance, courtesy and formality. In principle, this definition

gipoco.com is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its contents. This is a safe-cache copy of the original web site.