5th WU Symposium on International Business Communication
November 28-30, 2012
WU Vienna, Augasse 2 - 6, 1090 Vienna
What is specific about teaching languages for specific purposes? Learning from and across individual disciplines
The teaching and learning of languages for specific purposes looks back on a long tradition of transdisciplinary research. Despite LSP's primary focus on describing the language use characteristic of specialist fields of knowledge, such as business, law or technology, research in these areas has regularly benefitted most from approaches that transcend individual languages and specific problems. Thus in this symposium the notion of languages - and communication - for specific purposes is to be interpreted in a broader sense as an umbrella term for a variety of approaches committed to the cause of teaching and learning languages, irrespective of their (specific) purpose.
With scholars and practitioners joining forces, the symposium proposes to carry on the tradition of dialogue and multidisciplinary exchange. Our aim is not only to provide a platform for such dialogue, but also to encourage debate, bringing together proponents from various backgrounds and disciplines. These general objectives are also reflected in the symposium structure, which will consist of three sections. The first will provide an overview of major issues in the teaching and learning of foreign/second languages in general, while the second will focus on the more specific contexts of LSP communication. The third section is to be devoted to the prospects of LSP pedagogy in the light of the challenges of today's knowledge society.
Languages: English and German
Abstracts
Program
Wednesday, 28 November
| 15:30-16:00 | Welcome & registration |
| 16:00-16:20 | Opening |
| 16:20-17:00 | C. Gnutzmann (TU Braunschweig): "Das ist das Problem, das hinzukriegen, dass es so klingt, als hätt' es ein Native Speaker geschrieben." Investigating non-native English-speaking academics'writing problems and strategies |
| 17:00-17:40 | D. Newby (University of Graz): From communicative competence to cognitive competence |
| 17:40-18:20 | E. Vetter (University of Vienna): Teaching language(s) in the context of superdiversity. Risks and opportunities for institutions of tertiary education |
| 18:20- | Reception |
Thursday, 29 November
| 10:00-10:30 | Registration and coffee (1st floor, section C/D) |
| 10:30-11:10 | N. Schmitt (University of Nottingham): Vocabulary for specific purposes: Identification and teaching |
| 11:10-11:50 | D. Schmitt (Nottingham Trent University): Beyond feedback: Instruction for treating the untreatable |
| 11:50-12:30 | B. Wilkinson (Maastrict University Language Centre): English-medium instruction: Implications and consequences for multilingual policy |
| 12:30-14:30 | Lunch |
| 14:30-15:10 | M. Paquot (University of Louvain-la-Neuve): EFL writing in the disciplines: Insights from the VESPA learner corpus |
| 15:10-15:50 | M. Krause (University of Hamburg): Presentations on business topics in L3 Russian: What should we learn from the evaluation by natives? |
| 15:50-16:30 | L. Louhiala-Salminen (Aalto University): BELF as the language of global business: Implications for teaching? |
| 18:00- | Dinner at a "Heuriger" |
Friday, 30 November
| 10:00-10:40 | M. Skovgaard Andersen (Copenhagen Business School): An eternal dilemma: Between LSP-knowledge and language/communication knowledge - a report from teaching the case based course "transferring knowledge between languages" |
| 10:40-11:20 | H. Risku (University of Graz): A sociocognitive perspective on learning languages for special purposes |
| 11:20-12:00 | B. Planken (Radboud University Nijmegen): LSP research into practice: A case of "Yes, we can" or "change we need"? |
| 12:00-13:00 | Lunch and coffee |
| 13:00-13:40 | G. Garzone (University of Milan): Genres and text types in the teaching of business communication |
| 13:40-14:20 | G. Lüdi (University of Basel): Multilingual solutions in the construction of scientific knowledge and for internal communication in businesses |
| 14:20-14:40 | Closing remarks |
Program (pdf)
Organizers:
Christine Sing (Institute for English Business Communication)
Martin Stegu (Institute for Romance Languages)
Harald Loos (Institute for Slavic Languages)
Elisabeth Peters (Department of Foreign Language Business Communication)
Contact:
Elisabeth Peters
elisabeth.peters@wu.ac.at
Phone: +431 31 226 5117