Aplicabilidad

English is used in most of the local and international industries and businesses as a medium of communication and in drafting of company policies and reports. As a result, proficiency in English is regarded as essential for productivity. Few research studies conducted in South Africa examined the level at which English proficiency is important in the workplace and the employees’ proficiency in the language.

Hill and van Zyl (2002) conducted a study to investigate the linguistic context of engineering, particularly on the practices and attitudes of black engineers, and the extent to which multicultural competencies are useful in the workplace in the Witwatersrand area. Different data collection instruments including interviews,

questionnaires and observations were used and they mostly revealed that English is crucial for all engineers to communicate with management, staff and superiors (Hill and van Zyl, 2002: 26). The focus groups perceived English as ‘the language of power’, ‘the language of meetings’ and as having ‘a strict gatekeeping role’. They

mostly believed that competence in engineering is often related to English

proficiency. The responses from interviews indicated that English is the language of documentation. That is, all communication including letters, tender documents and emails are in English, especially when companies operate internationally. In the South African engineering sector, where different languages including African languages and Afrikaans are also used for communication, speakers of other languages tend to use English or codeswitch into English especially when the topic is technical. English is part of the multilingualism which seeks to accommodate other languages to prevent communication breakdown (Hill and van Zyl, 2002:33).

Writing proficiency in the English language is one of the critical workplace

competencies. Kekana (2015) conducted a study to investigate and determine the perceptions and experiences of South African police constables’ workplace English

writing needs in selected police clusters in the Gauteng province. The police work requires documentation. Police officers are expected to write reports and to

document scenes and incidents such as crime scenes. They need to have adequate knowledge in English grammar to do that effectively (Kekana, 2015: 2). In his

findings, Kekana established that the front-line police officers who are mainly constables experienced challenges in producing written documents such as affidavits, statements and accident reports. The police officers’ problems in

workplace English writing in many instances include, but are not limited to, the

incorrect use of vocabulary, badly constructed sentences, badly structured passages in their reports and bad control of cohesion and coherence in these reports (Kekana, 2015: 151). For Kekana, this problem sometimes arises due to a lack of knowledge regarding writing strategies (process writing aspects) and awareness of cognitive and metacognitive writing strategies. The other thing that also emerged from the police constables’ responses to interviews and questionnaire was that they struggled

to express themselves fluently in (spoken) English.

The researcher concluded that inadequate English language proficiency contributes to a lack of adequate English writing ability at the workplace including the police sector. He then recommended that the police recruits (future police constables) in South Africa be offered a specially designed workplace English writing course with special emphasis on specially selected writing sub-skills (Kekana, 2015: 171). Of equal importance was that police trainers or instructors in SA police training

academies be trained in teaching English writing so that they could teach English writing well in the South African police training academies. Proficiency in writing skills of the police personnel will enhance accuracy in writing statements and investigation reports.

Whilst it might be argued that the literacy skills of employees are important at every stage of the competitive cycle, the growing need for employees to read and write in order to communicate with team members and customers, as well as to participate in new workplace practices, places huge demands on those with low literacy and

language skills. The importance of levels of literacy and numeracy skills, and their significance to the present and the future workforce, and the effect of this on

productivity, has led to a number of studies being conducted in different international countries. The reports and the findings of the studies discussed above highlight the debates about the role of English in the South African workplaces; the global

perspective is discussed in the next section.

One survey, in the Australian motor vehicle industry, interviewed 724 employees across a range of work areas, using assessment tasks which mirrored authentic work situations (Searle, 2002). Findings revealed that 46% of the employees had a significant reading problem. One in five employees in the local government

workforce were reported as being ‘unable to extract meaning from documents common to the workplace’, and 1 in 4 employees were unable to write a simple

Research was also conducted in the Australian motel and eco-tourism industry with the purpose of determining how front staff from a variety of hospitality sites, use language and literacy for a range of purposes (Searle, 2002). Findings from the research suggest that actual workplace practices involve socially constructed

literacies which depend on how the user is able to make judgements on how to use a text or obtain information from within texts for site specific purposes. This study also revealed that the use of oral language in the hospitality sector is determined by both context and participants. The ability to communicate with fellow employees and respective clients, in this sector, seems to depend on the level at which staff are capable of using the relevant language skills, including register, technical concepts and the capacity to infer from an understanding of the social context of a specific worksite.

Woods et al (2006:12) also say that the modern workplace demands the ability to use technology, manage change, communicate and work constructively with people. These skills are themselves underpinned by a plethora of language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Without these people would struggle with training and indeed to keep their jobs. The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy

Development also maintains that an effective and productive workplace needs people who have problem solving, critical thinking and numeracy skills, as well as who can read, speak and listen comprehensively (2006: 4).

Pinon and Hayden (2010: 5) conducted research on the role of English in five countries: Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Pakistan. These are all developing countries, attempting to grow their economies and to reposition themselves in the new global economy. Each of the five researched countries approached the challenge of improving English skills in different ways. The English

language was used as a teaching medium in an increasing number of schools, particularly in Nigeria. In Pakistan, Cameroon and Bangladesh English as a teaching medium was mainly limited to urban areas and private schools. English levels were less developed in Bangladesh, Cameroon and Rwanda. However, these countries recognised that in order to develop their economies they required access to English. English is perceived as a standard language of communication which is essential for doing business. In the case of Cameroon and Rwanda, the dominant language throughout society is French (Pinon and Hayden, 2010: 8). French is the language used for education and business. However, these countries believed that in order to increase economic growth and allow businesses to trade with more countries such as the US, Europe and China, they had to take active steps to improve English communication by providing more education in English.

Interviews were conducted with employees at different companies in these countries about different aspects including their perceptions about individual and company benefits emanating from proficiency in English. Most of the participants in the study said that staff with English language skills had a strong advantage over other employees. For each of the five researched countries, around two-thirds of interviewees stated that employees with English language skills progress more quickly within the company and that English is beneficial for company growth (Pinon and Hayden, 2010: 11). They mostly felt that proficiency in English enabled people to communicate in the international business world and that enhanced economic

growth. Improved English language skills thus helped to attract more foreign investment. Workers with solid English language skills were therefore in the best

position to take the fullest advantage of new opportunities in these rapidly developing economies.

English is regarded as an essential requirement for most professional positions in Cameroon. Most senior-level positions advertised within the period of the research required English as at least a second language and French skills. English as a

language has always played an important role in Nigeria, especially as a language of business and international trade. In the last decade, Nigeria has built relationships with other countries, such as Egypt, South Africa, Canada, China and India, where English has played, and is still playing, an important role as a key language of communication (Pinon and Hayden, 2010: 47). Like in Cameroon, in Nigeria English language skills are regarded as a key requirement for an individual to obtain a better- paid position. Most of the interviewees in Nigeria said that they prefer to use English as the language of communication within the company and with other businesses, as this generates confidence and trust among investors outside Nigeria. The companies that required fluent English from candidates were firms in IT and technology, banking and insurance.

In Rwanda Kinyarwanda is the language of government, and English the primary educational medium. French remains important, however, and is used as a second language in most government communications. In Rwanda, during the period of conducting the research, the government was shifting the country’s entire education system from French to English (Pinon and Heyden, 2010: 71). The country’s growing

relationships with English-speaking countries on the global stage is a key contributory factor.

Bangladesh has an extremely well-established official language, Bengali, which is also the most commonly-used language (Pinon and Heyden, 2010: 88). Despite the dominance of Bengali, English is widely used by government bodies and in the business environment, and is widely spoken and understood, especially in urban areas. Respondents from 23 of 30 companies stated that proficiency in English enhances career advancement and that those employees who speak better English advance faster in their careers than those without a good grasp of the language. In Bangladesh proficiency in English was required in government services, banking and technology industries whilst construction and manufacturing companies required less proficiency in English (Pinon and Heyden, 2010: 99).

English is defined as the ‘official language’ of the country in Pakistan, while Urdu is considered the ‘national language’ (Pinon and Heyden, 2010: 112). English is mostly

used within government, educational institutions and business. Twenty-four of the thirty interviewed Pakistani companies stated that English speakers tend to progress more quickly compared with those who do not speak English. This is because they are better equipped to deal with international communication. Most expressed the view that English speakers can communicate better with people within the company, and that increases their chances of advancement.

In conclusion the research showed that there is growing recognition in both the public and private sectors in the researched countries that English is an essential tool for economic development. The literature shows that the language demands in the South African workplaces that use English as a medium are not different from the

understand the workplace social context and use appropriate register and technical concepts, as well as communicate appropriately with other people. Such workplaces also require a workforce that can read, write, speak and understand English, in order to be productive. The challenge remains, is the NCV curriculum for subject English structured in such a way as to meet the demands of the workplace? What constitutes the most appropriate English course to empower prominent employees with the appropriate knowledge and skills demanded in the workplace, and how can such a course be implemented?

The next section discusses approaches to teaching subject English: content-based, language across the curriculum, and the communicative approach. This research acknowledges that there are other approaches to ESL teaching and learning that are discussed in the literature, but this study has only used the above-mentioned

approaches as analytical codes of the NCV English curriculum.