Journal of Languages for Specific Purposes (Mar 2022)
HOW TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF ORGANISATIONS FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCIES BASED ON INTERVIEWS WITH LSP TEACHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN
Abstract
Globalisation and internationalisation have caused enormous changes in several fields of life all over the world, with significant transitions in Hungary. The emergence of multinational companies has remarkably affected the labour market. These companies increasingly require intercultural communication competencies and a high level of foreign language skills from graduate entrants. The primary responsibility of universities is to educate and prepare students for a new environment and expectations in the international labour market. Although intercultural communication and foreign language skills have become key competencies in the labour market, recent graduates’ levels in these competencies do not meet the requirements of organisations. The importance of the topic is significant since it would be the common interest of universities, students, and organisations to have more and more employees with excellent language competencies who can perform well in a diverse, multicultural environment. The main goal of this paper is to detect the roots of the problem in tertiary education and define some proposals for improving the quality of university training, based on the recommendations of LSP (Languages for Specific Purposes) teachers at the University of Debrecen. Furthermore, another fundamental goal of the research was to get LSP teachers’ opinions on issues pertaining to meeting or missing the needs of organisations. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 LSP teachers at the University of Debrecen. According to the results, the main problem at the university is that students who enrol in the foreign language training programmes of the university do not possess the necessary level of general foreign language knowledge to learn languages for specific purposes. If the students’ prior foreign language skills are not sufficient, the number of foreign language lessons available is not enough for students to acquire a high level of LSP proficiency. LSP teachers also missed the intercultural competency component of language programs. Several suggestions were made by LSP teachers to improve the situation, but above all, ongoing dialogues between educational institutions and employers were emphasised upon. Further stages of the research include employers’ demands, and we are also planning to involve LSP teachers of other universities.
