The role of business English in the training of future public management and administration professionals

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The role of business English in the training of future public management and administration professionals

Boiko L.M. - Candidate of Philological Sciences,

Associate Professor at the Department of Public Management, Administration and Humanities, Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University

The article explores the role of Business English in the training of students majoring in Public Management and Administration and inherent hurdles in its instruction, namely: selecting the material to be studied, grouping it according to the learning objectives and the language proficiency level among different students, as well as choosing teaching methods are a challenge that a Business English teacher encounters every academic year.

The article analyzes the specifics of teaching Business English to Master's degree students at the Agrarian and Economic University, determines the content and forms of its teaching.

The level of students' proficiency in a foreign language is crucial and the teacher must consider it to provide the tasks that would help each student to acquire the knowledge, skills and abilities specified in the curriculum. The primary characteristic of teaching Business English is explaining language material to students, identifying weaknesses in students' language skills, and focusing on their language needs. Also, the teacher cannot stay away from the professional aspects of the speciality to increase students' motivation.

The professional orientation requires integration of the discipline Business English with the specialized disciplines for Public Management and Administration speciality, and the selection of topics for study should be related to other professional disciplines of the curriculum. The inventory of specialized exercises, employed within the course is given in this paper.

The role of Business English in training a future Public Management and Administration specialist is crucial. A specialist should be able to formulate tasks correctly, effectively communicate information to colleagues and foreign partners, and maintain documentation and business correspondence in a foreign language to ensure the smooth operation of a company or institution at the international level.

Key words: Business English, public management and administration, students, skills and abilities

Бойко Л.М. Роль ділової англійської мови у підготовці майбутніх фахівців з публічного управління та адміністрування

У статті досліджується роль дисципліни «Ділова англійська мова» у підготовці магістрів зі спеціальності «Публічне управління та адміністрування» та проблеми, пов'язані з її викладанням, а саме: відбір тем для вивчення, групування матеріалу за відповідністю до навчальних завдань та за рівнем володіння мовою різними студентами у групі, а також обрання форм навчання. Усі перелічені проблеми постають перед викладачем ділової іноземної мови кожного навчального року.

Проведено аналіз специфіки викладання ділової іноземної мови студентам магістерського рівня спеціальності «Публічне управління та адміністрування» у аграрно-економічному університеті, визначені зміст та форми навчання цієї дисципліни. Відмічено, що викладачеві потрібно неодмінно враховувати рівень володіння студентами іноземною мовою, щоб надавати такі завдання, які б допомогли кожному студентові набути знань, умінь і навичок, які вказані у програмі дисципліни.

Головною особливістю викладання ділової іноземної мови є уміння пояснити студентам мовний матеріал, виявити слабкі місця у мовній підготовці студентів, зосередитися на їхніх мовних потребах. Також викладач не може залишатися осторонь професійних аспектів спеціальності, щоб уміти підвищити мотивацію студентів.

Професійна спрямованість потребує інтеграції дисципліни «Ділова іноземна мова» з профільними дисциплінами спеціальності «Публічне управління і адміністрування», а відбір тем для вивчення має бути пов'язаний з іншими фаховими дисциплінами навчального плану. У статті наведено перелік спеціалізованих вправ, які використовуються в рамках курсу.

Роль ділової англійської мови у підготовці майбутнього фахівця з публічного управління та адміністрування є важливою. Фахівець повинен вміти правильно формулювати завдання, ефективно доносити інформацію до колег та іноземних партнерів, вести документацію, ділову переписку іноземною мовою, щоб забезпечити безперебійну роботу компанії чи установи на міжнародному рівні.

Ключові слова: ділова англійська мова, публічне управління та адміністрування, студенти, уміння і навички

Formulation of the problem

discipline business english masters public management

In connection with Ukraine's trajectory towards European integration, the significance of English proficiency as a language of international communication is becoming increasingly crucial. The issue of English language competency among civil servants remains pertinent and is rightly considered one of the strategic tasks in the training of future specialists in public management and administration.

Business English is one of the compulsory components of the Master's degree program in Public Management and Administration at Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University. The curriculum of the discipline shows a tendency to professionalize the teaching of foreign languages in general, which is realized in the formation of communication skills on professional and business topics necessary for the student to perform professional tasks using foreign language tools [5]. Selecting the material to be studied, grouping it according to the learning objectives and the language proficiency level among different students, as well as choosing teaching methods are a challenge that a Business English teacher encounters every academic year.

Analysis of recent research and publications. The role and significance of Business English in masters' degree training have been studied in a number of publications by domestic and foreign researchers. For example, E.V Dolynskyi [4] studied the role of this discipline in the training of translators, O.B. Tarnopolskyi [8] proposed his own special approach to teaching the language of business communication, N.D. Dido [3] considered the peculiarities of teaching Business English to students of non-linguis- tic faculties, L.I. Baidak [1] - to agricultural university students, Y.V. Degtyareva [2] examined the methodology of teaching reading in English for business communication, E. Frendo [9] studied in detail the teaching of Business English - from setting goals, choosing material to teaching platforms, learning communication and writing skills, R. Gibson [10] explored the theory and practice of intercultural business communication with key cultural dimensions as well as case studies. But the study of some peculiarities of teaching Business English to future management professionals requires a more detailed study, so our article is pertinent.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the specifics of teaching Business English to master's degree students majoring in "Public Management and Administration" at an Agrarian and Economic University, to determine its content, forms and methods of its teaching.

Presentation of the main material

When teaching Business English, the most important thing is to understand the purpose of its teaching. The universal goal, formulated in most curricula of the discipline, is to develop general and professionally oriented communicative language competencies to ensure effective communication in academic and professional environments, i.e. «its content is organized according to generic job-related skills required in a variety of professional areas and situations» [5]. Unlike many other disciplines, a significant place in teaching Business English, as well as a foreign language in general is occupied by the audience to which this discipline is taught. Students pursuing a Master's degree in «Public Management and Administration» speciality, i.e. future specialists with fundamental theoretical knowledge and practical skills in management and administration, control and analysis of business entities are offered a given set of topics relevant to this speciality that they will apply in their future professional careers. Obviously, an individual approach is used for each specific group of students because there may be students who have no practical experience, as well as professionals who are already working in their specialty, have a certain amount of knowledge and utilize it, but do not have enough proficiency in a foreign language. Therefore, they need Business English to find a new job, for self-development, increasing their chances in the labor market or advancing their career. The teacher should always take into consideration the students' proficiency level in a foreign language to provide assignments that would help each student acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities specified in the discipline's curriculum.

A common situation in the Master's degree student groups is that young graduates exhibit a superior command of English compared to individuals with professional experience who completed their education several, and at times, many years ago. But the latter group possesses a deeper understanding of their professional duties, job responsibilities, and related areas of expertise. While learning Business English, they actively assess the choice of instructional materials, engaging in continual evaluation what they do and providing examples from their own experiences in negotiating and contract signing, among other relevant situations. But a Business English teacher is a linguist who is not a specialist in a particular field or discipline, and it is not his or her responsibility to teach students their job-oriented subjects.

The main attribute of teaching Business English is the ability to explain language material to students, to detect shortcomings in students' language skills, and to focus on their language needs. Moreover, a teacher cannot stay away from the professional aspects of the speciality to be able to increase students' motivation. Their primary task is to teach students how to communicate in a foreign language in their specialized field. Any teacher in general, and a foreign language teacher in particular, needs to remember that their task is not to provide students with answers to all their questions, but to teach them how to acquire knowledge on their own, which they will use in the future. The task of an English language instructor is to facilitate the development of language proficiency of future specialists in their respective fields, enabling them to effectively communicate in a foreign language in their professional area using various tools. Through effective organization of learning activities, the teacher will ... develop their thinking, scientific guesswork and intuition, a critical approach to the information contained in the texts, encourage them to be both active and creative when reading texts and in other types of speech communication [7].

The professional orientation requires the integration of Business English with the specialized disciplines of the "Public Management and Administration" speciality to teach students to use a foreign language as a means of systematically updating professional knowledge on the basis of interdisciplinary connections. The selection of topics for study should be related to other professional disciplines of the curriculum, such as GR-management, Public Policy and Governance, Law in Public Administration, Strategy of Social Development and Territorial Management, Public Policy, International Integration and Security. This approach to the material selection requires precision; it should be focused on the latest achievements in the professional field and give the students the opportunity for further professional growth.

According to the discipline curriculum, the objective of the Business English course is to develop students' receptive and productive skills in such types of speech activities as listening, reading, speaking, and writing [6]. However, the ultimate goal of teaching speaking, namely dialogic speech, is to develop the skills to conduct a conversation, exchange professional information on a particular topic; teaching monologue speech develops the capacity to compose diverse monologue texts, including conveying professional information, delivering speeches, presenting reports, and expressing viewpoints during professional discussions. Reading skills include the ability to read various styles and genres of specialized literature publications. Learning writing skills means developing the communicative competence necessary for written communication in the area of the profession.

One of the most interesting and a necessary topic of the course is Cultural Diversity and Socializing, which addresses issues that are especially relevant to managers: Welcoming Visitors, Cross-cultural Understanding. Students create dialogues based on flow charts, learn how to start and maintain a small talk conversation: how to keep the conversation going. The lesson regarding this subject includes doing exercises to fill in the missing sentences after listening to a dialogue, matching the pictures to one of the conversation extracts. While learning the writing skills, the students are to write a reply to the letter they received from their partner about confirming the meeting.

One more prevalent topic in Business English is Using the Telephone. This topic is universal because any professional, regardless of their speciality or field of activity, must be able to conduct a business telephone conversation. Students learn formulas and standard phrases for greeting people on the phone, starting a conversation, setting up and changing the time of appointments by phone, solving problems by phone, etc. Appropriate exercises include listening to telephone conversations, working on memorizing typical phrases, filling in missing phrases in a dialogue, and finally, composing dialogues with a partner.

For management professionals, the topic Telephoning across Cultures is very important. Every country has its own code of etiquette. What to use - first names or last names, would it be familiarity or not in different countries in Europe, Asia and America - these matters are in the scope for a teacher of Business English. The most suitable exercises are: make up the dialogues based on the prompts; work in pairs; role-play the dialogues.

The Presentation is also a universal topic, but suitable not only for management professionals; the skill of making a presentation should be mastered by professionals in various fields. However, for managers presenting socially significant projects, reports, or vice versa, submitting a project for funding in the future, the ability to make and introduce a presentation is crucial. The classes cover such issues as Presentation techniques and preparation. Here they learn to find examples of good and bad technique. They also study the audience (experts or non-experts); longevity of presentation (5-10 minutes, 20 minutes, two hours etc.); policy on questions (interruption, afterwards questions or discussion after the presentation). Then the students in detail learn the structure of presentation: they plan to compile the beginning (the introduction to a presentation): they are given the exercises to choose essential, useful and not necessary phrases, marking them accordingly. As a conclusion to the beginning of the presentation they are asked to give a one minute introduction to a talk on any topic they like.

The special attention is paid to using visual aids. The instructor presents the video how to create excellent visual aids and the students discuss it, stressing what they liked or disliked. After this discussion they are provided with some exercises such as:

1. Imagine using the graph below in a presentation. Suggest how you would describe it. Use the prompts.

2. Draw a line graph for use in your presentation. Choose any situation, real or imagined. Then present the graph as you would in a presentation. Your description should last no more than a minute.

Another topic of considerable interest and importance for managers is how to keep the audience's attention. While presenting the main body of a presentation, one should use signaling different parts in a presentation: ending the introduction, beginning the main body, listing, linking words, sequencing. The best type of exercises for this part is situations where the students are given the roles of consultants who should choose the right tender out of many. The assignments may be as follows: Present an overview of each tender to senior executives of the company, using the images, digits, graphs, visual aids if necessary [11].

While learning the part of Summarizing and Conclusion, the possible exercises would be to ask students to prepare the part of a short presentation in two to three minutes on any topic they know well. Other students should ask the one with the presentation for more details, for clarification, paraphrase what he said, offer more information based on their experience. Then they should repeat the exercise until all participants have completed their parts of presentations and answered questions afterward.

The special role for the future specialists in public management is given to the topic Meetings. From the outset of the topic they should explore:

- The types of meetings (brainstorming, project meeting, department meeting, board meeting, annual general meeting, meeting with suppliers, with a customer);

- The role of the Chairperson (before the meeting, in running the meeting and follow-up, in asking for and expressing opinions);

- Discussion techniques: students learn the special phrases to be used for interrupting, referring back, checking understanding, avoiding confrontation. They should also differentiate the meeting outcomes: agreement, disagreement, consensus and compromise.

The exercises that students do in the classroom could include the following:

- suggest phrases that could be used by a chairperson in the following situations in the meeting;

- work out a brief agenda, with an appropriate order, for a meeting of a company;

- in pairs, prepare a brief opening statement by the Chairman to introduce the meeting;

- suggest appropriate interruptions to complete the dialogue;

- suggest examples of the interruptions to ask for clarification, to add opinion, to ask for more details, to change direction of the discussion, to disagree;

- imagine you are at a meeting. With a partner, use the clues to make a dialogue. Use the new language from this topic.

- Work in groups of three or four. You should choose one of the situations given. Your group should prepare closing remarks, including the summary based on one of the sets of notes presented here. Mention any follow-up action that needs to be taken. Make sure everyone presents his/her closing remarks.

- Participate in a role-play. Decide on your roles from the alternatives given. Study your card information, the background information and the agenda. (Students are given ten minutes to prepare for the meeting).

Conclusions. The role of Business English in the training of a future professional in Public Management and Administration cannot be overestimated. The professional should have capacity to multitask, develop an appropriate task formulation, effectively convey information to subordinates and colleagues, and manage documentation and business correspondence to ensure smooth operation of a company or institution. To attain true professionalism, possessing the skills to perform these responsibilities in one's native language is insufficient. Proficiency in Business English is required because it is essential to meet the demands of the professional sphere.

To improve the foreign language proficiency of the students, pursuing a Master's degree in Public Management and Administration, Business English teachers selected special topics, which are of interest to the students, the emphasis in teaching Business English is on the effectiveness of its use in the professional activities of a future specialist, rather than on the level of language proficiency.

The mechanism for unlocking the development potential of Business English is utilizing educational technologies with the specialized approach to learning (business games, trainings, role-plays, reflective learning, and development of critical thinking).

Further scientific research on the matter can concern the role of Business English acquisition by students majoring in Public Management in distance learning.

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discipline business english masters public management

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