Conceptual Transition from English as a Foreign Language to BELF

Abstract

Business professionals, who use English language in their daily interactions at global corporate companies in Turkey, have been educated within the paradigm of teaching and learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). However, as most of their interactions in business world take place with speakers of other languages in multilingual/cultural settings, these professionals' use of English language as Lingua Franca (ELF) may commence to function in different domains with different purposes and communicative outcomes within the paradigm of BELF. However, to our best knowledge, how business professionals in Turkey use and conceptualize English language in their daily business domains and how they position themselves as users of English and BELF have not been investigated. With this aim in mind, we conducted a research with 19 business professionals working at global companies in Istanbul. The data was collected through a survey administered with 19 business professionals and semi-structured interviews with five informants working in top positions at those companies which serve global customers. The findings of the study revealed that business professionals in Turkey are in a state of flux between the two paradigms - i.e., EFL and ELF toward the construction of BELF because EFL and ELF co-exist in their minds.