Linguistics and Literature Studies Vol. 3(2), pp. 50 - 57
DOI: 10.13189/lls.2015.030203
Reprint (PDF) (231Kb)

Communicative Competence in Professional Discourse

Halina Wisniewska ^*
International Business Communication Section, Kozminski University, Warsaw

ABSTRACT

Steadily increasing global connectivity, integration and interdependence affect workplace relations, which have to be adapted to the new reality. Global workers need to know how to operate in new, often challenging environment, how to understand cultural diversity and ethical issues. Communicative competence, a skill that is top-ranked by employers, is essential for establishing appropriate interpersonal and professional relationships that allow building trust and lead to successful workplace communication. It includes all the behaviors and feelings that exist between the participants of the communication process and which govern interactions. Developing communicative competence that enables global workers to improve the quality of interpersonal workplace relationships requires acquiring verbal, non-verbal and relational competence to a similar degree. Right choice of lexical items and making use of specific language features can contribute to the effectiveness of workplace communication as much as the use of non-linguistic elements or cross-cultural knowledge. Not less important are personal communication skills of business language users. Unfortunately, raising students' awareness of unique workplace discourse characteristics is not always adequately addressed by business courses instructors or teachers. The results of Laster and Russ's cross-disciplinary study [1] show differences in approaches to teaching communication skills, types and amount of time spent on particular assignments. The course content may depend to a significant degree on how communicative competence in professional discourse is understood by the programe designer. Some confusion may result from a plethora of definitions varying in length and scope, from very simple to much more complex. There is a need to unify the knowledge and experience of scholars and practitioners to better understand the complex nature of professional communication.

KEYWORDS
Business Communication, Metadiscourse, Communicative Competence, Intercultural Awareness

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Halina Wisniewska , "Communicative Competence in Professional Discourse," Linguistics and Literature Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 50 - 57, 2015. DOI: 10.13189/lls.2015.030203.

(b). APA Format:
Halina Wisniewska (2015). Communicative Competence in Professional Discourse. Linguistics and Literature Studies, 3(2), 50 - 57. DOI: 10.13189/lls.2015.030203.