Tertiary education ESP program delivery in Vietnam and language practices in globalised workplaces: examining the extent of alignment

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigated the language resources needed for communication in Vietnam’s import/export services and the level of alignment with the associated English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. To examine the communicative practices used in this workplace, the study employed methods of semi-structured interviews and a collection of 48 emails and eight phonecalls adopted to interact with customers. Similarly, semi-structured interviews and ESP teaching materials were administered to explore teachers’ practices and the language input. The findings indicate an increasingly valuable variety of English as a lingua franca (ELF) which is identified in particular genres with different choices of registers and stylistic features adapted to communicative conditions in the fluid globalised workplace. Given the agility and unpredictability of work in a globalised setting, the analysis shows how the workers’ mobile language repertoire is not tied to the criterion of linguistic accuracy, but rather favours the achievement of meaning and function. However, the adaptable, truncated ‘good enough’ language used in the workplace does not align with the lexicogrammatical focus of the ESP course. The study contributes to understandings of alignment in ESP curricula and materials redevelopment in times of globalisation and countries such as Vietnam where ELF is used for international interactions.