Engineering Improved Communication in the Workplace

1. Engineering Improved Communication in the Workplace Tracey Derwing Dept. of Educational Psychology, U of A PMC Research Symposium, Edmonton, January 23, 2009

2. Acknowledgements • Murray Munro • Ron Thomson • Jacqui Dumas • Anna DeLuca • Paul Holmes • Participants & their employers • SSHRC

4. Petrochemical & Construction Companies • Hiring foreign-trained professionals

5. Petrochemical & Construction Companies Job Requirements • Emphasis on teamwork • Language requirements: - oral skills while working in project teams with other employees - writing reports for clients

6. Workplace Study • Human Resources personnel - interview • ESL/Culture Instructor - interview • 15 NNS employees - interviews • 24 NS employees - questionnaires • Observations of both NS & NNS training

7. Human Resources Interview • Dwindling pool of Canadians • Lots of foreign-trained professionals • We need to tap into this pool

8. Problem Areas Verbal communication • feedback from Canadian employees having trouble understanding immigrants Written communication • “it was pretty obvious from the first report”

9. Job Shadowing carried out by instructor - every type of communication in the company

10. Three Courses • Taught Friday afternoons on employees’ own time • 3 hours x 12 weeks

11. Three Courses 1. clear speech

12. Three Courses 1. clear speech 2. conversational management

13. Three Courses 1. clear speech 2. conversational management 3. accelerated language acquisition

14. NNSs • 15 respondents - Columbia, China, Philippines, India, Venezuela, Pakistan, Bangladesh • 10 males, 5 females • Mean age = 42 (range = 34-55) • Mean LOR = 5y (range =1y - 14y) • 7 studied English in Canada

15. NNSs Was the EWP course helpful? Oh, yeah, a lot - I was introduced to the Canadian workplace culture. Yeah, sure, it helped but it was too short. The culture aspect was the most helpful. Ah, yes, definitely … I think this course could help me in the future. The focus on speaking and communication was most helpful.

16. NNSs Was the EWP course helpful? I took Phase 1 but because the classroom changed several times I went there but we couldn’t find the classroom. I couldn’t take it - because this is the cultural issue, because Fridays - you know we have a special prayer on that day, so it is coming between the prayer. That is sort of a compulsory thing for us, so unfortunately I could not attend it. But I’d love to attend these kinds of things.

17. NNSs Are you happy in your job? Ah yes…just sometimes maybe I have a little bit of difficulty, I mean for this language… but it’s getting better I’m getting cooperation. People are friendly … acceptance value is more. And the main thing is management is aware of immigrant limitations, so it’s easy to move ahead.

18. NNSs Socializing

19. NNSs Socializing • most eat lunch alone or with other immigrants

20. NNSs Socializing • most eat lunch alone or with other immigrants • little indication of socializing after work

21. NNSs Socializing • most eat lunch alone or with other immigrants • little indication of socializing after work • 2/15 report having close Canadian-born friends

22. NS Employee Reactions

23. NS Employee Reactions

24. NSs on Their ESL Colleagues Yes. Both harder to understand AND harder to be understood. The analogies that I tend to use are not easily translated. The time delay required for them to translate what I say, think in their native language, then translate to English and share it is painful for a person with little patience to spare. Humour is completely lost a lot of the time.

25. NS Employee Reactions

26. NSs on Their NNS Colleagues • Yes, sometimes their accent is too dominant. I seriously can’t understand them sometimes. Sometimes I feel they don’t have a strong enough vocabulary, which results in their explanations of things to be somewhat unclear.

27. NS Employee Reactions

28. NSs on ESL Colleagues Yes, takes much longer to explain. You have to have patience and speak very slowly and patience to listen as well. Words chosen must be proper English, not slang. Some pronunciation is difficult to understand.

29. NSs on ESL Colleagues Yes – hard to understand what they are saying and hard to use vocabulary that they will understand. Frustrating to adapt to language level.

30. NSs on ESL Colleagues Yes, longer time, rework, mistakes, wasted budgets, poor quality products, hurt feelings and broken relationships especially as deadlines approach (or pass).

31. NS Employee Reactions

32. NS Employee Reactions

33. NS Employee Reactions

34. NS Expectations of NNS Coworkers “Practice” Practice with speakers of native language; at home Enunciate, speak slower Learn more about the culture and norms of our conversation Give up L1 altogether Try not to be shy; interact more with all coworkers

35. An EWP Course for NS Managers Managerial considerations • résumés • cross-cultural communications in general • cross-cultural conflict - gender - sexual harassment - washroom issues (eg spitting) • leadership in the company

36. An EWP Course for NSs Managers have found the course to be eye-opening.

37. NS Expectations of NNS Coworkers Try not to be shy; interact more with all coworkers

38. Willingness to Communicate • McCroskey. J. C. & Richmond V. P. (1991). Willingness to communicate: A cognitive view. In M. Booth-Butterfield (ed.) Communication, cognition & anxiety. Newbury Park, CA: Sage • MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z. & Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. Modern Language Journal, 82, 545-562.

39. Willingness to Communicate

40. Willingness to Communicate • Derwing, Munro & Thomson (2008) A longitudinal study of ESL learners’ fluency and comprehensibility development. Applied Linguistics, 29 (3), 339-358. • Russians’ oral fluency > Mandarins’ oral fluency after two years in Canada

41. Willingness to Communicate • Motivational Propensities

42. Willingness to Communicate • Motivational Propensities “We just need to practice and gain confidence when we speak with others. This is first. And second, I think we need to get some cultural stuff, like being assertive, and yeah, I think this will be helpful.”

43. Willingness to Communicate • Motivational Propensities • Affective-Cognitive Context

44. Willingness to Communicate • Motivational Propensities • Affective-Cognitive Context “ It’s a multicultural company who has employees that come from different regions, but the company accepts multiculture and encourages people to express themselves with confidence in what you specialize in. So I think it’s a good company, it’s a good environment and the people around here … respect each other. So yeah, I’m happy.”

45. Willingness to Communicate • Motivational Propensities • Affective-Cognitive Context • Social and Individual Context

46. Willingness to Communicate • Motivational Propensities • Affective-Cognitive Context • Social and Individual Context “I still lack courage. I want to talk to them but that’s my experience - I don’t know why.” “If I meet anybody, I will talk.”

47. Willingness to Communicate Native speaker reactions

48. Willingness to Communicate Native speaker reactions “It’s like talking to a child” “We [the company] have a wide variety of strengths of accents” “Culture is probably one of the biggest issues. Not being able to tell manager they don’t understand, and manager just assuming comprehension because there are no questions”

49. Willingness to Communicate Native speaker reactions “Some people are very ‘redneck’ and are not willing to take the time required or apply the required patience”

50. Willingness to Communicate Use WTC framework to analyze all aspects of workplace communication