General English Attrition and Its Significance for Business English Teaching/Learning of Prospective Economists

Abstract

Summaryis article summarizes some of the findings of a large-scale study of the foreign language needs of economics students (Čepon 2007). It focuses on the rationale behind the lengthy period of disuse of general English (GE) during economics students' first year of undergraduate study. e article presents evidence for processes of GE attrition that slowly set in and are deemed to be particularly detrimental to economics. It is also important to determine exactly which language needs are essential for the future professional development of the economics graduates. It is hoped that this will spur foreign language policy renewal. Key words: business English, needs analysis, language attrition, language teaching, economics PovzetekPričujoči članek povzema določene ugotovitve iz večje raziskave, za potrebe katere smo opravili več vrst analiz potreb in tako pridobili podatke o jezikovnih potrebah študentov ekonomije. V prispevku navajamo rezultate iz raziskave o začetkih procesov pozabljanja tujega jezika pri študentih ekonomije, zato je poudarjena resnost slabega vpliva eno-/večletnega obdobja nerabe angleščine v 1. letniku, ko na fakulteti ni organiziranih predavanj iz tujega jezika. Članek se zaključi s priporočilom o uvedbi pouka tujega jezika že v 1. letnik, saj bi s tem omogočili prepotrebno stalnost v učenju tujega jezika.