Language sensitivity development as a response to challenges of professional communication in business schools

Abstract

The study is aimed at the research of language and communicative skills development in students at the borders of subject knowledge in business and management when operating in the interdisciplinary/cross-functional context. Design of the concept of cultivating language sensitivity has become one of the key learning outcomes of the study. The principles of the latter formulated the basics for the integrated course “Language of Professional Communication” developed for Master’s Degree Programmes “Corporate Finance”, “Business Analytics and Big Data”, “Smart City Management” in the Graduate School of Management, Saint Petersburg University. The empirical data obtained from semi-structured in-depth interviews held among the stakeholders of business education — employers, academic directors, professors, students and graduates — made it possible to formulate the main professional communicative challenges that graduates of business schools face. These professional communicative challenges have been incorporated into the course as the key elements that facilitate cultivation of integrated language, communication and subject-specific competences by placing them in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary groups, thus achieving the maximum scope of diversity. The concept of the course aimed to cultivate language sensitivity creates all necessary conditions for preparing students of business schools to cross-functional professional activity in modern companies and increase their employability.