Multilingualism at all Costs: Language Use and Language Needs in Business in Brussels

Mettewie, Laurence; Mensel, Luk Van

doi:10.1515/9783484605879.131

Cited by 22 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…A diachronic perspective on the ample studies that have engaged with multilingual landscapes in Brussels (Tulp ; Wenzel ; Vandenbroucke ) and Amsterdam (Edelman ) suggests the (omni)presence of English has increased significantly over recent years. Given the interest of politicians in both capitals in granting English (semi‐)official status, the fact that English proficiency is deemed indispensable and highly desired in higher‐range job markets (see Mettewie and Van Mensel for Brussels) and that English proficiency is also promoted by Brussels policy‐makers and academics (see http://www.marnixplan.org), the local importance of English will only continue to increase.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Proficient use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is omnipresent and pervasive in Europe (Seidlhofer, Breiteneder and Pitzl 2006), and in Amsterdam and Brussels where English functions as one of the go-to political, tourist, diplomatic or professional shop-floor working languages (Mettewie and Van Mensel 2009;Edelman 2010;Janssens 2013). In both nations, English is also given a prominent place in education, both as a language of instruction and in foreign language teaching from primary school onwards (Edelman 2010;Janssens, Mamadouh and Maracz 2013).…”

Section: Amsterdam and Brussels As Research Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Socio‐economic stratification of English in globalized landscapes: A market‐oriented perspective

Vandenbroucke

2016

Journal of Sociolinguistics

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Globalization has dramatically altered the urban societies of Amsterdam and Brussels over recent decades, with intensified socio‐economic inequality, unprecedented levels of multilingualism and the increasing importance of English. In this paper, I examine the use of English in the linguistic landscape of socio‐economically stratified commercial shopping streets in these two second‐tier global cities. I adopt a market‐oriented, contextualized approach to quantitative and qualitative variability in how English emerges in these particular commercial ‘linguistic markets’. McDonaldization in midscale shopping streets occurs alongside downscale and upscale uses of English which are more susceptible to local commercial dynamics, in particular in Brussels. As such, global English in these single city contexts emerges as a heterogeneous and scaled phenomenon shaped by specific local commercial and linguistic market conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Amsterdam and Brussels As Research Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio‐economic stratification of English in globalized landscapes: A market‐oriented perspective

Vandenbroucke

2016

Journal of Sociolinguistics

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“…However, while bilinguals (Dutch-French) and multilinguals (Dutch-French-English) are much needed on the job market (Mettewie & Van Mensel, 2009), traditional FL classes in mainstream (monolingual) education in Belgium fail to deliver satisfying results in terms of language skills (Ginsburgh & Weber, 2007;Janssens, 2008). Research pointed out the important role of socio-affective variables in this matter.…”

Section: The Language Learning Context In Belgiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Classroom anxiety and enjoyment in CLIL and non-CLIL: Does the target language matter?

Smet

Mettewie

Galand

et al. 2018

SSLLT

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This study investigates pupils' anxiety and enjoyment in the classroom when learning a second or foreign language. The particularity of this study lies in the comparison of two target languages (English and Dutch) in two educational contexts (CLIL and non-CLIL) at different instruction levels (primary and secondary education). While most research on content and language integrated learning (CLIL) focuses on English as a target language, the Belgian context calls for a comparison with the language of the "other" community, in this case Dutch.Audrey De Smet, Laurence Mettewie, Benoit Galand, Philippe Hiligsmann, Luk Van Mensel 48 Data were collected from 896 pupils in French-speaking Belgium through a selfreport questionnaire measuring pupils' anxiety and enjoyment in the classroom, along with background characteristics. Results indicate that while CLIL pupils experience significantly less anxiety than their non-CLIL counterparts, English learners report significantly less anxiety and more enjoyment than Dutch learners. This suggests an important role of the target language for emotional engagement in the classroom and calls for further investigation into the role of target language perceptions. Finally, the interactions with instruction level reveal that while primary school pupils report stronger emotions, the effects of CLIL and English are much larger at secondary level.

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“…In multilingual countries like Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, we also find multilingual staff in service-oriented enterprises—banks, assurance companies, travel agencies, railway box offices, and supermarkets—who are able to flexibly shift to a language that works for their customers (Bothorel-Witz & Choremi, 2009; Franziskus, 2012; Kingsley, 2009; Lüdi, Barth, Höchle, & Yanaprasart, 2009; Mettewie & Van Mensel, 2009).…”

Section: Multilingual Workplaces In Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Multilingualism in the Workplace

Gunnarsson¹

2013

Ann Rev Appl Linguist

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This survey article presents studies on multilingualism in the workplace carried out in different regions. One aim is to give a cross-cultural picture of workplace studies on different languages, and another is to discuss both positive and problem-based accounts of multilingualism at work. The conditions for workplace discourse have been influenced by a series of changes taking place in recent decades. Technological advances have led to new types of networks and workplaces, making linguistic issues salient, at the same time as many low-paid workers are found in traditional jobs, for which the face-to face interaction is central. A model is presented, the aim of which is to grasp the complex and dynamic interplay between workplace discourse and its various contextual frames. Overviews of studies on multilingualism at work are discussed with a focus on workplaces in the inner, outer, and expanding English circles; in transnational companies; and in multilingual regions and English lingua franca workplaces in Europe. Workplaces with workforce diversity are also dealt with. In the discussion section, the scope is enlarged and workplace discourse is related to various contextual frameworks. Finally, some key topics for future studies are sketched.

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Multilingualism at all Costs: Language Use and Language Needs in Business in Brussels

Cited by 22 publications

References 0 publications

Socio‐economic stratification of English in globalized landscapes: A market‐oriented perspective

Socio‐economic stratification of English in globalized landscapes: A market‐oriented perspective

Classroom anxiety and enjoyment in CLIL and non-CLIL: Does the target language matter?

Multilingualism in the Workplace

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