Teaching and Learning in Finance:

Lingua franca English and the global business school

May 4, 2015

This workshop foregrounds the role English plays in the teaching of finance. It does so in a number of
ways, but our starting point is communication across language boundaries. As in many global
business schools (and businesses) English functions as a lingua franca (LF), i.e. a shared language used
for practical purposes without usually being any party’s native language. While language is always an
important interface for learning, this interface works differently in lingua franca environments.

Therefore at our workshop we will address the following questions in ways that should apply fairly
directly to your day-to-day teaching.

Question 1: What does research tell us about lingua franca English in higher education? Our answers
here will primarily examine the strategies teachers and learners apply when neither party necessarily
has perfect command of the language of instruction. Our method here is largely to review the
published research and develop a toolbox for your classrooms.

Question 2: What role does language (English) play in your finance courses? This is an open-ended
question, but by developing concrete and specific examples we can systematically determine which
combinations of LF strategies are most suitable for different teaching situations. Our method here
begins with small-group work where you will generate as complete a list as possible of the learning-
related work language does for you in your courses.

Question 3: How, if at all, can direct improvements of our English lead to improvements in the
teaching-learning environment? To begin answering this question, we will develop individual English-
in-the-Classroom inventories. We can then compare these inventories to various hierarchies for
success and, where appropriate and desirable, develop action plans for short and medium range
enrichment of participants’ English resources. While we begin addressing this question in the group
workshop, action plans for enrichment will be handled on an individual basis.

Preparation: There is no preparation required, but anyone interested can begin thinking about the
language/learning interface by reading Chapter 12 of Mårtensson, Bild & Nilsson, Teaching and
Learning at Business Schools.