English for Work and the Workplace in Sub Saharan Africa

Paul Woods English Manager Sub Saharan Africa,

British Council, Gaborone

in the former British colonies where English is frequently both the second or national language and the medium of instruction in schools

in other countries where French Spanish or Portuguese is the national language and English is generally taught only as a secondary school subject

at different levels, (secondary, vocational and tertiary)

“Globalisation has led to a desperate race in many countries to upgrade the skills of their workforce faster than their economies are being forced up the value chain. Building human capacity has become a process of chasing an ever-moving target. Rather than achieving well-established goals, it is now about institutionalising flexibility, creativity and innovation and the management skills required to generate and cope with constant change.” (D Graddol)

English for Work and the Workplace in Africa has surfaced as a hot topic

The relevance and affordability of what is taught In schools - the need to relate what is taught much more closely

to the needs of employers and industry At tertiary level – the need to relate the language required for

academic study with the language needed as a medium for professional communication and for employment

The need for ESP to re-invent itself, to cater for the specialised language needs of different sectors, eg business and commerce, mining (in S Africa), the oil industry (in Nigeria, Sudan and Angola)

The need for language tests which are relevant to workplace needs – eg Trinity has just introduced an exam in Spoken English for Work (SEW)

Appropriate curricula and materials for English for Work

Issues include

Adejoke Jibiwo, presenting research and solutions to the problem of graduates lacking essential communication skills in the workplace in Nigeria. In resource-poor environments we cannot afford to teach academic courses in ESP which are unrelated to the future needs of graduates in workplace contexts

Nigussie Negash, describing how university courses have been re-engineered in Ethiopia.

Leonardo Mack describing steps being taken in Angola to meet specific needs and to improve the quality of EL training for the Oil industry. Vocational Education,

Sunday Sotarius from Nigeria telling us how he has reinvigorated Vocational ESP teaching for secretarial and agricultural workers using innovative techniques involving literature and Nollywood movies.

Papers later today from Africa will include

British Council is currently developing a global Skills for Employability Project with five strands, one of which is “English for Work”. We expect this to be highly relevant to employers and educators across Africa.

We began last year with a two-day regional symposium in July 2008 in Johannesburg

The objective was to bring together representatives from technical and vocational education, English language researchers and practitioners, ministry officials, academics and other interested parties from the Southern Africa region including people from government training agencies and employers to discuss the English language needs of employees in the workplace.

The symposium attracted 60 participants from South Africaand other countries in the region including Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia and helped to set the tone for future developments.

Skills for Employability

Fourteen speakers gave presentations on topics including the effectiveness of different languages and the role of English, bridging the school-to-work gap, and broadening the accreditation process.

One of the most interesting papers was on the role and future of Funakalo (a pidgin used underground mainly for giving orders and swearing) in the mines in South Africa. Although Funakalo is the lingua franca and language of induction for 500,000 miners underground, its use frequently causes accidents and distorts messages. Research has shown that nearly 90% of South African miners support replacing Funakalo with English.

Opening the Symposium, Tyobeka Palesa highlighted the need for effective communication through both English and indigenous languages. In South Africa, SETAs have done extensive work on defining the communication requirements of different sectors but these specifications have tended to be generic rather than language-specific.

The 2008 Symposium on English for Work

Bringing together 30 English for Work practitioners from all over Sub-Saharan Africa, half from S Africa, half from other countries including Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sudan and Zimbabwe for a hands-on practical workshop focusing on classroom teaching at school and university levels

Jointly organised by British Council, SATEIL, the IATEFL ESP SIG and partly funded by the A. S Hornby Educational Trust.

Course Director is Mark Krzanowski and Course Tutors a\re Christine Winberg of Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Bernard Nchindila of UNISA

Hornby School on English for Work: Curricula, Materials and Methods in Cape Town, 20-24 April 2009

The British Council Skills for Employability Global Project LEADERS

INFLUENCERS ASPIRANTS

International research on the “economic value of

English”

Flagship event to promote research publication

Pathway of products and services for developing English

in educational institutions

Regional symposia

Pathway of products and services for

developing English in educational institutions

Specific tools to help institutions to develop

quality English language training for

the workplace

English language resources for learners who will be entering or

progressing through the world of work

Online showcase of the British Council and UK

offer