Dick Tucker, TIRF Trustee

Tony Fitzpatrick, Co-author of TIRF's Forthcoming Publication

You are cordially invited to attend the TIRF presentation at the TESOL Convention in Philadelphia. The main presenter will be Tony Fitzpatrick, one of the authors of TIRF’s new monograph, English at Work: An Analysis of Case Reports of English Language Training for the 21st-century Workforce. He will summarize the literature review, explain the research design, and report on the findings of the study. TIRF Trustee Dick Tucker will serve as the discussant. 

The presentation will be held in room 203-A of the Convention Center from 10:00 to 11:45 AM on Thursday, March 29, 2012. We are planning to offer a coffee and tea service before the presentation begins, as an opportunity for attendees to network with TIRF’s Board members, some of our grant recipients, and other professionals who are concerned about the effective uses of English in business, industry, and the professions.

TIRF Board members, Jun Liu (left), Kathi Bailey (center), and David Nunan at TIRF's 2011 panel presentation

At the 2011 TESOL Convention held in New Orleans this past March, several TIRF Board members participated in a panel presentation entitled, “Regional Perspectives on English: Current Status and Future Trends.” The panelists addressed the current status of English and predicted future trends in various parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Issues included promoting research and best practices to improve the use of English in the global knowledge economy.

At this time, you may visit TIRF’s SlideShare channel to view the Power Point presentations the Board members gave at TESOL. TIRF’s SlideShare channel can be found online by clicking here. The three Board members’ slidecasts can be found by clicking on the links next to their names below.

• Ana Sylvia Ramirez – “Current Status of ELT: An Overview of Two Countries“
• Jun Liu – “The Impact of English in China: An Insider’s Perspective from Outside”
• Michael Carrier – “Regional Perspectives: Europe“

Furthermore, in global companies where managers don’t possess deep language skills, we believe there will be severe negative economic impacts. Research shows that language barriers cost companies more than the money required to pay interpreters or translate documents. The real cost of the language barrier is that it “distorts and damages relationships,” according to a 2003 article by A.J. Feely and A.W. Harzing in Cross Cultural Management. Miscommunication can cause companies to lose potential clients or fail to deliver products and services.

Other experts also cite the impact of language skills in the workplace. “Addressing business issues from multiple perspectives has become a critical mandate in business education,” says Yuwei Shi, Dean of the Graduate School of International Policy and Management at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. “Language is essential to cross-cultural and cross-sector understanding.”

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The presentation was entitled “Research Evidence and the Global Economic Role of English.” Our panelists were Lorraine de Matos (Cultura Inglesa, São Paulo, Brazil), Reece Duca (GlobalEnglish Corporation), and Michael Carrier (the British Council).

Three TIRF Board members — Lorraine de Matos, Michael Carrier and Reece Duca — gave presentations related to TIRF’s Key Questions initiatives.

Hear the Board members talk about the Key Questions Initiative.

TIRF Trustees Dick Tucker and Joanne Dresner attend the panel presentation.

Richard Boyum (left) chats with Trustee Donna Christian. In 1998, Boyum served as the TESOL Board of Directors liaison to the committee which did the initial research that led to the beginning of the foundation.

TIRF Trustees Reece Duca and Michael Carrier share a coffee before their panel presentation.

This is the finding of a report published by The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF), a US-based funding organisation.

The report, The Impact of English and Plurilingualism in Global Corporations, highlights the role of English as a lingua franca in business but also stresses the need for companies to recruit and train multilingual staff.

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