Engineering Improved
Communication in the
Workplace
Tracey Derwing
Dept. of Educational Psychology, U of A
PMC Research Symposium, Edmonton,
January 23, 2009
Acknowledgements
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Murray Munro
Ron Thomson
Jacqui Dumas
Anna DeLuca
Paul Holmes
Participants & their employers
SSHRC
Petrochemical &
Construction Companies
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Hiring foreign-trained professionals
Petrochemical &
Construction Companies
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Job Requirements
Emphasis on teamwork
Language requirements:
- oral skills while working in project
teams with other employees
- writing reports for clients
Workplace Study
• Human Resources personnel - interview
• ESL/Culture Instructor - interview
• 15 NNS employees - interviews
• 24 NS employees - questionnaires
• Observations of both NS & NNS training
Human Resources Interview
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Dwindling pool of Canadians
Lots of foreign-trained professionals
We need to tap into this pool
Problem Areas
Verbal communication
• feedback from Canadian employees having
trouble understanding immigrants
Written communication
• “it was pretty obvious from the first report”
Job Shadowing
carried out by instructor every type of communication in the company
Three Courses
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Taught Friday afternoons on
employees’ own time
3 hours x 12 weeks
Three Courses
1. clear speech
Three Courses
1. clear speech
2. conversational management
Three Courses
1. clear speech
2. conversational management
3. accelerated language acquisition
NNSs
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15 respondents - Columbia, China,
Philippines, India, Venezuela, Pakistan,
Bangladesh
10 males, 5 females
Mean age = 42 (range = 34-55)
Mean LOR = 5y (range =1y - 14y)
7 studied English in Canada
NNSs
Was the EWP course helpful?
Oh, yeah, a lot - I was introduced to the Canadian
workplace culture.
Yeah, sure, it helped but it was too short. The culture
aspect was the most helpful.
Ah, yes, definitely … I think this course could help me in
the future.
The focus on speaking and communication was most
helpful.
NNSs
Was the EWP course helpful?
I took Phase 1 but because the classroom changed
several times I went there but we couldn’t find the
classroom.
I couldn’t take it - because this is the cultural issue,
because Fridays - you know we have a special prayer
on that day, so it is coming between the prayer. That is
sort of a compulsory thing for us, so unfortunately I
could not attend it. But I’d love to attend these kinds of
things.
NNSs
Are you happy in your job?
Ah yes…just sometimes maybe I have a little bit of
difficulty, I mean for this language… but it’s getting
better
I’m getting cooperation. People are friendly …
acceptance value is more. And the main thing is
management is aware of immigrant limitations, so it’s
easy to move ahead.
NNSs
Socializing
NNSs
Socializing
• most eat lunch alone or with other immigrants
NNSs
Socializing
• most eat lunch alone or with other immigrants
• little indication of socializing after work
NNSs
Socializing
• most eat lunch alone or with other immigrants
• little indication of socializing after work
• 2/15 report having close Canadian-born friends
NS Employee Reactions
Question
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Yes No N/A
NS Employee Reactions
Question
1. More effort with ESL than NS?
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Yes No N/A
22
1
1
NSs on Their ESL Colleagues
Yes. Both harder to understand AND harder to be
understood. The analogies that I tend to use are not
easily translated. The time delay required for them to
translate what I say, think in their native language, then
translate to English and share it is painful for a person
with little patience to spare. Humour is completely lost a
lot of the time.
NS Employee Reactions
Question
Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS?
22
1
2. Difficulty comm. with NNS?
22
2
3.
4.
5.
6.
1
NSs on Their NNS Colleagues
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Yes, sometimes their accent is too
dominant. I seriously can’t understand
them sometimes. Sometimes I feel they
don’t have a strong enough vocabulary,
which results in their explanations of
things to be somewhat unclear.
NS Employee Reactions
Question
Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS?
22
1
2. Difficulty comm. with NNS?
22
2
3. NNSs have problems comm.?
24
4.
5.
6.
1
NSs on ESL Colleagues
Yes, takes much longer to explain. You have
to have patience and speak very slowly and
patience to listen as well. Words chosen
must be proper English, not slang. Some
pronunciation is difficult to understand.
NSs on ESL Colleagues
Yes – hard to understand what they are
saying and hard to use vocabulary that they
will understand. Frustrating to adapt to
language level.
NSs on ESL Colleagues
Yes, longer time, rework, mistakes, wasted
budgets, poor quality products, hurt feelings
and broken relationships especially as
deadlines approach (or pass).
NS Employee Reactions
Question
Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS?
22
1
2. Difficulty comm. with NNS?
22
2
3. NNSs have problems comm.?
24
4. Socialize within L1 groups?
23
5.
6.
1
1
NS Employee Reactions
Question
Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS?
22
1
2. Difficulty comm. with NNS?
22
2
3. NNSs have problems comm.?
24
4. Socialize within L1 groups?
23
1
5. Coworkers initiate w. same L1?
19
4
6.
1
1
NS Employee Reactions
Question
Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS?
22
1
1
2. Difficulty comm. with NNS?
22
2
3. NNSs have problems comm.?
24
4. Socialize within L1 groups?
23
1
5. Coworkers initiate w. same L1?
19
4
1
6. NS reluctant to talk with NNS?
16
3
5
NS Expectations of NNS
Coworkers
“Practice”
Practice with speakers of native language; at home
Enunciate, speak slower
Learn more about the culture and norms of our conversation
Give up L1 altogether
Try not to be shy; interact more with all coworkers
An EWP Course for NS
Managers
Managerial considerations
• résumés
• cross-cultural communications in general
• cross-cultural conflict
- gender
- sexual harassment
- washroom issues (eg spitting)
• leadership in the company
An EWP Course for NSs
Managers have found the course to be
eye-opening.
NS Expectations of NNS
Coworkers
Try not to be shy; interact more with all
coworkers
Willingness to Communicate
McCroskey. J. C. & Richmond V. P. (1991).
Willingness to communicate: A cognitive view.
In M. Booth-Butterfield (ed.) Communication,
cognition & anxiety. Newbury Park, CA: Sage

MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z. &
Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness
to communicate in a L2: A situational model of
L2 confidence and affiliation. Modern Language
Journal, 82, 545-562.

Willingness to Communicate
Willingness to Communicate
Derwing, Munro & Thomson (2008) A
longitudinal study of ESL learners’ fluency and
comprehensibility development. Applied
Linguistics, 29 (3), 339-358.
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Russians’ oral fluency > Mandarins’ oral
fluency after two years in Canada
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Willingness to Communicate
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Motivational Propensities
Willingness to Communicate
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Motivational Propensities
“We just need to practice and gain
confidence when we speak with others.
This is first. And second, I think we need
to get some cultural stuff, like being
assertive, and yeah, I think this will be
helpful.”
Willingness to Communicate
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Motivational Propensities
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Affective-Cognitive Context
Willingness to Communicate
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Motivational Propensities
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Affective-Cognitive Context
“ It’s a multicultural company who has employees that
come from different regions, but the company accepts
multiculture and encourages people to express
themselves with confidence in what you specialize in.
So I think it’s a good company, it’s a good environment
and the people around here … respect each other. So
yeah, I’m happy.”
Willingness to Communicate
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Motivational Propensities
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Affective-Cognitive Context
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Social and Individual Context
Willingness to Communicate
Motivational Propensities
Affective-Cognitive Context
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Social and Individual Context
“I still lack courage. I want to talk to them but
that’s my experience - I don’t know why.”
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“If I meet anybody, I will talk.”
Willingness to Communicate
Native speaker reactions
Willingness to Communicate
Native speaker reactions
“It’s like talking to a child”
“We [the company] have a wide variety of
strengths of accents”
“Culture is probably one of the biggest issues.
Not being able to tell manager they don’t
understand, and manager just assuming
comprehension because there are no
questions”
Willingness to Communicate
Native speaker reactions
“Some people are very ‘redneck’ and are
not willing to take the time required or
apply the required patience”
Willingness to Communicate
Use WTC framework to analyze all
aspects of workplace communication
Summary
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HR and NNSs see value in EWP courses
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Managers find cross-cultural courses useful
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NNSs pleased that they are able to work in their
chosen occupations; see their workplace as
friendly and accommodating
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NSs still frustrated with NNS communication skills
Recommendations
Recommendations
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LINC/ESL programs
Recommendations
LINC/ESL programs
 LINC funders
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Recommendations
LINC/ESL programs
 LINC funders
 EWP programs
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Recommendations
LINC/ESL programs
 LINC funders
 EWP programs
 Teacher trainers
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Recommendations
LINC/ESL programs
 LINC funders
 EWP programs
 Teacher trainers
 Researchers
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Willingness to Communicate
The more I try, the easier it is. Wish
others would see that too. People just
need more patience, and ESL need to
interact more and not hide with their own
so much.
Thank you!
tracey.derwing@ualberta.ca