English Language at the Work Place: An Investigation into the English Language Needs of Tejarat Bank Employees in Foreign Exchange Branches

The content for the ESP course has been mostly determined based on the intuitive judgements and personal preferences of syllabus designers and teachers, rather than a standard needs analysis. Considering the important role of the English language in conducting financial transactions and international interactions by foreign exchange branches of banks and the lack of proper local materials that cover the professional needs of bank employees, the present study was an attempt at assessing the current English language abilities of foreign exchange branches personnel as well as their target needs for career success through quantitative and qualitative methods. For this purpose, personnel of various units, i.e., the international deputy, headquarters’, foreign exchange branches’ managers and employees in Tejarat Bank were recruited based on available sampling to the researcher. The participants were ۳۰ bank employees with different job positions, including current staff and retired personnel. They were asked to answer a ۴۱-item close-ended questionnaire along with participating in one to two hours interview sessions. Additionally, the performance of the participants in the work environment was indirectly observed and investigated by the researcher. Based on the data analysis it was found that due to the recruitment of personnel with inadequate command of English in some branches, all language skills should be taught to the staff and line employees. It was concluded that the most important needs of subjects were reading, listening, speaking, and writing, respectively. The findings of the study have implications for renewing the current practices of ESP instructors in bank units. Pedagogical implications for foreign exchange employees and material designers were discussed in detail.

کلیدواژه ها:

English for Specific Purposes ، English for Police Forces ، Material Evaluation ، Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy