English in Finland - The status and use of English

2. The status and use of English

2.1 English in Finland

Despite being placed at the outermost circle in the Kachruvian model, the status of English in Finland is very prominent, and the importance of English has been increasing fast in the past decades. The increasing importance of the English language can be seen in a national survey by Leppänen et al. (2009) when examining the English use and proficiency of younger

generations as opposed to older generations, as well as in the future predictions of the importance and influence of the English language. In the survey, the younger generations aged 15–24 and 25–44 estimated their language skills in all areas to be significantly better than what the older generations aged 45–64 and 65–79 estimated their skills to be (Leppänen 2009: 82–83). Furthermore, the younger generations reported using English more frequently and in more contexts than the older generations (Leppänen et al. 2009: 101). Additionally,

when asked about the future of the English language in Finland, 90% of all respondents

estimated that the importance of the English language will increase in the future (Leppänen et al. 2009: 131). Leppänen and Nikula (2008: 16–17) state that the effects of globalization, trade, media, the internet, and effective language education are among the primary reasons for the rising popularity and status of English.

The main avenues for English-language encounters in Finland seem to mirror the defining avenues of language use in the expanding circle: the position of English in Finland can be observed through its use and prevalence in education, media and work. When considering education, English is certainly in a strong position in language teaching, as it is the most popular option for the first foreign language (usually referred to as A1) in Finland, which children usually start learning in the first grade of elementary school (Taavitsainen and Pahta 2003: 6). The rising popularity and the increasing importance of English can be observed in education, as the age of starting to learn English at school was recently lowered from the third grade to the first grade of elementary school (Finnish National Board of Education 2019b: 3–

4).

In addition to education, English holds a strong position in the Finnish media as well. English-language popular culture and entertainment, such as music, television and other electronic media are a prevalent part of the Finnish media landscape. The preservation of original English audio and subtitling the programs instead of implementing a Finnish voice-over on them has had a large influence on the abundance of English contact that has been available for Finns (Leppänen et al. 2009: 112; Taavitsainen and Pahta 2003: 5). However, as the consumption of English language media accounts mainly for receptive language use, it is noted in Leppänen et al. (2009: 112) that speaking and writing in English are much less common than merely listening to language or reading in it.

9 2.2 The use of English in a Finnish work context

In addition to the status of English in learning and teaching and its prevalence in the media, the third major avenue for English in a country positioned in the expanding circle of the Kachru model is professional or work context. Leppänen et al. (2009: 92, 112, 114) point out that Finns use English and are exposed to English more in their spare time as opposed to work, but that work is still a meaningful context in which English is used. Approximately a half of the employed respondents reported using English on a weekly basis at work (Leppänen et al. 2009: 105). Additionally, in other studies that focus on language use at Finnish work contexts, English was reported as being the most frequently used foreign language among Finns at work by a large margin, with Airola (2004) reporting that English was needed and used more than any other language in North Karelian corporations and Huhta (1999: 62) pointing out that English is the most important language in 84% of Finnish companies.

The use of English in Finnish work or professional contexts has been investigated to some extent. The national survey on English in Finland (Leppänen et. al. 2009) or comprehensive reports, such as Prolang (Huhta 1999), a national report on vocational and professional language use and teaching, have offered a broad, comparative overview on the different situations and contexts in which English is used in Finland. Furthermore, a regional report on language use and needs in North Karelia (Airola 2004) provides regional results that offer great comparative possibilities with this study. As the present study focuses on situations of English use in work contexts, the same aspect is discussed in detail when reviewing the previous studies. Table 1 below illustrates the 5 most frequent or important English language situations in work contexts in the most relevant previous studies. In Leppänen et al. (2009:

104) the situations are ranked based on the frequency of use, whereas in Airola (2004) and Huhta (1999) they are ranked based on perceived importance.

Table 1. The five most frequent or important situations of language use in a work context in previous studies. (Leppänen et al. 2009; Airola 2004; Huhta 1999).

Leppänen et al

Reading web pages Travel Telephone

conversations

Reading documents Customer service Reading manuals, instructions,

Social situations Writing email messages, faxes; taking notes in a meeting

The national survey by Leppänen et. al. (2009: 104) lists 14 different work-related situations, the frequency of which was surveyed. The situations were related to reading English texts, such as manuals; writing English texts, such as emails; or speaking English in communicative situations, such speaking with partners and clients on the phone. Of these situations the most frequent were searching for information online, reading web pages and reading emails.

Similarly, Huhta (1999: 90) provides 17 situations of using English in a work environment in her research for Prolang. These situations were related to either reading, writing or oral communication in English as well; most of them were a combination of two or more of these attributes. According to Huhta’s (1999), the most important situations for communication in English were social situations, such as introductions or small talk, telephone conversations, travel, and reading manuals or literature. It is meaningful to note that the studies were conducted ten years apart, and Huhta (1999) does not, for example, emphasize email

communication or include the use of internet for websites or searching information at all. In Airola’s (2004: 38) report, 17 situations of English use are compared. Of these, the most important contexts are reading occupational literature, travel, telephone conversations, customer service and social situations, again emphasizing reading and verbal communication, but not even including electronic communication as a separate option. These studies offer a reliable reference point for previous studies on work-related English language situations.

However, the differences in the studies and the age of the more recent study by Leppänen et al (2009) suggest that a new, more current examination of the English language use in work contexts could be of great interest in the field. As the use of English in work contexts clearly changed in the 10-year period between the earlier studies, it is quite reasonable to assume that some interesting changes have emerged in the last ten years after the publication of Leppänen et al. (2009) as well. In addition, the effects of the rapid progress of digitalization and emergence of social media on English use in work contexts are largely unresearched, which calls for new research on the issue in its own right.

Some research has also been conducted on specific situations, uses, tasks or occupations regarding the use of English in a Finnish work context. For written communication, these situations include the use of English in email situations in a professional context (Alatalo 2002;

Kankaanranta 2005), and other written communication (Yli-Jokipii 1994; Louhiala-Salminen 1995), which has largely become obsolete due to emails. Kankaanranta (2005) examines the use of English in internal emails of a large Finnish multinational company. According to her, English is often used as the language of communication in a multinational company, which was the case in the target company in her study as well. Furthermore, in the study of

Kankaanranta (2005: 179–182) the amount of English use in the internal email communication varied between employees, as the distribution of English messages of all messages varied from 13% to 90% based on the employee. The study of Kankaanranta (2005) indicates that emails are used extensively, but as the study examines the linguistic aspects of the emails, the contexts and more specific situations of emails remain largely unstudied, offering the present study a great opportunity to complete the knowledge on English email use in that regard.

In addition, English in Finnish business contexts has been studied from several other perspectives. Louhiala-Salminen (2002) studies the English language discourse in work context, examining the English language use of Finnish managers in multinational

corporations. According to Louhiala-Salminen (2002: 211) “the salient features that emerged include: the ‘native corporate language’ status of English (i.e. English used as the corporation’s first language in various types of national and international contacts), intertextuality, parallel and mixed use of spoken and written language, and the decisive role of e-mail as a

communication medium.” Her main findings (Louhiala-Salminen 2002: 224–227) elaborate that the situations of English are extremely intertwined in many occasions, often occurring in sequences that were closely related together and appeared multimodal in nature. This included both spoken and written situations and interactions, which interrelated as well.

These findings pose a formidable consideration for the present study, as the one the

premises is to compare the different situations. This can obviously be difficult, if the situations are linked closely together and therefore difficult to distinguish. Luckily, the qualitative

approach of the present study offers the interviewees the possibility to react and describe these kinds of difficulties, should they arise. Additionally, Louhiala-Salminen (2002: 224) discusses the position and importance of English in the company, stating that English was observed as the ‘native corporate language’ in the study, thus having an important role in the company and even being used in situations containing only Finnish speakers.

Furthermore, on the topic of the position of English in Finnish companies, Sanden and Kankaanranta (2018) examine the linguistic landscapes of Finnish companies and their

language policies, pointing out that in several companies there is an unwritten rule of English being the standard and expected language in many situations. This type of language policy, where a language is regarded the unofficial standard in certain situations, can be described as a non-formalized language-policy. These covert language policies are based on the practical need and importance of the language, rather than an official authorization. (Sanden and Kankaanranta 2018: 546–547) According to Sanden and Kankaanranta (ibid.), they seem to be quite common in Finnish companies.

Language choice and policies have been examined in other studies as well: Louhiala-Salminen et al. (2005) examine the language use in two mergers between companies from Finland and Sweden, both of which then chose English as their new language. These studies offer some important points of reference for the present study, as some of the companies are

multinational or a product of a merger. Additionally, the concept of language policy is important in all of the target companies, as they function in the field of export industry.

Räisänen (2014), then, explores occupational language by focusing on the English language use and competences of Finnish engineers. Her study is more case-oriented, focusing on defining the trajectories of the English language competence of Finnish engineers. According to her, the English skills of the engineers are constructed over time. She places a strong emphasis on learning the language in a work context and sees this as a process of socialization into the working life and the necessary English competences. Pitzl (2019)

presents similar findings and notes that in working life, new employees can be socialized into the profession, field or company from the perspective of language as well: they often learn quickly what kind of language is acceptable and frequently used. Pitzl (2019) bases this idea in Wegner’s (1998) theory on community of practice, which essentially describes an occupational or skill-oriented group, in which learning and sharing information or responsibilities is central.

Kankaanranta and Louhiala-Salminen (2007; 2010; Louhiala-Salminen & Kankaanranta 2013) investigate the concept of business English as a lingua franca (BELF) in Finland extensively.

Louhiala-Salminen and Kankaanranta (2013) define BELF as lingua franca use of English in the specific functions of business contexts. They study the perceptions of BELF-users

(Kankaanranta and Louhiala-Salminen 2010) as well as the different skills and situations which are important in BELF. The main competences and features of BELF are business

communications skills and strategic skills, which are seen by Louhiala-Salminen and Kankaanranta (2013:29–30) as more important than traditional language skills, such as pronunciation, writing or grammar skills. Additionally, Louhiala-Salminen and Kankaanranta use the term communicative success in measuring what language skills are essential. This means that according to them, achieving a goal related to work or business tasks through communication is the primary aspect that matters. This is of great interest to this study, as the

purpose is to look at the language needs of companies regarding different skills and

situations, it is also meaningful to consider if the companies in the present study agree with the premise of communicative success, rather than possessing language skills that help produce native-like spoken and written English with no mistakes. This in turn has implications for language teaching, as in which skills are valued and sought after in the regional working life, and therefore the most important ones to teach to the students. Additionally, according to Kankaanranta & Louhiala-Salminen (2010: 206–207) the number of non-native speakers in BELF communication situations is far greater than the number of native speakers, and the respondents of their study estimated that around 70% of all communications takes place between non-native speakers. This divide is examined in the present study as well, as it has implications for language teaching: if most of the communication situations happen with other non-native speakers, is it meaningful to use materials reflecting native language use as the primary models in teaching English?

Furthermore, the English use and needs in Finnish working life can be explored by placing it among other languages and discussing the multilingual competences and needs of the

Finnish working life. From the perspective of the present study, English has been identified as the most important and frequently used foreign language in the most relevant previous studies examining language use and needs in Finland (Huhta 1999: 61; Leppänen et al. 2009:

42; Airola 2004). However, there is some literature that raises the question of multilingual competences and need for other languages as well. According to a national report on the status and levels of language competences in Finland (Pyykkö 2017: 112), the language competences in Finland are narrowing, and fewer and fewer people study other foreign languages besides English. This can be seen to arise from the increasing importance of English, and the decreasing importance of other languages. However, Vaarala et al. (2021: 84–

96) note that teachers and students in Finnish higher education find the possibilities to study other languages besides English to be too narrow, implying that there is interest in pursuing broader language competences as well, by focusing on learning and teaching other foreign languages in addition to English.

In the context of Finnish working life, the need for multiple languages can be seen in the study of Räisänen and Karjalainen (2018), which examines the language use and needs of young engineers. According to them, English is still by far the most important language in the work of the engineers, but other languages are still needed, as they are seen as useful and utilized in some situations. The additional languages in their study that were mentioned as the most useful were Swedish, German, French and Chinese. The auxiliary role of additional languages was noted in the studies of Leppänen et al. (2009: 42), Airola (2004) and Huhta (1999: 61–62) as well. Leppänen et al. (2009: 42) present that 18.1% of respondents needed Swedish at work, and 4.7% needed German at work, while the role of French and Russian was marginal, with 1.6% and 1.8% needing them at work. Similarly, according to Huhta (1999: 61-62), employers mentioned Swedish as one of three most important languages in the company in 86% of the companies, while German was placed among the three most important languages in 68% of companies: Russian was needed as one of the three most import languages in 17%

of companies and French in 13% of companies. However, in the regional survey of Airola (2004), the importance of Russian is much more prevalent. This regional importance of Russian in Eastern Finland can possibly be contributed to the proximity with the Russian border, increasing the amount of trade with Russian companies and customers.

In addition, Schlabach (2016) has studied the plurilingual competences in Finnish companies.

He states that in plurilingual situations, English is the most commonly utilized language as a part of plurilingual competences, usually accompanied by the local language or L1, meaning Finnish or Swedish in Finland. After that, the most common languages used in multilingual situations were German, French and Spanish. This indicates that although English is the dominant language, other languages can also be utilized to some extent in multilingual

situations, meaning that the need for multiple languages does not necessarily mean complete conversations in a certain language, but using the language to some extent in combination with other more dominant languages, such as English or Finnish.

3. Language needs analysis

The remaining part of this theoretical framework will address the topic of language needs analysis. The first section will discuss the theoretical background and purpose of language needs analyses to set a foundation for this theoretical framework. After that, a review of previous literature and research in the field of language needs analyses in Finland is made to position this study in the theoretical framework and identify an academically viable and interesting niche for the study. Lastly, this section will discuss one of the variables of this particular study, different aspects of language skills, through relevant theoretical literature.

The concept of language needs analysis is defined by Brown (2009: 269–271) as an essential part of the process of planning and carrying out language education. It is most commonly used as a practical tool when surveying a small group of people, usually students, about their needs in a specific language course or program. In addition to practical, small-scale

applications, language needs analysis can be approached from the perspective of larger reports and research. For example, language needs analysis can be used in applied linguistics with a practical application in mind, such as developing language education or language learning, or in sociolinguistics with a general curiosity for language use in mind. Van Hest and Oud-de Glas (1990: 20–21) note that language needs analyses can be conducted for many reasons, for instance to improve curricula and language education in secondary education, to improve in-company training related to language use and communication, to assist in the planning of national curricula or guidelines for language teaching, or to examine the effects of

In document “English is basically the starting requirement; you can’t really get along without it” — The English language needs of export industry companies in Eastern Finland (sivua 15-0)