Success in the international business world - the objectives, challenges and solutions of teaching English as a foreign language at the Budapest University of Economics and Business

Abstract

The responsibility of higher education institutions to prepare students for the world of work extends to language teaching. Although opportunities for learning English have expanded considerably over the last decade, formal courses providing language knowledge and skills are still essential to becoming a good professional, and teachers have a major role to play in this process. Although teacher role perceptions and the contextual constraints that influence them are a more widely researched topic, very few academic publications have so far been published on the professional orientation and perceived professional role of teachers of Hungarian business English. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate how teachers of Business English as Lingua Franca perceive their professional role and how they face the challenges of changing contexts, student needs and other stakeholders' demands.   The paper reviews approaches to the teaching of English as a foreign language and the role of language teachers based on the literature, and then discusses an empirical study of the views of teachers of English as a foreign language. The research questions were (1) what goals do the teachers set for their teaching, (2) what challenges prevent them from achieving their goals and how do they respond to these challenges, and (3) what teaching approaches do the teachers have. The research was conducted using thematic analysis on triangulated data sources: case studies (3 participants), semi-structured interview transcripts (13 participants) and open-ended questions from a questionnaire survey (12 participants). The participants in all three research phases were lecturers teaching English as a Business Language at the Budapest University of Economics and Business.   The results have gigen a consistent picture of teaching practice. Trainers aim to convince students of the benefits of language learning and lifelong learning by creating a motivating and supportive learning environment. They believe that the way to achieve these goals is to maintain the teacher's leadership role as an expert in the learning process, but their teaching approach is interactional and student-centred, i.e. leadership is expressed in a new understanding of the role of the teacher, in the organisation of the learning process through activation, involvement, interaction and overall learning. Solutions to overcome these challenges move educators towards a change in their approach to teaching.