Der sichere Umgang mit fremden Sprachen und Kulturen stellt heute ...

ibw-Forschungsbericht 143 | Fremdsprachen für die Wirtschaft INGRID GARSCHALL
the information needed, a six-page questionnaire was designed and handed out to 53 students.
The original language of the questionnaire was German, the students’ mother tongue. The questionnaire
(in English) and the results can be found in Garschall 2005.
2.4 Summary of Results
The established learner profile for a typical trainee in joining shows the following picture: The
trainee is an Austrian male, speaks German as his mother tongue and is on average 17.5 years
old. Before vocational school he attended the pre-vocational year or sometimes a technical college.
His previous language tuition ranges from between less than five and more than eight
years, with 87% having had at least seven years of English tuition. The students involved in the
study indicated their language level on the basis of a self-assessment grid mostly as A2 or B1,
but the levels range from A1 to C1.
TRAINING PRIORITIES
Concerning the training priorities of language skills, the reading/understanding skill has the highest
priority among joiners. The texts relevant for trainees are manuals, web pages, fitting and
repairing instructions, catalogue texts, e-mails and text messages, product descriptions and
postcards. The second skill to be learnt turned out to be writing, but together with the other
skills of listening and speaking is not that important. Table 2 shows a summary of the training
priorities and gives details on situations which have been established for joiners:
Table 2: Training priorities and situations
Training
priority Reading Writing Listening/Speaking
1 manuals application forms training abroad
2 web pages web pages trade fairs
3 fitting instructions postcards conversations with colleagues
from other countries
4 catalogue texts e-mails, text messages work placement abroad
5 repair instructions filling in forms visits of foreign customers
6 e-mails,
text messages advertisements professional discussions
7 product descriptions leaflets business trips
8 postcards product descriptions serving customers
9 (specialised) books business letters, faxes telephone calls to/from
customers
10 trade journals reports telephone calls to/from
foreign suppliers
Source: Garschall 2005
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SKILL