PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & SOCIAL COHESION: The Challenge of LSP for Elderly Care Professionals in Europe.

Marian Aleson-Carbonell, David Bell, Teresa Morell, Manuel Palazón, Irene Finestrat, and Andrea Olivares. University of Alicante, Spain.

AIMS To train future European Professionals in

Elderly Care Vocational Programmes. To realize the specificity of the Elderly

Care context. To foster professional European languages. To encourage labour mobility in Europe. To stimulate international communication. To raise awareness of multicultural

differences at work. To be conscious & critical about the social

situation of the elderly. INTRODUCTION Professional languages are challenging for teachers and students. Moreover, language training becomes harder if the context of use implies extra difficulties, such as:

1 international communication, 2 the intergenerational differences, 3 sensitive communicative situations.

The majority of experts in the field of LSP, focus on lexical, syntactical and textual features (Gotti 2008, Grabowski 2015; Muñoz 2015; Staples 2015); but these are not enough, especially in a complex context. As Bhatia (2008) posits in his model of the Worlds of Discourse, an LSP approach has to come to terms with four perspectives that conform the final communicative or textual event. From a pedagogical perspective, this model provides a useful framework.

Figure 1: Source Bhatia (2008)

THE PROJECT

RSGAE materials aim to improve language and cross-cultural skills for vocational education and working life. The materials consist of different reading, listening and pronunciation exercises, which combine language with the working culture of each country.

Topics: selection guided by professionals

Social and health care for the elderly

NEEDS, TESTING, & PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION o Needs analysis & contact with stakeholders

Students need to know: basic language skills, the professional context, the professional conventions, & how to talk to the elderly.

Professionals suggest: key professional terminology, social inclusion of the elderly, & real situations.

Schools demand: user-friendly material, which is adapted to students, & fosters mobility.

Literature highlights: trendy topics, accurate terminology, social issues & values, & adult learning orientation.

CHALLENGES & DIFFICULTIES

INTERGENERATIONAL CULTURE-SPECIFIC COMMUNICATION CONTENTS

CONCLUSIONS PROVIDES professional inter-

generational language training for communication with the elderly.

PROMOTES international exchanges.

STRENGTHENS social cohesion between the elderly & future professionals.

FIRST DAY AT WORK

•Working environment

•Rules, values, and principles

•Vocabulary of facilities and professions

IN THE MORNING

•Interaction and communication with the elderly.

•Morning activities

•Vocabulary of routines

DURING DAY TIME

•Supporting the elderly in day-time activities

•Nursing procedures.

IN THE EVENING/

NIGHT TIME

•Emotions and feelings of the elderly

•Vocabulary of night shift.

OTHER ISSUES

•Common health problems

•Communication among different people at the care home

•Responsibilities of care professionals

•Cultural aspects

STEPS 1.Prototypes in English.

2.Transfer to Target Languages

& Specific Cultural Issues.

3.Testing by Stakeholders:

Socio-cultural adaptation.

4.Design of exercises & Audio

Recordings.

5.Web Design.

6.Final Revision & Editing.

5 languages

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PR

OJ

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bhatia, V. K. (2008). Genre analysis, ESP and professional practice. English for Specific

Purposes, 27(2), 161–174. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2007.07.005

Grabowski, Ł. (2015). Keywords and lexical bundles within English pharmaceutical discourse:

A corpus-driven description. English for Specific Purposes, 38, 23–33.

http://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2014.10.004

Gotti, M. (2008). Investigating Specialized Discourse. Bern: Peter Lang.

Muñoz, V. L. (2015). The vocabulary of agriculture semi-popularization articles in English: A

corpus-based study. English for Specific Purposes, 39, 26–44.

http://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2015.04.001

Staples, S. (2015). Examining the linguistic needs of internationally educated nurses: A

corpus-based study of lexico-grammatical features in nurse–patient interactions. English

for Specific Purposes, 37, 122–136. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2014.09.002

WEB LINKS:

RSGAE Spain Research Group: http://dfing.ua.es/es/proyecto-europeo-rsgae.html RSGAE European Project Web-Platform: http://www.rsgo.eu/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/rsgae?ref=hl ACQUA RESEARCH GROUP: http://dfelg.ua.es/acqua/