Overcoming Emotional and Communication Barriers With Performing Arts Strategies: The Case of Puerto Rican Business Students

Abstract

This article discusses interdisciplinary approaches to help students overcome communication barriers by integrating performing arts in Business Communication courses. Companies emphasize a workforce with solid soft skills to succeed. International Business employs English; thus, practical communication skills in English provide access to jobs in international scenarios. However, in Puerto Rico, second-language speakers of English feel intimidated when speaking it. The emotional barriers students endure while developing intercultural and communication skills in English is a topic worth researching. Performing arts provide strategies to raise body awareness and increase self-confidence. These elements will lead to a confident and effective communicator.

Keywords

Performing Arts communication barriers Business English as a Lingua Franca

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Acevedo

Bagshaw

(2013). Arts in management. Editorial address for IJPM Special Issue – Arts in Business. International Journal of Professional Management, 8(5), 3-6.

Wang

Zhang

(2018). Using English as economic capital in a Chinese-Australian workplace: Implications for teaching business English in China. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 29(4), 272-288. https://doi.org/10.1080/08975930.2018.1557095

Brunton

Kankaanranta

Louhiala-Salminen

Jeffrey

(2019). Are strategic communication management competencies and personal attributes global? A case study of practice in Finland and New Zealand. International Journal of Business Communication, 56(2), 151-172. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488415608846

Carter

Servat

(2006). The Proust questionnaire. Assouline.

Charles

(2007). Language matters in global communication. Journal of Business Communication, 44(3), 260-282. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943607302477

Domínguez-Rosado

(2015). The unlinking of language and Puerto Rican identity: New trends in sight. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

European Commission. (2015). Study on foreign language proficiency and employability. Executive summary. Publications Office of the European Union. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6e68f7e0-dd4a-11e6-ad7c-01aa75ed71a1

Hamm-Rodríguez

Sambolín Morales

(2021). (Re)Producing insecurity for Puerto Rican students in Florida Schools: A Raciolinguistic perspective on English-only policies. Centro Journal, 33(1), 112-131.

Jameson

(2007). Reconceptualizing cultural identity and its role in intercultural business communication. Journal of Business Communication, 44(3), 199-235. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943607301346

10.

Kankaanranta

Louhiala

(2013). What language does global business-speak? – The concept and development of BELF. Iberica, 26, 17-34.

11.

Kankaanranta

Planken

(2010). BELF competence as business knowledge of internationally operating business professionals. International Journal of Business Communication, 4(4), 380-407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943610377301

12.

Levy

Rodkin

(2016). The Bloomberg job skills report 2016: What recruiters want. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-job-skills-report/

13.

Lloyd

Hill

(2013). Human sculpture: A creative and reflective learning tool for groups and organisations. International Journal of Professional Management, 8(5), 67-75.

14.

Maican

(2017). Challenges of teaching Business English in higher education. Economic Sciences, 10(59)(2), 273-280.

15.

Márquez

(1992). Broncos y saltos: el juego como disciplina teatral: ensayos y manual de teatreros ambulantes. Ediciones Cuicaloca.

16.

Melitz

(2018). English as a lingua franca: Facts, benefits, and costs. World Economy, 41, 1750-1774. https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12643

17.

Merriam-Webster. (2022). https://www.merriam-webster.com/

18.

Mourey

(2020). Improv comedy and modern marketing education: Exploring consequences for divergent thinking, self-efficacy, and collaboration. Journal of Marketing Education, 42(2), 134-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475318822087

19.

Neeley

(2012, May). Global business speaks English. Harvard Business Review, Cross-cultural Management.

20.

Neeley

Dumas

(2016). Unearned status gain: Evidence from a global language mandate. Academy of Management Journal, 59(1), 14-43. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.0535

21.

Nemkova

Souchon

Hughes

Micevski

(2015). Does improvisation help or hinder planning in determining export success? Decision theory applied to exporting. Journal of International Marketing, 23(3), 41-65. https://doi.org/10.1509/jim.14.007

22.

Pop

Sim

(2015). Idioms in business communication. Economic Science Series, 24, 52.

23.

Pousada

(1999). The singularly strange story of the English language in Puerto Rico. Milenio, 3, 33-61. https://biblat.unam.mx/en/revista/milenio-revista-de-artes-y-ciencias

24.

Pousada

(2000). The competent bilingual. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 142, 103-118. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.2000.142.103

25.

Pousada

(2017). Being bilingual in Borinquen, Student voices from the University of Puerto Rico. Cambridge Scholar Publisher.

26.

Prieto

(2007). De la Expresión dramática a la expresión oral [Poster presentation]. Las destrezas orales en la enseñanza del español L2-LE: XVII Congreso Internacional de la Asociación del Español como lengua extranjera (ASELE), Logroño (Vol. 2, pp. 915-930). Universidad de Oviedo.

27.

Pullin

(2010). Small talk, rapport, and international communicative competence lessons to learn from BELF. Journal of Business Communication, 47(4), 455-476. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943610377307

28.

Rice-Bailey

(2021). The benefits of improvisational games in the T.C. classroom. Technical Communication Quarterly, 30(1), 63-76. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2020.1754466

29.

Riley

Nicewicz

(2022). Connecting with Gen Z: Using interactive improv games to teach soft skills. Marketing Education Review, 32(2), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/10528008.2022.2041440

30.

Rogers

P. S.

Pawlik

L. A.

Shwom

B. L.

(2020). Formal communications’ role in knowledge work: Evidence from projects. Journal of Business and Tehnical Communication, 34(2), 115-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651919892039

31.

Roshid

M. M.

Webb

Chowdhury

(2022). English as a business lingua franca: A discursive analysis of business emails. International Journal of Business Communication, 59(1), 83-103. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488418808040

32.

Sweeney

Hua

(2010). Accommodating toward your audience: Do native speakers of English know how to accommodate their communication strategies toward nonnative speakers of English? International Journal of Business Communication, 47(4), 477-504. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943610377308

33.

Takino

(2020). Power in international business communication and linguistic competence: Analyzing the experiences of nonnative business people who use English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF). International Journal of Business Communication, 57(4), 517-544 https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488417714222

34.

Thavabalan

Mohan

Hariharasudan

Krzywda

(2020). English as Business Lingua Franca (BELF) to the managers of Indian printing industries. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 22(2), 549-560. https://doi.org/10.17512/pjms.2020.22.2.36

35.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2020). Puerto Rico declined 11.8% from 2010 to 2020. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/puerto-rico-population-change-between-census-decade.html

36.

Vardell

Nelson

(2022). Teaching reference interview skills with improv. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 63(1), 38-56. https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis-2020-0098

37.

Villanueva

(2009-2010). The spread of English and its contact with other languages. Milenio, 13/14, 88-102. https://biblat.unam.mx/en/revista/milenio-revista-de-artes-y-ciencias

38.

Virkkula-Raisanen

(2010). Linguistic repertoire and semiotic resources in interaction: A Finnish manager as a mediator in a multilingual meeting. Journal of Business Communication, 47, 505-531. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943610377315

39.

Wagner

(2022). Translanguaging beyond the classroom: The case study of Puerto Rico [M.A. Dissertation, Department of Cognitive Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH].

40.

(2013). Business English as a lingua franca (BELF). International Education Studies, 6(10), 130-138. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1491430375?accountid=28498; https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1068643