Background: Engineers increasingly work and advance their careers in international business settings. As technical managers, they need management and technical skills when working with different stakeholders with whom they may not share a common first language. Studies have revealed that informal oral communication skills are of prime importance for global engineers who face challenges in building shared meaning and formulating clear messages in meetings with non-native speakers of English. This article proposes that studying the use of multimodal resources (spoken language, gaze, gestures, and objects) in meetings can unpack how work tasks are accomplished in business through different communicative strategies. Literature review: This paper focuses on engineers’ and technical managers’ needs and challenges in professional and intercultural communication where English is used as a business lingua franca (BELF) in multimodal meetings. While multimodal conversation and discourse analytic studies highlight the dynamic nature of meeting interaction, previous technical and professional communication and BELF research on multimodality is limited. Research questions: 1. How do technical managers use multimodal resources to articulate their ideas in BELF meetings with their peers? 2. How does the use of multimodal resources contribute to the construction of shared meaning in explanatory, consensus-seeking, and solution-finding communication? Methodology: This study reports on two case studies and multimodal discourse analysis of video-recorded meetings among technical managers and their peers in four companies. The use of multimodal resources is analyzed in explanatory, consensus-seeking, and solution-finding communication. Results and conclusions: In BELF meetings, assemblages of spoken language, gestures, tools, whiteboard, and documents contribute to constructing shared meaning. This study has implications for global professional and engineering communication. Future research should further examine multimodality in BELF meetings.

中文翻译：

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技术经理及其同事在使用英语作为商务通用语的会议中使用多模式资源

背景：工程师越来越多地在国际商业环境中工作并提升他们的职业生涯。作为技术经理，他们在与不同的利益相关者合作时需要管理和技术技能，他们可能不会与之共享共同的第一语言。研究表明，非正式的口头交流技巧对于全球工程师来说至关重要，他们在与非英语母语人士的会议中面临建立共同意义和制定明确信息的挑战。本文提出，研究会议中多模式资源（口语、凝视、手势和物体）的使用可以解开企业如何通过不同的交际策略完成工作任务。文献评论：本文侧重于工程师和技术经理在专业和跨文化交流中的需求和挑战，其中英语在多模式会议中用作商务通用语 (BELF)。虽然多模态对话和话语分析研究强调了会议互动的动态性质，但之前的技术和专业交流以及多模态的 BELF 研究是有限的。研究问题： 1. 技术经理如何在与同行的 BELF 会议中使用多模式资源阐明他们的想法？2. 在解释性、寻求共识和寻求解决方案的交流中，多模式资源的使用如何有助于构建共享意义？方法：本研究报告了四家公司的技术经理与其同行之间的视频会议的两个案例研究和多模态话语分析。在解释性、寻求共识和寻求解决方案的沟通中分析了多模式资源的使用。结果和结论：在 BELF 会议中，口语、手势、工具、白板和文档的组合有助于构建共享意义。这项研究对全球专业和工程交流有影响。未来的研究应该进一步研究 BELF 会议中的多模态。和文件有助于构建共同的意义。这项研究对全球专业和工程交流有影响。未来的研究应该进一步研究 BELF 会议中的多模态。和文件有助于构建共同的意义。这项研究对全球专业和工程交流有影响。未来的研究应该进一步研究 BELF 会议中的多模态。