Abstract This paper examines attitudes of Japanese business people towards English by interviewing Japanese construction company employees working on international projects in Asian countries, where English is used as a lingua franca (ELF). The engineers took part in an intensive English course provided by their company before being transferred to overseas offices. Conducting individual/focus-group interviews multiple times during and after the English course, the study sheds light on the participants’ ambivalent and shifting perception of the language, which has both communicative and identifying function in different contexts of use. While these BELF (English as a business lingua franca) users were more content-focused and critical about a teacher’s form-focused approach during the intensive English language training, they are likely to identify more with native-speakers’ English rather than with their own English communication in BELF environments. The paper discusses that there are two reasons for their adherence to “standard” English, referring to the impact of “standard” English ideology (Cogo 2015, 2016b; Seidlhofer 2011, 2018) and social power (French and Raven 1959) that their interlocutors possess. First, the participants are constrained by their past learning experience as EFL (English as a foreign language) learners (Iino and Murata 2016) with little exposure to varieties of English other than the Inner Circle English models (Kachru 1992). Second, they believe in the advantage of using “correct” or “proper” English in producing a good image of their company or themselves. More specifically, while the participants regard English predominantly as a tool to fulfil their communicative goals when working with interlocutors who have relatively less power (e.g. subordinates, subcontractors), they feel that they need to speak “proper” English when communicating with people with more power and authority (e.g. superiors, clients), because they believe it is more relevant and accepted by the wider public. In other words, the result shows how the “standard” English ideology is deep-seated in the workplace communication discourse.

中文翻译：

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日本 BELF 用户对英语的认知转变：案例研究

摘要 本文通过采访在亚洲国家从事国际项目的日本建筑公司员工，考察日本商务人士对英语的态度，在这些国家，英语被用作通用语言 (ELF)。工程师们在被调往海外办事处之前参加了他们公司提供的强化英语课程。在英语课程期间和之后多次进行个人/焦点小组访谈，该研究揭示了参与者对语言的矛盾和不断变化的看法，这种语言在不同的使用环境中具有交际和识别功能。虽然这些 BELF（英语作为商业通用语言）用户在强化英语语言培训期间更加注重内容，并且对教师注重形式的方法持批评态度，在 BELF 环境中，他们可能更认同母语人士的英语，而不是他们自己的英语交流。论文讨论了他们坚持“标准”英语的原因有两个，指的是他们的对话者的“标准”英语意识形态（Cogo 2015, 2016b; Seidlhofer 2011, 2018）和社会权力（French and Raven 1959）的影响。具有。首先，参与者受到他们过去作为 EFL（英语作为外语）学习者的学习经验的限制（Iino 和 Murata 2016），除了 Inner Circle 英语模型（Kachru 1992）之外几乎没有接触过各种英语。其次，他们相信使用“正确”或“正确”的英语来塑造公司或他们自己的良好形象的优势。进一步来说，虽然参与者在与权力相对较小的对话者（例如下属、分包商）合作时主要将英语视为实现其交际目标的工具，但他们认为在与权力和权威更大的人交流时，他们需要说“正确的”英语（例如上级、客户），因为他们认为它更相关并被更广泛的公众接受。换句话说，结果显示了“标准”的英语意识形态如何在职场交际话语中根深蒂固。因为他们相信它更相关并被更广泛的公众接受。换句话说，结果显示了“标准”的英语意识形态如何在职场交际话语中根深蒂固。因为他们相信它更相关并被更广泛的公众接受。换句话说，结果显示了“标准”的英语意识形态如何在职场交际话语中根深蒂固。