Doing business: knowledges in the internationalised business lecture

Abstract

This paper investigates the oracy (listening/speaking) genres enacted in an undergraduate entry point unit in the internationalised university and the kind of knowledges these genres elicit and perform. Focusing on a series of lectures in a business studies unit, it explores how anecdotal knowledge from both the lecturer’s and the students’ lived experiences was elicited for the curriculum. The analysis of lecture talk suggests that the business lecture is no longer a monologic display of expert disciplinary knowledge bestowed upon the learner. Rather, it is increasingly a multi‐modal performance with an underlying ethic of engagement and interactivity. Of particular interest is the way international students’ knowledges were elicited to resource the internationalised curriculum with authenticity and insight. The knowledges assembled are analysed through Bernstein’s distinction between vertical and horizontal knowledge structures. The paper offers suggestions on how to maximise the potential and minimize the risks of this more interactive genre of lecture, with particular regard to enabling the participation of the international student.

Keywords:

• business
• English as an additional language
• genre
• knowledge
• lecture
• oracy