From form to function: Mobile language resources in the Vietnamese customs setting

ABSTRACT

English language for Customs is considered crucial for working in an international airport; however, few if any empirical studies have investigated the language repertoires of customs officers in such a multilingual and multicultural, but security-sensitive, context. This paper drew on Blommaert’s sociolinguistics of globalization and Hymes’s Ethnography of Communication to examine naturally occurring interactions in English between Vietnamese customs officers and foreign travelers. We explore typical communicative practices in customs and the factors influencing the interactants participating in these practices. Examining interactions in detail provides insights into the communicative resources that customs officers utilize to accomplish order and security in the airport, currently experiencing escalating numbers of international travelers. Findings highlight the functional deployment of English as the airport lingua franca and non-verbal resources to accomplish meaning, notably around the smooth and efficient security processing of travelers. The paper concludes with implications for English for Specific Purposes curriculum design and materials development in the important but previously neglected area of customs communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Customs
• English for customs communication
• Ethnography of communication
• intercultural communication
• lookalike English

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank QUT, Vietnamese government, and the research participants in the international airport for their support.

Notes on contributors

Thi Chau Ngan Nguyen was a PhD student of Education Faculty in Queensland University of Technology, Australia, from 2014 to 2018. She has been working as a lecturer of English, especially English for international business in Vietnamese academic institutions since 2004. As an ESP practitioner, she is interested in issues related to ESP teaching and learning, curriculum adaptation, and curriculum development to meet learners as well as society's demands.

Margaret Kettle is an Associate Professor in second language education at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. She teaches in the Master of Education (TESOL) and Doctor of Education courses. Her research focuses on the intersection between language, culture and pedagogy in schooling, higher education and communities.

Catherine Doherty is a Professor of Pedagogy and Social Justice at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She teaches courses at Master's and Doctoral levels. Her research interests include curriculum, pedagogy, social change, mobile populations and the impact of education policy on equity groups.

ORCID

Catherine Doherty http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1495-1857

Notes

1 The Vietnamese Government recently reviewed the Project 2020. The updated version is now referred to as the National Foreign Languages Project and has been extended to 2025 (References).

2 For more on the field of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), see Jenkins (2007) and Seidlhofer (2011).

3 The only people permitted in these interviews were customs officers or relevant investigators.

4 Directives can be demands, requests, suggestions, and hints but within this list, there is declining pragmatic force and positions of decreasing power (Saville-Troike, 2003).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Vietnam International Education Cooperation Department-Queensland University of Technology joint-scholarship [grant number 8980900].