The Use of Business English as a Lingua Franca in Algerian Companies

Abstract

There is no doubt that the various waves of globalisation have marked the English language. Consequently, it led to reformulate English as a lingua franca (ELF). This perspective on language has been a source of inspiration and attraction to the Business English research community, as English has been adopted as a common language slowly in institutional communication, and then embraced in business communication. In the winds of globalization, Algerian companies participate more and more in global business. As a result, English has become the Business Lingua Franca in Algerian companies. This research seeks to investigate the use of English as a lingua franca in Algerian international business. This study presented the findings of an observation and an interview exploring the use of BELF by a particular Algerian business organization together with a document analysis to identify the characteristics of BELF. The results revealed a positive attitude toward the use of English in the Algerian international business and small challenges when using it. In the end, we hope that the limited findings will help shed light on the use of the English language in such international contexts and the possible communications difficulties.